Tennis for the Future 2.0: Handicaps

At some point I need to write the beginning of Tennis for the Future 2.0.

In the handicaps section, I will explain how I insisted that one of my hitting partners for the last 20 years, Bob Migliorini, allow me to invent a handicap so that he doesn’t beat me all the time. 20 years ago I occassionally won a set off of Bob, before he fixed his forehand and serve. I haven’t won a set in over ten years now. I insisted that if there could be a viable handicap in golf, and even yatch racing, there must be a viable handicap to discover for tennis, and I needed it now.

Every idea I put forward intially, Bob vetoed. He didn’t want me to get a head start towards game, which is 15,30, 40 game, or 1, 2, 3, with game on the 4th point. He insisted, no one gets free points. So I came up with the following, which he accepted, and which actually works. I play regular tennis, by he, as the superior player, can only make a point for himself in the deuce court. In the add court, he can’t score, but he can stop me from scoring.  This turned out to be a very successful handicap system, because it meant I usually won with it, but not always. When Migliorini was on, and I was off, he could beat me even with the help of his only being able to score on roughly half the points. This handicap is so useful, I expect it will make us famous, so I have asked him to patent the entire idea as the Lindsay Migliorini handicap system for tennis. On this one part of his game, he is dragging his feet.

At one point, I was feeling poorly, and my knees hurt, and I inisted on Handicap #2, the Uncle Bob’s handicap.  This one was useful, especially because it too, didn’t guarantee that I would win. Uncle Bob refers to my uncle from Chicago, Robert Foote, who played tennis with me in Wisconsin through most of my life, and Uncle Bob died on the tennis court at the age of about 93. We played together on summers visits to Wisconsin, and in his seventies, it became clear it was a better game if you hit the ball to him. In his eighties, if you gave him that courtesy, he remained a veritable ball machine, and it made for good tennis. I codified the Uncle Bob handicap as Weak and Strong. In either version, you have to hit the ball to your weaker opponent so that he or she can touch the ball while still in play. If for any reason they do not, in the weak version, the point is a let, and it is played over. I’n the strong version, which is what I use against Migliorini, if he fails to get the ball to my reach, he loses the point. There is a special value to the underdog, or a defect, depending on your point of view. You can game the handicap if you need to by hitting an approach shot and rushing to the net. Your superior opponent is not aloud to pass or lob you, but must hit the ball within your reach. As you approach the net, the geometry of the game changes dramatically in your favor, which is why serve and volleyer’s are so successful, especially in doubles.

Bob is a 4.5 rated player, with a 5.0 two-handed back hand. I have beaten all the other 4.0’s at the High Lane Club in Hamden on good days, usually by just hitting to their backhands. When you hit to Bob’s backhand, if it isn’t deep, he usually hits a winner.

This June, 2020, during the covid pandemic, I lost the first set 6-1, which is common, but I won the set with the Lindsay Migliorini handicap. This morning, I lost 6-1 or 6-0, and suggested my favorite turning of the tables, the double handicap, which I get the Lindsay Migliorini handicap, and the Uncle Bob’s Strong handicap.  Bob laughs, and flatly refused. He doesn’t want to lose 6-1. But he offers a new handicap, which I immediately disliked, but graciously tried, and it worked. We quit after 20 minutes, and the score was 2 to 2. This new handicap is the Migliorini Adjustment, and it states that the superior player has to win to sux points for game, 60, plus one more point, whild the weaker player has to win a regular 4 points. The stronger player must win, 15,30, 40, 50, 60, plus one more. The weaker player has to win 15,30,40 plus one more. 60 to 40 is the new deuce. If deuce is reached, either player then has to win by 2 more points, add, then Game, just like in regular tennis. Bob and I are excited about this new handicap, because it means the score is always odd in the add court, and even in the deuse court, just like in traditional tennis. This rule is abandoned in the Lindsay Migliorini handicap. If he wins the first point, the score is 15 to Love. If he wins the second point in the add court, we go back the deuce court, but he score is still 15 Love, which challenges the mind to concentrate more on keeping score without the traditional check of always always odd in the add court.

No Kneeling During Super Bowl LIII National Anthem- but Still Plenty of Talk – The New York Times

 

David Lindsay:  Kathleen and I watched the super bowl, without our usual guests, who were all on family leave. By and large, it was good football, though I felt that the game is getting more violent in that the definition of of interference with the receiver has gotten looser, not tighter. It was a guilty pleasure, since I have at least three reasons to boycott the event. First, the black quarterback Colin Kaepernick hasn’t been allowed to play since the season in 2016 when he took a knee against police shootings of unarmed black men, and second, the brain disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., makes the whole thing something to revise or avoid. Third, the NFL is guilty of false claims. They insist this is the world championship, which is nonesense. They are not international like the real international sport of football at the World Cup.
The reason for this post is to share the rap video by Ava Duvernay in honor of Colin Kaepernick in the NYT article below. I’m afraid it is exactly what the white billionaires’s club of NFL owners deserves.

By Ken Belson
Feb. 4, 2019, 1
ATLANTA — Dr. Bernice A. King, the youngest child of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, was brought out to midfield for the coin toss before the start of Super Bowl LIII. She was joined by two other titanic civil rights leaders, Ambassador Andrew Young and Representative John Lewis.

Before the game began, the N.F.L. also played a video in the stadium that included images of Dr. King and other civil rights leaders, interspersed with images of N.F.L. players doing charity work.

On television, CBS ran a public service announcement that showed Commissioner Roger Goodell and other league executives touring the Ebenezer Baptist Church and other landmarks associated with Martin Luther King Jr.

For the many Super Bowl viewers who do not closely follow the league, and perhaps many who do, such imagery probably came across as proper and right for a game played in Atlanta, known as the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement.

Yet it underscored something else, a league still struggling with race and seeking a balance between fans and players who find no reason to talk about it and those who find it front and center in a simmering controversy over a player who has not played a down since the 2016 season.

The presence of the civil rights leaders did not seem to win over supporters of the player, Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who in 2016 began taking a knee during the national anthem to protest racism and police brutality against people of color and has not played a down since that season.

Even before the game, many resolved not to watch, including the film director Ava DuVernay, who accused the N.F.L. of “racist treatment of @Kaepernick7” and lamented an “ongoing disregard for the health + well-being of players.”

Ava DuVernay tweets:
✔
@ava
I will not be a spectator, viewer or supporter of the #SuperBowl today in protest of the @NFL’s racist treatment of @Kaepernick7 and its ongoing disregard for the health + well-being of all its players. To watch the game is to compromise my beliefs. It’s not worth it. #ImWithKap

Embedded video

60.7K
8:13 AM – Feb 3, 2019
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Opinion | Martina Navratilova: What Serena Got Wrong – The New York Times

“Serena Williams has part of it right. There is a huge double standard for women when it comes to how bad behavior is punished — and not just in tennis.

But in her protests against an umpire during the United States Open final on Saturday, she also got part of it wrong. I don’t believe it’s a good idea to apply a standard of “If men can get away with it, women should be able to, too.” Rather, I think the question we have to ask ourselves is this: What is the right way to behave to honor our sport and to respect our opponents?”

via Opinion | Martina Navratilova: What Serena Got Wrong – The New York Times

Serena Williams Spotlights Tennis Inequities, but in the Best Way? – By Juliet Macur – NYT

“Had I behaved like that on a tennis court, I would have expected to get everything that happened to Serena,” said Martina Navratilova, who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles and a record nine Wimbledon titles, and has been a longtime advocate for equality in the sport. “ It should’ve ended right there with the point warning, but Serena just couldn’t let it go.”

She added, “She completely had the right message about women’s inequality, but it wasn’t the right time to bring it up.”

Ramos officiated with his usual exacting eye. He gave Williams a warning for receiving coaching in the second set. His action was warranted because Williams’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, admitted to coaching her.”

. . .

“Billie Jean King, a pioneer for women’s equality in sports, weighed in on Twitter.

“When a woman is emotional, she’s ‘hysterical’ and she’s penalized for it,’ ” King wrote. “When a man does the same, he’s ‘outspoken’ and there are no such repercussions. Thank you, Serena Williams, for calling out this double standard. More voices are needed to do the same.”

Hard to argue with that. But it was disappointing that King said nothing about the poor timing of Williams’s powerful voice. It made me think back to last year’s Open, when the Italian player Fabio Fognini unleashed a barrage of Italian curses upon a female umpire and was kicked out of the tournament.

So sometimes, there are repercussions.

Rafael Nadal feuded with Ramos during last year’s French Open, and Djokovic did so at Wimbledon. “Double standards, my friend, double standards,” Djokovic said to Ramos. Those players vented and moved on without derailing the entire match.”

David Lindsay: Thank you Juliet Macur. I  agree with Martina Navratolova, Serena’s complaint was valid, but her timing and refusal to move on was terrible. A female friend wondered if the relentless anger might have been exaggerated by post partum spirits, or ferocity. I criticize the World Tennis Association, for not have more choices in the rules than, 1,2,3:  1, a warning, 2. dock a point, then 3. dock a game. In the end I fear that, the umpire made a judgement mistake, by taking a whole game away from Serena without a second soft warning. While Serena got what she deserved, it seems that the umpire did a disservice to Naomi Osaka, who was doing fine without his help, even though Serena was completely out of line. In defense of the umpire,  Serena did not appear to respect anything he said.

via Serena Williams Spotlights Tennis Inequities, but in the Best Way? – The New York Times

Parents Behaving Badly: A Youth Sports Crisis Caught on Video – By Bill Pennington – NYT

By Bill PenningtonJuly 18, 2018
78 comments
TULSA, Okla. — In one video, a fan at a youth soccer game bellows profanities and violently kicks a ball that slams into a teenage referee standing nearby. She disagreed with a penalty called.

Another captures parents at a youth basketball game charging the court to hurl punches at the referee. And yet another shows parents berating game officials as they walk to their cars after a soccer game. The players were 8-year-olds.

The videos were posted on a Facebook page, Offside, created in frustration by an Oklahoma youth soccer referee, Brian Barlow, who offers a $100 bounty for each clip in order to shame the rising tide of unruly parents and spectators at youth sports events.

“I do it to hold people accountable — to identify and call out the small percentage of parents who nonetheless create a toxic environment at youth sports,” Barlow, 44, said. “It’s a very visual deterrent, and not just to the person caught on video but to others who ask themselves: Do I look like that jerk?” ”

David Lindsay:

This put a smile on my face. Not the video, but that a referee stood up to ugly parents. And, it is worth noting, not all Facebook stories are bad. Here is Facebook as spectacular public servant.
I coached and sometimes refereed youth soccer for 10 or 11 years. I coached my three kids, Austin, Daniel and Catherine. It was a good run, pun intended. I didn’t see many out of control parents, but bad parent behavior was a regular discussion of our organizational meetings. While coaching U6, (Under Six), or 4 and 5 year olds,
I once with a big smile reprimanded one Dad gentlly, for yelling, “Go Joey, pull his pants down.”
I was tempted to use the same expression myself many times afterwards, but lucking, kept it as just a dinner story.

Croatia Digs Deeper- Burying England’s World Cup Dreams – By RORY SMITH – NYT

MOSCOW — Their legs had stopped working long before the end. Their muscles ached, their lungs heaved, their bodies creaked and groaned. Croatia’s players had hit their limits and traveled beyond them, yet again; they had drained themselves of adrenaline; they had passed deep into the red, into the pain.

And still, even as their movements grew stiff and their tendons tight, when they were gasping for breath and it looked as though they could not possibly give any more, they kept going, kept chasing, kept running: past England, into the World Cup final, into history.

Croatia 2   England 1

via Croatia Digs Deeper, Burying England’s World Cup Dreams – The New York Times

David Lindsay:  Here is a comment I really liked, and my response to it.

LA 3 NYC

Los Angeles 13 hours ago

Well done Croatia. Great strategy start to finish – and I mean that, including the first half.

I disagree with the article waxing on about burning legs and exhaustion and beating the odds, the article completely missed the point that this game was played by Croatia as chess vs. checkers.

It was clear from about 15 minutes in by looking at the players’ body language what would happen: Croats were mostly walking and jogging, relaxed, expending occasional bursts of energy as needed and running England into hyperdrive, burning their energy and focus.

They mistook Croatia’s initial quiet, “diagnostic” soft pace as weakness and underestimated the lurking dangers of playing a long game against endurance players who only get more energetic and more accurate under duress. The Croats used pace and pressure to build their advantage. Sometimes you gotta watch out for the quiet ones. Well done.

• 52 Recommended

David Lindsay Jr.

Hamden, CT Pending Approval

 

I agree with this comment by LA 3 NYC, even if I didn’t see it at the time, I did see England fall off their game in the second half and overtime, more exhausted, their confidence shattered, while the Croatia team dominated with ball control.

But Croatia also seemed in the first half to be unusually rough, and deserved 3 yellow cards and a red card that they didn’t get. Or was that just good, rough football? I fear that Fifa football is going the way of American NHL hockey, and getting more and more violent. (Columbia was over the top with foul and dirty play against England, almost all of which the ref did not call.)

I also liked a criticism from another commenter, of the Fox news casters. They were pathetic, and I wanted to mute their inane and silly remarks. They appeared to jinx the England team by supporting them like village idiots. Future remotes need a second mute button, to turn off bad commentary. They certainly didn’t see or notice the Croatia team pacing themselves. Croatia deserved this win.

As I learn about and admire Fifa football, I focus on patience and control being the keys to having a good day on the field, and Croatia led on these metrics for the last two thirds of the game.

David Lindsay Jr. is the author of “The Tay Son Rebellion, Historical Fiction of Eighteenth-century Vietnam,” and blogs at TheTaySonRebellion.com and InconvenientNewsWorldwide.wordpress.com

Opinion | The N.F.L. Kneels to Trump – The New York Times

“The owners of the National Football League have concluded, with President Trump, that true patriotism is not about bravely standing up for democratic principle but about standing up, period.

Rather than show a little backbone themselves and support the right of athletes to protest peacefully, the league capitulated to a president who relishes demonizing black athletes. The owners voted Wednesday to fine teams whose players do not stand for the national anthem while they are on the field.

Let us hope that in keeping with the league’s pinched view of patriotism, the players choose to honor the letter but not the spirit of this insulting ban. It might be amusing, for example, to see the owners tied in knots by players who choose to abide by the injunction to “stand and show respect” — while holding black-gloved fists in the air. Or who choose to stand — while holding signs protesting policy brutality. We look forward to many more meetings of fatootsed gazillionaires conducting many more votes on petty rules to ban creative new forms of player protest.”

David Lindsay Jr.

Great editorial, and comments afterwards!
Hamden, CT | Pending Approval
Issassi wrote:”Colin Kaepernick is someone I really look up to; I don’t have his kind of courage. As for the NFL owners, they have shown their lack of spine today, and their abject failure to support free speech in America. Last, I applaud the Jets and their co-owner Chris Johnson, who is firmly on the right side of history.” What is this about. I found: “Johnson first endeared himself to his players in September, after Trump made protests against racial injustice the talk of the NFL. Prior to New York’s Sept. 24 game against the Dolphins, Johnson met individually with every Jet and asked if he could stand alongside them during the national anthem. Their blessing given, he’s been doing it ever since. On Tuesday, Johnson said linking arms with his players has been “the honor of my life.”’ I hope Chris Johnson offers Colin Kaepernick a job playing football. David Lindsay Jr. is the author of “The Tay Son Rebellion, Historical Fiction of Eighteenth-century Vietnam,” and blogs at TheTaySonRebellion.com and InconvenientNews.wordpress.com

Review Finds ‘Tsunami’ of Fixed Matches in Lower Levels of Tennis – The New York Times

Professional tennis has created an environment ripe for corruption at the sport’s lowest levels and needs reform to combat the problem, an independent task force reported on Wednesday, after a two-year investigation.

The review panel, made up of three prominent lawyers, found that there was a “tsunami” of fixed matches at the lower levels of the game, but that there was no conspiracy or collusion among the sport’s governing bodies to cover it up.

Scarred by reports of match fixing, tennis leaders created the panel in January 2016 and announced they would implement all of its recommendations.

via Review Finds ‘Tsunami’ of Fixed Matches in Lower Levels of Tennis – The New York Times

Where Were You When Oddvar Bra Broke His Pole? – The New York Times

This bizarre article will give you some insight into why Norway, which was 4 million people, now 5 million, has won more winter olympic medals than any other country in the world.

“VANG, Norway — It seems an unlikely event to be emblazoned in a nation’s collective memory. But if you’re from Norway, and you’re over 50, you almost certainly have a vivid recollection of this:

A man named Oddvar Bra is skiing the final segment of the men’s 4×10-kilometer cross-country relay at the 1982 world championships in Oslo. Surging up a hill, he passes and sideswipes the only person ahead of him, Alexander Savyalov of the Soviet Union.

Immediately, Bra realizes that the impact has had a terrible consequence. His right pole has snapped in two.

“Let him get a pole, man!” shouts the sportscaster for what is then Norway’s only national TV station.

As if on cue, someone in the crowd bolts into view and hands off a pole. His equilibrium restored, Bra battles Savyalov in a sprint to the finish line.
Let’s recap. A guy breaks a ski pole and keeps racing. Not exactly the moon landing, is it? And to be clear, this isn’t a come-from-behind story. Bra was actually leading after he broke his pole, because contact had knocked Savyalov to his knees.”

via Where Were You When Oddvar Bra Broke His Pole? – The New York Times

I’m the Wife of a Former N.F.L. Player. Football Destroyed His Mind. – by Emily Kelly – NYT

The superbowl Sunday night was a magnificent game, in which the underdog Eagles got the better of the favored New England Patriots. While I enjoyed the game immensely, in the fine company of  friends, I kept thinking about this article, in that mornings NYT Sunday Review.

“My husband, Rob Kelly, is a retired N.F.L. player. After five seasons as a safety beginning in the late 1990s, four with the New Orleans Saints and one with the New England Patriots, he sustained an injury to a nerve between his neck and shoulder during training camp that ended his career. By the time he retired in 2002 at 28, he had been playing tackle football for about two decades.

Rob had no idea, however, that all those years of playing would have such serious consequences. Safeties are the last line of defense and among the hardest hitters in the game. One tackle he attempted while playing for the Saints was so damaging, he doesn’t remember the rest of the game. He got up, ran off the field and tried to go back in — as an offensive player. He knows this only because people told him the next day.”

“, , ,  Specific details about how he wanted his funeral to be, and his demand that he be cremated, were brought up with excruciating frequency. One particularly dark time, he went five days without eating anything; he drank only water and a few swigs of chocolate milk. He was suffering deeply and barely surviving. My love and affection seemed to offer no comfort or solace. I felt helpless.

It wasn’t until I joined a private Facebook group of more than 2,400 women, all connected in some way to current or former N.F.L. players, that I realized I wasn’t alone.

Our stories are eerily similar, our loved ones’ symptoms almost identical: the bizarre behavior I had tried to ignore, the obsessive laundering of old clothes — our washing machine ran from morning till night.

It was comforting and terrifying all at the same time. Why did so many of us see the same strange behaviors? “Our neurologist said they do it to calm their brains,” one friend told me.

Symptoms consistent with C.T.E. are a recurring topic in the Facebook group. They include memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, aggression, depression and anxiety. These problems become apparent sometimes years or even decades after a player hangs up his helmet.”