At home on a beautiful Sunday morning watching the Tennis French Open finals with my family. So far I am so amazed at how fierce Rafael Nadal is. It has always been exciting to hear about the Nadal vs. Federer rivalry, but I have to say that this is the first time I have seen the two of them play during a final round. And WOW it is quite exciting to watch.
It is 11:00am and it is hectic in my living room. I'm watching the game with my family, and other than myself, my youngest brother Robin is really into the game. A game my brother would typically have little or no interest in. In fact, he's not really a sports fan. Moreover, I am always the one dragging him out with me to bars to watch the NBA playoffs.
As grateful as I am for my brother dropping what he is doing (mostly playing video games, watching youtube videos, and reading reddit) to accompany in the mostly sausage-fest bars in my neighbourhood, at times I have paid a hefty price for his company. Still to this day, even in the privacy of our own home, he does not spare me from any humiliation. But, this is why watching sports with Robin is the best thing ever.
Here are some great moments:
1: 2011 NBA Playoffs New York Knicks vs Boston Celtics Game 3
The Celtics are winning by about 20 points by the 3rd quarter. For an instance, the camera flashes to Kevin Garnett.
Me: That's Kevin Garnett
Robin: Hey doesn't he play for the Leafs?
Me: Giving him a perplexed look, the one where I try to raise an eyebrow kind of confusion
Robin: I mean no, the Raptors?
Me: well he's wearing Boston Celtics jersey so Boston. But I think you mean Chris Bosh
I'm pretty sure this conversation was heard by others and at the time I thought FML. But now that I look back, my brother's innocent sense of sports-ignorance is actually really funny and I can appreciate his sense of witty attitude towards the game. I would more accurately describe it as an oblivion to sports. Because lets face it, he will never be a well-informed sports fan just like me and everyone else. Once again, this is why watching sports with Robin is the best thing EVER.
2: 2011 NBA playoffs L.A. Lakers vs. New Orleans Hornets Game 4
Every time Kobe had possession of the ball or when the camera focused on Kobe
Robin: "Hey it's KOBE O'BRYAN"
yes Kobe O'BRYAN. He deliberately said this out loud, shamelessly. It was quite entertaining, yet so embarrassing.
3: 2011 French Open Championship Finals: Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer.
Upon watching the first set where Nadal has won five games in a row to win the first set 7-5, here are some of the outlandish comments my brother has made with respect to the game.
"NADAL IS MAKING A FOOL OUT OF FEDERER" - following the five games Nadal has won.
"Federer is Nadal's puppet" - not sure what that means
"Nadal is playing mind games with Federer." - just shortly after Nadal stopped Federer's short comeback momentum.
He only became a Nadal fan this morning. I think the five games has a lot to do with it. But this soon to be short-lived fanaticism toward Nadal is just part of it, probably the most mild of it, I would say. *sigh* It's too controversial to speak of that here. Even for reddit
He inquired about Pete Sampras, who won 14 grand slams, but no French Open and then he said the following:
My brother is one of those reddit-witty misfits. He does not claim to be some sort of expert on opthamological health or claim to know exactly what the implications are for one who is colour blind, other than the the belief that those who are colour blind can't see red and green. This is why he believes that, if in fact Pete Sampras was colour blind this would have adversely affected his game in all of the French Opens he has competed in and consequently has failed to yield the coveted trophy. While all of this is going down, I am just LOL'ing. There were tears rolling down my face. Here I am writing this an hour later and I am still laughing about it.
I don't know. I'm just sayin'. It's really hard to to tell what goes on his head sometimes, but that's okay. I cherish the spontaneity and the complete eccentric randomness. That's what makes him quite the character and I can appreciate that.
I hope you enjoyed it my little sports blurb this week. I hope to watch Game 3 of the NBA finals. Fingers crossed for Dallas! Dirk was so extraordinary in Game 2, so I look forward to their home game tonight.
From Adrie
