The U.S. Open Tennis Tournament has begun! It started Monday and continues through September 12th.

If you’re looking for a fun way to spend a day, buy general admission tickets, walk around and watch some of the matches and practice sessions held on the outer courts – it’s a great opportunity to see some of the best in the game up close.

You’ll be amazed at how strong and fast most players are, and how hard the men serve. I once sat behind the court when Boris Becker, who had one of the fastest serves in the game, played Yannick Noah. When Becker was serving – at over 120 miles an hour — toward our seats, I found myself ducking every time. Couldn’t stop the reflex even though my brain “knew” it was unlikely someone that accurate would misfire.

If you want to know more about the rules of the game, see my article from July 7th.

If you want to know more about who’s playing, go to usopen.org. You can purchase tickets on the website as well, or through Ticketmaster.

The big European tennis tournaments—the French Open and Wimbledon—are history, but the US Open is still to come at the end of August in New York. My advice, if you’re in the area, is to try to get out there during the first week and spend the day watching.

Why the first week? Because, in addition to seeing top players compete on the main stadium courts, you can walk around the outer courts and see the best players in the world practicing, playing doubles, or even sometimes playing an early round match.

If you get a chance, stand directly behind the service line, especially during a men’s match, and see how fast the ball comes from the server to receiver. You’ll get a sense of how fast the game is, how strong the players are, and how quick their reflexes have to be to get the ball in play.

If you’re a tennis neophyte, here are the basic rules:

A tennis match is made up of games and sets. A set is a series of games, and the first player two win six games wins the set. The first player to win two of three sets in a women’s match or double’s match, or three of five sets in a men’s match wins and goes on to the next round of the tournament.

Games and Points

There’s a coin toss to see who serves the first game. For the rest of the match, the serve alternates back and forth each time a new game starts. The server must hit the ball so it lands within a defined area of the court on the receiver’s side. The server has two tries to do this. If he misses both, he double faults, and his opponent gets a point.

The first player to win four points wins the game. But the points aren’t scored 1,2,3,4. Instead it goes like this:

0 = love
1 = 15
2 = 30
3 = 40
4 = game

Why? Not sure, although it seems this form of scoring originated in France in the Middle Ages.

If the players are tied at 40 all that’s called deuce, and the game continues until one player wins by two points.

Sets

A player wins a set when they win six games, as long as they are ahead by two games. If a set is tied 6-6 there’s a tiebreaker that has to be won by two points.

The exception to this rule is the fifth set at tournaments like Wimbledon, the French Open, and the Australian Open. Those have no tiebreaker so the set has to be won by two games. A couple of weeks ago this rule led to the longest tennis match in history. John Isner of the US defeated Nicolas Mahut of France 70-68 in the fifth set of a match that latest 11 hours and five minutes, and was played over three days (there are no lights at Wimbledon so the match was postponed twice on account of darkness). I watched some of it—one of the most amazing sporting events ever.

A game of exceptions

That fifth set rule isn’t the only exception…. now that you have the basics down, here are a few others.

The server gets two tries to hit the ball into the designated area on his or her opponent’s side of the court. Except if one of the two tries hits the net and then lands in the designated area. Then he gets a third try. Also, a player wins a game after scoring four points, but only if he or she wins by two. If there’s a tie at three points all, they continue playing that game until someone wins by two. And not all men’s matches are best of five sets—some are best of three.

Sounds confusing, but if you watch a few matches, it will begin to make sense. And if you want to see the best of the best playing—on the women’s side it’s Venus and Serena Williams, Jelena Jankovic and Caroline Wozniacki. The top men are Rafael Nadal, who just won Wimbledon for the second time, Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, and Andy Murray.

If reading’s not your thing, you can listen to this guy explain the basics of tennis in two parts:

Top photo by Okinawa Soba (In Asia and Africa until August) on Flickr.

Soccer, called football in every country but ours, is the most popular sport in the world. So one might say that right now the world is experiencing “Football Fever,” with the start of the month-long FIFA World Cup Finals Soccer Tournament just a few days away.

The 19th annual tournament starts June 11 and continues for a month. 32 teams, including the United States, will compete for a total of $17.6 million in prize money, including $3.75 million for the winning team. This year’s World Cup Finals will be held in South Africa with matches played at 10 stadiums in 10 cities.

How do teams get to the World Cup?

Qualifying campaigns generally last 12 months. Qualifying games are played during the regular professional football season, which means the top players on teams all over the world must return to their home country every other month to play for their national team. Imagine Derek Jeter and all of the Yankees splitting up for two weeks every other month during the baseball season to return to South America or Asia to play qualifying games with their countrymen for the World Baseball Classic.

In addition to the 31 teams that qualify, the host nation is given automatic entry into the World Cup Finals. Europe has more than twice as many teams (13) qualified for the finals than any other region (Africa has 6, South America 5, Asia 4, North America 3, and Oceania 1).

Factoid: While they will not play each other at all in the tournament, the 2010 finals marks the first time that both North and South Korea have qualified for the same tournament. While South Korea recently had some success in the 2002 World Cup, North Korea is the lowest ranked team in the tournament and with games against Brazil, Portugal, and the Ivory Coast, they are not expected to even score a single goal.

Then what?

The Finals (what we know as the World Cup) begin with eight groups of four teams that play each other in round robin fashion.  The eight top seeded teams (Italy, Spain, England, France, Brazil, Argentina, Holland, and Germany) are in separate groups, increasing the odds that all will advance. The remaining 3 teams for each group are randomly selected.

Following the completion of group play, the  winners and runners up advance to the Round of 16, when single elimination games begin—you win and you move on, you lose and you are out. From the round of 16 winners move on to the Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and the World Cup Finals Championship Game where the next World Cup Champion will be crowned.

Who’s going to win?

This year’s tournament marks the first played in Africa and likely will present an African team with their best chance of winning the World Cup. Ivory Coast is considered Africa’s best team and best hopes of progressing deep into the tournament, however a recent injury to their star Didier Drogba (recently seen on the cover of Vanity Fair) has tempered expectations.

As the reigning European Champion—Europe holds its own Championship Tournament between 16 top European nations every four years between World Cups—Spain is considered the favorite to win this year’s World Cup. However, no European nation has ever won the World Cup when the Finals Tournament has been held outside of Europe. With an aging squad and following struggles during the qualification, Italy is not expected to defend the trophy as current holders of the title 2006 World Cup Champions.

Brazil is second favorite to win the trophy, as six time champions and purveyors of “the beautiful game,” they are always expected to advance well into the late stages of the tournament. While their playing style is generally the complete opposite to Brazil, Germany has always produced good results in the World Cup Finals tournament and will likely advance to the quarterfinals or beyond. In 13 of the last 15 World Cup Finals tournaments played since 1950, Brazil and/or Germany has played in the Championship Match, an amazing run of consistent greatness for both teams.

Want more World Cup coverage?

It’s everywhere, whether you’d like to look at the players “up close and personal” like Annie Liebovitz did in the photos she took of scantily clad players in the most recent issue of Vanity Fair, or read about how future soccer stars are made in this week’s Sunday Times magazine. And if you’re lucky enough to go, the Times had a story June 2nd in the travel section about must-see sites in several of the cities. For more info on the game, the politics, and the news, Vanity Fair even has a special soccer section of their website.

If you’re a soccer novice you can learn the basic rules and how the game is played here.

Are you coming down with the fever? Here are some videos to get you in the mood:

In the giving mood?

Finally, in the days of childhood obesity, soccer can help kids exercise, and it can improve their health. If you’d like to learn more about an organization that uses soccer to help kids (and also teaches them about poetry, which improves literacy), check out America Scores. Great program that works! Yes, they’re my former employer, and I still do some consulting work for the LA branch, but outside research shows their program helps kids get healthy and learn to read, so it’s not just me who thinks they’re worthy.

Image from Shine 2010 – 2010 World Cup good news’ Flickr stream.
Special thanks to Doug Friend for his participation in the research for this article.

A couple of weeks ago, the Phoenix Suns basketball team dressed for a game donning jerseys that read “Los Suns.” They wore the jerseys to protest Arizona’s new and controversial immigration law. And there’s talk about moving next year’s All Star game out of the state.

Major league baseball is stepping into the fray too—their union warned that if the current law goes into effect, they will “consider additional steps necessary to protect the rights and interests of our members.” Hundreds of baseball players are foreign citizens and half of the 30 teams go to Arizona for spring training. The economic impact of teams going elsewhere is potentially devastating.

The very visible symbolic action of wearing the jerseys is important, and threatening to act with the pocketbook is one of the most effective tools around to influence policy and politics. Everyone knows that money talks.

But one of the best things about all of this, at least for me, is that these actions were a happy and eye-opening surprise.  Aren’t politics and sports strange bedfellows? Guess I’m guilty of some stereotyping about athletes and professional sports teams, some of it based on the highly publicized accusations about players behaving very badly. In this case, I give kudos and credit where it is due. Bravo to the Suns and to professional baseball for speaking out in an appropriate way and not being afraid to become involved in a controversial issue that matters to their players.

image info:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29755692@N04/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

We’re about to be in our bikinis in public. It’s work out time! And just because you’re working out doesn’t mean you need to lose your personal style. With so many cute options available (Stella McCartney for Adidas, anyone?!?), there’s no excuse.

Sweat! by icelandicody featuring American Apparel hoodies

Upon arriving home from California, I got drenched in a downpour with my luggage and punched in the face with a nasty head cold, so yeah, this place blows. But for the sake of this article, let’s pretend that better weather and happier times are upon us, okay? Cue the outdoor activities!

I think that hiking is gonna be my new thing, you guys. This may come as a surprise to those of who know about my last hiking experience in which I whined like a little bitch ’cause my friend got us lost and it was legitimately getting dark and we were wandering the bear-riddled woods of northern Jersey in the winter and I was convinced that every snapping twig was, in fact, a blood-thirsty grizzly barreling down the hill towards my jugular, and I was definitely 100% going to die out there, ripped to pieces in a pile of blood-soaked leaves, but seriously, this time was totally different!

I went on the greatest hike at Griffith Park in LA and for the first time in months I was like, “Working out is fun!” I liked being out of breath and feeling my muscles work and not being in a gym surrounded by douchebags who drink water out recycled gallons of milk. I got a little tan, saw some lizards, and even the rattle snake warning didn’t phase me! I pictured myself catching that fucker by the throat and slamming it against a tree if it tried to fuck with me.

So assuming that it won’t rain everyday for the next four months like last year, I researched some NYC hiking opportunities in hopes of dragging some friends into the great outdoors this summer to burn some cals fighting off mountain lions and generally running for our lives.

Appalachian Mountain Club: For $40, you too can enjoy the mountains, forests, waters, and trails of the Appalachian region.  Actually, what you can do is read the outdoorsy magazine that will start showing up in the mail and maybe go to a few environmental themed socials. The AMC does offer a shit ton of organized outdoor activities led by… leaders, which is cool if you don’t know what you’re doing and want some guidance. Transportation isn’t provided, but detailed instructions on how to get somewhere via mass transportation is, so pack a granola bar and shut up.

NYC Day Hiking: A little more do-it-yourself, this site is great for finding a hike that suits your ability… for free! There’s this great chart that lists trails mileage, difficulty, and distance, and also tells you how to get there via mass transit, if like me, you’re car free since ‘83.

Outdoor Bound: Another pay-per, this shit seems incredibly pricey considering you’re not chartering a stretch hummer to the mountain and have to bring your own water, but then again, some of the day trips include horse back riding and other extras that gots to be paid for by someone, so… if you aren’t poor and want a well-organized fancy pants outdoor excursion, take note. I’ll be busy fucking around in my parents’ woods and jumping in the pool when I get hot, but go have fun!

If you have a car and feel like taking a drive, check out…

Sunfish Pond

Harriman Park

Ramapo River Reserve (um, the “this site may harm your computer” warning makes me feel like I’d definitely end up in something’s stomach if I were to venture to this place, but by all means… check it out. Nice knowing you.)

As the OMFGstyle.com sports authority, I can’t help thinking about horse racing at this time of year—the Triple Crown to be exact. Three races starting with the Kentucky Derby in May, the Preakness two weeks later, and the Belmont Stakes three weeks after that.

There’s lots of pageantry, the horses are beautiful and graceful; the ladies’ hats are wild, especially at the Derby; and the mint juleps flow freely. And millions of dollars are at stake for the winners.

As a horse crazy kid who rode some amazing ex-race horses, I followed these races closely, and am old enough to have watched some of the great Triple Crown winners of all time—Secretariat’s 31-length romp in the Belmont, Affirmed’s three by-a-nose victories over Alydar.

But this isn’t about who the favorites are this year, or how many furlongs there are in a mile (there are eight), or the fact that there hasn’t been a Triple Crown winner since 1978.

The horses in these races are three years old. They’ve been ridden since they were one, and they started racing at two. They don’t mature physically until they are five, so it’s like having your 10-year-old child run three marathons in six weeks after two years of training. Sounds cruel, right? It is.

Why don’t the rules get changed? Because investors who own race horses want to make money, and the longer they have to feed and train young horses before those horses can begin to pay for themselves, the less likely it is that they will get their investment back. That and there’s the old argument, “this is the way we’ve always done it.”

What’s the difference between this and pushing a child to train for a sport like gymnastics or figure skating? The horses can’t ever say no.

This year, put on a big hat, sip a mint julep (or two), but instead of hitting the track to place a bet, maybe you can take that money and put it to use helping ex-race horses find good homes… There are rescue organizations like Canter that do outstanding work with very limited budgets.

With only a couple of more weeks of playoff games and then the Super Bowl, you might think that we were finally reaching a time of year when there is only one professional sport—basketball—to watch.  But no, the professional hockey season is in full swing.

Think of hockey as a hybrid – it’s fast-paced like basketball, there’s legal hitting like football, and the playoffs are best of multiple games like baseball.  Oh yeah, sometimes the hitting results in major brawls on the ice, but that’s another story.

Hockey is played on a 200’ by 85’ ice rink. The rink has three zones, a neutral zone in the middle, and defending and attacking zones (gotta love the war analogies here) at each end.

There are six players on a team, one goalie, three forwards, two defensemen.  A game is made up of three 20-minute periods, and it starts with a face-off, similar to a jump ball in basketball.

The object of the game is to score more goals than your opponent.  Each goal is one point.

The game is played with a puck that’s made of rubber, and is frozen before it’s used so it doesn’t bounce.  When hit hard, the puck can move at 100 miles per hour.  Hockey sticks are wooden, and there are regulations regarding their size.  The rules say players can’t carry their sticks above the shoulders of their opponents.

Players are only allowed to hit—body check—the guy with the puck using their shoulders, hips, or torso.

Live play is allowed behind the goal, though the offensive player with the puck is not allowed in the crease, the 8’ by 4’ area right in front of the goal. The goalie’s job is to “save” the puck from getting past him into the goal.   So when you hear an announcer say that so and so has 27 saves, they’re talking about the goalie.  When you hear them say so and so had a hat trick that means that player scored three or more goals in a single game.

When a penalty is called, a player has to leave the game and sit in the penalty box for a specific amount of time.  This creates a power play situation – when one team has an advantage because they have one more man on the ice.

Common infractions include offsides (player crosses blue line before the puck), and icing (shooting puck across center red line past opposing red goalie line).

Regular season hockey games no longer end in ties.  If a game is tied after five minutes of overtime, a shoot-out occurs.  Each team names three shooters who attempt to score goals.  If the game remains tied after these three shooters are done, teams continue shooting in “sudden death” mode.  The game cannot end until each team has taken the same number of shots.   This rule, which took effect in the NHL in 2005, remains controversial.

Professional hockey has been played in this country since 1924, and is governed by the National Hockey League.  The Stanley Cup is the annual championship analogous to the Super Bowl.

Editor’s Note: If you haven’t seen the Paul Newman classic Slap Shot, please, please do:

Le Ski by Burkeys featuring Villain

Skiing and snowboarding are such expensive sports. Apart from the cost of getting to the mountain and the lift ticket, there’s all that gear! You can spend a fortune on boots, bindings, and boards. Since I’m still learning how to snowboard, I refuse to spend a lot on new equipment. I found my boots at a used sporting goods store (Play It Again Sports is amazing) and luckily inherited a board from my husband. For the rest of it, you DO NOT need every product that Burton makes. You don’t even need a much of a coat – a fleece and a windbreaker will do you fine. The Bumsaver, however, is crucial.

Happy New Year!  Good luck with all that “eating right” stuff.  Sucker.

I, for one, have vowed to become an acrobat.  With rhythm.  And a side of self defense.

Enter, Au Capoeira.  A combination of music, dance, self-defense, ritual, and way of life.  Otherwise known as Peep My Strong Arms and Tiny Waist As I Make It Look Really Easy To Spin On My Head And Do Flips And Stuff. Health!

I’ll be honest.  My body is starting to resemble a softened version of the block of cheese I eat every couple of days.  My attitude, as salty as the bag of chips I inhaled at 3am.  But I won’t diet.  And I won’t join a gym. Because I love food and hate gasping for air after 3 minutes on treadmill next to a bunch of dudes who give a shit.  

My idea of a workout…is going to Bob Bar and dancing to the the greatest hip-hop and r&b from the ’90’s for five hours, so re-introducing dance classes to my life is a 2010 priority fo’ sho’.  Otherwise,  I’ll finally die, fat and alone…and be found three weeks later, half-eaten by wild dogs.

So there’s this community space in Jersey City that I always walk by and I finally sat down to research the joint a little and voila!  Dance classes for dayz!  Hands down I’ll participate in some “Gurlesque” cause, come on, do you know me?  And of course Bgirl lessons, cause deep down I’ve always wanted to participate in a dance-off in some parking lot somewhere in the rain, but Au Capoeira really caught my attention as something I’d really love to, like, master.  I’d fucking love to be able to move my body with such ease and strength and control show that shit off!  I’m so impressed by it.  It’s beautiful and powerful and strong and everything I want to be this year. (shut up)

So, friends, I vow to do this thing.  And to keep you updated on my progress.

Fuck.

Just give me a couple days though, cause I was so excited after researching this and watching videos and setting this goal for myself that I did a headstand in my living room to see if I still could, and well, I could, but I hurt something in my upper back area and can’t really turn my head to the sides right now.  No joke. 

It was a fucking great headstand, though.