A-Rod vs. Ochocinco: A Battle for the Ages February 11, 2010
Posted by Paul in : Uncategorized , 2comments
[On a night where Roddick easily dispatched American qualifier Ryler Deheart in the first round of the 2010 SAP Open, Your Sports NightCap’s Resident Tennis Expert Payam Tabar turns his attention to an upcoming tennis match-up that would be sure to draw headlines. One pitting outspoken Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco and perennial top-tenner Andy Roddick.]
Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, Michael Jordan, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Willie Gault…the list goes on when it comes to famous two-sport athletes. And if you’ve caught up with the latest and greatest blogosphere gossip (http://backporch.fanhouse.com/2010/01/22/roddick-ochocinco-bet-a-car/), you’ll realize you just might have to add Chad Ochocinco to the mix very soon. Yes, I said it folks: Chad Ochocinco. Via the social media service, Twitter, the starting Wide Receiver for the Cincinatti Bengals has challenged America’s top tennis star, Andy Roddick, to a tennis duel taking place in about 2 months. So he’s not exactly adding another professional sport to the mix as a full-time gig…BUT it should make for some worthy entertainment!
So let’s get the facts out of the way first:
What’s the arrangement?: A match (or set) would take place where Andy would have to play left-handed and Ochocinco would have 2 months to train.
What are they playing for?: Ochocinco started off by offering to play for pink slips of their favorite cars. Andy countered by saying the Loser has to buy the Winner a brand new car of his choice…seems like they’ve agreed to that. And now, it seems like this match could help raise money for each of their respective charities as well. Not bad.
But forget the news and the facts. You probably heard all about it already on OCNN (OchoCincoNewsNetwork). Instead, let’s get to what really matters here: the Xs and Os of this upcoming classic!
With Andy coming off of an another loss deep into the second week of a Grand Slam, he may be a bit rattled and mentally fragile. #85 is feeling the opposite after a winning season. If Ochocinco is going to win this match, the time is now.
Andy is coping with some injuries. His right shoulder in particular is acting up and was a contributing factor to his loss down in Australia. But did you get that? RIGHT shoulder. That won’t apply here.
Known for his TD celebrations and practical jokes, Ochocinco may rely on some of these antics during the course of the match. Perhaps he’ll try to distract Andy by approaching his newlywed wife, Brooklyn Decker, to offer a box of these:
Speaking of Andy’s right shoulder and lack of a need for it, I have seen Andy mess around in practice, playing left-handed, including serving and overheads. I must say…it was VERY impressive….now he just has to make sure to work on that one handed lefty backhand.
Speaking of impressive, Ochocinco has four of these little things to tend to:
…while Andy has only TWO of these bigger things to tend to:
…but I’m not so sure which group is more motivating??!!!
Ochocinco has claimed to be the Liberty City (a neighborhood in Miami) tennis champion from back in the day…1983 to be exact. Since Liberty City is also known as The U’s prime recruiting ground in the 1980’s, it’s doubtful that honor holds much in the tennis world. It’s not like Uncle Luke’s getting a spot on the circuit anytime soon!
Although Chad Ochocinco grew up in Miami, Your Sports NightCap cannot confirm this information to be true. But if it is, the experience should help!
Football, like tennis, requires stamina and 360 degree agility. Ochocinco’s incredible ability to sprint, back-peddle, side-step, jump, and lunge will certainly apply on the tennis court. And if he’s going to have a chance against Andy, he’ll not only have to show off those skills, but he’ll also have to demonstrate his ability to hang out there while Andy moves him around the court with his baseline play. Andy may be a big server (when playing right-handed), but he’s a grinder by nature.
For overall athleticism and the intangibles, I’ll give Ochocinco the edge. If we were to put the pads on Andy and throw him out to the wolves (other NFL players), I’d put my money on the wolves…even if they were restricted in some way or fashion to even up play. As for Ochocinco crossing over to tennis, it’s a bit easier of a transition for someone who has demonstrated the athletic ability I referenced above. But maybe none of that will even matter and the match will be a toss-up. After all, they both have had mohawks:
The court surface can certainly be a huge factor in this particular matchup. I propose playing on a hybrid of grass/astroturf. After all, neither of them have ever won a championship on it. Chad’s got no rings. Andy’s got no Wimbledon. Sounds like an even matchup to me!
The Officiating crew for this battle is key. Both Andy and Ochocinco have perfected the art of interacting with umpires/referees during the game/match. Therefore, it may be necessary to have the 2009 US Open lineswoman who took the brunt of serena’s outburst on standby to call the match. At least that person will be ready when the endless outbursts begin.
So quite the analysis indeed. And I’m sure many of the readers out there are on the fence with this one. My prediction?:
Andy pulls off a 7-5 victory on his home turf, sending Ochocinco home in one of his old cars…NOT the dream car he would’ve been due had he won. Regardless, it will go down right up there with Mac and Borg, Pete and Andre, Roger and Rafa…A Battle for the Ages.
All Business for Sampras February 10, 2010
Posted by Paul in : Uncategorized , 3comments
[This entry was generated by Your Sports NightCap’s Resident Tennis Expert, Payam Tabar. A regular contributor to the radio program for years, with his well-founded analysis and no-nonsense style, Tabar has also been go-to guy for coverage of tennis events large and small. Here, he recaps Monday night’s exhibition between Pete Sampras and Fernando Verdasco at the 2010 SAP Open, in San Jose.]
It was all business for Pete Sampras at the opening night of the SAP Open in San Jose, California. In what seems to be an annual exhibition event to kick off the nightly festivities in San Jose, Pete made his 3rd appearance in 3 years as the Monday night exhibitionist, taking on a main draw contender while entertaining the Bay Area’s finest tennis fans. This year, Pete happened to go up against the #11 ranked player in the world, Fernando Verdasco, which played out to be quite the challenge for the 38 year old champion.
Although, the 6-3, 7-6(2) defeat to the Spaniard took just less than an hour, Sampras was able to demonstrate his ”business as usual” serve and volley style that is deeply missed by fans of the ATP circuit. While working through a calf cramp early in the first set, Pete held serve once and was then broken at 1-2, double faulting at deuce in the no-ad scoring format to give Verdasco the early break.
But after warming up a bit and letting a few shots fly, Pete seemed to be back to his old self. Dropping first serves in the 130 mph range to second serves out wide at 119 mph, Pete was able to hold serve every game, serving and volleying in classic form and eventually pushing Fernando Verdasco to a tie-breaker. But it was during Verdasco’s service games that showed the difference between today’s top players and a retired player who’s been off the pro circuit for about 7 years. Verdasco was throwing in vicious kick serves on both first and second serves, keeping Pete guessing and making it difficult to chip and charge the net off the return; his strategy of choice. And even when Pete was able to neutralize the serve with a conservative slice return, Verdasco would begin to run Pete around the court with heavy groundstrokes, in particular his lefty forehand working cross-court to Pete’s backhand.
“Playing D was hard,” Sampras told the media in his post-match press conference. “It’s harder for me to move these days. He plays with a lot of spin…and he has a tricky serve with a lot of spin. He’s the real deal. He can win a major.”
With Verdasco not giving Sampras any looks to break on return games, the set quickly went to a tie-breaker. After an early mini-break for Verdasco, Pete took a chance by chipping and charging yet again, this time coming through in vintage form with a simple put away at the net. But Verdasco proved too quick and strong, taking Pete’s additional attempts early and ripping heavy passing shots away from the net-crasher. To make matters worse, Pete served up a double fault at 2-5, giving Verdasco a match point, resulting in an immediate close-out of the match.
Having won this event in 1996 and ‘97, and now living in Los Angeles, Pete enjoys taking his private jet up north to San Jose. During the post-match on-court interview, Sampras expressed this enjoyment and his willingness to come back to make it a 4th year in a row in 2011. Through whistles, cheers and a standing ovation, Sampras announced, “If they invite me again, I’d be happy to come back.” With the way Pete is approaching his game (and life) these days, I’m sure we’ll see him again next year. It will be business as usual, regardless of the outcome.
