A New Year's Serve

[bottle]

10splayer said it best. You are nuttier than a fruitcake.
don_budge

No, I said you are both nuttier than fruitcakes or maybe one fruitcake. So if 10splayer said it best...well, he got it from me. And whatever you're trying to say instead isn't as good as what either 10splayer or I say.

Yes, I'm trying to drive a wedge between you two bosom buddies. Won't work, I know. On second thought, I don't want it to. It's convenient to lash out at 10splayer for a change and hit you. He makes a better connection with the other guy (me) so is more interesting to converse with.

[bottle]

I think we should take a joint letter to Ted Cruz the champion college debater. "Senator Ted, I detest your politics, your looks, your skin, your manner but know you have prowess (chops) as a debater. So could you tell us whether a good debater genuinely thinks his opponent is an asshole every single time?

I can't speak for the other participants in this letter, but I think both debaters most often do think the other guy is an asshole. But the one who doesn't admit it wins the debate every time. Would you kindly weigh in on this point and thanks so much.

Ted, I just have to say I can't think of you as anybody other than the head witch-hunter in the Harvard production of Arthur Miller's THE CRUCIBLE. Where was the production held, in the Loeb Theater?

Sincerely, mein Steve, 10splayer and bottle

[don_budge]

As usual as your online personna in the Straw Man role you have completely missed the point. It appears that you have tried to connect the shooter with white supremacy. There doesn't appear to be any evidence to this although it remains within the realm of possibilities. It is important to not rush to judgement just to support your false assumption...all in the role of the Straw Man. You do this consistently in all of your writing. Even in the relatively short post above you manage.

100 times more negative than you? Any objective person would say otherwise. Hatred of immigrants? Women professionals? What...am I not in lock step with your vision of things. What a crime that must be in your world. You are so certain...aren't you? Feeble arguments for feeble attempts to mock, demean and otherwise make yourself look like an intellectual. Phoney baloney. You are fake. Your premises are fake. Go back to sleep. It is now 6:52 AM in Detroit. What could possibly possess you to be up at this hour making ridiculous arguments for mostly non defensible positions? Good question...the key operative word being possess just in case you didn't catch it in bold print. Go back to sleep. Maybe the cobwebs will go away. But maybe not.

don_budge

Paragraph one here: What? How about the organizations to which he belongs?

What organisations do you have first hand knowledge about? Or is your posts on the shooter involved in the tragedy in Florida just a pawn for you to play in your Straw Man game. I haven't seen any confirmed information. There was this from the Breitbart article.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...chool-shooter/

Law enforcement officials said they hadn’t confirmed any such ties.

“We’ve heard that. We’re looking into that,” Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said.

Lt. Grady Jordan, a spokesman for the Leon County Sheriff’s Office in Tallahassee, said he knew of “no known ties” between Cruz and Jereb’s group. Jordan said his office has arrested Jereb at least four times since January 2014 and has been monitoring the group’s membership. He says his office has “very solid” information on the group and believes it has never had more than 10 members.

Jereb quickly backed away from his claims. Someone posting under Jereb’s name on Gab, a social media site popular with far-right extremists, complained about getting criticized over a “prank.”

“There was a legit misunderstanding because we have MULTIPLE people named Nicholas in ROF,” the user wrote. “And I got a bunch of conflicting information and I have not slept for like 2 days.”

Jereb did not respond to repeated phone calls from AP to clarify.

The Anti-Defamation League also said it spoke with Jereb, who told it that Cruz was associated with his group and had been “brought up” by another member. Later Thursday, however, the ADL noted that someone posting in a discussion forum for far-right extremists said the claims were part of an elaborate attempt to dupe news outlets.


This is how one plays the Straw Man role. One of the tactics is to start out with a false assumption and embellish on it. This is how the "Nazi" game is played. Innocently playing with words until it morphs into disparaging an entire country of people. Don't you think that Germans are sick and tired of having the Nazi thing thrown in their faces some 70 years down the road. Every German that reads you must really wonder..."this guy is a real nut job".

Even Jewish people can see that by your playing the Straw Man Nazi Hunter that you are trivializing what happened. It is an insult to all. Least of all me. It's childish to try to put this one over on me but I only have to consider the source. But to try and lump the President of the United States in with this group is surely libel, slander and worse. I think it is treasonous with your obvious intent and avowed attempt at sedition. My wife speaks German. She is rather mystified how an American living in Detroit can be so hateful, rude and inconsiderate to our German neighbours here in Europe.

don_budge

[bottle]

Springtime in Germany

You crazy nut. I have lots of German friends. I worked on a German ship. I was chauffeur to the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to West Germany. And no Germans have acted toward me the way you imagine. Or should I say fantasize. Because I sometimes wonder if you have any imagination at all. Rabid, conspiracy based musings are not the same.

Hey, I'm just going from the first article, not the Breitbart, which I didn't read. I don't see the need to read any Breitbart ever. Especially since the one person who was sometimes amusing is gone.

But, I'll plod back through the posts now and read the first article I posted. Back in a minute. Well, I just wanted to see where I got the idea that shooter-boy belonged to the organizations. Here's the link: People can see the references for themselves. http://readersupportednews.org/news-...ionalist-group.

It would be helpful if you would be as helpful as I just was in bringing references into your diatribes. O, no, you want people to do lots of legwork, run around because you can never leave tennis behind. If you really want discussion, you make it easier for the other person. And you make a connection. You don't intentionally alienate.

Am I now going to sift through your recent rantings to see if you have done more than quote Breitbart and actually proven your case that the boy didn't belong to the organizations unless he did. How charming of you to leave yourself such a big out. I don't think you should have asserted that this was a put-up job, a "conspiracy" unless you had the goods to make the case.

Hey, the shootings are bad enough wherever the boy was coming from. But when you take into consideration what his classmates said, and the neglected warning phoned in...when you put it altogether, the conjecture that he belonged to such organizations is not far off. Maybe he didn't. But sensible people had good reason to think he did-- people who don't read Breitbart and other such conspiracy-- laden claptrap.

To me, this is like 10splayer going to all kinds of great lengths to prove that there should be an investigation at a level of FBI expertise of the FBI. Well, now we know where that all came from. A shoe was about to drop. Or fifteen. Mein Donald decided to throw up a smokescreen and 10splayer (and others) went right along with it.

Or all the denials of Russian meddling. Didn't you, mein Steve, deny the meddling? Or am I just imagining it. None of you guys has creds on any of the Russian stuff. You deny and deny and predict...and then, one day, -- Grand Jury indictments.

Maybe the kid just wanted to see if his new gun worked. I don't care right now because it isn't my job to sort this stuff out. Nor yours. There are people in official capacity to work it out. And the conspiracy nuts should shut up while they do. But they're much too sensitive about it all. Out of guilt. Because they show many of the same tendencies as the kid. You certainly do. Too quick with the trigger finger.

Think I'll go now to see Gerhardt in Grosse Pointe, sometime on the Vestry of Christchurch. To ask him if he wants to beat me up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPXHRX8Q2hs

[bottle]

Big Capacity to Annoy

I've got it. But at least I know it. My older sister who named me Bottle on the subject of me: "Make sure to give him very clear directions."

Well, I can't see how my frequent wish to change my forehand would please a teaching pro who still wanted to work on my game.

On the other hand I'm not out to please such a pro but rather myself.

And amidst the too many unforced errors of a bad day may hit a great shot or two.

Will I know it? Will I recognize what happened solely from the feel of the shot and get with and go with and repeat and develop?

High deep forehand: More racket work to side with good separation.

Short angle forehand best developed as a pass: Lower racket work and don't think about much else.

Deep lobs: Hit them from similar low preparation.

More assurance on all three of these shots, period.

"No interim" forehands. Go with them. Don't allow oneself any means of a cop out. If you believe in them go with them. Otherwise you annoy yourself.

(A no interim forehand is a forehand that has "no in between" built into it. All through the shot the shoulders are either going backward or forward. They don't get still in between.)

[bottle]

Thinking all through the Journey

Lifetime players keep passion alive by thinking about tennis all the way through, not just during the brief months and years when they first learn the game.

Bill Mathias of Winchester, Virginia may or may not have been kidding when he said near the end of a long life that he had concluded that all power on the serve comes from arching the back.

The former national champion of Guyana who once played a losing South American exhibition against Fred Perry was an exceptional character.

Very late in life he would pick a good-looking partner for mixed doubles and get to the final with her in the 3.5 division.

She might not even know how to play tennis. If so, just before the tournament, he would teach her a mile high serve that would bounce high enough to be difficult for the 3.5 opponents.

My wife and I got to the very end of three sets with a match point.

I hit the winning shot but then nudged the center strap buckle with my toe.

The ball had already bounced in the opposite court but how was I going to prove that (?) so I didn't argue.

Bill and his partner won the match and I think the tournament.

Continuous thinking about tennis, however, is my topic here.

I'm tall and old and have decided to stay down on all my ground strokes and volleys. By that I mean to keep my knees bent and pliable so that they can efficiently press through contact.

On a one-hand backhand that can lead to the notion that hips rotation and "crossing the bridge," i.e., transfer of weight from rear foot to front foot can be one and the same thing-- a very classical concept.

May entail slightly different arm work and a slowing down in spin of one's hips.

[bottle]

From a Letter Written today to Ellen, my Almost Life-long Friend

I realize now that I have some really passionate, virulent enemies on-line, that people can and do say almost anything about you, but none of it matters (unless as Evelyn Waugh said, they call you pigeon pie and eat you up).

The one thing they can't say, though is that my life isn't interesting right now, living with all black people through every night and teaching all black kids during the day.

[bottle]

All Volleys

Heel and fingers.

(I'm not sorry I said that yet.)

[don_budge]

What would we do if we didn't have mein Steve to explain Roger Federer for us? We'd be at a loss, right? Why do we always have to have mein Steve with his big fat ego to intervene in our experience of Roger Federer?

Also mein Steve would achieve more editorial clarity if he could ever remember to correct the most common error in the English language. I got my form of the correction from the cover of a kid's book just right for mein Steve. Possessive its never splits.

And why does mein Steve feel the need to malign Geoffrey Williams from an exchange so long ago? I have come to appreciate Geoffrey Williams more and more-- not for his exchange with mein Steve on the subject of Bill Tilden but because he was one of the only forum members brave enough to confront mein Steve on his attitude toward women tennis players.

Lastly, I think that when you're maligning someone you should name him. To allude may be as bad as to collude.

This was a message that I received from another member back on April 4, 2011. The Straw Man chose to out the name of an individual that I chose not to...out of respect. But the Straw Man has no limits in his quest for making a mockery of his "enemies". Never mind that he fails and flails miserably. Remember...I was brand spanking new when this exchange took place.

Steve -- I agree with you that geoff williams' diatribe was uncalled for. I tried to stick up for you without making geoff williams become even more angry. I tried to strongly hint that you probably know what you are talking about when you discuss the serve, and when you teach the serve.

My heart goes out to you. In my opinion, **** ******* should have stepped in and chastised geoff williams. I tried to support you in a way to which geoff williams would not respond. Everything that you said to geoff williams in your response to him is 100% right. I hope that geoff williams just leaves you alone from now on. I hope that geoff williams might realize that he acted like a total jerk.

From what you say, I think that we agree. I am so sick of the myth that today's "modern game" is so great, so perfect. Good for you for analyzing one of today's top players & making appropriate suggestions for how he can improve. Soderling should give you some money to give him a serving lesson.

Sincerely, ****

[bottle]

It's always about how wonderful mein Steve is, isn't it? Mein Steve will quote anyone who ever praised him on any subject, even 20 years later. I'm sure I've made the same mistake, but it's much better to let other people praise you-- if they want to-- while you stay out of it. This is how important new jobs, e.g., come to be. Better to have an agent even if it's a family member. Things happen when it's not you tooting your own horn.

[bottle]

Lobs

I try to have the richest psychic life in tennis that is possible All the best tennis is played on a semi-conscious level so this makes sense.

And voices have been trying to speak to me, kids' voices. They want their lobs to be higher, like those of lob queens in their late 40's .

I don't know what to tell them other than to lob higher. And not to worry about hitting the lob over the opponents' heads. That will happen or it won't happen. The trick is to let most lobs produce an overhead. Let the other team hit the ball in other words.

If you try to make your lob too good you miss.

[bottle]

Fingers

I listened to 300 teaching pros speak about the volley. Only one, Dennis Ralston, spoke about the role of the fingers.

They spoke on TV, in websites, in person, from adjacent court overheard, in bars and coffee-houses-- what is the difference?

Some volleyers learn to block, Ralston indicated, but don't alter movement of the racket tip while doing so.

The fingers, specifically the bottom three, are feel. And best determiners of last-instant direction, according to Dennis.

[bottle]

Does Every Volleyer have to Emulate the Martinet posture of John McEnroe?

How about a slight hunch like Billie Jean King?

But not the completely bowed over shoulders of Rosemary Hawley.

The first time I saw women pros volley was during warmups at Rock Creek Park in D.C.

To me they looked like torpedoes their heads were so low.

So find the best setting right for you. Choice comes from exploring options.

[bottle]

Straw Man

Straw man occurs when someone argues that a person holds a view that is actually not what the other person believes. Instead, it is a distorted version of what the person believes.

But what if the other person shows no sign of knowing what he believes? I think that any reader unfortunate enough to be imprisoned in the same cell with such a tortured individual has a perfect right to take a guess. Some aggrieved victims of this process will actually then figure out what they think they believe, or at least come up with a more cogent view than they started out with.

Reporters or journalists learn many tricks of eliciting information. To see one do it well is awe-inspiring. I have great respect for great newspapermen, contrasted say with mein Donald who wouldn't know a good one if it came up and bit him in the ass.

[bottle]

But the Straw Man has no limits in his quest for making a mockery of his "enemies". ****

I know I said I need my enemies, but to me that's no more than love for sports and competition.

This has nothing to do with being a good sport, but rather with how one prepares for a match which should not involve the other person or persons in any way.

In tennis I used to psych up for a match; in crew I always psyched down for a race.

In the Brown-Dartmouth race each year on the Seekonk or the Connecticut, we would go into a dark room to get psyched. The other seven and cox would psych up while I would have to psych down.

My friend would come back from a pee and report how big and green Dartmouth looked. My psychometer would soar through the roof. I'd have to get down on the floor and meditate.

But this business of "mockery" may be different, without demonization. It's all about the target. Is there pretension there? A balloon that needs puncture?

That is the only question.