The Ladies French Open Championship....

Francesca Schiavone and Sam Stosur were two very unlikely finalists at this year's French Open. The two giant killers steam rolled their way to this mornings Final, each leaving seeded players in their wake. The heavy-hitting Australian Stosur took out Serena and Justine and was in, by far, the best physical shape she has ever been in! She rocked the Oakley shades throughout the fortnight and seemed poised to hoist the trophy. Meanwhile, Francesca was carrying the weight of Italy on her bronzed shoulders as her tennis-crazed country craved a Champion! She entered the final with a beautiful one-handed backhand, an always reliable forehand, and a serve that allows for plenty margin for error!

Francesca took the first hard hitting set 6 games to 4. In the second, Sam picked up her game racing to a 4 to 1 lead...but a fierce comeback by Schiavone brought the players back even at 6 games a piece! The second set tiebreak was an Italian masterpiece much like the works of DaVinci; Schiavone's brilliant strokes pierced the court leaving Stosur defenseless and seemingly non-existent. As Francesca hoisted the trophy, her adoring fans showered her with love, and in turn she showered the stadium with her charm and grace. This was truly a wonderful day in Paris, the Italian flag flying proudly as this Italian Princess was fitted for her glass slipper!

The 2010 French Open, WWE Event, and Running barefoot??

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal appear to be on a collision course at this year's French Open. Sound familiar tennis fans?! Both players are in top form and I suspect the Final will be another epic battle of these European warriors. A special shout-out to Robbie Ginepri, the lone American man left in this year's draw. He had a great win yesterday against former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero. Keep on rockin Robbie! This year's best French Open apparel goes to Roger Federer, love the color combos and those shoes are freakin sweet!!

I recently purchased four tickets to the upcoming WWE event at the Roanoke Civic Center. While the cost was a little steep it's a great chance to heckle some of the greatest athletes in the world, not to mention my lovely wife is going to accompany me and watching her will be just as fun. A good friend of mine will also be in attendance and he is guaranteed to say something outrageous to each wrestler that crosses our path.........I'm not bailing him out though! :)

The most recent episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumble had a story about the benefits of running barefoot. At first, my reaction was why do you want to tear up your feet? But upon further review I'm now in favor. The data indicated that over a period of time today's runner takes advantage of the comfort of running shoes and alters their form because of it. This creates an un-natural running style and will result in more pounding and injuries as you age. Several companies have designed a very thin running shoe that I'm going to try out. I'll get back to you once I try them! Happy Memorial Day and please remember to thank all of our troops and vets!!

The Building of a Program indeed!!!

Comcast sports network aired the first episode of the ground breaking new series "Virginia Football: The Building of a Program" on Monday evening. The honesty of the show was astounding and the inclusion of the famous guy in the glass poem was a ghastly reminder of the pain the program, the fans, students, an alumni felt as the Groh era mercifully ended.

After Al Groh backed up the Wells Fargo truck to Scott Stadium to collect his multi-million dollar buyout for those impressive three wins last year it was time for the power brokers to pick his successor. Plenty of names were thrown out there and everybody had their favorite and a reason why, but Mike London was the pick and a helluva pick it was! In his first few months on the job his number one objective was hitting the delete button repeatedly.

He deleted the negative image of UVA to the VHSL Coaching Staffs. He deleted the one voice of the program media relations nightmare. He deleted the "you're in my doghouse" attitude that destroyed many a young player's confidence. He deleted the Al Groh ERROR.....I mean ERA and it's about damn time!

The expectation level is middle of the road as it should be, but I've seen all i need to see to let me know this was the man for the job. I am extremely excited about seeing all 18 episodes and can only hope that there aren't any State Politicians out there who will say that this show hurts the economy of Southwest Virginia!!!

The NFL Draft!!!

This just in...Ben Roethlisberger just did something else stupid.....and yet the Steelers kept him!! Bad move Pittsburgh...bad move....he is what's wrong with today's Pro Athlete. Should have traded him for a plastic helmet out of the gumball machine!! So this year's draft was something else and the biggest headliner was Denver! For all the wrong reasons!! They used a 1st round pick on Tim Tebow, TIM TEBOW!! Um, not a good decision, but then again nobody has accused Josh McDaniel of knowing what he's doing. Cleveland had a great draft and Colt McCoy is a future star and it's going to happen very quickly! Love the decision by Dallas to move up and get Dez Bryant, the best receiver in the draft! But he wasn't the first receiver picked, that was Thomas from Georgia Tech.....by Denver......so they screwed up on both 1st round picks??? Wow, who knew that the mile high altitude caused brain damage! Speaking of damage, how about this year's Washington and Philadelphia games, the ratings will be off the charts! I'm pulling for McNabb all the way, the Eagles shouldn't have done him that way.....he's no Ben Roethlisberger!!

UVA's Spring game, What's up with Lacrosse?, and the economy is turning around.....REALLY!

If the performance of the defense in Uva's spring game is any indication of the kind of football they will play this year, Uva might be in a every game! The flip side to that.....if Uva's offense is as inept this season as they looked in the spring game then it won't really matter. I'm hoping that this is just a rough transition and Marc Verica was simply taking it easy on the defense. Hmm, what a brilliant plan.......he is a senior at Uva so he's definitely smart enough to have thought this true.....of course......BRILLIANT!! A note to Coach Mike London, I LOVE your enthusiasm and I truly hope the team feeds off of that, a welcome change from Dictator Al and his bridge over troubled waters facial expressions. Also, I'd like to see Coach Welsh raise the Power of Orange flag this year.......that would be very special!!

Uva's number 1 ranked lacrosse team played and lost to Duke for an eighth straight time which begs to question, what the hell is going on??? This team is loaded with talent and yet when they play Duke they fold like an amateur on a celebrity Texas-hold'em reality show! Their face-offs were a joke and I hate to say it but the team lacked heart out there Saturday night. These two teams face off again Friday in the ACC Tournament. I hope they show up ready and hungry Friday........my god it isn't like Duke is VT and we're playing football!! :)

Over the past several weeks I have been feverishly persuing other employment. I've noticed the pickings were extremely thin to start, however, over the past few weeks there have been more and more jobs posted and the classifieds are more than one page long in the Sunday paper. The economy is slowly improving, jobs are being created, and the census jobs aren't the only reason why contrary to popular opinion. Yes we can, yes we will, and yes I just said that! :)

The National Championship game.......Tiger's Press Conference

Butler wins the National Championship!!!!!.........That should have been the headline in today's paper but the officiating made sure that wasn't the headline! Coach K and his usual whining and complaining bought Duke a two-point win and a fourth National Championship. Duke is very easy to dislike and if you watched last night's game it's easy to see why, they are soft and play soft! Coach K is good for 8 to 10 points a game based on whatever blackmail material he has on this country's refs, must be some really good dirt!! I'd like to congratulate Butler on a wonderful season and I hope they will continue to build off of this year. Maybe one day their coach will stumble onto some information he can use to sway the outcome of the game in his favor!

The Masters begins this week and yesterday Tiger Woods held his first press conference of the week. As you can imagine the room was packed and the press fired at will about his women, HGH, his wife, his kids, and there was even a golf question or two. Tiger handled each question well, never lost his cool, and was open and honest about the things he's done. This morning there were several spins put on each of Tiger's statements; everyone gave their two cents including body language experts telling us what this and that gesture really says. Only Tiger knows what he's done and there really isn't much else to say about it. On a personal note, he needs to destroy that shirt he was wearing yesterday and he seriously needs to shave the 20/20 predator fu-manchu facial hair......makes him look guilty!!

The Final Four, The Masters, UVA's Spring Game, and last night's party!

How about the Butler Bulldogs!! These guys are something else, they scrap, claw, and are a complete team! There Coach is animated and passionate, they play with no ego, and they will not be denied.........unfortunately they play Duke in the National Championship game and the refs will ultimately pull it out for the Dookies! It's really a shame cause this team has ruined most of the stereotypes of what it takes to win in college basketball. They have no superstar, aren't very athletic, yet here they are at the finish line. It's been a pleasure to watch them and I will be pulling for them Monday night. Did I mention that the refs have already decided the winner via the flop!!!!

Tiger's press conference tomorrow will be packed full of blood thirsty reporters just itching to ask the question that draws the money making reaction they are looking for! The first one to enrage Tiger will hopefully be rewarded with a passionate response, the man has admitted he was wrong and I think to deviate from that plan would sink his ship forever when it comes to the media and the fans. Tiger enjoyed the company of other women while he was married, was it wrong, ABSOLUTELY!! Will he have a difficult time explaining it to his children....ABSOLUTELY!!! Is he a human being that makes mistakes....ABSOLUTELY!! If this has cost him his marriage then it's what he deserves, if it's cost him money then it's what he deserves, if it's cost him the respect of his peers then it's what he deserves. But I have no right to judge the man and neither do any of us. I watch him play because he can do things with a golf ball that few humans have ever been able to do, not because he's a good person. He's human, that's all he is.

UVA's spring festival is next weekend and I can't wait to get up to Charlottesville. The fresh attitude and enthusiasm of this staff continues to energize the fans, alumni, student body, and supporters of the program and I for one can barely contain my excitement. New uniforms will be unveiled this week and that's wonderful and everyone will be wanting a piece of the new merchandise. Most important of all though is the feeling of HOPE around the program.....HOPE is a powerful thing and without it....well......we all reach for positive things nowadays and Mike London is as positive a person as I've ever met!! Go HOOS!!!

Last night a friend of ours invited us over for a small get together. Most of us have had a tough time lately in one or another avenue of our life. It was wonderful to meet new people, talk with them, share problems and feelings, and most important of all LAUGH with them!!! I haven't laughed that much in several months and I had almost forgot how much fun people can be regardless of what's going on around them. To those folks that were at the party it was a pleasure to meet all of you and those few hours really helped me remember who I am and what I'm about. Thank you all for that! By the way, if you had Chris and James in the beer pong pool, you won cause they dominated.......Way to go WOLFPACK!! ;)