I watched the final of the Aussie Open yesterday and got a big kick out of it. Let me tell you some thoughts on this rather bizarre match between Stanislav Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal. As you know, I love Nadal. I like his intensity and his bull dog tenacity, his effort. I like Wawrinka too. I like the tatt on his forearm about failure and effort.
Before this match started they were being filmed coming down the tunnel and I guess Rafa stopped and let Stan wait on him, with Stan carrying that heavy equipment bag. Gamesmanship? Only Rafa knows. I watched Wawrinka drop his bag and there was a look of irritation on his face...and the eye of the tiger.
I thought to myself. You might want to forget that this guy has never taken a set from Nadal, let alone beaten the Spaniard. Sure enough, Wawrinka beat Nadal, but what a way to beat him.
Wawrinka came out kicking butt and taking names and he really didn't care if he was taking the name of the world #1 or not. He was clearly relaxed, focused and playing the best tennis of his life. He pummeled Nadal in the first set and half the second. Clearly the better player on this day was Stanislav Wawrinka.
Then Nadal hurt his back. He was in a lot of pain, took a time out, got treatment. Cool. Rafa came back out, was booed by the crowd and played horribly due to the injury. Once the painkillers kicked in he played much better and actually took a set. His inability to provide much pace on the ball really messed with his opponent's game. I actually beat a guy this way, many years ago. I mean, he was a really good player; I was pretty bad. But, he couldn't handle my lolly-pop game. He got really P.O.'ed. Tough. Suck it up, butter-cup. Ha, ha. But I digress.
I can imagine Wawrinka's feelings when Rafa took the injury time out. "Here I have been beaten by this guy, like 26 times in a row. Every ****** time I went to the net and shook hands and took my lumps. Today I am whipping his fanny like a rented mule and he hurts his back?"
Obviously, Stan did not say this and probably didn't think it, but he was clearly frustrated as he had a confrontation with the chair umpire. I don't believe he thought Nadal was faking, he was just wound up and within sight of his first major.
I was really glad to see the Swiss dude win and I was proud of the way he played under great duress. I love to see folks have a breakthrough. I was also glad to see Li Na win. Hey, did you see ESPN give her the Elvis Treatment?
What I mean is this. She was serving and the camera was giving some close-ups. Her underpants were a bit abbreviated (I didn't notice) and the camera started showing her from the waist up, like Elvis on Ed Sullivan. Cool. Now, I am not intimating that Elvis wore panties on Ed Sullivan. Please do not send me any e-mails to that effect. How did I get to this subject?
About the decor I mentioned in the title...and not Li Na's deal either. We went to a retaurant today that had some odd decor. I liked it, though some of you probably would not find it as sophisticated as you would like. This was a chain restaurant called The Santa Fe Cattle Co. (Good food.)
This is a steak and rib place with a bar and so on. We were seated in the bar and the brick work had beer bottles and cans imbedded in them. Also, the windows that allowed a view into the rest of the dining area were installed at a 45 degree angle. I teased Carley that they looked level to me but in reality I knew they weren't all bubbled up right.
Then, I go in the rest room, the mens', and there was a big picture of a woman taking a bath in an old washtub. I mean, a nice-looking blond lady in a copper bucket with the sun as a backdrop. Really, it was so pretty I damn near cried. Call me strange, but I took a picture of it. My plan was to share it with y'all but it had a glare on it.
Then we went outside and saw a big, black bull in front. I wanted my picture taken in front of it but I didn't want to embarass my wife. I think it blessed her that I was that considerate. Ha, ha.
Also, they had a bench that looked like a slew (a lot) of horseshoes welded together. They also had a mechanical chicken on their roof, which is one of my favorite devices on this earth. You could tell that it wasn't a real chicken, however.
Oh, yeah, there was an armadillo that was drinking a bottle of beer. How cool is that? Does that beat the crap out of Ronald McDonald or what?
Well, I must go. I am going to meditate on the weirdness of humans and how they could want to censor nature's beautiful scenery.
From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.
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