Feast and Famine

Mornin', Tribe. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., and I received a delightful post from Andrew Friedman (aka Rolo Tomassi) on the subject a short while ago. I will have that up before the afternoon is out, and it will be TennisWorld's message for the holiday. I've been hunkered down with the Pete Sampras autobiography, and of course it's deer season in my part of the world - here's an inkling of some of my activities in these past, glorious weeks.

Anyway, I want to single out Rosangel, Ed McGrogan, Heidi, Andrew and the ever-present Mod Squad for special thanks (you can hold any comments you have in that regard until Rolo's post goes live) in helping run TennisWorld these past few days.

Andrew F. filled me in on the Pete-Roger exhibition of the other night (tomorrow's match will be shown live on Tennis Channel, at 7 AM EST), and we got to speculating on how good a barometer these matches are on the difference between the two players, game and talent-wise. My bottom line on this terrific three-match series (isn't it just like watching, oh, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson playing one-on-one?) is that it provides us with a template for contemplating nuances of the game - just how important is a big serve? Does good defense beat good offense? Is a streamlined, no-frills strategic approach (the kind Pete has) workable against a player as versatile, and armed with as many weapons, as The Mighty Fed?

I don't think either man wants to prove anything in these matches; I think they've tacitly agreed that this is going to be a demonstration of each man's skill set, and how it matches up with the other's tools and weapons.  Roger won't intentionally miss a passing shot, and Pete won't dive into the flower-bed for a volley, knowing it will bring him a set point. What we're seeing here is two race horses being put through their paces. They limber up, stretch it out, run within themselves - and each man has the pleasure of doing it because it feels so danged good, because it's a chance to. . . play. But how they play should give us a pretty good idea of how their games would stand up if all other things (including age) were equal.

Blogging will be light over the next few days; it's the famine after the feast, with only the Davis Cup  final looming as a major event. But we have a surprise or two in store. I just spoke with Heidi, who is holding off on The Deuce Club this week. This post, along with Andrew's Thanksgiving special, will be for Off-Top discussions. I'll probably drop by on Saturday or Sunday myself. Please - share photos and news about your weekend with Heidi.

Lise, Cowboy Luke and I are heading up to the farm in game-rich Andes, where we'll have a quiet Thanksgiving dinner at the Andes Hotel with our friends from over the hill. Frankly, it's a nice option to our usual family gathering, at which the sheer amount of food (and subsequent waste of leftovers) always troubled me. And it's nice to have a Thanksgiving that isn't entirely given over to cooking, eating, cleaning-up, eating, and shoving platters of leftovers into the hands of departing friends.

I hope to be nestled in among the big ledges on the mountainside behind the farm tomorrow, rifle in my lap and snow gently falling on the pines and maples. In the big woods, you have a lot of time to think and take stock of all the things for which you can be thankful - which means I'll be spending some time thinking of  y'all. Have a happy Thanksgiving and God bless.