Sunday Musings

Last night's highly anticipated U.S. Open semi-final match-up between Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters endly bizarrely. Clijsters was clearly outplaying Serena, taking the first set 6-4. Serena had no answers for Clijsters incredible display of hitting and quick movement around the court. Serena is rarely challenged by anyone on the court these days, and she was feeling the heat. At the end of the first set, Serena slammed her racket on the court, breaking it, and a few seconds later banged it against the net post, earning a code violation. In the rules which govern professional tennis, the first code violation is a warning, and a second code violation means the loss of one point for the offender. In the second set, with Clijsters leading 6-5, one game from victory, Serena was serving at 15-30. Serena netted her next serve, and on the second serve a lineswoman called Foot Fault, making the score 15-40 and giving Clijsters two match points. Serena then walked over to the lineswoman and angrily said, "I'll take this fucking ball and shove it down your fucking throat," among other things. The umpire gave Serena her second code violation of the match, resulting in the loss of a point, which gave Clijsters the match.
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Everyone is going crazy today debating the incident. Some blame the improper call of "foot fault", some say Clijsters would have won the match anyway, and some are, unbelievably, trying to claim that Serena was "mistreated". In the end, the final truth is that it's clearly against the rules to verbally attack a linesperson. Period. Serena knew that, as does every other player in professional tennis, and mistreated or not, there was no excuse for Williams' behavior.
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Many sports commentators are already mentioning that this is a serious tarnish on what is otherwise a brilliant athletic career. And it will depend on Serena now to wipe away the ugly memory of a player angrily charging an official brandishing a large racket and cursing wildly in a heated rage. Let's hope she does.
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Tina Fey won an Emmy at last night's Creative Emmy Awards Ceremony for her work on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" in which she made several appearances as Sarah Palin. Well deserved. But then we read that Justin Timberlake also won an Emmy for his work on the same show in the episode in which he was the Host. Are you fucking kidding us? Justin Timberlake won an Emmy for acting? Come on. The Emmy Awards have long been a joke in the entertainment industry, many laugh that they hand out trophies like Pez Candy. But in recent years, the Emmys have increasingly become something akin to a perverted junior high school popularity contest. Instead of awarding real acting ability, the golden statues are handed out to reward "the most famous names", (in the Guest Categories, the biggest named movie star wins every time), handed out to reward lifetime achievement, and gosh darn it, just handed out to "people we like!" And if you don't think Timberlake's win is an insult to quality comedic work, note that this is the first time in the history of "Saturday Night Live" in which one of the Hosts won an Emmy. Right. Timberlake is, afterall, a more important comedic talent than previous hosts such as Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Buck Henry, George Carlin, Bill Murray, Eric Idle and Peter Cook & Dudley Moore. Eeyack! (That was the sound of us throwing up.)
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Anytime a general public votes on an award, you get an element of "popularity" in the results, we get that. Case in point, "American Idol". And even though the Emmy Awards are voted on by people in the industry, they're still a public of people who like to reward their "favorites". The only way the Emmys can ever hope to regain any kind of real respect is if the voting is done by a board of governors/critics. Otherwise, what's next, Britney Spears wins for her role on "Masterpiece Theater"?
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There's a lot of talk about the "Blue Dog Democrats" who are impeding Pres. Obama's plan to overhaul the nation's health care system. Everyone knew the Republicans would fight Obama on this issue, (the Republicans have been 50-100 years behind the curve on every issue in the history of our country), but many are surprised that members of Obama's own party would oppose elements of the plan, including the "public option".

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Senior Senator from Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln, is one of these Blue Dogs. We've tried to find out why Lincoln opposes the public option, which is clearly the only way we'll ever have any real hope of ending rampant health insurance industry abuse. But all we can find is her vague assertion that the public option is "too expensive". Really, Blanche? The richest nation in the world can't afford to take care of the health of its own people? Yet we can spend billions and trillions in needless wars and pork such as bridges to nowhere? Get off it, Blanche. We know what the truth is. Arkansas is one of a handful of states in which over 85% of the people are covered by one insurance company; in Arkanas it's Blue Cross and Blue Shield. And if you believe that Blue Cross hasn't "gotten to" Blanche, then maybe that guy in Berkina Faso who keeps emailing us asking for our help in recovering his family's money should maybe start emailing you. You might actually be able to help him.
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Blanche Lincoln, and other Democrats like her, should do the right thing for Americans who are in need. Otherwise, we predict her stint in Congress will come to an abrupt end in 2010. And maybe it should.