It's hard to be a New Yorker these days and say the word "Metz" without wincing, because it's phonetically the same as the name of a certain baseball team that just failed to make the post-season playoffs for the second year in a row, on the very last day of the season. That the Mets basically duplicated their horrific 2007 choke/meltdown a few days ago was all the more astonishing because it was the last game ever played at Shea Stadium (which will be replaced next year by CitiField, where both the Mets and Yankees will play). That explains who only about half the fans at the game chose to stay for the closing ceremonies that marked the end of the Shea stadium era.
And I imagine those fans who remained did so partly because they were incapable of actually getting out of their seats, filing to the exists, and taking the long ride down the escalator to the parking lot. What a pity, especially when you take the long view and appreciate how much the Mets did to make baseball. . . fun - and a welcome antidote to the imperial and haughty Yankees who will now share a stadium with them. I'm glad I'm not a baseball fan is all I can say, so from a purely personal point-of-view, I thought it was a pretty good Sunday, what with Brett Favre lobbing six touchdown passes as the New York Jets crushed the Arizona Cardinals.
But back to Metz: Gilles Simon (a triple-titleist in 2008), who's seeded no. 2 behind Ivo Karlovic, could really help his chances of qualifying for the Tennis Master's Cup this week. The bottom half of the draw (where he resides) is loaded with French players, though, which will also increase the pressure on Simon. To me, the most dangerous guys in the draw are Ernests Gulbis, Dmitry Tursunov, Radek Stepanek, Paul-Henri Mathieu, and Janko Tipsarevic - and throw unpredictable Michael Llodra into the mix, too. He can play on hard courts, no doubt about it.
Feel free to talk about it - or anything else, including baseball and football. I'm in game-rich Andes today and tomorrow with Crazy Cowboy Luke.
--- Pete