Random Thoughts Heading to May

It used to spring time was a relatively slow time for local sports in Charleston. Between the Stingrays playoffs and SoCon Baseball there wasn't much going on. No more. The Family Circle Cup kicked things off and before you know it we'll have back to back big time golf tournaments at the end of May. I'll be interested to see which tournament draws more interest from area golf fans. Will they be more excited to see the best male golfers over 50 at the Senior PGA Championship on Kiawah Island starting May 24th or the best women golfers in the world at the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika starting a week later at Rivertowne CC in Mt. Pleasant? Should be a fun few weeks of golf, but we'll keep our fingers crossed that Annika will host and play.
We're now starting to see some of the first former Riverdogs get called up by the Yankees. When Charleston was the D Ray's affiliate it was pretty common to see players up in the big leagues 2 years removed from low "A" ball. When the Yankees came on board as the parent club it looked like it would be a longer road to the Majors from Charleston....until the Yanks all the sudden became a near last place team in the AL East. Phil Hughes gets the start Thursday and if you saw him play at Riley Park in 2005, it's not much of a surprise.
I'm going to start a new blog tradition this week giving you the "North Dakota fact of the day". It all started on Fantalk on ESPN Radio 910 the Team. Long story short Bobby Hartin and Darren Goldwater found out I moved here from North Dakota and was a walk on quarterback at the University of North Dakota. I've now become the North Dakota expert in the Lowcountry. So here goes the fact of the day.....
The UND Fighting Sioux used to be called the UND Flickertails....named after the state bird. I prefer the Sioux. Fantalk can be heard Monday through Friday on 910am.

Don't Blame the Family Circle Cup

The week of tennis ended fittingly with a strange weather day at the Family Circle Cup. The tournament weathered its own storm cloud all week with players retiring with injuries, but you can't blame those in charge of the tournament. You can blame the WTA tour and its players. Serena Williams was the first to bow out during a match on Tuesday night. She was down 5-3 in the first set and had a noticeable limp, but said in her post match press conference that she thought she may be ready to play in 7 days. Way to work through the pain. The worst case of the injury bug happened on Friday night. Danira Safina was playing Tatiana Golovin in the night time match in front of the biggest crowd yet. It was some of the best tennis we'd seen all week then Golovin pulled out after losing the first set. An injured ankle seemed legitimate but then Safina was supposed to play doubles immediately following that match. That is until she realized she was in the semifinals then she came up with a mysterious injury and was not going to play doubles. And to think there are those who want us in the media to take doubles seriously. Not when a player pulls out simply because she's still playing in the singles draw. Maybe the players were all really injured so bad they couldn't go on, but it just seems like a few of them could have kept playing.
As for the best part of this tournament - had to be Saturday and Sunday. The Venus Williams vs Jelena Jankovic match was the best match I'd seen at the FCC in years. Jankovic seems to be the real deal. Sunday she had so much more mental toughness dealing with the wind that Safina never had a chance.
Let's just hope Jankovic stays healthy around this time next year.

Serve It Up

No Maria, Martina, or Justine, but we've still got Venus and Serena. Yes, the Family Circle Cup has begun on Daniel Island. The news so far (rightfully so) has been about who ISN't coming to play, now we can concentrate on who is here. Sharapova, Hingis, and Henin all withdrew because of "injuries" and whether they are real or imagined it's too bad for this tournament. Just don't tell the players in the field. We had "All Access Hour" today so all of the top 8 seeds come by each tv station, newspaper and do interviews. Serena was the star of the show and though she's never one to give long answers she did say she was healthy coming into this week. If she advances as expected and so does Venus the two would meet on Thursday in the round of 16. Serena admitted they need to work on their rankings so they won't have to play each other so early in tournaments. She's just the third seed in a tournament that has a top seeded teenager. Nicole Vaidisova is 17 years old and took over the top spot after Martina Hingis withdrew on Saturday.
A few observations from today:
The Nicest interview Award goes to Ana Ivanovic the 7th seed. She was voted Prettiest Player on Tour by Tennis magazine.
Shortest Answer Award: Serena.
Tallest Player Award: Vaidisova who is listed at 6'0 in the media guide but looks more like 6-2
More to come as the week goes on.