tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94774582024-03-14T02:54:05.081-07:00Diffident WandererDiffident WandererPyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-9426574785448934242012-06-06T19:03:00.001-07:002012-06-06T20:58:54.729-07:00Selective memory...A lotta stupidity going on in the Oilers blogosphere and in online forums. It seems hypocritical to me to call Tambellini an idiot while referring to the 30th, 30th and 29th place finishes as proof. Did they think drafting Taylor Hall in 2010 would be the end of the rebuild? One draft and BOOM! Back to the Stanley Cup?<br />
<br />
How short is the memory? There WAS mention of 3-5 years needed to rebuild the franchise. Nothing but bile and venom towards Tambellini and Lowe for creating a bottom feeding team while also crowing and bragging about the top talent on the team. How did we get that #1 talent without the last place finishes? We sure weren't getting that level of player thru the free agent market, at least, not without overpaying. We were never going to build the Oilers into a championship team in a cap league that way. The Rangers should have proved that by now.<br />
<br />
*sigh* too much stupidity for me now. I feel like I'm surrounded by idiot Canuck fans right now. So much for a well informed fan-base. Feels more knee-jerk than ever. If people looked in the mirror, and they were in the hypothetical situation of BEING in the Oilers organization, as a manager, I would have fired their asses! Nothing but negativity and short-sightedness.<br />
<br />
I can honestly say that I've worked with the best in the world. I've been around Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Sharapova, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Vanessa Williams, Scott Hamilton, and many other people who have produced world class performances. Some of the "best of the best". I have seen up close what it takes to be "elite". Part of it starts with having a positive attitude. I'm seeing NONE of that from Oiler fans right now and it sickens me.Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-66871314589681027022011-11-01T23:31:00.000-07:002011-11-01T23:36:22.453-07:00Flames positionRight where they should be:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW_5YEBHgEMBENNsYtO-mqIbqEMb-F01cTEHuILGbhnnE5d_uW_wTh3XEwxuuXR0ljCrfDLxMp3HClm4cqEp8vBnc9-44A-vlNk_K5HU97I-nmvnLPKQsf0_6Qxx7nfsjBMdp9/s1600/Calgary.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 482px; height: 147px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW_5YEBHgEMBENNsYtO-mqIbqEMb-F01cTEHuILGbhnnE5d_uW_wTh3XEwxuuXR0ljCrfDLxMp3HClm4cqEp8vBnc9-44A-vlNk_K5HU97I-nmvnLPKQsf0_6Qxx7nfsjBMdp9/s320/Calgary.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670282849303683234" border="0" /></a>Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1155621485258130102006-08-14T22:13:00.000-07:002006-08-14T23:02:35.983-07:00Part 5 China Trip 2005 Xian: The city wall, North gate<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1486.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1486.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After we finished walking around the Muslim quarter in the southeast part of Xian, we went back to our hotel to meet up with our driver and our tour guide. The guide suggested we take a look at the city wall which was built when the city was an army post. The city of Xian is one of only a few cities in China to have a surviving wall around the original settlement. Many were destroyed during the cultural revolution as zealous communists tried to "create" a new history of their own making, by decimating historical artifacts. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1487.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1487.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> After a few years/decades, the zeal died down and now architectural landmarks such as this wall were rebuilt or restored to their former state. Unfortunately, many other monuments were too severely damaged to repair so this wall is a lucky survivor from that dark time.<br /><br />When we got to the city, we entered thru the south gate. there was too much traffic and I was too tired to pull my camera out in time, so I missed that shot. We got to the north gate near sundown and walked around for a few minutes snapping off some shots. After we had our supper at a restaurant famous for it's "dumpling feast", we came back out and took some night shots.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1552.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1552.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1556.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1556.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1558.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1558.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1559.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1559.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1155610777143913162006-08-14T18:10:00.000-07:002006-08-14T22:13:11.170-07:00Part 4 China Trip 2005, Xian...Muslim Quarter: The Great Mosque<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1451.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1451.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After the Drum tower, we looked at our map and picked the next closest "touristy" item and according to the map, it happened to be the "Moslem Quarter" with The Great Mosque. I think our tour guide warned us that there was a little bit of a danger in pickpockets frequenting the area but we had no troubles. We wandered thru the grounds of the mosque and found it serene and interesting. After we left the Mosque, we went to a nearby street market and ordered lunch: onion pancakes with spicy ginger soup. Since it was a Ma & Pa <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1453.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1453.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>"street" joint, I wondered briefly about "stomach" issues but when I tried the food, it turned out to be the perfect thing. The dreary day was very cool and damp but the spicy soup warmed both of us up and gave us a bit more energy to continue exploring this section of the town.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1457.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1457.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1461.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1461.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1465.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1465.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1466.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1466.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1468.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1468.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />All sorts of students were on the grounds of the compound drawing or sketching parts of the scenery...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1469.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1469.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1473.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1473.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1471.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1471.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />View from the first door...<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1478.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1478.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />Now looking back from the far end of the mosque compound...<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1479.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1479.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1481.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1481.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1482.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1482.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1484.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1484.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1155335364126146142006-08-11T14:22:00.000-07:002006-08-14T23:04:44.466-07:00Part 3, China Trip 2005 : Xian ...Drum TowerHey, jus remembered a story from mmmmMasters Cup. The seats that the players sat in, the red Indesit benches, were constructed from scratch during the week before the tournament started. They were finished 6 days before the tournament was to start. Federer and Agassi were already onsite by then and sitting in the luxury boxes during their breaks. Things seemed ok with the benches as the tournament started but, I can't remember exactly when, the problem "occurred". Since we had doubles and singles play, the court had to be "reset" from singles to doubles setup or vise versa. So that meant moving the nets, the umpire's chair, the drink coolers, the ball canister and the players' benches ( I forgot to mention the last few in my previous posts). So we did a changeover on one of the first two days and during the movement of the benches, I thought I felt something loose in one of the benches. I wasn't sure so I stayed to watch if it was alright. Of course, the team that sits down on that bench is Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley. I met them the previous 2 years because they won the 2003 Heineken Open of Shanghai in Doubles and lost in quarterfinals in 2004 Heineken (my first 2 years as court service director). They were really great and down to earth (partying) Aussies and I had fun working with them. Wayne drops his bag by the chair and sits down, only to drop right on his ass as the seat cushion SNAPS off! Paul had dropped his bag and was checking out his racquet when he saw Wayne fall down. Paul looks stunned... Wayne jumps right up with this utter look of "what the hell!" He looks 360° and sees me behind the bench and gives me this look of "Shit! What'd you do this to me for??!!". My jaw drops and I try to say something but all I do is mouth "NOT ME, NOT ME!", and hold my hands up like "don't hurt me... I'm too cute to die...". I'm trying not to laugh and all but Paul starts laughing and then i can't help it and start laughin too. Wayne's such a good guy that he joins in and we all take a few seconds to get control of ourselves. Meanwhile, everyone else (from the organizing committee or the ATP) around the court is panicing and going "Ohmygod, ohmygod... this is live TV!". Someone thought fast and soon we took out the remains of the bench and took two of the seats from one of the front row box seats and put them into the outer frame of the bench. On TV, if you didn't see the incident, you really couldn't see the difference in the two benches but since I had the "front row seat" to the accident, I noticed it all night long... and laughed.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Drum Tower near the center of Xian</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9352.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9352.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />We arrived in Xian at noon this day but it was cloudy/misty so we decided to rest up instead of doing too much. It was also only 2nd day after the end of Masters Cup and both Me and Nan were still on the edge of exhaustion from the 20 hour workdays during the tourney.<br /><br />We took a 4 hour nap and then wandered to one of the major highlights of the city of Xian. The central plaza which had the Bell and Drum towers. We tried to get into the Bell tower first but we were turned back by the closed sign even tho' the advertised hours said they would be open til 5:30pm.<br /><br />Looking back at the Bell Tower in the centre of old Xian (walled city). Our hotel was north of the Bell tower and this entire area was a large traffic circle around the tower. So if you followed the traffic in the picture 50 meters north, you would be at our hotel. Pretty good location I'd say :)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9358.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9358.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />I'd wondered why it was called the "Bell and Drum Tower hotel" before I arrived...<br /><br />Guess it was cuz it was between the two, DUH!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9366.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9366.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9355.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9355.jpg" border="0" /></a>In the centre of the plaza, we took shots of the Bell tower behind us (above) and the Drum tower in front of us (right).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1373.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1373.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9362.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9362.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9367.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9367.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />We were supposed to pay 1 Rmb to hit the drum but we waited a minute til someone else paid and took a photo of their kid hitting it instead :p<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1381.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1381.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1383.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1383.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9369.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9369.jpg" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1439.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1439.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1392.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1392.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Photos of the interior...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9375.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9375.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9377.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9377.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9379.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9379.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1408.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1408.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1412.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1412.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1426.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1426.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9382.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9382.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9384.jpg">The ever present gift shop; we actually picked up replica terracotta soldiers here for 50 rmb instead of the rate of 100 at the real tomb site.</a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9384.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9384.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9390.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9390.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1425.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1425.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On the 3rd floor... looking out at Xian...kinda dreary day...lotsa construction/ urban renewal<br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1432.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1432.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1446.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1446.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Later on... the view from below the Drum tower<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_1450.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_1450.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />... and then the street market further on down the road<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9421.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9421.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A look at construction from up close...pretty typical of a chinese back alley undergoing change... red bricks and muckPyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1154904063343111982006-08-06T15:13:00.002-07:002012-06-07T05:43:22.742-07:00Part 2 China 2005, Masters Cup: Eye of the hurricane...I gotta say "M" and "F" were the most uninhibited when it came to the "wearing of clothes" in the doubles locker room. I mean not even a towel....... sorry, all I can say is, I spy with my lil' eyes, not one, but two butt naked guys, and no disguise but blue sky and their....prize...between their thighs is how they surprise and EMPHASIZE their... pride... I can't surmise... to all who try ...to do their best to minimize the damage to my fried... am i high... at least theirs were not..."HIGH"...I can't really say who or why... I can't think of a reply...I jus shake my head, do my job and walk on by..."bye", say I, without batting an eye<br /><br />I'm scarred and I don't know why.<br />Dr. Seuss-like dialogue will be featured here again after my next encounter with too many shamelessly (fully) undresssed (athletic) males...<br /><br />We <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">now</span> return you to your regularly scheduled blog....<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6708.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6708.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Ummmmmmmm... designer chocolates...<br />'nuff said<br /><br />Actually, no... I thot the rum caramel and ginger chocolates were ... interesting but my fave was the mango...<br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style=" font-weight: bold;color:red;" >The luckiest guy...</span></div><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/11nov13_donlucky.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/11nov13_donlucky.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" border="0" /></a>So the story goes, Roger Federer didn't have a practice partner for some reason on the 13th and so he asked the tournament bigwigs if they could scrape up someone to hit balls with him on center court. Don, the general tournament volunteer and college tennis player <span style="font-style: italic;">was volunteeered</span> on behalf of our bosses, because both Mike and Charles felt they were too old and wouldn't be able to keep up. This was a total surprise and shock to Don but he was sooooo there!<br /><br />So Federer did his workout/practice and Don ran for his life. Afterward, Don remarked that it was amazing to experience the workout that a professional player would go through but that he was soooo dead tired... and happy... and lucky!<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/11nov13dblschange.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/11nov13dblschange.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a>First day of matches, we had the singles match first and then went to a doubles match... these are snapshots showing the controlled chaos and activity to get the court ready and change the nets.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/11nov13dblsnets.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/11nov13dblsnets.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />Even tho it was the first day, we did pretty good and changed the court over to doubles setup in about 10 minutes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/11nov13doubbryans.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/11nov13doubbryans.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />So, ready for Bob and Mike Bryan (U.S.) to start their first round robin doubles match.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/11nov13doubnestor.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/11nov13doubnestor.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6351.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6351.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a>Above: Daniel Nestor (Canada) and Mark Knowles (Bahamas) pleasing the fans after their match. I got to chat with Dan and found that he's like me... a Canadiens fan living in Toronto whereas I'm an Oiler fan living in Calgary (for allu non-hockey fans... think Yankee fan in Boston, ya get it, eh!). Also, since we're both Canadian made it easy for us to talk about anything... Dan was great. A new buddy, jus what I wanted!<br /><br />Left: Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia/Montenegro) and his partner Leander Paes (India) sign autographs after defeating Nestor/Knowles<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6357.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6357.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Nan, Bruce and me goof around on the umpire's chair<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6563.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6563.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6597.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6597.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" border="0" /></a>Above Left: Wayne Black (Zimbabwe) and partner Kevin Ullyett (South Africa)<br /><br />Above Right: in foreground Michael Llodra and his partner Fabrice Santoro both of France<br /><br />Below Stephen Huss and Wayne Moodie of Australia in post match interview with Jason (our oncourt announcer) and the tournament mascot after their win in doubles over Max Mirnyi (Belarus) and Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden)<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6621.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6621.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6628.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6628.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />After the doubles matches, the facilities staff had to replace the doubles net with the singles net and after they were done, my court service crew had to move the umpire's chair to the "regulation distance" about 1 foot away from the net post. This all was being done while the post match interview was being conducted. The two older gentlemen, Stephen (to the left) and Thomas (white haired man on right), are the two ATP/ITF supervisors... "supervising" our efforts to get the court ready for the upcoming singles matches. I'm the skinny guy on the front right of the chair draggin the 300lb paperweight...<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6649.0.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6649.2.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6651.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6651.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" border="0" /></a>Marat Safin of Russia couldn't compete due to an injury but he had been to Shanghai for the 2002 Masters Cup and he apparently liked it enough to come back for another visit. He watched Agassi's match and took a few photos. He noticed that he had the exact same camera as my sister and he asked her to take a photo of his butt for all the women out there so, my sis did as he asked. ENJOY!<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6656.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6656.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6657.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6657.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6666.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6666.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Agassi versus Nikolay Davydenko; Agassi has TONS of fans in China, the only problem is that his career record for tournaments in Shanghai is 0 wins and 5 losses. He lost this match 6-4, 6-2 I think...<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6667.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6667.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6683.0.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6683.0.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><slurp><br /></slurp><br /><slurp></slurp>Rafael Nadal of Spain was the meteoric star of our sport having won more tournaments as a rookie than anyone had seen for a long while and reachin <span style="font-weight: bold;">#2</span> in the rankings only behind Roger Federer. I got to see him practice for almost a week before the actual start of the matches and I saw that he was a dedicated worker and he had a true passion for the sport (as all his fans know). It was fun just seeing him practice! His uncle and coach was also a gentleman and I had no problems dealing with Nadal's small entourage. On the 14th, Nadal was scheduled to play his first round robin match but early in the morning, there were whispers that Nadal was injured and would pull out.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6687.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6687.jpg" border="0" /></a> The news was entirely true and so he came on court after the doubles matches and talked to the fans. He apologized for his departure and he thanked everyone for their support and promised to be back next year. So with that shock, Mariano Puerta of Argentina, the first alternate, took over Nadal's spot in the tournament and Fernando Gonzalez of Chile became the next alternate and we made a flash call to Thomas Johansson of Sweden to hop on a plane to be our next alternate. The thing to understand is that the players get ~mid 5 figures in cash JUST being there; they don't even have to play! Everyone gets a base appearance fee and then they get paid for every win. Simple, eh!<br /><br /><slurp><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6738.0.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6738.0.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br />The Bryan Brothers after they had won a match, run the gauntlet of fans, awaiting them by the LED display boards.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6749.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6749.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><br /> </slurp><br /><br /><slurp>Rafael Nadal was great. He stayed in China to do some promo work and to do some sightseeing after his withdrawl... unlike some other unnammed player. Nadal showed a lot of class and humilty in his stay (a total pro) and I totally respect the way he carried himself throughout the event.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_6834.0.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_6834.0.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Federer after winning a round robin match</slurp><br /><slurp></slurp><br /><slurp></slurp><br /><slurp></slurp><br /><slurp></slurp><br /><slurp></slurp><br /><slurp></slurp><br /><slurp><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_7080.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_7080.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a> </slurp><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><slurp>The entrance to the stadium court, as the players would see it. I'm on standby to the left with my court service staff flanking the "cattle chute".<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In between the doubles m<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_7200.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_7200.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a>atches in the morning and the singles matches in the evening, there would be a 1-2 hour lull. So a scheme was devised to announce the arrival of the evening matches... DRUMMER GIRLS!<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_7221.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_7221.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a>The beautiful, Laura Wu, was in charge of the oncourt entertainment and so I was the <span style="font-style: italic;">unlucky</span> guy whom she had notify about the scheduled "acts" and presentations between the matches... GOD my job SUCKS... <span style="font-size:78%;">not</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_7252.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_7252.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /> </slurp><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><slurp>Gaston Gaudio and Ivan Ljubicic arrive for their round robin match<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_7289.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_7289.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /> </slurp><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><slurp>Players' entrance...red carpet sucked cuz it wasn't heavy enough to lay flat ... so when I ran... over that left corner that you can see in the pic... WHOOSH... BAMMMM... I slid right into the opposite wall (Not shown). Didn't hurt anything but my pride; I always slowed down at this corner afterwards...<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_7715.0.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_7715.0.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a>Argentinians, Gaston Gaudio (L) and Mariano Puerta(center) make some more sponsors happy<br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_7759.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_7759.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </slurp><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><slurp>Leander Paes and Nenad Zimonjic walk off after their round robin loss to the Bryan brothers<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_7766.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_7766.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a> </slurp><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><slurp>Skippy (red silk shirt) and the camera guy (sorry can't remember his name, Mike?) harass Kirsten during the changeover between matches. The post match interview with the Bryan brothers is occurring in the left background. Also in the right background, we're helping to set up the radio controlled car race between one of the Bryan brothers and one lucky fan...<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_7776.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_7776.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Fernando Gonzalez doin the marker thang in his dressing room... So this is the mildly funny story to go with dis...<br /><br />Before the tourney we were scheduled to have Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, </slurp>Lleyton <slurp>Hewitt, </slurp>Andre Agassi,<slurp> Guillermo Coria, Nikolai Davydenko, and</slurp> Ivan Ljubicic as the top 8 seeds with Gaston Gaudio, Mariano Puerta, Marat Safin and David Nalbandian as our initial pool of alternates.<br /><br />Two weeks to the tourney, we knew Roddick couldn't make it because of his injury and we weren't sure if Roger could come back from his ankle injury in time (he told us he was still on crutches at that time)... lookin grim. Next we got confirmation that Lleyton wouldn't come due to the impending birth of his first child, so it looked like we might not have 3 out of our top 4 seeds... DOH!<br /><br />Roger made a miraculous comeback so the field became Fed, Nad, Ag, Cor, Davy, Lju, Gaudio and Nalbandian with the alternates being Puerta and now Gonzalez. Safin was offered one of the two last slots in the main draw but declined to play, due to a nagging injury.<br /><br />So now imagine you're one of the facilities staff who has made up all the nameplates for the individual dressing rooms two weeks before the event... The phone call comes," ... Hi, uhh, we're throwing away Roddick and Hewitt, could you make up Gaudio, Nalbandian, Puerta and Gonzalez..." Now, that doesn't seem all that bad but now imagine that you are telling this to a native <span style="font-style: italic;">Chinese</span> speaker... it seemed like hours but was only an hour to "explicitly" spell out each name and get a readback over the phone for confirmation. Being that this was China, we still found a way to misspell something (Gonzalez/Gonzales s z ... iz same, yes?)....DOH!<br /><slurp><br />So after we got all the <span style="font-weight: bold;">correct</span> nameplates, the next phase of our adventure began.. you all know about three card monte, right?<br /><br />We (tournament staff) thought that the left side rooms were nicer in that they had windows looking outside (we didn't find out til later that the public bathrooms faced these windows ... oops). So (#1) Federer was pencilled in for the first left side dressing room at the end of hallway nearest to the exit and Nadal (#2) was given the first right side room across from Roger. Now with the withdrawls, Agassi became #3 and Coria #4; we put Coria next to Federer on the left and Agassi across from him. Agassi's party initially asked for a room farthest from the exit door and away from the "window" side but due to the uhh construction malfunction (see post below) we had to move him to the spot beside Nadal. So next to be placed were Ljubicic (#6), Gaudio(#7) and (#8) Nalbandian all along the left side right after Coria. Davydenko was placed in the last room on the right side across from Gaudio. The two rooms furthest from the exit (and closest to the centre court) turned into the first alternate's (Puerta) room (left side) and the physio/massage therapist's (right side) rooms. The physio room was, as stated, Agassi's first choice and so after we moved him, we ... creatively draped the inside to hide all manner of ...things. Along the outer hallway, we put up a banner, 10' high by 20' long to disguise ummm the concrete "shattered glass" look of the wall. These placements were all decided by Iggy and I in the day before Federer and Agassi arrived (the first two).<br /><br />Now, when Nadal pulled out, we were going to move Puerta into Nadal's old room but he declined (guess he was comfy). We contemplated moving Coria or Ljubicic or Gaudio into Nadal's room but found that they were all satisfied with their locations. So Gonzalez got to move into the larger and nicer dresssing room right across from Federer after we tidied up (found some souvenirs!). He and Puerta had been sharing the sparse alternate dressing room before. After Agassi withdrew, we knew we had Johansson on the way and so we cleaned it up (found some underwear behind the door but I didn't want to touch that souvenir) but he never used it, as he just carried his gear to and from his car to the practice courts. So throughout all this player movement, I'm putting up and taking down nameplates... more running around, just what I needed.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_7819.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_7819.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a></slurp><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_7825.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_7825.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br /><slurp><br /></slurp><br /><slurp><br /><br /><br /><br />On the last day of the round robin, Nan, Kirsten and I head up to the roof ... it's 9am and no one's around yet but us, a few stadium staff and a few journalists in the press room</slurp><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_7842.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_7842.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><br /><slurp><br /></slurp><br /><slurp><br /></slurp><br /><slurp><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />View from the upper catwalks ... if they open the roof, I'll be on the "biggest" carnival ride ever...</slurp><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_7852.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_7852.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br /><slurp><br /></slurp><br /><slurp><br /></slurp><br /><slurp><br /></slurp><br /><slurp><br /></slurp><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_8190.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_8190.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><br /><slurp><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Bruce in the upper concourse. The nice thing about havin Bruce as Transport dude, was after the long days were over, we were able to snag one of the Mercedes for the 1 hour ride back to the city from time to time. Imagine getting up at 7am each day to make it to site by 8-9am, working til midnight/1am (I had to stay til ALL players had left... we had matches go until near midnight) and then scrounging for a ride or calling a cab for another 1/2 hour of useless waiting. This usually meant that on the "bad" days I didn't get to bed til 2-3 am. I got up tired and went to bed exhausted. So when we got to sit in the luxury cars (heated seats....ummmmm felt soooo good for my sore muscles) with their professional government drivers ( given to diplomats,VVIPS and special functions... like ours), it felt soooo good and I could even relax enough to get amost an extra hour of sleep during the rides home. Plus it didn't hurt that the cars were SMOKIN nice!<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_7879.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_7879.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Kirsten and I with the sponsors' "loot" after the players have made their mark...<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_7875.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_7875.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />My court service team... relaxing between matches<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_8194.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_8194.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The winners of the semifinal sign the camera in a now familiar ritual...<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_8228.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_8228.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Zimonjic and Paes, more sponsor stuff to sign...<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_8570.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_8570.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Press row... across from the player benches<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_8581.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_8581.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </slurp><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><slurp>Roger Federer autographed hats ready for the sponsors or other lucky people...</slurp><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;" >Finals Day</span></div><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9036v.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9036v.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a>Llodra (pictured here) and Santoro, after winning the doubles title, proceeded to start throwing their items into the crowd, starting with their equipment, then the game used tennis balls, towels and ending with <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">most</span> of their clothes. They whipped the crowd into quite a frenzy and then Llodra got a hug and kiss from his father as I got this "magic" shot. I remember the Lacoste rep (V.P.) frantically sent some of his people to sprint back to their storeroom for ANY Lacoste shirts for the two winners to wear since they were now ... "brandable". That's how the two winners ended up wearing only...<ahem> "delicate blue" Lacoste golf shirts and the shorts that they came in, for the ceremonies. During the trophy presentation the pair announced that they were splitting up and playing with new doubles partners for the next year; shocked everyone in the crowd, dat's fer shure! Btw, that's the official tournament photographer in the background. He almost got into a fist fight earlier in the tournament with another photographer who didn't know that only "one" official photographer was allowed to go everywhere... our guy verbally bitchslapped the other guy and that was that...<br /><br /><br /><span style="color:#cc0000;">Added Aug.16th</span>... found this online jus toolin around; this should give y'all an idea of what I had to endure seeing in the locker rooms at the Masters' Cup :o<br /> <a href="http://www.queerclick.com/archive/2006/07/michael_llodra_1.php">http://www.queerclick.com/archive/2006/07/michael_llodra_1.php</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9039v.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9039v.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Iggy and Kirsten share a nice moment on the last day<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9123.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9123.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />The two finalists, Federer and David Nalbandian. Federer was well in control til early in the 3rd set where he suddenly he asked for the doctor. I heard the call over the ATP radio and rushed to the court to help escort the medical staff through the crowd. The doctor and trainer looked at his ankle for a few minutes but when they resumed play, Roger was never the same...<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9128.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9128.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9133.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9133.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9142v.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9142v.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9143.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9143.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br />This was my view of the proceedings; right on court trying to stay out of the way of the fans and their picture taking...<br /><br />I was asked to be available to help unroll the red carpet or help in any other way with the final ceremony and also to safeguard the "souvenirs"; monogrammed towels, used game balls and even the players' equipment as they went through the trophy/prize presentations. This "down" time gave me an opportunity to grab a few photos for the 1st time... from right behind the winner, Nalbandian<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9178.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9178.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a>BIG Jake (6'7" i think.. and about 230 lbs) the tech in charge of the LED display boards pointed out that the back walls were just rectangular metal skeletons covered by a blue stretchable vinyl fabric and they were not meant to take any large degree of weight on them. The LED board was constructed of "lego-like" interlocking blocks, two high and in multiples of four(?) long, (so each mini-section was 8 connected blocks) across the length of the courts. The backing on the boards was only supposed to give a little support to keep the LED screens straight/upright and to protect the passersby from the large amount of generated heat from the back of the display blocks. He stressed that people should be strongly discouraged from leaning on the back wall at all times. For the entire tournament, we had few problems with the crowd control around the wall and the area was safe ... til the singles final.<br /><br />After David Nalbandian won the last match of the tournament, he hoisted his trophy aloft amidst the flying confetti. The fans saw that the doubles team had gone to the LED boards and leaned over to get hugs from their friends/family earlier in the day and now they anticipated David would do the same. <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9180v.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9180v.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a>The post match crowd along the board surged forward to try to get an autograph or photo and all of a sudden we heard ominously large crackin/creaking sounds, loud even above the noise of the clamouring fans. My court service team and I were on standby inside the court, just in front of the boards, and we all immediately jumped up (Damn the ruined pictures!) and braced the suddenly tilting boards. I remember that I started yelling at the crowd, "MOVE BACK! GET BACK!". The crowd was tightly pressed against the wall trying to get as close to the court as possible and some of the closest were pinned and I could see in their suddenly scared faces that they couldn't move if they wanted. I noticed that my staff were bracing the boards by using their knees to push against the middle of the boards and I remembered Jake warning me that each of the board "blocks" was about 40-50 lbs. He said that if it was going to fall over, that I'd best get out of the way lest I get my legs crushed or my knees severed by the hundreds of pounds that would fall over. </ahem><ahem>I frantically yelled at my staff to" Step back! Get your legs back..." and brace the wall in the "pushup" position, legs well clear of the electronic board if it went over.</ahem><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9212v.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9212v.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><ahem> I then yelled at the security on the "crowd" side of the board to "MOVE!!!" and I continued to gesture at the fans to move back. This all took less than 10 seconds but I remember it seemed like time slowed down and I had only moments to try avert a major disaster.</ahem><ahem> I watched/heard about a 20'/1000+ lbs section of the display board leaning dangerously towards my staff and a large number of VIP's standing nearby as Nalbandian walked around his newly won Mercedes. </ahem><ahem>He was coming towards us and was about 10 feet from the crowd... and realized the possible danger of the situation and backed away. I remember the terror/relief/gratitude/rage that I felt at that moment as David spun around and jogged over to the other side of the court.</ahem><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9215v.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9215v.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><ahem> It seemed that the wall stopped flexing towards us/the security got between the crowd and the LED backing/ and my crew stopped pushing, happened all at the same time. The crowd quickly dissipated as David celebrated with the large Argentinian bloc on the far side by the open camera bay... no LED boards. </ahem><ahem>So <span style="font-weight: bold;">that</span> was my most intense memory of the tournament; not the great people I met even though I thought Daniel Nestor ('Mazin Canadian / Canadiens!), Rafael Nadal and Guillermo Coria's coach (a true spanish gentleman) were 3 of the coolest guys I've met on tour and then ... there the girls...<sigh>. <sigh>. </sigh></sigh></ahem><ahem><sigh><sigh>As well, I'm not burdened by the memories of the strenuous early part of the 2 weeks where I did most of the setup and court services without any university volunteers or even the "quirky" new facility that went through it's growing pains as we christened it with it's first big event. The memory that I could have been a victim or very close bystander to a lethal tragedy is my most vivid recollection and it stays with me...<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9227.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9227.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a></sigh></sigh></ahem><br /><ahem><sigh><sigh><br />Mike and Charles, "Yeeeaaa baby... another great tournament done..."<br /><br /><br />Our motto should be</sigh></sigh></ahem><ahem><sigh><sigh> ... "Catastrophe Averted (again)!"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9234.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9234.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Richard Lu and Leo... "Ha ha... job's done<br /><br />and we don't have to clean this up..."</sigh></sigh></ahem><br /><br /><br /><br /><ahem><sigh><sigh> </sigh><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/IMG_9243.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/IMG_9243.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" border="0" /></a><br /><ahem> </ahem></sigh></ahem><br /><br /><br /><br /><ahem><sigh><ahem>Can u hear it..." Naw's tha time fer tha paaarty hats" sez Charles in his exaggerated home New Englander accent</ahem></sigh></ahem>Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1154780701260579742006-08-05T04:20:00.000-07:002006-08-09T17:59:27.113-07:00Part one of (hopefully ) three; 2005 China trip Masters Cup to Xian<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/02jul1_from%20stair.0.jpg">Tennis Masters Cup 2005 site (Qi Zhong Stadium) : Construction to Opening...</a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/02jul1exterior.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/02jul1exterior.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(153, 153, 153);" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/05sep2outer.jpg">External views as of July 1st, 2005</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/02jul1_from%20stair.1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/02jul1_from%20stair.1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/05jul1outer.1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/05jul1outer.1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/05sep2outer.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/05sep2outer.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Nearly finished exterior as of Sep. 02<br /><br />The retractable roof... June 3rd and then Sep. 02, 2005<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/04jun3roof.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/04jun3roof.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/04sep02roof.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/04sep02roof.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/01jun3stair.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/01jun3stair.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The interior: Left (as of June 3rd), below (as of Aug. 10th... can u see the bracing for the roof :O ) and far below (Sep. 2nd)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/06aug10inner.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/06aug10inner.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/06sep2inner.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/06sep2inner.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/03aug10.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/03aug10.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/03aug10.jpg">My sis,</a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/03aug10.jpg"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/03aug10.jpg">Nan</a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/03aug10.jpg"> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/03aug10.jpg">o</a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/03aug10.jpg">n</a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/03aug10.jpg"> the </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/03aug10.jpg">site tour on A</a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/03aug10.jpg">ug 10th and then in the chopper for the aerial photo on the 11th</a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/03aug11heliphoto.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/03aug11heliphoto.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/07oct26turf.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/07oct26turf.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Oct. 26 Artificial surface (decoturf?) is being installed... they laid down the surface but they had to drill the holes for the net<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />below: Nov. 4 Doubles net up and ready to go...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/07nov4turf.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/07nov4turf.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Left to right:<br />Leo ...Director of Facilities<br />Nan...Director of Special events<br />Lisa... Client/sponsor services<br />Me... Director of Court Services<br />Don... Tournament assistant<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/08nov6firstday.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/08nov6firstday.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>A day or so before players started arrivin (Federer and Agassi were the first), some of the senior staff relaxing in the tournament director's office<br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/08nov6mikencharles.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/08nov6mikencharles.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The two big boss men...<br />Charles (Managing Director) and Michael (Tournament Director of Heineken Open Shanghai)<br />"testing" out the newly installed surface.<br /><br />Both ex-pro players remarked, "it played fast..."<br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/08nov6vols.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/08nov6vols.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Later on that day, Michael is giving a tour to a group of tournament volunteers. The volunteers came from Universities around Shanghai and worked for various departments from transportation to court services to logistical and facilities support<br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/09nov6banner3flrs.jpg">The Shanghai Hilton was the official hotel for the tennis tournament so they needed something big in the foyer.... like a 30 foot banner</a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/09nov6banner3flrs.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/09nov6banner3flrs.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The funny thing that i jus remembered... the HSBC champions golf tournament was happening at the same time and the players for the golf and tennis events were both staying at the Hilton so there was a chance that you could see Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal,Vijay Singh or Andre Agassi or another famous golf or tennis player if you happened to go through the foyer at the right time. So with all the VIP's around, the Hilton had brought out their x-ray detector and they were scanning all bags and using a metal detector and hand wand on everyone as they entered the hotel (more intense security than some airports I've been in). I had just finished a long day at the site<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/10nov9bruce.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/10nov9bruce.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> setting everything up to be ready for the players to arrive the next day and so my sis and I went to hotel to pick up my bro (director of transportation... in charge of over a hundred brand new identical silver Mercedes...) for a late supper at midnight . As I was working hard doing setup, I was looking rundown and dirty in my ballcap, T-shirt and ragged but comfy Converse athletic shorts and carrying my beat up hiking knapsack; basically, i look like a bum. When I entered the hotel there was a lineup of about 10-15 rich people/coaches/pro players waiting to go through the security. I didn't know any different so I shrugged and went to the back of the line and waited for about 10 seconds. All of a sudden I get a hand on my shoulder... I turn around and there's one of the big Hilton Security guards looking at me and then he reaches out and ...vigorously shakes my hand. I get pulled through the security line and I get ushered through, past all the quizzical, impatient, and pissed off people in the line. I shake hands with a number of the guys and laugh inwardly as I go further through the foyer to our tournament desk away from all the well dressed guests. What everyone else didn't know in the line was that, I had worked at the Hilton for Heineken organizing a fun money casino in a previous year during a Heineken open tennis tournament of Shanghai. There was a time during that event where there was a near riot and I took control of the security and managed the crowd til it calmed down. Ever since the head of security and a lot of his staff have given me the utmost respect and in this instance, I got superior treatment and a laugh at some rich people's expense. Also, I had partied with the GM of the hotel (Voldermar?) in 2004 (see entry waaaaaay below) and so my good deeds came back to repay me later...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/09nov6minis.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/09nov6minis.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Every singles player in the draw had one of these made and I placed them in each of the dressing rooms for the players to take home, play with , break , etc. Unfortunately, many of these were broken during the 2 weeks and I think only 2 of the players got to take an intact one home. This one had the head break off... we did the "gnome" thing and I don't know where the head is right now but <span style="font-weight: bold;">WE</span> got some great photos... talk to my bro, Bruce.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/10nov9jean.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/10nov9jean.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />So, this was the court services office before everything got crazy. Tha's my buddy, Jean, helping me to organize the towels. All the towels were monogrammed, so they had to be sorted according to the player that would be using them... hence the pieces of paper on the walls.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/10nov10courtsrv.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/10nov10courtsrv.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Sharon, Iggy, and I discussing court bookings for the next day... I don't know what Iggy's title was but he was generally the direct contact with all the players or coaches when it came to organizing who got what court and at what time...<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So I didn't even take many of these pics; they're mostly jus a compilation of shots my sis or bro took while the stadium was rushed to completion for the event, starting Nov. 11th last year. I got so many stories to tell, from how the concrete walls were still settling throughout the event (causing major cracking in the plaster of the dressing rooms... some VVip players had to be moved last minute before they noticed the "creeping" damage... could have been a black eye for the organizers) to some of the challenges involved with "breaking in" a new facility (water had never been run in some of the showers... try turning on 40 showers in ten different dressing rooms for an hour and watching then go til all the gook was out of the new piping and my glasses were steamed beyond belief... also, new location of the stadium meant, no taxi's going out to the 'burbs to pick us up after the setup days 2 weeks before the official event... you try hail a cab in rural china at 2am; it's not fun...) and even the physical rigors endured by staff and volunteers working up to 20 hour days to get everything looking shipshape, just in time for the big show (Leo, Alex, Richard Lu, etc, the "sunup to almost sunup again" boys... working relentlessly to get sponsor signage, furniture and site logistics up to running conditions... you guys were amazing). I wanna tell all the stories but I don't ever tell them like I really want to cuz as time passes, the details seem to fade and the hardships don't seem to be as challenging as they were when we were in the middle of overcoming them...<br /><br />So I'm reminding myself here to tell the story of what happens in the back spaces of a professional tennis tournament in my next few posts and how amazing and inspiring it can be to work with the best of the best...<br />I've done it now for a number of years (worked with the best... sponsors, athletes, managers, etc.) and it gives me great confidence that I can do anything... now if only I knew what I really want in my life , the rest would be easy....Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1128763234367165362005-10-08T01:14:00.000-07:002005-10-08T02:25:19.550-07:00China Trip 2003 Part 1 Kunming<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/Vance%200901.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/Vance%20090.jpg" border="0" /></a> So finally! It took 25 minutes but I finally got the 1st 5 photos of my 2003 trip to Yunnan province in China onto this site. I've been trying to get these photos up but I lost my home internet access and not having time or opportunity to put these up, I just haven't gotten to it til now.<br /><br />The first photo is of a fort that was placed equidistant between two ancient pagodas in the city of Kunming where we flew in to for the start of our trip. The pagodas were of some significance but I never got a good photo of either them (too dark, no good angle on the shots) . From the top of the parapets, you could see each pagoda 500 meters to the east and west of this fortress.<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/Vance%20093a1.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/Vance%20093a.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/Vance%20092a.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/Vance%20092a.jpg" border="0" /></a>The next 2 photos are of the famous nine dragon pools in NW Kunming where the intial water works for the city were established. The pools were used by the people in the area as far back as memory ca<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/Vance%20091a2.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/Vance%20091a.jpg" border="0" /></a>n tell.<br />The next photo is of a very old temple (300-500 years ? i think) and I can't remember the name of the temple but I do remember that my siblings and I got a few shots inside the temples even though they weren't officially allowed ; )<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/Vance%20094a1.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 337px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 221px" height="163" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/Vance%20094a.jpg" width="267" border="0" /></a>This last photo is of the start of our road trip that would last for the next 8 days. This is taken in the front seat of the "bus" that we took from Baoshan to Ruili; actually just a large van with an aisle down some very narrow seats but it got us where we wanted to go (barely). I remember that we had left Shanghai with the temperatures hovering around 10 ° C but we flew into the aiport in Baoshan after one day in Kunming and got hit by a blast of tropical air at 32° C as we stepped off the plane. The tarmac was just a hot plate and we were the "frying Pons" at that moment.Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1128758765299187732005-10-08T00:53:00.000-07:002005-10-08T01:09:20.623-07:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/1600/Vance%20060.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6028/691/320/Vance%20060.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Just cuz I felt like it, here's a photo of my team from the Polo Open 2003 of Shanghai at the wrap party for the tournament volunteers.<br /><br />All of my tennis photos are listed below but I'm trying figure out how to organize them better... like making a folder on the sidebar with "Tennis" listed as the major index... Still trying to figure this blog thingy out.Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1128687584319192192005-10-07T03:51:00.000-07:002005-10-07T23:51:05.756-07:00I Played Texas hold'em for the first time with real players...Played my first Texas Hold'em tournament at a friend of a friend's (thx for hosting Qi{?} ) house yesterday night. I wasn't even going over initially because I was going to work later on at 11pm (long story...) but I decided at the last minute to go cuz I heard there might be cute girls going. There were over 15 people and more expected later so I joined one of the tables to catch a game before I went to work. I joined the "experienced" table cause the buy in was only going to be $10 each w/ no additional re-buys. 2 of the experienced players even went to play at the "newbies" table in anticipation of gettting some free money but I felt like "what the hell" ...go big or go...to work.<br /><br />I'd only played for my first time online for a total of 5 hours while at work over 2-3 days before I was caught by my boss and then I stopped playing for a while... (didn't want to get fired). Other than that , my only experience w/ texas hold'em is watching all the games that get constantly repeated over and over again on TSN and Thescore. So really, I was a total noob to the game, unless you count all the 10 years of my misspent youth, gambling w/ my brothers and friends during all the lazy summers growing up in Saskatchewan.<br /><br />So anyways, when I got there, I started playing for fun with my new roomie and a few of the other early arrivals to the party. I got my ass booted a numbers of time and dropped out each and every time my hand "would" have won. Thankfully, no money was on the line cuz we were just practicing for the real action that was to start when all the rest of the players rolled in. I practiced with Qi's two brothers who were reputed to be the most experienced players and I lost a couple of hands to them going all in on full houses and getting stomped w/ the straight flush on the river or when i bluffed on 7-3 offsuit and one of them called my bluff and I lost BAD!<br /><br />After about 5 practice rounds ( I went all in on all of the rounds at some point and lost every time) and the arrival of a number of the aforementioned cute girls, we finally had enuf players to start the 2 tables. We had one total new player (a girl of course :o) but the rest of the 6 players had some experience w/ poker, even if it wasn't texas hold'em. I got off to a good start by taking down a big pot in 2nd hand by betting modestly early and then betting a lot at the end to bring in as much money as possible from the rest of the table. It didn't hurt that I had a full house after the flop (pocket 4's... i think to start w/ a 4 flopping with another pair). After that I took down a few pots here and there and eliminated 2/3's of the table myself w/ a couple of all-ins. After my run of bad luck in the practice hands, it seemed I couldn't lose in the hands that I stayed in during the real game(I also made a couple of good lay-downs with only minor wounds).<br /><br />Finally, after we eliminated the other "experienced" players, I found myself heads up with the 2 brothers. I had only went up against one of them in an earlier hand and got my ass booted before I folded out at the river. Now, it was me versus both of them and I was shakingly nervous. I think I had a slim chip lead over the younger brother (~150 for me and 130 for him... it didn't look like that big of a lead) and the older brother had 1/4 of my stack as well, so I wasn't feeling too secure. We took down our respective pots on the button for a few hands and I tried to get the 2 brothers to fight each other 1st with the hope that the weaker (but the more savvier one in my opinion) would weaken his younger sibling but that didn't happen. Finally, I got the older one to nibble on a minorly expensive bet of 30. After my initial raise of the blinds (6/12) he went all in. I think he must have noticed how much my hands were vibrating when I pushed in my bet cuz he was fairly quick about making his decision to go all-in. After staring at my 2 queens for half a second I called his Ace-King/Jack? (suited) on the all-in and won with something on the turn.<br /><br />I was totally shaking with adrenaline after I pulled out that hand, but the job wasn't finished. I still had his younger brother to deal with. I think he had killed off 2 players while I dealt the deathblow to every other player, including his bro and his sis (who was actually very good... the sis, Qi, I mean...oh ferget it). We only exchanged two quick fold'em hands before I saw he bet heavily on a flop that I never should have decided to hang in for with a suited 5-3. He was trying to initially slow play his pair of jacks but we put in over 100 chips in the pot with the 1st round of betting because I turned agressive after my inital bad decision to stay in. I guess I felt so heavily invested in the pot, I didn't want to let go of my "bluff". He bet all-in after the flop and I asked for a chip count and found that he had 71 chips left to my remaining stack of about 140. With a loss or fold by me at this point, he could bully me right out of the tournament just like I had done to most of the other players. I hesitated only a second before I called. The problem for him was that a 4 and a 2 showed up on the flop and I decided to gamble on getting a card to make a straight. Like most of the night, I had the luck and a 6 came out on the turn.<br /><br />I wanted to explode and jump around when I saw my straight come but instead I waited for the meaningless river card to drop before I smiled broadly and shook my tough opponents' hands like I had done this lots of times before. That was my first texas hold'em tournament and I netted a pot of $80. God, I was shaking with excitement and pent up energy after the win.<br /><br /><br />I think I might play some more.... :)Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1104086517169108112004-12-26T10:41:00.000-08:002004-12-26T10:41:57.170-08:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/640/102_0207.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/400/102_0207.jpg'></a><br />Jiri watches as one of Mark's serves goes by... so this turned out to be jus like the real match where Mark dominated... as you can see I only got fotos durin the semi and the finals...that was an indication of how busy I was durin the rest of the week. Alas, I worked my butt off and didn't get much in the way of photographic proof. Oh well, the bosses saw and that's why I got invited back this year... I forgot about the thingy wher the BLOG publishes from most recent to oldest so to see these pix in the chronological order, ya gotta start from the Maters' cup poster foto and go upwards to this to see the 2003 mens & womens tournaments in Shanghai in correct order. The fotos below, again, go from the bottom, startin w/ da press conference to the blowout party after the 2004 Heineken Open. <a href='http://www.hello.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif' alt='Posted by Hello' border='0' style='border:0px;padding:0px;background:transparent;' align='absmiddle'></a>Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1104086115700977882004-12-26T10:35:00.000-08:002004-12-26T10:35:15.700-08:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/640/102_0210.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/400/102_0210.jpg'></a><br />Still durin warmups... Mark goes fer a return of Jiri's serve <a href='http://www.hello.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif' alt='Posted by Hello' border='0' style='border:0px;padding:0px;background:transparent;' align='absmiddle'></a>Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1104086017974560072004-12-26T10:33:00.000-08:002004-12-26T10:33:37.973-08:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/640/102_0202.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/400/102_0202.jpg'></a><br />Jus b4 da final, Jiri warms up as I take da foto from behind da player bench. <a href='http://www.hello.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif' alt='Posted by Hello' border='0' style='border:0px;padding:0px;background:transparent;' align='absmiddle'></a>Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1104085928262282242004-12-26T10:32:00.000-08:002004-12-26T10:32:08.263-08:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/640/101_0187.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/400/101_0187.jpg'></a><br />So unlike the women's tournament in the previous week, I didn't get much of a break durin the men's event this followin week . Somethin about not goin into the women's dressin room the previous week (alas!) and havin to be in the men's dressin room addin towels, drinks and toiletry supplies all during this week(DOH!). After Jiri had won his semi, Mercedes had an event where they got a kid out of the crowd and they had a race on court immediately after the match. The kid had an early lead and he got too excited and ran his car rite off the court into the umbrellas shown at the far edge of the court by the media pit. The funniest thing was that the Mercedes rep went teeearin across the court in a panic of flailing limbs to rescue the car in case it was damaged and to keep the event going. After he checked out the model, he gently put it back on the court where the kid launched it again with a squeal of mini powered fury in a bid to catch up to Jiri, who had now gently eased his car up to the finish line. Jiri just slid his car over the finish w/o breakin the tape as the kid drilled the $1000 dollar model into the pilon with a major THUMP! (Not in picture... here comes the Mercedes rep teeearin onto the court again...) Oh ya, that's Allison Lee, there ATP media/player handler w/ da vidcam... Hiya Alli <a href='http://www.hello.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif' alt='Posted by Hello' border='0' style='border:0px;padding:0px;background:transparent;' align='absmiddle'></a>Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1104085077299618622004-12-26T10:17:00.000-08:002004-12-26T10:17:57.300-08:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/640/101_0184.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/400/101_0184.jpg'></a><br />Special Olympics charity event during the mens' tourney. The official photograher was late so my sis asked me to grab my camera to take a few shots...of course, just as I start snappin, look who appears out of nowhere to ruin my perfect shot....jumped rite into my shot, he did, indeedy. <a href='http://www.hello.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif' alt='Posted by Hello' border='0' style='border:0px;padding:0px;background:transparent;' align='absmiddle'></a>Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1104084873867691112004-12-26T10:14:00.000-08:002004-12-26T10:14:33.866-08:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/640/101_0167.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/400/101_0167.jpg'></a><br />So second shot of Elena accepting the honors... she was nice but I really didn't get to talk to her much... she was pretty quiet ... offcourt <a href='http://www.hello.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif' alt='Posted by Hello' border='0' style='border:0px;padding:0px;background:transparent;' align='absmiddle'></a>Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1104084661461521142004-12-26T10:11:00.000-08:002004-12-26T10:12:21.676-08:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/640/101_0166.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/400/101_0166.jpg" border="0" /></a>
<br />Elena Dementiava had jus won the singles crown and me sis was oncourt fer the trophy/cheque presentation... I had time in between putting up the press barricades and later removing them for the doubles match to take this pix <a href="http://www.hello.com/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Hello" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a>
<br />Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1104084495771627252004-12-26T10:08:00.000-08:002005-10-08T00:46:16.476-07:00Shararpova, Canas, & Vinciguerra at the Heineken Open "Opening"<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/640/101_0165.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/400/101_0165.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Promo stuff... gotta get the gifts and then laugh for the camera.... <a href="http://www.hello.com/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Hello" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a>Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1104084415653050452004-12-26T10:06:00.000-08:002004-12-26T10:06:55.653-08:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/640/101_0163.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/400/101_0163.jpg'></a><br />My buddy, Guillermo on the left, Andreas Vinceguerra(?), Maria and da guy from Heineken whose name I shud remember but don't (cuz I've been up fer 20 hours) <a href='http://www.hello.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif' alt='Posted by Hello' border='0' style='border:0px;padding:0px;background:transparent;' align='absmiddle'></a>Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1104084017383519092004-12-26T10:00:00.000-08:002004-12-26T10:04:15.396-08:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/640/101_0157.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/400/101_0157.jpg" border="0" /></a>
<br />Maria stayed a few extra days after the women's event and so in exchange for this promo for the mens' tourney, she got a free hotel room (we paid) while she practiced in Shanghai preppin fer da Japan Open (which she won). The guy in the background in the pink shirt is the second member of the team supreme, Charles "da Ham-mer !" Smith, da Managing director. As usualy, deres Michael in da front gettin all da attention. Dat's my sis w/ da camera... <a href="http://www.hello.com/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Hello" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a>
<br />Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1104083725807636652004-12-26T09:55:00.000-08:002004-12-26T09:55:25.806-08:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/640/101_0153.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/400/101_0153.jpg'></a><br />One craaaazy show... didn't know if I could say it looked good but the girls were kinda cute. Choreography suked tho... <a href='http://www.hello.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif' alt='Posted by Hello' border='0' style='border:0px;padding:0px;background:transparent;' align='absmiddle'></a>Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1104083627394710052004-12-26T09:53:00.000-08:002004-12-26T09:53:47.393-08:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/640/101_0146.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/400/101_0146.jpg'></a><br />The GM of Shanghai Hilton (our sponsor) and swiss player, Emmanuelle Gagliardi, hangin out in the TD's (tournament director's) office at the borrowed foosball table. <a href='http://www.hello.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif' alt='Posted by Hello' border='0' style='border:0px;padding:0px;background:transparent;' align='absmiddle'></a>Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1104083172806252972004-12-26T09:46:00.000-08:002004-12-26T09:46:12.806-08:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/640/101_0141.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/400/101_0141.jpg'></a><br />In between matches... lots of spare time... too much spare time...hehe <a href='http://www.hello.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif' alt='Posted by Hello' border='0' style='border:0px;padding:0px;background:transparent;' align='absmiddle'></a>Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1104083122151093002004-12-26T09:45:00.000-08:002004-12-26T09:45:22.150-08:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/640/101_0131.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/400/101_0131.jpg'></a><br />I finally got a good shot of Alicia's forehand! And then she lost the match (ooops)... I learned this year so that's why I only have photos of my fav player after the tourney. <a href='http://www.hello.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif' alt='Posted by Hello' border='0' style='border:0px;padding:0px;background:transparent;' align='absmiddle'></a>Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9477458.post-1104083020889214892004-12-26T09:43:00.000-08:002004-12-26T09:43:40.890-08:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/640/101_0124.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/77/2765/400/101_0124.jpg'></a><br />The post match press conference... <a href='http://www.hello.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif' alt='Posted by Hello' border='0' style='border:0px;padding:0px;background:transparent;' align='absmiddle'></a>Pyxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11651342371565418538noreply@blogger.com0