I love Ryans

And dorks.

Olympic swimmer and wannabe boyband member Ryan Lochte (photo from BuzzFeed Sports)

I'm sick of this song but I'll make an exception, Ryan.

What the hell?!

I leave for London in 6 days. Undergoing therapy for pre-traumatic-stress syndrome related to mascot phobia. twitter.com/Bonnie_D_Ford/…
— Bonnie D. Ford (@Bonnie_D_Ford) July 16, 2012

This mascot should be blacklisted and then declared persona non grata. Dear London: You could do so much better.

P.S.
I'm a big fan of the Olympics. I actually think that the Opening Ceremony was fantastic. (Danny Boyle, you're the best.) I just hate the mascot.

Quotes: He's getting closer.

From Reuters:

"I'm going to try this - it isn't going to be easy," Murray told the crowd as he tried to hold back tears to get through his runners-up speech.

"I was told the other day that 'this is your best chance because Roger is 30 now.' He's not bad for a 30-year-old. He had some struggles early on (this tournament) with his back and today he showed us what fight he has got left in him.

"I'm going to start crying again... Everybody always talks about the pressure of playing at Wimbledon, how tough it is, ... the people watching make it so much easier to play - they make it incredible," Murray added as he was given a rapturous round of applause.

Sigh. I never choose my favorites. They pick me.

Wimbledon round-up

Taken from @breakingserve's Twitter timeline

 *Maria Ivanovic and Sabine Goerges? Are you kidding me, WTA?!

*Ana Ivanovic (she's a legit tennis player, trust me) is now in the 4th round of Wimbledon after defeating Julia Goerges in a tight three-setter in yesterday's match. (Dear Star Sports, you still owe me for cutting the match at 4 - 3 in the third set with Ana leading and then switching to Serena Williams-Zheng Jie. Not cool, guys. Not cool at all.) Ana's last three wins have not been as pretty as she is but, as a fan, I'll take them. She hasn't been winning a lot of three-set matches and tie-breaks these past couple of months so her last wins at Wimby should really give her a mental boost when she faces current Australian Open champion and world number 2, Victoria Azarenka, in the 4th round. Should she beat Azarenka, Ana would be in her first Slam quarterfinal since her French Open win last 2008. She could also be back in the top 10 again.

*Golden opportunity for Andy Murray: Rafa Nadal, who almost always is in Andy's half of the draw, was uncharacteristically booted out in the 2nd round of Wimby by Czech Lukas Rosol, who is ranked 100th in the world. (Rosol was, however, unable to sustain his run as he bowed out to German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the 3rd round.) I know that Andy's path to the finals is still littered with landmines (he's up against Marin Cilic next and could still face the likes of David Ferrer, Juan Martin del Potro, Mardy Fish and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga), but Nadal being eliminated early gives him a fantastic opportunity to get into the finals of his Home Slam. Here's hoping he finally replicates Fred Perry's achievement.

*Equal prize money: Gilles Simon, who is maybe a Saudi national at heart, has re-ignited a controversy by saying that women tennis players don't deserve to be paid the same as their male counterpart since more people find men's tennis more interesting than that of the women's. Thus, business-wise, they should get more money. What a chauvinist pig. Obviously, the female players were not very happy with him. I'm personally offended as a woman. Shouldn't he be happy that tennis, as compared to other sports, is giving equal opportunity for both sexes? Also, like what Maria Sharapova said before to those arguing that men should be compensated more for playing best of five matches during Slams, it's like watching a movie. Do you pay more for a 3 hour long movie than one that is only 1 1/2 hours long? Does it also mean that a 3 hour movie is automatically of higher quality than a 1 1/2 hour one? Besides, not all men's best of five matches go the distance anyway and not all women's best of three matches finish early. John Isner and Nicolas Mahut made history by playing the longest match ever but it wasn't high quality (while the feat is admirable, I bet many wouldn't want another Isner-Mahut saga). It's hilarious when someone pointed out on Twitter that if only prize money was based on the number of winners that are hit in every match, Simon (who plays an extremely defensive game) would have a lot more complaining to do.

*A little drama on the ATP side: Men's tennis has always been the Big 4 show. Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray are almost always demolishing early round opponents and then continue on to face each other in the semifinals of each Slam. It was different at Wimby this year. Rafa was eliminated early, Roger Federer had to dig deep to come back from two sets down to beat Frenchman Julien Benneteau and Novak Djokovic had to struggle to overcome pesky Radek Stepanek. It's funny because, out of the four, it's actually Andy Murray who hasn't been the source of major drama this early in a Slam. It's also refreshing to see drama this early come from the ATP side, not from the WTA. The women's draw is still pretty balanced and has plenty of Slam winners and former number 1s left.