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Post by chocula on Sept 12, 2010 23:17:05 GMT
After rain plays as integral a role as the players in the best Wimbledon match ever, Old fogy, antiquated Wimbledon completes a new state of the art roof, only to have it collect dust the next 2 tournaments. A case of "Since they built it, it won't come."
I think the only way to avoid another Monday US Open final is for the USTA to build a Roof on Arthur Ashe. Enough is Enough.
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Post by chestylarue on Sept 12, 2010 23:26:04 GMT
I agree. Not to mention the USO has its first round going through three days despite starting on Monday (RG's first round also goes over three days but starts on Sunday), the stupid Super Saturday of having the men's semis the day before the finals and the fact that four times since 2003 the rain has hampered the final in some way, The three in the row Monday finals. and in 2003 where Ferrero had to play three freaking days in a row (while Roddick got days of rest) and was utterly shattered by the final.
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lt
Semi Finals
Posts: 3,223
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Post by lt on Sept 12, 2010 23:58:52 GMT
Heh, that will be a surprise October present. I've used up my two-videos-for-free for September but I promise--just when you aren't thinking about it, there it will be.
The money isn't there for a roof. They figured out it would be an insane amount of millions and the bonds are still out there for the 1997 refurbishment. Besides that, I don't know if anyone noticed, but the commentators weren't exactly going on and on about "new records for attendance." That's because it wasn't so full as usual this year. They raised the ticket prices too fast and too often and this year I really saw a difference. There is no way tax money will pay for the roof either.
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Post by roseha on Sept 13, 2010 0:58:50 GMT
Well that's for sure. A part of me - the emotional part - is livid that there's no roof, but the practical part of me, who lives in New York, knows that New York city taxes are high and an awful lot of things are more important to the city and the average New Yorker than a roof over Ashe. Unless the current/former top players want to get together and pay for it...  |
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Post by oopssorry on Sept 13, 2010 1:00:41 GMT
It didn't happen??? Fuck. I spent the perfect antidote day and looked forward to finding out right now what had happened. i can report that NPR announced on its 4CST newsbit that they were readying to take the court. Was that wrong, and it had been canceled long before?
BTW - in that SI article against Super Saturday, they talk about the women waiting around to play their Final not at a fixed time. The author says that's unheard of today. But each year on Sunday they make the men wait till the end of football, sometimes a really egregious amount of time. Should I write him?
My kids (french-named!) spent the day twirling their rackets in the ready position and swinging freely.
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Post by chestylarue on Sept 13, 2010 1:13:10 GMT
I think frankly the problem is that AA is way too big. I know there are money problems with the roof and one main reason is that AA is soooo big. It does not need to be that big.
Good point lt about attendence. Other larger tournaments in the US early this year (IW, Miami) had good turnouts- I think at least one of them broke records. Toronto had great attendence in the latter days as usual and it seemed like Montreal did as well. The turnout for the WTA portion of Cincy was bad but it seemed decent for the men.
But if the USO is raising tickets a lot- folks won't come. You saw that with the Yankees with the new stadium. You see some turndowns in attendance with raised prices in a number of number of sports - even with the juggarnaut that is pro-football.
I do hope attendance is good tomorrow. I know that Nole and Rafa are personas non gratis for some here- but I think it would be good for the sport if there was good attendance. I would hate it if in the US men's tennis is only considered view-worthy if it has Americans or Federer.
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Post by breezybee on Sept 13, 2010 1:32:32 GMT
I'm counting my sleeps.
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lt
Semi Finals
Posts: 3,223
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Post by lt on Sept 13, 2010 13:13:15 GMT
Absolutely. PSLs have forced the Giants to go from a 30+ year season ticket waiting list straight to having season tickets being available. And the Jets are offering all sorts of stuff to get people to buy tickets--with 50% discounts on the PSL. So that isn't an option for the USTA either. The people who buy the subscription packages aren't going to pay extra for the "honor" of having a seat. Yes. That article had a lot of problems--yes, there is a problem with having the men's semis on Saturday and the final on Sunday but all of his suggestions showed that he was utterly clueless about what works. Did anyone see how empty Ashe was for the women's semis? It was packed on Saturday. And, yes, the fans count. Without them, sponsorships just *poof* away. If the writer had given more thought he should have been able to come up with some better solutions. Like was mentioned here--starting the men's semis at maybe 5pm on Friday and having one follow the other. Yes, it would end late but it would be on Friday and the night matches do well, attendance-wise because people wouldn't have to take off work. Shore up the rest of the schedule so both the women and men would get one day off between their QF and Semi and have the women's semis be the evening matches on Thursday. Cheapen up the tickets for the day sessions on both Thursday and Friday. Have no matches on Ashe during the day (so there wouldn't be a delay to start the semis) and have all the juniors and doubles stuff going on the side courts. Even a final in doubles (even one where the Bryan Brothers are involved) doesn't need to be on a bigger court than Armstrong. *Phew* See? That was easy. Hey, I hope the family that rented out their home to the Djokovics didn't need to be back in the house today. . . eta: I added nine more pictures to the US Open 2010 slideshow from the semis. They're at the end--first picture is of Rafa. I realized when I was taking pictures on Saturday that I always forget how often I've seen Beaker play because I never take a picture of him. Oh, and the only reason there are only a couple of Rafa and Youzhny is because I borrowed someone's DSLR and I had the ISO set incorrectly for most of their match. Ooops. |
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lt
Semi Finals
Posts: 3,223
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Post by lt on Sept 13, 2010 20:09:45 GMT
If you are currently at work, US Open.org has a beautiful video--for free--of the match.
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Post by falafaclese on Sept 13, 2010 20:29:32 GMT
I've been sneaking peeks with that for the past two weeks, but we just upgraded our bandwidth at work, so now the picture is sparkling clear. Love it.
I also love that Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova won the women's doubles final. Second major in a row for them.
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Post by breezybee on Sept 13, 2010 20:36:06 GMT
Stupid US Open - can't watch in Canada.
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Post by falafaclese on Sept 13, 2010 20:48:48 GMT
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lt
Semi Finals
Posts: 3,223
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Post by lt on Sept 13, 2010 20:52:13 GMT
I didn't get to open the feed until there they were, hoisting the cup. So very happy for them. I love Petrova but yuck to Huber and I know I keep going on and on but that Vania King is awfully fun to watch. Such a little thing with such a big overhead! And her net play is so aggressive. Wish she could put a singles game together but she's low-percentage and not tall enough. Darn.
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Post by apocalipstick on Sept 13, 2010 21:22:58 GMT
TOTAL SUCK. CBS is showing local NEWS. Seriously! Idiots. I emailed them and told them I would no longer patronize anyone who advertised during their local news broadcast and I would be contacting those companies and informing them of such.
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Post by acre on Sept 13, 2010 21:23:44 GMT
I'm confused - why am I not seeing any TV coverage? Checked CBS, ESPN, ESPN2. I know Tennis channel is rerunning later but I don't get that.
I see the match is currently in progress, and supposed to be on CBS, but I'm getting local news. Seriously, I can find nothing on TV and that sucks. Yes, again I know there are onlintve feeds but I just really don't enjoy watching on the pc like I do in the armchair in front of the TV. Plus, there I can DVR and skip the nonsense. Bleh.
ETA: I see we posted at the same time apocalipstick. I'm in CT myself, so really WTF, it's not even "nonlocal" in that sense. Plus, you know, fucking GS that they said they'd be broadcasting. Jerks.
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