"If I have to lose to someone he's the man, no?"

Well said Rafa.

As i mentioned earlier, Federer defeated Nadal today 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 to capture his first title in five tournaments, win his first clay court title in two years, and break Rafa's 81 match clay winning streak. Needless to say, I'm quite pleased.
As for how this might affect the French, i think it might have two effects for Roger. First, it gives Roger the confidence that he can win on clay and that he can beat his "nemesis." and given that success in tennis is heavily reliant on one's confidence, that's huge. at the same time though, i think this defeat will light a fire under Nadal. While the two appear to be buds (which i know choi hates), they are both fierce competitors. Therefore, Rafa will certainly want to win another major and now has more reason to stop R-Fed from doing it. All i can say in conclusion is that i am super excited for the French. if the tennis gods bless us with a Fed - Nadal showdown it will spectacular. and good lord willing if Roger wins, we may very well see a grand slam for the first time in a long time. maybe i will trip to paris from vienna after all for the final weekend...

as for other things/responses to choi:
(1) the cardinals are indeed awful. and believe it or not, i am pleased. despite our grossly inflated payroll (which only looks big because of pujols, edmonds, rolen and isringhausen) our ownership group refuses to spend money. after winning a world series, building a new stadium, and getting the all-star game... we spent nothing this offseason on what would obviously be a weakness. when you lose 4 of your 5 starting pitchers to free agency and replace them with basically nothing, success is likely to be hard to come by. and when you have corner outfielders who hit like middle infielders, you are also in trouble. unfortunately i believe that this season is a lost cause for my boys, and i recommend that the front office switch to sell mode. trade isringhausen and even rolen and in doing so free up payroll. why you ask? because a month ago miguel cabrera said he wanted to play in st. louis with albert pujols... if you have the opportunity to have that 3-4 in your lineup, it is absolutely inexcusable to not find a way to make it happen.

other baseball thoughts:
- yes, chipper interleague play is not fair. but deal with it, the fans love it. ticket sales go up, as do tv audiences. and while it isn't fair that you have to face the al east while the al central gets the dismal nl central, that's scheduling. it's tough luck that you drew the bo-sox and the yanks this year, but you won't have them next year as a result. as far as i'm concerned, the benefits of seeing the subway series, the windy city showdown, and the highway 70 series (cardinals-royals, and i'm just kidding, it's dismal) definitely outweigh the unfairness. plus allowing people in colorado to get a chance to see the yankee pinstripes once every few years seems like a great thing to me.
- the yankees are awful and not surprisingly. you need pitching in baseball believe it or not, and as of yet they do not have it.
- king felix... yes, he lost but he is back and may have the most disgusting stuff in baseball. there are very few reasons to care about the mariners (or the whole al west for that matter) but king felix is at the top of the list of why you should.

(2) nba playoffs... i thought i would have more thoughts, but seeing as i really haven't seen much of them lately (with the passport business and all) i can't say much. i will say that now that the suns-spurs series is over my intrigue is waning. that series was awesome... all that it lacked was the brawl i expected in game six. i do agree with choi that the nba made a revenue killing mistake by suspending amare, a suspension which i really don't feel was justified. i mean we're talkin bout the playoffs... not practice, the playoffs.
as for lebron, yeah he hasn't proven anything. i actually do agree with you here choi in all seriousness. i think he has shown us that he is a superb player with huge amounts of talent, but does that mean he's the next mj? of course not. not until he carries his team to a championship does he deserve a pedestal in the same room is mj, let alone next to him. so let's see how he does in this series against the pistons and then we'll talk.
as for the pistons being a dynasty... also no. i just said it to get a reaction out of choi. yes, they are a very solid team that is very consistent. but to be a dynasty i want to see 90s bulls results (or 90s cowboys, 00s patriots).

(3) uefa championship: yes, i am an idiot. in my exhausted state last night i said i would wrap up a game that will not be played until wednesday. applause for me.

that's all for now.
-m.riley