State of our former QB, Aaron Rodgers

[rmontro]

Yeah Rodgers has lived life with a chip on his shoulder. Not really sure why. Some people are built like that.

There was a report a few weeks ago that he had reconciled with his parents. Not sure what the beef was (don't really care), but it's nice to see, hope it lasts.

 

[gopkrs]

Our adopted son, who lives in Madrid, Spain was in Murcia on business. When he took the train back to Madrid from Murcia, Alcaraz got on the train in El Palmar, and sat in the seat next to him while the traveled to Atoche station in Madrid. Alcaraz sat down next to him because Oscar was wearing a University of Wisconsin Shirt and cap. The tennis star wanted to know all about his two-years living with us in Illinois. He apparently has considered coming to the states to spend some time and was wondering how different it was from Spain.

Apparently, he was raised in Murcia, and except for his tennis travels, he hasn't seen that much of the world, and that which he does see is surrounded by tennis.

Oscar said he was a nice guy, but kind of a nerd whose life has been strictly around tennis, and practically nothing else.

El Nino de Atoche. A famous Christ child in Spain.

 

[Voyageur]

El Nino de Atoche. A famous Christ child in Spain.

Train depot in Madrid in this case.

Love Spain. Spent two vacations there with my wife. Each time over a month. The only thing I regret is that we turned down an opportunity to go down to Gibraltar while we were in Rota. Our dear friend, who died of cancer a few years back, had to go there on business, and asked if we'd like to join him. It was about a 2-hour drive, and he was going to be in meetings all day so we could have wandered around and checked it out. Instead, we stayed at their house. My wife decided to just relax on upper deck patio, and I chose to go to the beach which was 50 yards away. I got a heckuva shock when I got to the beach. It was a top optional beach, and there were a lot of women running around with no tops on. I kept my sunglasses on because I didn't want anyone to realize I was enjoying the entertainment. Especially the dozen ladies playing beach volleyball.

When I got back to the house, I told my wife about it. She just laughed.

 

[milani]

Sinner against Alcaraz is amazing. Also amazing is seeing how much Djokovic has left in his tank.

Djokovic has always focused on fitness and health. I believe that is the difference today with the athletes from the past generations. It is not some of the time. It is all the time.

 

[milani]

I never thought about it, but the last time I actually watched a tennis match was when Pete Sampras won the US Open in I think 1996. I forget who his opponent was in the final, but Sampras gave everything in hot weather. He was literally out of gas near the end, leaning on his racket for support between points. I enjoyed watching tennis around that time, but now I never watch it.

I recall the particular match. It was the Quarterfinal in which Pete defeated Alex Corretja. He started vomiting on the court. Even though they hydrate during a match sometimes the body disagrees. Pete went on to win the semi and the final with a lot less discomfort. Now I know players were allowed a 15 minute bathroom break in those days. Sometimes the break can help or sometimes it hurts.
In the 1980s Jimmy Connors was heavily hydrating in 100 degree heat at the Open against Ivan Lendl. Suddenly, he had the runs. He took the bathroom break and went on to win the match. Lendl had to sit in the changeover chair and wait. The momentum shifted after the break.

I never thought about it, but the last time I actually watched a tennis match was when Pete Sampras won the US Open in I think 1996. I forget who his opponent was in the final, but Sampras gave everything in hot weather. He was literally out of gas near the end, leaning on his racket for support between points. I enjoyed watching tennis around that time, but now I never watch it.

 

[milani]

There was a report a few weeks ago that he had reconciled with his parents. Not sure what the beef was (don't really care), but it's nice to see, hope it lasts.

He credited his new wife with that. Spouses can sometimes be a better mediator. How? I do not know.
When my parents got married about 75 years ago my paternal grandfather was not invited to the wedding. My mother found that revolting even though her inlaws had been divorced for 25 years. After the wedding she went home and tracked down my grandfather and introduced herself. From then on she made sure he was an active part of our family despite the bad blood of the past. Remarkable.

 

[rmontro]

Love Spain. Spent two vacations there with my wife.

I wish I could speak Spanish fluently. I tried learning Spanish for a number of years, and got to the point where I could read it pretty comfortably. But I just can't hear it right, it goes too fast, I guess. By the time I process the first couple of words, the sentence is over and I'm lost. Anyway, now I'm on to trying to learn French (which is a bit harder, just because of the pronunciations) lol. I've always admired the way Europeans tend to be multilingual.

Djokovic has always focused on fitness and health. I believe that is the difference today with the athletes from the past generations. It is not some of the time. It is all the time.

I think Ivan Lendl was one of the earliest guys who concentrated on health and fitness in tennis. And Martina Navratilova for the girls. Both Czechoslovakians who both became US citizens. I wasn't a fan of his back in the day, he was like the villain, and did too well against my favorite, McEnroe. Navratilova I was fairly ambivalent about, but I admired her game.

 

[rmontro]

He credited his new wife with that.

You mean she's real?

 

[milani]

You mean she's real?

That is how he described it.

 

[milani]

I wish I could speak Spanish fluently. I tried learning Spanish for a number of years, and got to the point where I could read it pretty comfortably. But I just can't hear it right, it goes too fast, I guess. By the time I process the first couple of words, the sentence is over and I'm lost. Anyway, now I'm on to trying to learn French (which is a bit harder, just because of the pronunciations) lol. I've always admired the way Europeans tend to be multilingual.



I think Ivan Lendl was one of the earliest guys who concentrated on health and fitness in tennis. And Martina Navratilova for the girls. Both Czechoslovakians who both became US citizens. I wasn't a fan of his back in the day, he was like the villain, and did too well against my favorite, McEnroe. Navratilova I was fairly ambivalent about, but I admired her game.

Martina was driven to be the best. She was always 2nd fiddle to Chrissie in the 70s. She had the talent but when she came here from Czechoslovakia she got attached to the American life style. She loved pancakes. Finally, she went pedal to the medal when the decade ended. She became a phenom on the court. Inspiration for any young athlete who wants to elevate their game.

 

[rmontro]

Martina was driven to be the best. She was always 2nd fiddle to Chrissie. She had the talent but when she came here from Czechoslovakia she got attached to the American life style. She loved pancakes. Finally, she went pedal to the medal when the decade ended. She became a phenom on the court. Inspiration for any young athlete who wants to elevate their game.

If I remember right, Chris Evert started out dominating their rivalry, then Navratilova got buff and upped her game and started dominating, with Navratilova ending up winning most of their matches.

 

[rmontro]

Martina was driven to be the best. She was always 2nd fiddle to Chrissie. She had the talent but when she came here from Czechoslovakia she got attached to the American life style. She loved pancakes.

I just remembered something else about Martina. I used to have the book she endorsed, Eat to Win by Dr. Robert Haas. I don't remember exactly what was in it, but I do remember that I couldn't eat like that.

Pancakes don't exactly sound like health food. I'm sure she had some healthy variation that stripped all the taste and enjoyment out of them though.

 

[milani]

If I remember right, Chris Evert started out dominating their rivalry, then Navratilova got buff and upped her game and started dominating, with Navratilova ending up winning most of their matches.

Nancy Lieberman helped her. Martina already had a good serve but her fitness got her a step or more quicker to the net. And although Chris had the solid ground game Martina was able to stay with her longer until her approach shot was available. She even added topspin to her passing shots.

 

[Voyageur]

I wish I could speak Spanish fluently. I tried learning Spanish for a number of years, and got to the point where I could read it pretty comfortably. But I just can't hear it right, it goes too fast, I guess. By the time I process the first couple of words, the sentence is over and I'm lost. Anyway, now I'm on to trying to learn French (which is a bit harder, just because of the pronunciations) lol. I've always admired the way Europeans tend to be multilingual.



I think Ivan Lendl was one of the earliest guys who concentrated on health and fitness in tennis. And Martina Navratilova for the girls. Both Czechoslovakians who both became US citizens. I wasn't a fan of his back in the day, he was like the villain, and did too well against my favorite, McEnroe. Navratilova I was fairly ambivalent about, but I admired her game.

I like it when people challenge themselves learning languages. Like you, I find it difficult to learn Spanish. But at least we try.

I've been trying to get it down for over 30 years now. Not doing too good. I use a handheld translator to navigate through what I don't understand. In Spain, what I found interesting was the number of people who loved spending time with my wife and I as they tested and worked on their English in our conversations. It's amazing how hand gestures and facial expressions, combined with broken sentences and words can go towards communications.

One evening, as four of us sat around a kitchen table in Bilbao, drinking local wine, and eating snacks, we were having so much fun through misuse of words that we were laughing so hard that it echoed through the inner courtyard of the apartment building disturbing neighbors enough that someone called the cops. In fact, we had ordered a pizza delivered, and being half gassed, acting kind of goofy. Our friend, Pilar, had long, thick, black hair. My wife commented that she wished her hair was that thick. I chimed in that I wish I had a nice mop of hair myself. Pilar got up from the table and went to the kitchen closet and got out a new long threaded mop head and put it on top of my head and said that I had that mop of hair now.

As we were laughing, there was a knock on the door. Thinking it was the pizza delivery, I got up and went to the door and opened it, leaving the mop on my head. It wasn't the pizza delivery. It was a police officer. He looked at me and laughed, and asked, "Americano?" I smiled and nodded and he said, in broken English, "You have fun. I like that. Just don't be too loud. It's keeping neighbors awake. Maybe close window?" While he was there, the pizza delivery came. I invited inside and he had a piece of pizza and a small glass of wine with us before leaving. Before he left, he asked if he could take a picture with me on his phone with the mop on my head. He said he wanted to show his friends how much fun Americans can have.

Sometimes language barriers can make for enjoyable times. This was one of those moments.

 

[Heyjoe4]

Sinner against Alcaraz is amazing. Also amazing is seeing how much Djokovic has left in his tank.

Thanks for the names. I would like to watch tennis again. It's been so long, I don't know who the best players are.

 

[rmontro]

One evening, as four of us sat around a kitchen table in Bilbao, drinking local wine, and eating snacks, we were having so much fun through misuse of words that we were laughing so hard that it echoed through the inner courtyard of the apartment building disturbing neighbors enough that someone called the cops.

Well, look at you crazy madmen, sitting around learning languages. What a bunch of rowdies.

I've watched a lot of YouTube videos where someone has tried to learn a language, and go up to talk to someone in their native language. And usually, that person answers them in English, lol. That's got to be kind of humiliating.

Thanks for the names. I would like to watch tennis again. It's been so long, I don't know who the best players are.

The US Open starts in a couple of weeks. I don't really care for modern tennis, though I will still watch it sometimes.

 

[OldSchool101]

I wish I could speak Spanish fluently. I tried learning Spanish for a number of years, and got to the point where I could read it pretty comfortably. But I just can't hear it right, it goes too fast, I guess. By the time I process the first couple of words, the sentence is over and I'm lost. Anyway, now I'm on to trying to learn French (which is a bit harder, just because of the pronunciations) lol. I've always admired the way Europeans tend to be multilingual.

Me also. It’s a must down here in Texas. I’ve learned some basic statements in Spanish but I agree with the speed it’s fast. I took French in HS and I learned more helping my big Sister study as she took 4 years and was a foreign exchange student who lived in France one Semester. I would’ve traded it for Spanish in hindsight. I recall most of the Verb conjugations and many descriptive items. I had a great teacher also
.. Madame Seiler

 

[rmontro]

Me also. It’s a must down here in Texas. I’ve learned some basic statements in Spanish but I agree with the speed it’s fast.

I can barely hear English at speed truthfully. I watch TV with the subtitles on, otherwise I'll miss something. The audio is pretty low on a lot of shows too these days.