An Experience I Thought I'd Never Have Again

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Singer Jennifer Hudson arrives at the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Center on January 31, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.

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Family members and friends aside, there are few Black women I love as much as Serena Williams.

Jennifer Hudson is one of them.

Tonight, she tore through "I Will Always Love You" as a tribute to honoree Whitney Houston on BET.

Tore through it.

With Whitney's voice now unable to deliver her masterful performance as she did back in the early 90s, I never thought I'd hear another live performance of that song that caught my breath.

Tonight, I did.

Jennifer outdid herself and gave Whitney proper respect. You can't touch that song if you can't take that song beyong the moon.

I'll see y'all when I get back to earth.

Serena Williams Wins Legendary No. 12

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It wasn't always pretty, but Serena Williams rained on Justine Henin's fairytale comeback parade to take her fifth Australian Open crown, an Open Era record.

Fighting through nerves, sticky feet, and legs heavy as wet hay, the world No. 1 picked apart Henin's game at the most crucial moments of the match for a gritty 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory on Rod Laver Arena last night.

It's the first time the American defended a Slam since Wimbledon 2003. The first to defend a title Down Under since Jennifer Capriati in 2002. And she finally broke the even-year jinx, winning a title in the first year of the decade to go with crowns in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009.

Serena has now won a Slam in three different decades, beginning with her maiden US Open title in 1999 at age seventeen.

With the victory, she claimed her 12th major title, equaling her idol Billie Jean King for sixth place on the all-time list. Serena now trails only Margaret Smith Court (24), Steffi Graf (22), Helen Wills Moody (19), Martina Navratilova (19) and Chris Evert (18).

With her five Australian Opens, she surpasses Smith Court, Graf, Monica Seles, and Evonne Goolagong for the most won in the Open Era. And she improves her overall winning percentage in Grand Slam finals to 12-3 (.800) the best among active players, woman or man.

Henin, who retired in a cloud of questions 20 months ago, was trying to repeat Kim Clijsters' comeback success by winning her first major entered, and to become the second unranked woman to win a Slam in the Open Era. (Bet I know who Clijsters was rooting for last night.) Despite Henin's run to the finals, she'll remain unranked on Monday. The WTA rankings system requires three events on the computer before spitting out a number before your name.

The Little Backhand That (Almost) Could played brilliantly in stretches and fought like she always fights, but it wasn't enough to overcome a determined defending champion. Despite being mummified with tape on her right thigh and left calf, and playing every day of the event for the last week and a half, including defending her doubles title with her big sister the day before, Serena had two practice sessions earlier in the day to get her feet moving and prepare for Henin's low slices.

In the first few games of the match, you would've never known. Serena had to serve 29 times, fight through two break points and five deuces just to hold her opening service game. She broke Henin's serve to lead 3-1 but faced another 15-40 deficit. She saved the first break point with a 119 MPH service winner.

On the second, a controversial line call denied the Belgian a break back. Henin played a great point to win the game but it had to be replayed because the linesperson called Henin's short volley out, corrected herself, but Serena chased the ball down and got her racquet on it. The crowd booed. When Serena struck another service winner to save break point, Henin cursed behind the baseline, and the crowd booed again. From thereon, it was firmly in Henin's corner.

Serena dropped the next three games to level the set and 4-4, but composed herself and broke Henin again in the ninth game to take the first set.

40 for 40 in wins Down Under after taking the first set, Serena was poised to run away with the match. Leading 3-2 in set two, she earned a break point on Henin's serve, but hit a forehand into Melbourne. After a few more deuces, Henin held on.

At 3-3, 30-0, Serena tossed in a wild double fault that landed halfway between the service line and the baseline. I gagged. So did Serena. She won a single point the rest of the set. Her feet froze, her mind wandered, and Henin took full advantage, striking line-cleaning winners off both wings from all over the court to win the set 6-3 and level the match.


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Surely the match was now Henin's to lost, right? After all, she had the advantage of opening the third set on her serve.

After both players took an extended bathroom break, Serena returned to the court composed and ready to take names. After the match, she told Mary Jo Fernandez she might not ever get another chance and had to "man up", dig in and go for it. But that's not exactly what she did.

The intensity when these two play is unrivaled and I wasn't sure who would raise her game, hold it together, and seize control of the match. Was this see-saw affair headed to 12-10 in the third?

Momentum still on her side, Henin opened the set with a strong hold at love. Serena once again had to save 15-40 on her serve to level the match. After trading three nervy breaks, Serena finally consolidated one to lead 4-2. The finish line in view, the defending champ switched tactics, adding more topspin and less pace to her shots, spreading the court with angles instead of depth. Henin had trouble creating her own pace on the higher bouncing shots and finally capitulated another break to a fiercely focused Serena who was not to be denied.

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With a strong service game, including the fastest ace of the match at 123 MPH, Serena closed out the tug of war in two hours and seven minutes. Falling on her back in victory, relief broke over her face like surf. When she finally got up to approach the net, she could hardly walk, a fortnight of fatigue on full display. Almost thought she was going to fall down again before reaching the stands and sharing celebratory hugs with her mother and sister.


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A double duty champion Down Under two years running and fifth overall, Serena the Great put out an extraordinary effort. Now that she's reached her goal of equaling King's Slam victories, she may be more relaxed on the crushed brick of Paris and finally win another crown there.

Surely, Henin will have something to say about that.


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Cross posted to The Huffington Post

Serena Williams vs. Justine Henin: Rivalry Renewed

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The Australian Open organizers couldn't have written a better script. In the first Slam final of the new decade, 11-time Slam champion Serena Williams, world No. 1 and defending champion, will face off against 7-time champ Justine Henin, the 2004 champion playing in only her second event since abruptly and mysteriously retiring from the tour as world No. 1 -- the only player in history to do so -- 20 months ago.

Serena is gunning for Slam title No. 12, which will tie her with the legendary Billie Jean King on the all-time list. Henin is going for Slam No. 8 which will tie her with Monica Seles on the all-time list and move her past Venus Williams into second place among active players behind Serena.

There's mutual respect and a few vials of bad blood. Henin will never be able to live down her infamous hand shenanigans in the Roland Garros semifinal, which ultimately cost Serena the match and a chance to defend her first Roland Garros title. And after a string of successive defeats in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open in 2007, Serena virtually ran Justine off the tour with a 6-2, 6-0 beatdown in the quarterfinals of Key Biscayne in 2008.

A few weeks ago, when the Sydney draw came out, Serena and Henin were to face off in a potential second-round encounter. But Henin withdrew citing injury. She had just completed a grueling three-set final against her Belgian rival Kim Clijsters in the Brisbane final, so the tennis world would have to wait to see these mulitple Slam champions go at it.

Didn't have to wait too long. Some are calling it a dream final, others a cat fight. Based upon the player's current form, the encounter could be over in an hour. Serena's serve and return are the key. As much as Henin fights, her serve hasn't held up well throughout the fortnight. But her opponents haven't been able to fend off her aggressive return game to hold their own serves.

Serena went through four rounds without dropping serve and it wasn't until nerves overcame her at the outset of her quarterfinal encounter against Victoria Azarenka that she finally surrendered a service game. Several of them. But if she's comfortably holding serve -- she's served the most aces (53) and clocked the fastest serve (126.7 MPH) through 6 rounds -- and breaking serve at will, Henin won't win a set.

But Serena is trying to defend a Slam title for the first time since Wimbledon 2003. And while she asserted in a presser that she doesn't enter events to defend titles but to win them, I can't imagine some nervous pressure won't leaden her feet in the first few games of the match.

Henin, who recently admitted being afraid of playing Serena, could play with nothing to lose or as anxiously as she did against Elena Dementieva in the second round. Either way, her second serve is a wasteland and her penchant for double faulting at the crucial junctures of a match could be her undoing. However, if she's cracking forehand winners with that shorter backswing and earlier contact and wearing Serena down with dropshots, she could take Serena the distance.

Serena leads their career head-to-head 7-6. The American is 4-1 on hardcourts, the Belgian, 4-2 in Slams. They're tied at 2 wins apiece in event finals. Amazingly, this will be their first match in a Slam final and their first match in Melbourne.

Even though Serena has never lost a final Down Under, she's never won the title in an even year. Henin's only Australian Open title came in an even year.

ESPN will air the finals live at 3:30AM eastern standard time. Take your naps, set your alarms, prepare the popcorn and get ready for the fireworks.

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Cross posted to Huffington Post

Catching Up

SINCE the day the entire tapestry of my coming of age was ripped from the walls, not quite three weeks ago, Academy-Award winner Karl Malden passed on at 97; a 24-year-old professional tennis player died of a heart attack; a cousin died of a heart attack; a sister tried to hideaway a stolen car on our property; Michael Jackson had a televised homegoing celebration; President Obama, the First Lady, and Sasha and Malia visited Ghana and the few images of the visit I've been able to take in have stirred up more than I knew was there; Sarah Palin quit governing Alaska because she thinks she's going to be president; Serena Williams won her third Wimbledon title; Andy Roddick almost won his first; another southern Black woman with impeccable credentials has been chosen Surgeon General; Justice Sotomayor's hearing has begun; and the sun in the paradise we're creating finally came up from beneath a shelf of clouds.

Plugging Along

There's a big event going on in Indian Wells, California, and I'm blogging it like crazy over on my tennis blog.

Of course, I'm still following this administration's First 100 days closely and could probably write a tidbit a day about the political theater going on right now over this AIG bonus "outrage" but I'm not pushing that story because I know it's a lie and a distraction from the bigger fraud behind the entire bailout and a way to try to derail the president's progressive agenda.

I'm moving right along.

I think I need a vacation on a beach somewhere in the South Pacific.

Eye Candy

MORE March Madness eye candy.

Black History Month: Honoring Joe Sims

MY MOTHER called me yesterday. One of her bad news calls. You know the kind. "Did I tell you that Mrs. Drews passed? Yeah. She had something wrong with her lung. And you don't remember Mrs. Marcus from over at St. Phillips, do you? You was probably too young, but she passed too. Oh, and remember your cousin was in that accident and almost paralyzed. Oh, I almost forgot, Mrs. Payne called to tell me Joe Sims died. He died last week, but his memorial service was yesterday."

That last one caught me.

Joe Sims was my summer track coach from the time I was 9-years-old through most of high school. A great man who did great things for a generation of great kids.

A quiet hero.

Amy Silvers penned a wonderful tribute.

Anyone who knew Joe Sims thought it was only fitting that the Milwaukee Striders track club was renamed in his honor.

Last year, it became the Joe Sims Milwaukee Striders, named for the founder and head coach who helped young athletes run their best on the track and in life.

"He didn't want to do it - he was pretty humble," said the club's board chairman, Bob Harris, speaking of the name change. "But we told him it was necessary for the Striders to continue to exist . . . and for the kids, you should do this."

And so Sims agreed.

Joseph Sims died Tuesday in Waukegan, Ill., where he last lived in a rehabilitation center following health problems and a stroke. He was 59.

In 1975, Sims founded the club with Robert O. Kern, another North Division coach. The purpose was to keep school athletes and other neighborhood youths busy during the summer.

The club was first called NKL, short for North-King-Lincoln, the schools most of the athletes attended. It was renamed the Milwaukee Striders about 1977.

By the early 1980s, the club emerged as a national force - and an unexpected one.

"It's the funniest thing we always hear," Sims said in 2005. " 'Are you sure you're from Wisconsin?' I just crack up every time."

Robert Hackett and Renee Jones were in the Striders' first wave of success at the National Junior Olympics.

Some Striders alumni became national and world-class athletes, notably Esther Jones, later an Olympic relay gold-medal winner. Others included Floyd Heard, David Brown, Kevin Bledsoe, Dana Collins, Norman McGee, Demi Omole and Michael Bennett.

"Joe Sims is a treasure for Milwaukee - wow!" community activist Reuben Harpole said. "He did it so poor kids would have a chance to go to college - and they did."

Sims' sister, Sandra Hobbs, said: "People are calling from all over. It's a lot of love, it's nothing other than that."

Sims considered the athletes to be his kids, just part of one big extended family.

Cheryl Torrence-Adams knew that first-hand. She was running on her own when Sims noticed her at a meet.

"He had one of the kids come to me and talk to me and get me to join the club," she said. "I ran with the Striders from 11 to 19."

Torrence-Adams later returned to the club to help with fund-raising, knowing that Sims often put his own money in to help his athletes.

"He did what he did because he didn't want to leave anybody out," she said. "He was like a father figure for many who didn't have fathers."

Sims grew up in Milwaukee, graduating from North Division where Harris was his football coach. He also did track, specializing as a shot-putter.

"And at 17, he took the city weight-lifting championship," Harris said.

He went to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for a year before deciding that college was not for him.

Sims ended up working as North Division's track coach and assisted with the football team. He also supervised the school's weight room. He later was assistant track coach at Boys Tech.

His one real struggle was with his own weight. Sims put on hundreds of extra pounds, but was losing weight at the rehab center.

Although Sims cut an unlikely figure for a track coach, his athletes didn't seem to care. He did his coaching from a seat on the sidelines or from his car on their longer runs.

For Sims, athletics was a way to help young people rise above the problems of poverty.

"You can't do drugs and run track," Sims would say. "That's a fact!"

His athletes kept coming back, bringing what they learned from college programs, said co-founder Kern.

"And everything kept getting better," Kern said. "The kids in the club were Joe's life. Once you were in the club, you became part of Joe's life."

"A coach don't know what he's talking about if he says he knows it all," Sims said in 1991. "When my kids come back, I listen to them.

"I say, 'Learn me something!' I'm learning to be better for my kids."

Serena Williams Wins 10th Grand Slam

Cross-posted to Craig Hickman's Tennis Blog

HUBBY, who pretty much only watches tennis when walking through the living room, asked me who Serena was playing in the final. When I told him, the said, "Oh. That should be quick."

How right he was.

Dinara Safina wept.

You would too if facing the crushing onslaught of serves and forehands from the Fierce Stompin' Diva.

That was Serena Williams' second Melbourne final to the loss of only three games.

And the roof was open. Her first Melbourne title outdoors.

Double digits, baby. Double digits.

Back on top of the world.

Go on, girl.


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Related Post: Trophy Presentation Slideshow

Serena at Fashion Week

Queen of the Night

Dear Tennisgods,

Thank you for such an extraordinary tennis match last night. It was easily the best US Open women's final I've ever seen live. For a change, not one was cowed by the moment. Just to win most of the points, Serena and Jelena had to travel coast to coast, north and south, just to come back to the middle to put a ball away. I was getting tired just watching the match. So much running. 6-4, 7-5. Two sets. Over two hours. Felt like the match went to a third-set tiebreak, didn't it?

Thank you for giving the divas the energy to keep it up. Jelena surprised me with how well she played and fought and wouldn't let Serena run away with it. Perhaps she might consider focusing on the match more than her own image on the jumbo tron, but whatever works.

Thank you most of all for allowing my girl to prevail. Her focus, even when her legs froze toward the end of the second set and she couldn't keep the ball in the court, was laser sharp. She almost looked like she had a flashback to that horrible night in 2004 when that chair umpire who shall not be named lost her that quarterfinal against Jennifer Capriati. Who just happened to be there last night.

It's been a long time between drinks, and I was beginning to think you had forsaken me. But it was worth the wait. Six years since Serena won her last US Open. That's the longest stretch in the Open Era between singles titles won by a woman player at the same Slam. Five years since Serena was ranked No. 1 in the world. The longest stretch since the ranking systems began for a player to fall from and return to the top of the charts.

I've never seen her so happy after winning a Slam. She looked like she was going to jump right out of the stadium. Reminded me of her big sister after winning Wimbledon in 2005 in a great, great final. And Venus was right there channeling her energy down to the court and rooting her little sister on to victory. Her father was dancing in the aisles. Her mother wore that 1,000 watt smile from ear to ear. It was a beautiful thing.

More of this, please. I don't want to be greedy, but I wouldn't mind if Serena played well enough to end the year at No. 1, which would throw all sorts of pie in the faces of her detractors. Already Chris Evert is trying to act as though he's always supported how Serena has handled herself in her career. We know better.

Whatever happens from here on out, thanks again for such a memorable match and I look forward to more.

Love,

Craig

Lightning Bolt

SAFE TO SAY Usain Bolt is the greatest sprinter I've ever seen. He's certainly the fastest Olympian who's ever lived. I never thought I'd see the world record in the 200m broken. He ran that race like a man on a mission. That's what I like to see. No showboating before the finish line.

Michael Johnson never should've said Bolt couldn't break his record.

19.30 seconds into a headwind on the straightaway. And he was looking at the clock as he leaned across the finish line. He was determined to break the record.

He won by 5 body lengths.

It was an unbelievable race.

Michael Phelps stole the show in the first week. The second week belongs to Bolt. No man in history has ever set a world record in the 100m and 200m in the same event.

Bravo.

American Sweep

A FEW NIGHTS ago, American scored its first gold medal in track and field in the 400m hurdles. And right behind Angelo Taylor, Kerron Clement (below, left) took the silver and Bershawn Johnson (below, right) took the bronze to give team USA it's first, and likely only, Olympic medal sweep in 2008.

Williams Sisters Win Another Gold Medal in Doubles

WHAT would American tennis be without the sisters?

The World's Fastest Man

USAIN BOLT. The perfect name. New world record. 9.69 seconds. Unreal. Jamaica's first Olympic champion. But he needs to stop disrespecting the field by showboating before the finish line. My old track coach would bench us for the next three meets if we did anything so egregious. He will be one of the track greats if he doesn't get distracted by that gargantuan ego.

Phelps Wins 8th Gold, Breaks Spitz' Record

BEIJING (AP) — Michael Phelps won his record eighth gold medal Sunday at the Beijing Olympics as a member of the victorious U.S. 400-meter medley relay team, breaking a tie with Mark Spitz for most golds in a single games.

Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Phelps and Jason Lezak won in a world-record of 3 minutes, 29.34 seconds, lowering the old mark of 3:30.68 set four years ago in Athens.

The U.S. swept the men's relays in Beijing, with Phelps leading off in the 400 and 800 free relays. Lezak anchored the 400 free to a narrow victory over France to preserve Phelps' historic bid.

Australia took the silver in 3:30.04.

Japan earned the bronze in 3:31.18.

Phelps Photo Finish Ties Spitz' Record of 7 Golds

BEIJING (AP) - Michael Phelps swam into Olympic history with a magnificent finish Saturday, his arms soaring through the water one last time to get a hand on the wall and win his seventh gold medal of the Beijing Games.

Phelps beat Milorad Cavic of Serbia in the 100-meter butterfly by a hundredth of a second, setting an Olympic record in 50.58 seconds but snapping his streak of setting world records in each of his previous six gold-medal performances.

The 23-year-old American has now pulled even with the greatest of Olympic records, matching Mark Spitz's seven gold medals from the 1972 Munich Games.
Call this one the Great Haul of China - and it's not done yet.

Phelps will return on Sunday to swim in his final event of the Beijing Games, taking the butterfly leg of the 4x100 medley relay. The Americans will be heavily favored to give him his eighth gold, leaving Spitz behind.

James Blake Upsets Roger Federer in Beijing

BEIJING (AP)— Roger Federer’s bid for his first Olympic singles medal ended Thursday night when he lost to American James Blake.

With the sort of lackluster performance once unthinkable for Federer, he was eliminated in the quarterfinals 6-4, 7-6 (2).

The upset was a stunner in that Blake had won only a single set in their previous eight matches. But the top-seeded Federer is battling a yearlong slump that has left him stalled at 12 major titles, two shy of Pete Sampras’ record.

His Wimbledon reign ended last month, and he came to Beijing knowing he would lose the No. 1 ranking after 4 1/2 years to Rafael Nadal next week.

Federer’s latest defeat means no rematch in Sunday’s final against Nadal, who won in epic fashion when they met for the Wimbledon title.

Federer had been seeking his first Olympic medal after losing in the singles semifinals in Sydney and in the second round in Athens. He was scheduled to play a quarterfinal doubles match later Thursday with Swiss partner Stanislas Wawrinka.

The upset was sweet for the No. 8-seeded Blake, a first-time Olympian at 28 and the lone U.S. male to survive the first round of singles.

Read the rest of the AP report...

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What a great result for Blake, who has struggled with confidence all year. What a time, what a place to get your first victory in umpteen tries over Federer.

2008 is looking very good for the accomplishments of Black men on the world stage. In tennis in particular, this is the third major event where a Black man has made the final four. France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils made the semifinals of the Australian Open and Roland Garros respectively, while Tsonga went one step further and made the finals where he fell to Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Monfils lost to Federer in Paris.

Go, James. One more victory will guarantee you an Olympic medal.

Cullen Jones Makes History, U.S. Wins 400 Free Relay

I MISSED this historic event last night, but when I read the article this morning, I immediately broke out into tears.

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BEIJING - When Cullen Jones powered through the water Sunday night, chasing history, the charismatic kid who learned to swim in Newark could hear the roar from a half a world away. Amid the deafening cheers from the thousands squeezed into the National Aquatics Center, Jones felt the support from the scores of people that he touched along an incredible and unlikely path that began in inner city pools and led him here to the world's biggest stage. An ambassador for African-American swimmers, Jones wanted to shatter stereotypes one lap at a time, eager to spread his message that, yeah, black kids can swim, too.

He also wanted to help out a buddy on his own personal mission.

Jones accomplished both by helping the 4X100 freestyle relay team win the gold medal in a comeback for the ages. In a race soaked with drama and subplots, the Americans shattered the world record they had set just hours earlier in the prelims, blistering through the water in 3 minutes, 8.24 seconds.





Trailing after three legs, anchor Jason Lezak erased a huge gap to overtake and out-touch French world record holder Alain Bernard to set off a wild celebration. A few days after Bernard declared his team would "smash" the Americans in the finals, the U.S. team authored a stunning chapter in these Olympics.

"We beat a team in most people's mind was not beatable," said U.S. coach Eddie Reese. "It was amazing. (Lezak's leg) had to be the best ever and it was the best ever. That's the kind of anchor you dream of."

Jones became the second African-American swimmer to win a gold medal as the team kept Michael Phelps' quest for an unprecedented eight golds alive. But it was Lezak's fastest split in history at 46.06 seconds and mad dash in the final frenzied moments when he hunted down Bernard after being behind by more than eight-tenths of a second that had everyone buzzing.

Read the rest...

Phelps Smashes World Record in First Race

BEIJING (AP) — Michael Phelps set a world record Sunday to win his first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, beating rival Ryan Lochte in the 400-meter individual medley with a time of 4 minutes, 3.84 seconds.

Phelps, trying to break Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals, crushed his old mark of 4:05.25 in the 400 IM, set in June at the U.S. Olympic trials.

Laszlo Cseh of Hungary rallied to take the silver medal in 4:06.16, while Lochte faded to the bronze in 4:08.09.

Beijing 2008: Scenes from the Opening Ceremony

New York Times has an incredible photo gallery here.