Marathon Day

Howdy, everyone. Back for my trip out West, and I just dropped in on this New York Marathon Sunday (with baseball to come later in the day) to give y'all a place to chat.

Serena Williams is the year-end no. 1, a fact that once again underlies the truth in the old saw, It all comes out in the wash. . . In some ways, it was an extraordinary year for the WTA, and if there's a main theme to it, I'd say it's the inability of a handful of talented players (Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva, Jelena Jankovic, Svetland Kuznetsova and young contenders who at least have - and need - more time to mature) to take the baton held oh-so-loosely by Serena Williams. But with Kim Clijsters suddenly back and obviously dangerous, and Justine Henin on the horizon, things may be very different next year.

Anyway, feel free to tell me what you think of that idea, or go spinning off to talk running, baseball, or football (Vikings vs. Packers today, in the Battle of Brett). . . You classicial music buffs ought to know that Jackie-Oh is MIA this weekend; she went off to Washington D.C. to attend a violin recital given by her gifted sister.

I'll be back with you pretty early tomorrow with some more thoughts on the recent Andre Agassi controversy.

***-- Pete ***