Western & Southern Open Champions to Be Crowned on Sunday

The U.S. Open is less than two weeks away and one of the biggest titles of the year will be won today in Cincinnati for both men and women.

Here are some fun facts:

WOMEN'S FINAL NOTES 

- Fifth seed Angelique Kerber will play ninth seed Li Na in the women's final.

- Kerber is the first left handed player to contest the final in Cincinnati since Patty Schnyder won the title in 2005. 

- Kerber is looking for her third title of 2012, while Li, a finalist last week in Montreal, is looking for her first title of the season. 

- Li holds a 4-1 edge in their head-to-head meetings. 

- The women's final will air live on ESPN2.

MEN'S FINAL NOTES

- World No. 1 and top seed Roger Federer will play second seed and World No. 2 Novak Djokovic in Sunday's final. 

- Sunday's final will be the first time since the ATP World Tour Rankings began in 1973 that the top two ranked players in the world will meet at the Western & Southern Open. 

- It will be the 78th time in ATP history the top two players in the World have played each other. Federer and Djokovic have played just once as the top two players, when Djokovic was No. 1 earlier this year in Rome when he defeated Federer in the semifinals.

- It will be the eighth final featuring the top two seeds in the Open Era at the tournament. The first such meeting since 1999 ([1] Pete Sampras defeat [2] Pat Rafter) and the 26th time since 1927 at the tournament. 

- Federer owns a 15-12 edge in the all-time head-to-head against Djokovic, and won their last meeting which came in the Wimbledon semifinals. Federer also won their only previous meeting in Cincinnati, which came in the 2009 final. 

- Federer is looking to win a record fifth Cincinnati title. His four titles is tied with George Lott, Bobby Riggs and Mats Wilander for the all-time record. His fifth final is tied for third all-time (William Talbert owns the record with seven). 

- Djokovic is through to his fourth Cincinnati final, but is seeking his first title here. 

- This marks the 16th consecutive ATP World Tour  Masters 1000 Tournament that has been won by one of four players: Federer, Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray.

- By winning his semifinal, Federer will maintain his No. 1 ranking going into the US Open. Monday will begin his record 292nd week in the top spot. 

- The 31-year-old Federer is bidding to be the fourth oldest Cincinnati champion in the Open Era and the first over-30 winning since Andre Agassi won the 2004 title at the age of 34. 

- Djokovic, who won the title last week in Toronto, carries a nine-match winning streak into Sunday's final. 

- All-time at the Western & Southern Open, No. 1 seeds are 36-16 in finals, while No. 2 seeds are 10-20.

Very Cool - Heat Shield, Meet Mars Rover

This sequence of images shows the heat shield from NASA's Mars Science Laboratory hitting the ground on Mars and raising a cloud of dust. The images were taken by the Mars Descent Imager on the mission's Curiosity rover while the rover was still suspended on a parachute, after the spacecraft had jettisoned the heat shield.

A dark spot, the shadow of the heat shield, enters the scene from lower left, moving toward the center. The bright heat shield itself is also apparent just before the shadow and hardware meet in the impact on the surface. The area of ground visible in the images is about six-tenths of a mile (1 kilometer) across. The frames shown here are cropped portions of full-frame images from the Mars Descent Imager.

The sequence includes 25 frames, repeated in five run-throughs for this presentation. The action is full speed in the first, fourth and fifth run-throughs. It is one-half and one-eighth speeds in the second and third run-throughs.

Say Goodbye to College Tennis as We Know It

With these words on the NCAA Men's and Women's Tennis meeting minutes from the July 2012 meeting, college tennis will most certainly no longer be relevant.

Is the NCAA getting its cues from the same people that are advocating 10 and Under Tennis?

It looks that way.  Making the third set of singles matches a super-tiebreak, match tiebreak or whatever you want to call it turns college tennis into World Team Tennis, minus the loud music in between points and the multi-colored courts. (No offense to Billie Jean King and her WTT, as there is a place for her organization in our sport)

Not only would players like Steve Johnson and John Isner not have stayed four years at their respective institutions, many other players would've bypassed college altogether with this rule in place.  This hurts the development of many players who aren't ready for the rigors and the great unknown of the pro tours.  If there is one player the committee should've talked to before thinking about these changes, they could've talked to Isner.  Look at what college did for him.

One of the great things about college tennis at all levels is that it is an endurance test.  Matches can go on long, but sometimes they go quickly as well.  Yes, they are student athletes, but they are also supposed to be young athletes that can play all day.

It's about singles, doubles and at some events, it would be fun to see mixed be thrown in as well.

Let's add to college tennis, not take away from it.

Here is a link to the entire report:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0By9sEF9wNPH-eldDZjNvT20xZVE/edit

Here is the Facebook page where you can join the fight to save college tennis.

http://www.facebook.com/events/297275993713513/

Yahoo Odd News - Fake IDs and More

This week, Phil talks about a guy who collects fake government IDs.  Pyramids in a park and dead fish in Texas are also discussed.

Have a look and listen:

http://news.yahoo.com/video/mans-fake-government-ids-uniforms-203000672.html

Packer Defense Bound to Be Better

Good piece on NFL.com talking about Dom Capers and the changes he's made to get the Green Bay defense back on track.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000050380/article/dom-capers-tweaks-green-bay-packers-defense-after-brutal-2011