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Jack Sock's Run In US Open Comes To Close
Poor Jack Sock. The tennis gladiator named after the bravest piece of laundry in the mid-hamper has succumbed to Nicolás Almagro in the third round of the US Open. Sock's sacking was hardly surprising. After all, Almagro was the tournament's 11-seed. Sock, meanwhile, was unseeded. No shame there....

Your College Football Open Thread
Watching college football? Wanna yak about it? This here's the place. Notre Dame vs. Navy is already happening (because it's in Dublin, Ireland) and being psychotically danced at, but the rest of today's full slate of college football is still before us. Full schedule, with TV coverage included, rig...

Andy Roddick Is Calling It Quits
Andy Roddick turned 31 30 today, and how'd he celebrate? He announced that he will retire immediately after the U.S. Open. People may have been calling for it, but no one was expecting it. Roddick's performance dropped rapidly this year, and he had his worst Grand Slam season ever. He lost in the s...

Squirrel Brings U.S. Open To Screeching Halt
Tuesday's match between Julien Benneteau and Olivier Rochus was held up as an adorable little squirrel found its way onto the court, hungry for acorns and fame. Officials threw tennis balls at the poor creature to try and drive him off, but you've just got to let squirrel stoppages play themselves...

A Little Boy Offers To Marry Novak Djokovic, Settles For Hitting A Few Balls
Maybe Novak Djokovic is winning over the Federer-friendly U.S. Open crowd one person at a time. Here he is at an early practice session at Louis Armstrong Stadium, where a young boy shouts out "Will you marry me?" from the stands. Djokovic gives him the "Dancing in the Dark" treatment, waving him ...

We Have A New Favorite Tennis Player: Jack Sock
This morning, Harvey Araton of The New York Times introduced the world to a U.S. Open qualifier named Jack Sock. Here's a passage that apparently posed no problem for any copy editors:...

Maria Sharapova Is Pimping Her Stupid Candy, And Other Important Storylines: A U.S. Open Preview
You could argue the turning point of the 2012 U.S. Open—which starts today—already happened. Well, three turning points, actually....

Here Is The Proper Way To Dry A U.S. Open Court: With A Helicopter
Tennis was underway for 90 minutes today before the rain came. In Flushing right now, mini-Zambonis and ballboys with towels are drying the courts. This not the preferred method. Here is video of how they did it at the 1969 Open when they played on grass in Forest Hills. USTA: If you can't build us ...

Stay Out Of Arthur Ashe Stadium: A U.S. Open Attendee's Survival Guide
Over the last five years, I've spent more than 60 days and nights at the U.S. Open. The early days at the Open can be really, really overwhelming. There's tennis everywhere, and people everywhere, and you constantly feel as if you have to be missing something. Probably the good part....

NBC Cut A Memorial Tribute To A Dead U.S. Marine From Its Opening Ceremony Telecast. Here's His Story.
Three weeks ago we brought you the story of U.S. Air Force Academy cadet Andrew Chin. Chin's friends and family submitted his photo to be included in a memorial segment of the London Olympics opening ceremony, only for them to realize when the program aired on NBC in tape delay that the memorial se...

Area Couple Offended By "Loud, Sexualized, Pagan" Olympics
There is nothing in the world like the letters to the editor section of a small newspaper. Remember the Ohio man who wanted the "bisexual" buckeye removed as the state tree? By definition, the people who write these things have too much time on their hands and a capacity for outrage that only kicks ...

U.S. Open Ref Is Charged With Murdering Her Husband With A Coffee Mug
Lois Goodman is a 70-year-old tennis official. Earlier today, she was getting set to officiate U.S. Open qualifying matches out in Queens, but instead she was rerouted to a Manhattan jail. She's charged with bludgeoning her 80-year-old husband to death:...

Rafael Nadal Pulls Out Of U.S. Open With An Injury, So Let's Cue The "Style Of Play" Talk
Rafael Nadal announced this morning that he's pulling out of the U.S. Open, which begins in less than two weeks. What for? An "injury." No one knows what. When Nadal pulled out of the Olympics—he hasn't played a match since he was bounced in the second round of Wimbledon—it was a little unclear what...

Sporting KC Wins U.S. Open Cup In Shootout Described As "More Dramatic Than Tyler Perry Or Shakespeare"
That GolTV still exists is a miracle in itself; the soccer cable net recently lost its cash cow Spanish Liga contract to Al-Jazeera's new beIN Sports channel. It also lost popular analyst Ray Hudson, he of the orgasmic goal calls, which means GolTV's George D. Metellus served in the color commenta...

NBC Says They Cut Memorial Tribute To Save Time, But They Replaced It With Something Two Minutes Longer
The bullshit continues to flow from NBC's mouths as they attempt to justify slicing an entire portion of Friday's London Olympics opening ceremony from their tape-delayed broadcast. That portion included a tribute featuring two dead U.S. servicemen and a requiem for victims of the 7/7 terror attack...

NBC Also Edited Out A Tribute Featuring Two Dead U.S. Servicemen From Their Opening Ceremony Broadcast
NBC explained that it skipped a memorial to terrorism victims in its broadcast of the Olympic opening ceremony because its show was "tailored for our American audience." While cutting that part of the show, NBC also skipped a transitional segment called the "Wall of Remembrance"—which included memo...

NBC Responds: We Removed The Opening Ceremony Memorial To Terrorism Victims Because The Tribute Wasn't About America
NBC finally responded to overwhelming criticism of its decision to heavily edit coverage of Friday's opening ceremony with an answer that satisfied neither American fans nor Olympic organizers. Claiming "our programming is tailored for our American audience," NBC spokesperson Greg Hughes defended t...

Opening Ceremony Choreographer "Disheartened And Disappointed" NBC Cut His Entire Performance Out Of Their Broadcast
Choreographer and dancer Akram Khan, whose "Abide With Me" performance at last night's opening ceremony was for many the highlight of the evening, was visibly shocked to learn NBC had edited out his performance when the network aired the ceremony in tape delay, choosing instead to air a Ryan Seac...

Mystery Woman Horning In On Opening Ceremony March Pisses Off Most Of India
The woman you see decked out in red and blue has no association with the Indian contingent of athletes and officials who marched during last night's opening ceremony and the Indians are pissed. Not only was she walking with the Indian contingent, but she was leading the contingent, walking alongsid...

Here's The Opening Ceremony Tribute To Terrorism Victims NBC Doesn't Want You To See
The major transitional element of today's London Olympics opening ceremony was a downtempo performance of adoptive sporting anthem "Abide With Me" by Scottish singer Emeli Sandé. The song and accompanying dance were a tribute to the victims of the 7/7 terror attacks in London that claimed 52 vict...