Mornin', and apologies to for failing to post a CC yesterday. It was my annual visit to the President's Box, which is the one day of the year when my wife Lisa actually gets interested in watching tennis. It may have something to do with exceptional lunch served in the dining room, and the great, behind-the-baseline seats just beyond the glass wall of the air-conditioned, spacious lounge and bar.
Anyway, my punishment for taking the day off was having to cover the Andy Roddick-Jack Sock match last night, which would ordinarily have been a pleasure. But writing those second-at-night matches is a brutal assignment; I finally left here at 2:30 AM and security guards chased me around, mistaking me for a trespasser in the empty venue. BTW, this tournament never sleeps. The maintenance crews work untll nearly dawn, neatening up the grounds. That includes a complete power washdown of the fountain/plaza area. They use a big honkin' Dodge Ram truck with a bed-mounted 1,000 gallon (I think) polypropelene tank and adjustable wands that blast the litter to the various drains.
Being kind of into big rigs and tools and such (as of last Saturday, I'm the proud owner of a brand-new Kubota L38 tractor, with bucket loader and bush hog), I stood around watching for a while, not especially eager to take the long, lonely walk to the Hall of Science parking lot. I enjoyed the velvety night and shadows, and the comforting hiss of the power washers. It's surreal to be on the grounds that late at night. The place seems almost menacing, like an intepretation of Gotham City for a highly stylized Batman movie.
Anyway, I'm fixing to write about Roger Federer today. Enjoy the tennis.
- Pete