The Morning Report, Vol. 1

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Ah, the first Saturday of college football. A tasty appetizer before the MAIN COURSE WHICH IS NOW JUST EIGHT DAYS AWAY WEEK 1 OF NFL WEEK 1 OF NFL OMIGOD OMIGOD...

Sorry about that. It's too early for outward emotion. But seriously, great day of college football ahead. For me personally, I'll be watching medleys all day.

11 am (CST):
Northern Iowa at No. 22 Iowa (my NEW local team)
Minnesota at Syracuse

2:30 pm:
Mizzou-RAH at Illinois
No. 13 Georgia at No. 9 Oklahoma State (let's go, Z-Rob)

6 PM:
Northern Illinois at Wisconsin (more on the Badgers later today)

7 PM:
No. 5 Alabama at No. 7 Virginia Tech


God, I miss Madison today. But anyhow...

Throw in a STAR-STUDDED day of U.S. Open tennis (Federer-Hewitt, Oudin-Sharpova in a battle of the hotties, Djokovic-Witten, Soderling-Querrey, Isner-Roddick, topped off by Blake-Robredo) and, um, why leave the house? Butt, meet couch. It's been a while.

But before we get started, here are six points to ponder in the first (and hopefully not last) installment of "The Morning Report", which'll rattle off some lingering thoughts when I wake up in the a.m.

• These Toaster Scrambles - bacon, egg and sausage - are deeeeeeeeeeeelicious.
  
• Watched Big Ten Cookout this morning, and it took me about 4.8 seconds to figure out that Melanie Collins - our April TNEA - is really dumb. Like, kind of unconsciously dumb. I'll cut her a break, since she's 22 and just getting started on TV (and apparently, BTN thinks it's a great idea to have a girl fresh out of college hosting important Saturday shows). But she's got a lot of work to do before entering the class of our girl EA. But still...you say Big Ten Cookout, I say "Stare at Melanie Collins' Rockin' Body For 30 Minutes." She is deeeeeeeeeeelicious.


• Answer to a previous tennis trivia question (Name the 11 American citizens to win a GS singles title in my lifetime): Sampras, Agassi, Roddick, Serena and Venus are the easy ones. The toughies? Jim Courier (4, a two pair of Aussies and Frenches between 1991-93), Michael Chang (the 1989 French, two months before Matt and Dan's births), Lindsay Davenport (every tournament but the French, between '98 and 2000), Jennifer Capriati (two Aussies and a French), and then the two American converts - Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles.


• After two rounds, heading into Labor Day weekend, my dad holds a slight 90-88 point lead over me in our U.S. Open draw. Overall, he has been better: all 8 of his quarterfinalists are still in tact and he didn't make a lot of dumb early picks. Despite me losing Mardy Fish as a quarterfinalists, my entire top half round of 16 is still in tact (and they could all win today too), which has helped me keep pace. Again, I have Murray beating Federer in the final, Dad has the opposite.


• Go ahead and Google "college football". This is the No. 2 hit. And this is the No. 9 hit. Gotta love the fact that college football has apparently become synonymous with Jenn Sterger. Google is awesome.


• Picks, picks, picks: I'll take Oklahoma State to barely fight off Georgia (best game of the day), No. 3 Oklahoma to sneak by No. 20 BYU, Northern Colorado to stun No. 25 Kansas in Lawrence in my upset special, Washington to topple No. 11 LSU in my other upset special, and No. 7 Virginia Tech to score a big BCS win over No. 5 Alabama tonight. Also give me Miami over host No. 18 Florida State in my third upset special on Monday, Michigan narrowly over Western Michigan, Wisconsin big over Northern Illinois (again, more on this later today), Illinois over Missouri, and common sense over LeGarrette Blount's stupidity.

College football preview coming later today! Enjoy Labor Day Weekend, everybody!

-AJ

U.S. Open preview

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This will have to serve as Case of the Mondays for the week...and while I'm hoping to post again before next Monday - especially Sportsman and TNEA, which is due Tuesday - this is going to be one more intense week of work before I can get into that weekly fall rhythm. Then we'll have consistent blog updates on NFL stuff (including fantasy and PICK 'EM!!!), as well as the baseball postseason and the start of the college football season. Fall is here, folks. SOOOOOOOO excited.

Here's a U.S. Open 2009 preview compiled by me and my dad. I'll try to post my picks against my father's as the draw progresses.

Best First-Round Matchup: No. 2 Andy Murray and Ernests Gulbis. First round? SERIOUSLY?!?! This is quarterfinal-worthy banter. What a treat for early bird fans at Flushing.
David: Murray & Gulbis
Tasty Third-Round Matchup: No. 5 Andy Roddick and John Isner. Any American-American matchup is a good draw, especially when it's popular vet versus upstart young'n. Check for No. 6 Juan Martin Del Potro and No. 25 Mardy Fish as well.
David: No. 13 Gael Monfils & No. 18 Ferrer
Tasty Quarterfinal Matchup: No. 1 Roger Federer and No. 22 Sam Querrey. Just another tough American matchup on hostile grounds for The King.
David: Del Potro & Murray
Championship Matchup You Want To See But Probably Won't: Hmmmm...lots of good choices here. I'll go with No. 21 James Blake - the man is running out of time for his breakthrough major - against either No. 6 Del Potro or No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, as both are equally fun to watch. Blake-Tsonga would be particularly intriguing from a cultural standpoint: both black players of, respectively, British and French descent, playing in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
David: Roddick & anyone
Over/under on American men making third round: 4.5. Over or under? (Hint: 16 are in the draw, before qualies) : I've got Blake, Querrey, Isner and Roddick all making the top half third round, with Fish joining them from the bottom half, which gives me five. I think Jesse Levine and - sleeper alert! - Jesse Witten winning a pair of rounds too. Gotta take the over.
David: Over
Over/under on Roger Federer lost sets in tournament: 4.5. Over or under? He'll lose three of them on Championship Sunday. He'll lose no more than one before then, with that Bounty soft draw. Under.
David: Over
Top Ten player who will lose in first two rounds: Federer. OK, just kidding. Del Potro better mind his step with former U.S. Open champ Marat Safin - who's playing his final Grand Slam event - lurking in the second round.
David: No. 8 Nikolay Davydenko
Unranked player who could crash the quarters: I have no unseeded players in the Sweet 16, so I'll pull one out of my butt here: Marcel Granollers of Spain, out of No. 12 Robin Soderling's 2nd round and Davydenko's quarter.
David: Robby Ginepri (if happens, would come from the Nadal quarter of draw)
Biggest name to show up as a spectator in New York: How about our Commander-in-Chief? He seems to take a special liking in numerous sports.
David: A-Rod or Regis (depends on how you define "biggest")
Latest time you will leave Flushing Meadows at night: Those guys? I bet they'll get out of there at 2:45 some morning. Then head promptly to Neptune's, eat till 5 in the morning, and be back at Flushing by 10. Troopers, not party poopers they are.
David: 1:30 am
Average price of a Heineken at Flushing: With the economy the way it is, maybe they'll be forgiving on concession prices. Not likely in the Big Apple, though. Probably $7.50.
David: $6.25
Quarterfinal picks: Federer over Querrey; No. 4 Novak Djokovic over No. 20 Tommy Haas; No. 3 Rafael Nadal (how weird do "3" and "Nadal" look together?) over No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez; Murray over Fish.
David: Federer over Querrey/Roddick over Djokovic/Gonzalez over Ferrer/Del Potro over Murray
Semifinal picks: Federer over Djokovic; Murray over Nadal.
David: Federer over Roddick/Del Potro over Gonzalez
Championship pick: Andy Murray wins his 1st, in four sets.
David: Roger Federer wins his 16th

-AJ