Ground Control to Major Tom

The embodiment of a franchise rebirth now must look elsewhere for employment.

Ranger fans...Garden Faithful...the 18,200 of you who walk into Madison Square Garden...you asked for it for a few weeks. You chanted it audibly last Sunday against the Flyers and maybe moreso inside the 6 inches that are between your ears for the last two months: "Fire Ren-ney!"

Clearly, the bloom has been off the rose of Tom Renney for the past few weeks as the New York Rangers have struggled to maintain their playoff standing (currently 8th) after starting the beginning of the season 10-2-1. The power play has been a season-long (as well as a tenure-long) problem, the free agent defense signings of Dimitri Kalinin and Wade Redden have been big to colossal busts, the burden put on goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is bigger than the gridlock of Manhattan, and the fans expectations being greater than what most thought have led to this firing of Renney.

And most Ranger fans support this change. My only question is: how can you be so naive to dump a man who gave a franchise the shot in the arm it needed for so many years, right to the curb like he was a pathetic loser running the Rangers?

Fans as MSG apparently didn't learn much from how bad Isiah Thomas was with the Knicks to see how good Renney was coaching the Rangers to 3 consecutive playoff appearances and two years ago, was roughly 7.7 seconds away from guiding the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Finals (and considering how good the Rangers were at handling the Big Three of the Ottowa Senators and how Jaromir Jagr owned a then fading Redden, it might as well been a Stanley Cup Final appearance). Here we stand in late February and Renney is updating his resume...

How did this happen? For one thing, Renney lost Jagr as well as Brendan Shanahan and Sean Avery and Martin Straka and General Manager Glen Sather (or "Savior" to some) never replaced them with any players of equal or greater talent for the 2008-09 season and to some extent, you could not fault Sather. Jagr and Shanahan had gotten on old legs and might have been too expensive to hold onto given their Hall of Fame status. Straka had business ventures back in the Czech Republic to explore and at 35 was not likely to get another long term deal. Avery, for all his disruptive antics on and off the ice, was too asking for too much money as a role player and without any marquee stars, the Rangers smartly locked up Lunqvist long term as their stable in net. The thought was after these events happened, the Rangers were going to be led by Scott Gomez and Chris Drury along with Lunqvist and give players like Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan time to mature along with Marc Staal (who at 22 might be the best one-on-one defensemen in the NHL already), Dan Girardi, and Petr Prucha-who had been sort of buried underneath the glut of the previous players on their way out. As a fan who had enjoyed 3 straight years in the hunt for Lord Stanley's Cup, knowing that if King Henrik got crazy hot for 4 rounds, there would be no time for any "1994" chants in the Uniondale Tomb (Nassau Colosseum), the Cup would be in New York...if the Rangers elected to develop their young talent and not make the postseason this year, you could have dealt with it and look to 2009-10 with the younger players a year better.

Instead Sather went and got Dead Legs Redden and Dimitri Kalinin to horrible contracts that makes you pine for Isiah Thomas giving Jerome James a long term deal and a free buffet card as a discount. In case you forgot, he also signed Markus Naslund (if you remember, his ghost plays right wing every now and then), and then signed Michal Rosival to a horrible extension (so horrible for Rosival that he developed a nerve condition called "dontshoothepuck-itis"), thus killing Rosival's hunger that he had for the previous 3 years and therefore buried Girardi, Paul Mara and held back the development of Corey Potter and Bobby Sangunetti in Hartford.

The message changed...the expectations were now in the "Grey Zone" of sports. The Grey Zone is the most perilous Zone to be in as a fan because you think your team can make a run but don't know if they should because it might cost you dearly for 5-10 years. In the case of the signings of Sather, the franchise might only be set back 2-3 years as long as Sather does not or did not panic and hotshot any other deals. Firing Renney was panic move #1. Firing Renney was a decision to try and motivate the players that were not performing up to their standards and to make an honest run this season back to contention. Panic move #2 would be to trade a young player with a reasonable deal for a lot just to save face for the season (this is where that Keith Thachuk for Dubinsky deal will leave me in a cold sweat). The main problem is now who takes Renney's place?

John Torterella...? "Yeah", Ranger fans shout. "He is a former Ranger coach, New York guy. Will motivate these players that Renney couldn't. By God, he won a Stanley Cup in Tampa Bay of all places!!!"

Yeah, But...

He wore out his welcome two years later (and remember this: the year after the Lightning won the Cup there was a lockout so Torterella had two years by default of being the man in the NHL) by bashing studs such as Vincent Lecavlier and Martin St. Louis publicly, and in case you have yet to figure this out Ranger Nation: coaches who win championships do not stay on the welfare line for four years because they like drinking LaBatt Blue and discussing X's and O's with Maguire and wondering how much of a lecherous prick Don Cherry actually is on Hockey Night in Canada. Torterella could not get along with his stars and the city of Tampa Bay, will New York and Larry Brooks' mighty pen be a salve to him? Highly unlikely. He or any interim coach will inherit a situation that on the surface has the Rangers struggling to stay in the playoffs (yes fans, the Rangers are actually still in 8th place in the Eastern Conference and Carolina and Buffalo have goaltending injuries that is now more vital than ever so it will take the Toronto Maple Leafs and their 5 Year Plan to get rid of the Rangers from postseason contention), and struggling to live up to the expectations that clearly are weighing on winners such as Gomez and Drury.

Gomez in years past when things might have gone south could look behind him and see the all-world goaltender (Martin Brodeur) and the greatest defense pairing of all time (Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermeyer) and feel that the world is ok. Drury could look back and see Patrick Roy and Ray Bourque and then to the side of him see Joe Sakic and Petr Foresburg and feel that the world is ok. They both have the King and Staal right now but they have no one else and now they have a new head coach who will change the system to attack and take risks offensively, which might help Gomez. Drury's game will not change as well as the big game ability of the Ranger captain, but the message has or might change. Will it work? Can Naslund find his hands on the power play again? Can Redden finally be Redden on both ends of the ice? Will Rosival shoot when he is open? Will Prucha see the light of day and play alongside Zherdev and Lauri Korpikoski?

Will the change work? I hope I am wrong about Torerella and his ability to get along with his better players without killing them. I hope the Rangers find their balance again as an offense and have the Garden behind them once again. I hope...I hope...I hope.

With Tom Renney I had hope...now I don't know what I have.

To reply to Leftyism's posts, email me at Senordoscien527@aol.com.

"Bowling Blind"-The Exteme Swing

PBA Tour
GEICO Plastic Ball Championship

In some strange and warped parallel universe, Tom Clark and I must have been separated at birth from the head. In his recent profession as an editorial writer for USA Today, Mr. Clark bemoaned what technology has done to the sport of bowling by stating that "The bowling balls of today are the steroids of our sport". In a time where we (those that supposedly write about relevant material) elect to put certain legends on pedestals for a majority of their career and then upon suspicion of cheating in any manner, destroy them as if we are the keepers of the moral conscience of sports. To any sports writer whom elects to do this is just as shallow as a conspirator of the game as the athlete who dares to "stay ahead of the game" by using performance-enhancing drugs and then deny fact. Why deny fact, you say, instead of coming clean? The answer is evident in the athlete's usage of said PED's: it is either kill or be killed...go back home to the farm, they city, the plant, or whatever trade or profession who were born into by family. Any admission to cheating is subject to the wrath of us, the media, or as the legendary Ted Williams would call writers, "The Knights of the Keyboard".


So why don't we just erase this entire generation of bowlers from the recent PBA's 50 All-Time Greatest Bowlers? One could surely argue that technology has enabled the career paths for Fab 50 bowlers such as Jason Couch, Patrick Allen, Chris Barnes, and Tommy Jones as players who have bowled exclusively in this era of modern technological advances. They are all lock down, case closed Hall of Fame bowlers but they bowled in a generation where bowling balls have been made en masse, layouts can be made to cater to a lane condition, surfaces altered, weight blocks manipulated, and any other means of gaining an advantage. Of course it would be dumb and idiotic to deny these 4 players their just due as the best 4 bowlers of this era (post 1997) by saying that because they have gone up against the game's previous legends and future stars.


What about saying that technology has helped further the career of legends like Parker Bohn III and Walter Ray Williams, Jr. who appeared to have fallen behind the curve on technology then suddenly find themselves to retain their Hall of Fame careers? Of course, no one would ever say such a thing but lets look logically for a few moments at this. Bohn and Williams throughout the 90's were the two most consistent players on Planet Earth making show after show and winning titles left and right and then both went through struggles post 2000, with Dead Eye making the transition smoother than Bohn did:


Bohn in the 90's (1990-1999):
-66 TV appearances
-20 Titles
-$1,477,067 in earnings


Williams in the 90's:
-86 TV appearances
-25 Titles
-$1,689,969 in earnings


Bohn's down years came from 2002-2004 where he failed to win for 52 events and while players such as Couch, Allen, and Barnes had made strides and won titles and became tour stars. As for Williams, he hit two small skids in his career in early 2000 and 2003 where he basically looked as if he was finally slowing down but then he made big charges to make shows and win titles and make poor seasons your good ol' WRW season.


Naturally we aren't going to rip them for using the modern missiles of bowling balls to stay competitive. Both have won this season, both are still top 15-20 players at their age and are still marketable stars. They are also favorites for this week's most anticipated and perhaps most controversial tournament in its 50 year history with the So Easy a Caveman Could do It Plastic Ball Championship.

Ladies and Gentlemen...Tom Clark has cleaned up the game! Let's have him go after Donald Fehr and Gene Orza...




The formula is simple: All players in the main 64 player draw are to be given two identical plastic balls with the 50th Anniversary logo on each ball. Once the players have the balls, they can drill and alter surface in the way they see fit then bowl 14 games of qualifying and then the PBA brings back the single elimination best of 7 match play to determine the final 4 bowlers on the show. The PTQ will be contested with modern equipment and the standard amount of bowlers and the high amateur will get into the main draw. As of this blog, the PTQ ended and so far, the PBA has struck gold on its lineup for this week. For this tournament to be effective, the PBA needed to have a few names involved that weren't there in the main draw and they pulled an inside straight with this:


1) Brian Voss: He needed to be involved in this tournament. As one of the main proponents of limiting technology and basing your game on skill, dexterity, and mental fortitude, Voss deserved this honor of getting the vaunted Commissioner's Exemption. As a Hall of Famer, a 50 Greatest and a man who won his last 4 PBA tournaments using exactly one ball for each tournament, Voss needed to be here.


2) John Nolen: Last week's USBC Masters champion was given an additional Commish exemption and why not give him one? He is a future star in this sport, with a game that if you look closely enough starts to remind you a guy name Husted, comma, David. The last two tournaments he has bowled in were both open tournaments on demanding conditions and he went 8th and 1st. To say that he needed to find a way in the main draw was saying that Lindsay Lohan needs a milkshake (anyone who recently saw her in today's New York Post and knows her has to direct her to the nearest porterhouse steak...PRONTO!!!).


3) Jason Belmonte: The two-handed Aussie worked his way through the PTQ to just barely make it in (how they didn't wall the PTQ for Belmo just so that he can get in safely is stunning...but I digress) and enter the Round of 64. For those that have seen Belmonte's remarkable physical skills, it will be interesting to see if using only plastic balls will either make him a major favorite or a major disappointment this week.





Fans hope to see Belmonte exercise his unique two-handed style with
nothing but a pancake weighted bowling ball.


4) Mike Keily: Another PTQ advancer from Lakewood, Colorado and one of the local favorites. There has always been this inward feeling amongst local bowlers that if a top pro came by and you limited what he could use for bowling balls and bowled straight up action games, the local guy would have the distinct advantage knowing the house characteristics. Keily is in the Round of 64 and here is the local star's dream of running down the elite pros on about as fair a playing field as you are ever gunna get so he becomes an instant personal favorite of mine. Added to that is his sister, Mandy is a good friend of Ms. Peloquin, as they were teammates and close friends on Vanderbilt's first national championship bowling team so I got some personal bias toward him.




OK, so we got the elements out of the way as well as some individual stories of some players...now the real question is for this momentous event, who will be able to survive bowling's version of the IROC racing and win the Plastic Championship? First, here are some players that I feel will not be successful this week:


Wes Malott: I am going to be about as generous as I can about Malott here for a moment in that he's remarkably talented and should be a factor in every tournament he bowls in. Then Wes opens his mouth...


"I'm not a huge fan of it (the format), to be honest," said Wes Malott, 32, who leads the PBA standings but won't compete in Wheat Ridge. "They're taking away the technology the sport has embraced. Nobody's asking Tiger Woods to use a wood driver or Roger Federer to use a wood racket. It's not how you control the advancements in our sport."


Note to Wes: if you elect to show that kind of dismissal toward one of the tour's most anticipated events and then choose not to bowl in it because you do not think it embraces the technology of the sport, then you have thoroughly missed the point of the tournament as explained by Clark:


"We want to turn back the ball technology; we want to illuminate how the technology works — by removing it. We want to create an environment that's unique, that asks bowlers to prove their skill."

There are reasons why I have not supported guys such as Malott and Williams in the past years for their utter dismissal of certain things the PBA is trying to explore and trying to attract viewers that...DUH...might want to pay to see them bowl. Chances are that Tom Clark is going to be the most influential figure in the sport for the next 20 years and anyone that is bowling and fails to embrace change of a unique kind should probably go back home and choose another profession.

Tommy Jones: He might either have a great week or a bad week. Chances are is that he won't this week because Jones has admittedly struggled with his game this season. He has been too steep in his swing which has caused him to try and alter his physical gifts and when the technology isn't there to help him create area and pin carry, he might suffer from it. I kinda hope I'm wrong with this one but I have to observe carefully.

Mike Scroggins: Time not to beat the dead horse (copyrighted by yesterday's blog), but the lefty-righty question begs some transference in this event. There are some major issues creeping up that the right handers using only plastic balls will carry the oil down so much that it will create unusual transition for the players. As for the lefties, the backends will stay fresher and play easier to get to the pocket and, ostensibly their scores will be better. Naturally, this would encourage you to think that Scroggs and his party will get a chance to bowl on Sunday. However, Scroggins needs to create area and hold for himself to be an effective player and chances are, he will not have any this week. He will need to hook the ball far more this week to increase his carry and for Scroggins, that could mean a short week.

Chris Barnes (Norry): Naturally, the president of the IHL league (I Hate Lefties for long) will be more or less whining about that previous fact that the left will play that way will cause Barnes to register a 25 on the Fry Out meter and forget that he is actually the most talented player in this field and should make the TV show Sunday.

As for the bowlers who will make a good showing this week, there needs to be a few elements that a bowler must have:

1) Experience: Anyone that bowled in the 80's when these balls were in vogue and lane conditions went through some strange carrydown and low scoring, you will need someone who has seen these things before.

2) Accuracy: Threading a needle this week will at the very least, help players identify who is throwing it the cleanest and who has their game in sync with the plastic balls.

3) Power: Of the firmness and directional sense and not of the revolution sense. If you can play direct and maintain carry without lack of deflection, then you have a shot at this title.

4) Do not look at the pattern: The Cheetah pattern is the pattern being laid out for the week and usually it dictates an outside line with good ball speed. The only problem is that you do not want to overthrow plastic balls because they will never grab the lane. This might be a crazy observation but you might see players utilizing the deep inside line moreso this week to maximize carry as the outside part of the lane might get too swirly. Caution: too much belly through the front from in is not likely to work. Look for the fallback shot from in to be a possible winning combination.

Take those into account and here are a few guys that might win in my eyes:
Tommy Delutz Jr.: Few guys in the sport of professional bowling play the deep inside line as good as the former Willy P Pioneer can and in a week where Delutz might get to use that to his advantage, expect him to get deep into this tournament and break that long drought of losing.

Jason Couch: Lefty+revs+playing in=instant favorite. As long as Couch can read the way the lanes are playing and get a good draw in match play, he will be in good shape.

Mika Koivuneimi: A pertinent follower of the perverse lane condition and limited technology in his overseas career plus his incredible mental game can make him a front line favorite to win.

Chris Barnes (again): How can he be both a favorite and not a factor? Because he is Chris Barnes, damnit. He should be able to get to the finals easily when you think about it. He has got every conceivable advantage and skill to be a factor in this tournament. You just hope that Barnes realizes that and can ignore the left-right factor.

Who will actually win? It is hard to say and easy to say really. It's easy to choose a top star like Williams or Pete Weber or Norm Duke because they are who they are because of all their great skills and mental ability. Williams, for one should embrace this challenge to truly cement his greatness as a player to fans who don't truly see him in that light. We all know Weber has got the game's most pure release in the sport. We all know Duke has the best touch in the world. So why have this conversation? Because it is worth seeing if someone can rise up from the ashes to show us something we did not think was possibly from him. It would be even easier to choose a top lefty like Bohn or Patrick Allen because of the left side of the lane playing cleaner downlane, however I am not going there either.

The winner of this tournament can't really be easily picked out because this favorite of mine has not really been healthy enough for me to get behind him but if there is anyone who can handle this change in technology would be the man who truly re-established the power game and sent it to another level and that is Mr. Robert Smith. How on earth can this man not be the heavy favorite for this first ever plastic ball championship? The pattern is one of his strengths (Cheetah), he has plenty of ball speed and revs to keep his A game reasonably close, and lets face it-is there a more fun show on TV than watching Maximum Bob doing something only imaginable by common folk with a 10 pound ball? If his hip and back are feeling good and he has a good enough look on the lanes, he can certainly win this thing.

One more thing about Smith: he has been teetering on the verge of having to retire because of these lingering injuries and it would be a tremendous loss for bowling fans not to see Smith bowl in the coming years. Perhaps a win here would give fans one more glimpse into what might have been for a guy who has suffered through some plain bad luck in his career. It's time to see Smith back on his game.

"Bowling Blind"

No longer unknown, John Nolen took his place among the new generation

of stars this week in Las Vegas.

"Yeah, But..."

ESPN personality/comedian/NutraSystem spokesperson/Eagles music fan Chris Berman loves to "beat the dead horse" analogy, well...like beating a dead horse. Be that as it may, on NFL Countdown Sundays before bowling telecasts in the 2007-08 season, you can hear Boomer Berman talking about the Jacksonville Jaguars and all their overall talent, their good young coaching staff, and how they might have been able to put a stop to Tom Brady and the Belicheats undefeated streak. However, he would always give the Jags this classic line: "Yeah, But...", meaning that as much as you like it, there is something missing from really, really liking it. Almost as if the Jags were the chorus girl in high school that had a great voice and with the right type of look, could be a megastar singer. Yeah, But...she had split ends. Yeah, But...she has a rotten personality. Yeah, But...Yeah, But...

The last few weeks of the PBA Tour have been right along those "Yeah, But..." weeks despite them having two great backdrops with the Dick Weber Open and the USBC Masters, both shows failed to live up to the hype of what was happening.

(Flashback alert....)

Dick Weber Open: Norm Duke crafted a sensational performance in derailing Mike Fagan. Fagan had navigated his way through 3 match wins to get to the title match and Duke, the top seed, had to show great touch in playing the outside line to win and did so with a sensational 278 game while Fagan sputtered losing his inside line losing the match and finishing second. It was Duke's 3rd win of the season and got him within two points of Wes Malott on the Player of the Year points list (foreshadowing to come). It was truly a great exhibition of shotmaking making Duke worthy of winning the tournament named after one of the game's all time great bowlers in Mr. Weber.

Yeah, But...did you see how good Mike Fagan was??? Hey, everyone knows I love Norm Duke more than any other player in the game and he showed great touch in crushing Fagan in the title match but Mike Fagan has made the leap to that level as a player that we will see often in the next few years. His sick, athletic game, as well as that awesome looking argyle shirt (for which there is no picture of ANYWHERE...how can that be?!?) makes for good television and he was able to deliver for a solid hour of bowling on a demanding condition only to run out of lane against the great Duke. Fagan is still missing a singles title but you can't help but think that he, along with Bill O'Neill will be champions real soon out here. Did the PBA make a point of this, by the way? Um...no, not really.

USBC Masters: John Nolen made history by claiming major glory by defeating Danny Wiseman at the newly constructed Cashman Center in Las Vegas, Nolen's first pro title to boot. The 29-year-old from Waterford, Michigan literally came from the longshot column to pretty much dominate the entire week of bowling. He led qualifying, then in the unique and dangerous double-elimination match play ran through 6 opponents to head to Sunday at the top seed. His good roll continued, edging out Wiseman in the title match for the Masters win. For Nolen, it is a $60,000 pay day and a two year exemption and the second straight season a young star in his 20's establishes his ability to march his way through the sport's most grueling match play tournament.

Yeah, But...there were two odd things about the telecast that did not make sense to me. First, how dead was that audience? Maybe I am looking for a 5 star crowd to really galvanize the bowlers every week but can the fans of professional bowling start showing some life, pluh-leeeze???

Maybe I should blame the pros for that but I will get off that because it is a major and there is no more greater objective for a bowler than to focus on the 60 feet in front of them in this spot with so much on the line, including so much for both Nolen and Wiseman. It was made pretty evident that this day was Danny Wiseman's possible farewell to pro bowling. He is 41 years old, has 11 titles as well as a Masters title on his future Hall of Fame resume. A second Masters crown and two year exemption would have been enticing for Wiseman to keep his career going. When he went shaker 10 in the 10th to lose, you almost got the sense that this was it for one of the game's most flamboyant and highly skilled players. I hope Wiseman does not leave the stage as long as he is still exempt but this was a prime example that Wiseman still has game.

The other note that confused me on TV was those Player of the Year standings showing up. Since Norm Duke finished 5th this week, he failed to make the telecast and the lead in the POY standings, yet somehow when the graphics came up, he was tied with Malott for the lead. A question would be How?!? How can you humanly base a POY race, which formulates itself on making television as a legitimate award when a bowler fails to make the TV show by one spot yet ties for the lead? Again, I go back to my eyes and tell me who the POY has been this year and it is a 3 person race between Duke, Malott, and Allen. Allen and Duke have to have a slight edge over Duke because they both have major wins this year while Malott in his one crack came up short. How hard is this people? Seriously...

In any event the last two weeks were clear indications that the PBA is still having difficulty trying to sell its sport on television and I still foresee problems in the future...that is, if they were standard tour stops. The next few weeks come arguably the most critical 6 weeks the PBA's 50 year history with the "Extreme Swing", a 5 event swing that will test the game's elite on a myriad of lane conditions with different formats, different equipment, and different lane conditions during days of certain tournaments that can attract fans who might have waned on the same old same old of pro bowling a chance to find a new passion for a dying love that is bowling. Here is hoping that the PBA gives no "Yeah, But..." to the fans watching live or at home. Of course, the 6th and final week will be the ultimate test of bowling, the US Open. For the next few weeks, I will give my loyal 5 or 6 readers predictions on the coming weeks every Wednesday on each event as to who will win.

Yeah, But...you might be proven wrong. So what? At least I am there as a fan watching. Yeah...

Chasing More Than History

Hungry for more? Rafael Nadal outlasted Roger

Federer in a scene we are becoming used to seeing.

They all say the same thing about a rivalry in sports: it is only a rivalry if both sides are seen as equals and that they can win an equal amount of times. It draws fans of a hardcore and a casual nature. These two sides can draw you to a television set, a radio, a newspaper, Internet, or any other form of media at any time and it makes for good drama. This past Sunday night (or early Sunday morning-depending on your take), Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal took to center stage at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia and put on another classic 5-set, 5-star, 5 hour match that was supposed to be another step for Federer in his quest to match Pete Sampras' 14 Grand Slam titles. Winning so over Nadal would have done two things of significance: the first being Federer tying Sampras at 14 apiece and the second being Federer, after dropping the last two finals to Nadal and losing his reign at Wimbledon in arguably the greatest match of all time, winning over Nadal would give him the one edge that Federer had not lost in his glorious stretch of possibly being the greatest tennis player that ever lived: hard court dominance.

Yes, he lost to Novak Djokovic in last year's Aussie Open but he had just gotten over Mono for cryin' out loud and he has lost some titles to Nadal on hard courts but nothing on the major level to where the aura of Federer had not been diminished. Yes, Nadal was the #1 ranked player in the world but Federer had won 8 of his 13 majors on this surface (3-Aussie Open; 5-US Open) and was certainly the #2 ranked player and probably could have been considered 1a. In the hearts of many, Federer was still the man and would prove that one more time.

But he didn't...

No he did not. Instead, Rafael Nadal after surviving a 5-set, 5 hour marathon over Fernando Verdasco less than 48 hours later, beat Roger Federer in another Grand Slam final. Yes, now Nadal is truly the world's best player-no longer a slave to the moniker of a man who is only good on the organic surfaces and his physical style, a detriment on hard court surfaces, overcame Federer, fatigue, fans (no matter what commentators Dick Enberg and Patrick McEnroe said, the crowd was certainly pro-Federer but thankfully not anti-Nadal), and the specter of number fourteen for Fed in 5 sets and almost 5 hours.

For Nadal, it is now major number 6 and at twenty-two years old, by God....he is already on his own historic pace to run past the record books as he continued his major dominance over Federer. Whether it be Paris or the All-England Club or now the microwave like heat of Melbourne, Nadal sees Federer, he embraces challenges and history and the mystique of Roger Federer. As for the vanquished, Federer sees Nadal, he sees a stumbling block to history. A stop sign to being the greatest player of all time because logic would dictate that in order for a legend to truly be considered amongst the discussion of greatest ever, shouldn't he/she have to beat their greatest rival? Sampras beat Agassi despite many considering Agassi to be the better all around player. Laver beat Newcombe and Pat Cash no matter if it was the Open Era or the Amateur Era. Agassi however, never beat Sampras in a major final to firmly establish his all-time greatness, but we all knew where he stood in the previous generation of tennis: number two. This conversation between Federer and Nadal still has no conclusion so far.

The tears of agony from Roger

Federer only summate what was

truly a lost opportunity.

Tennis fans cannot argue that at some point, Federer will overtake Sampras in Grand Slam victories. He is a young 27 years old, has never sustained one major physical injury, and seems to have an effortless floatation and levitation on the court that will keep him majors for a few more years to come. He still has not lost the magic of Flushing Meadows, where the grind of a long season kills many a player's major chances, Federer keeps the same pace and meticulous approach to the tune of 5 consecutive US Open titles and there is no doubt that despite this setback, he is still the best hard court player alive today and might as well be of all-time. However, the stigma of Nadal can haunt his legacy: he now stands 1-5 against Rafa in Grand Slam finals and has seen his aura weaken. No longer is he considered a factor in Paris after Nadal embarrassed Federer at last year's French Open. He lost his grip at his castle-Centre Court, Wimbledon to Nadal in "The Greatest Match of All-Time". He now has lost his hard court edge to Nadal, who is easily in the head of Federer. The tears across the usually emotion-less 13-time Grand Slam champion was the greatest sign of all: Federer for perhaps the first time in his career showed fans his emotion of another level in defeat. He showed us frailty as a human being as to how much he wanted this night to be his...how he wanted this night against his greatest rival to firmly entrench his greatness in tennis history. Time however, has had other plans laid for the Fed Express. He must wait...

Time will have to wait but now this question you are left with it this: we all know Federer will pass Sampras...but now, how many will Nadal win???