Mornin', all. We had massive rainstorms here in Miami last night, which I rode out imprisoned on a high floor of the downtown Hilton. Want to hear something right out of bizarro world? The hotel elevators are "in renovation", meaning you never know when you press a button if the elevator is going to show up or not. And this, in a hotel where the "lobby" is something like five flights up from ground level and accessible only via an entirely different - but no less unreliable - set of elevators. Worst thing: you can't let fresh air into your room; the floor-to-ceiling picture window can't be opened. I feel like a tuna in a can in that stupid room.
Bu today isn't about me, right? It's about Nikolay Davydenko (striking a heroic if uncannily "social realism" pose above), affectionately known hereabouts for ages (thanks to Ptenisnet) as Kolya the Obscure, although we've officially amended that to Kolya the (No Longer) Obscure. Just like yesterday, Tom Perrotta and I had do "point-counterpoint" style blog entries over at ESPN, and I got to make Kolya's case.
Thankfully, I'm out of the Hilton and all packed for the post-final run to the airport and my flight out tonight. I should have plenty of time to post on the men's final, but if things go awry (say, the predicted thunderstorms materialize) I'll have to do an abbreviated version. We'll see.
In any event, enjoy the final. You'll have a Monday Net Post tomorrow and I'm working on getting Bud Collins to drop by some time soon to answer some of your questions.