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hq-crew · 4 years ago

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Senpai Squared

A gift for the @hqrarepairexchange for @jeeejae

Enjoy - posted just in time for everyone’s favourite horned owl’s birthday (20/9)

~ Mod Kenma

For all of Nishinoya’s exuberance, no one would say he wasn’t an observant guy. In fact, quite the opposite. It was as if his golden eyes were always watching, sizing up everything and everyone he encountered. His gaze haunted that which it passed over, lingering like the echoes of distant thunder long after the storm moves on. Being caught by it directly felt a lot like staring straight into oncoming headlights.

It was dangerous.

It was powerful.

It almost made up for the fact he was barely five feet tall.

And Bokuto Koutarou remembers with vivid clarity the first time that gaze was levelled squarely on him.

He’d moved out to the quiet neighbourhood, approximately a three-hour train ride from his childhood home in the city, to help out his ageing grandfather. The stubborn old man refused the idea of going into a care facility and no amounts of assurances that Bokuto or his sisters would visit regularly, or that there’d be lots of nice nurses and other old people to bitch with – “Your favourite hobby Gramps!” – would change the man’s mind.

Bokuto, whose physiotherapy qualifications gave him the most chance of being employed in a rural setting out of the family (whilst also lacking stable employment or accommodation in the city), was deigned ‘Gramps Carer #1’ and dutifully packed his stuff for a move out to his grandfather’s home town. The move didn’t bother him nearly as much as it bothered the people around him – his grandfather had always been an interesting dude, and his friends were always bitching about some new problem with city life so now he could invite them out to experience suburbia. In Bokuto’s eyes, it was a win-win.

There was also, of course, the fact that the entire population of the town over the age of thirty seemed to love the idea of having a new Physio (fifty perfect because Thank God I’ve Had Back Problems Since the Winter of ’43, and fifty percent because A New Eligible Bachelor This Is The Most Exciting Thing That’s Happened to This Town Since the Yotsuha Scandal). It was kind of fun for Bokuto, being the centre of attention – it almost felt like being famous. Akaashi – his closest friend – warned him not to let it get to his head. Akaashi’s husband and Bokuto’s long time friend Kenma had helpfully offered “I can bring Mario Kart with us when we visit to bring him down a peg or two”.

We’re a little bit off course here – where were we going? Ah yes, Nishinoya!

Right, so Bokuto had moved into town - hunky, compassionate, stable job, and most importantly single - and every mother within striking distance has simultaneously taken on the shot-put world record with how quickly they've flung their offspring in his general direction. Bokuto, for his part, thought it was really nice that the ladies around town were worried he didn't have enough friends his own age when he moved here and were introducing him to their kids. When he told his grandfather this, the old man laughed so hard he nearly hacked up a lung.

Two such mothers were Mitsuri and Akane Nishinoya, who had cottoned on to the one thing many of the other mother were either wilfully ignoring or straight up didn’t see – how Very Much Into Men Bokuto was. Or, to quote Kuroo – Bokuto’s other long-time friend – “No straight man on Earth radiates that much He-Man energy, least of all He-Man himself”. This piece of information worked well for the two women, as it gave their son (their pride, joy, and absolute menace) a fighting chance. Now, they had to orchestrate a means to put said son in front of said Hunky Physio without alerting said son to the fact they were rather Unceremoniously Meddling in his love life, again.

If they’d known what was coming, they’d probably have gone to far less effort.

With that in mind, it might do us some good to actually sit with said son for a moment before the Inevitable Collision. If you’d asked Nishinoya Yuu what he’d thought of the new guy in town, he probably wouldn’t have known what you were talking about. Hey – I said he was observant when it was in front of him, never said he was in any way attuned to local knowledge. When the new arrival had become the talk of the neighbourhood women’s association, he’d been able to dismiss it as idle chatter. After all, the younger Tanaka’s wedding (my boy Ryu) was just long enough ago that they needed something new to fuel the gossip chain.

When it reached his aunt, who was delighted to blather on about how handsome and lovely this new physio was when she’d gone in for some dodgy knee pain, sure, he’d been a little bit annoyed – he relished being the Most Important Man in his spinster aunt’s life – but he could brush it off relatively easily. His aunt wasn’t always to be trusted regarding men, she thought the convenience store guy was “charming”, so Nishinoya told himself her opinions weren’t exactly what one would call ‘in Vogue’ (that is, if he knew what a Vogue was).

But when his own mothers warmly told him about how “helpful” this guy had been when he’d stopped by the store to pick up some plants and wound up being roped into moving some of the heavier pots for the displays, oh, now Nishinoya was Fuming™. Who did this mystery guy think he was? Why was everyone so utterly rapt with him? Was he out here to steal Nishinoya’s title as the town’s Third Hottest Eligible Bachelor? Was he – dread the thought – going for No. 1?

And that sunk it – Nishinoya didn’t know this dude, but he Did Not Like Him.

Now that we know where Nishinoya was at before the Inevitable Collision, it’s time to return to Bokuto and the moment the two finally managed to get a good look at one another. Mind you, by this stage they’d both managed to ‘see’ one another no less than four times either side and had even had an Awkward Urinal Conversation (which we will not dwell long for a few reasons, least of which is the author – lacking the need to use a urinal – shudders to think of what is discussed over them). But the first time the pair actually managed to sustain eye contact – and or have an Actual Not Urinal Conversation – was a warm, spring day. Bokuto stopped in to the Nishinoya Garden and Flower Emporium to see if he could pick up some new seedlings for his grandpa to give him something new to brag about to his neighbours.

Nishinoya (Yuu) was attempting to fill a very small pot using a very large bag of potting mix which – all variables being equal – was almost always a recipe for disaster. That said, I don’t know if you’ve ever worked in a quiet retail store before, but sometimes making an absolute mess can be a blessing in disguise if it’s particularly slow in the store because at least then you have something to do while you clean up your own mess. Nishinoya shared this sentiment so much that he’d already grabbed the broom, dustpan, brush and bin so that when either of his mothers eventually attempted to chide him for making a mess, he could say “But Ma, look, I’m already cleaning it up – I prepped and everything! I am the Plant Guardian, protector of the pots, nothing’ll happen while I’m here!” and they’d all laugh and leave him be.

Bokuto knew a grand total of None of This, so when he saw the cute flower shop dude (with the sick dye job – he totally had to ask later about it, maybe that would be his ‘In’, Kuroo always said you needed an ‘In’ to talk to hot people) struggling to heave a bag almost the same size as his tiny body while emptying its contents into a pot, naturally Bokuto jogged right over to help.

I’d love to tell you it was a beautiful wisp of a moment, where as Bokuto’s hands brushed Nishinoya’s the two boys finally made eye contact and it was as dramatic and beautiful as I said in the opening. The fact I’ve had to put that version of events here (not to mention that I’ve been calling it the Inevitable Collision) should probably give you a better hint of what actually went down – namely Bokuto himself, as he tripped on a small overturned pot on the way over.

Now if that were the end of it, if he’d just gone down like the sack of flour Akaashi always joked that he was whenever he tried to ask for piggyback rides, it may not have been so terrible. Awkward, sure, but not terrible.

But this is Bokuto Koutarou, the only person on Earth who must apply 110 percent to everything, even falling over. This manifested in a sequence of events as follows: Bokuto slammed his hand on the closest table to try and steady himself, but his hunky bodyweight and the strange angle of the attempted grapple meant that all he did was cause two of the table’s legs to give out from underneath it and, with it, pots of newly planted geraniums flew straight up (Yuu swears, to this day, that he heard the Ave Maria as these poor flowers sailed through the air) and shattered onto the floor. The seedling pots that were closer to the now-broken legs rapidly slid down the table towards aforementioned beautiful disaster Koutarou, dumping their contents onto his defeated horned-owl hair.

A beat of absolute, ungodly silence followed.

For those wondering, no, the two were not alone in the store. There was a couple being served by Akane Nishinoya which made Four Witnesses for the Worst Moment of Koutarou’s Life (So Far). I should clarify that he wasn’t actually injured by the fall, except from the fatal blow to his ego and his perceived chances with the cute plant-store employee.

Currently in the throes of what his best friend Akaashi would call a “low mood” and what Kuroo would call “AGONY” complete with dramatic shirt-ripping, Bokuto Koutarou looked up from the floor, covered in dirt and broken pottery pieces and the shame of a thousand suns and for the first time he met the dangerous golden gaze of one very baffled Nishinoya Yuu.

If you asked Bokuto Koutarou, he’d tell you – without flinching – that he knew in that moment that he wanted to spend the rest of his life keeping that gaze centred on him.

Because as Nishinoya’s eyes moved along his body, sunlight moved through Bokuto’s whole being – warm pinpricks that left him burning until they arrived back at Bokuto’s owl-like gaze. As their eyes met again, the gold in Nishinoya’s eyes melted into unbridled mirth.

A chuckle.

Then another.

And another.

And like the building of rain from droplets to a storm, suddenly Nishinoya Yuu was cackling so hard he dropped the large bag of potting mix and had to lean on the counter for support.

Bokuto Koutarou was in love. Nishinoya Yuu was having a hysterical workday.

“You should have seen it Shouyou! The pots went everywhere, this dude flipped a table and-and–”

“OOOOHHH! What did your moth-hey-wait-WHAT ABOUT NATSU’S SPECIAL POT!!”

“Don’t worry! Ma moved the ‘most prized artwork’ earlier this week to the orchid shelf! But Shouyou-this guy-I swear-”

Hinata Shouyou breathed out his relief – his sister would have been devastated had she discovered the art project pot she’d made and given to the Favourite Senpai Ever was a casualty of this bizarre new arrival into the store. Nishinoya was a good friend (one of the few people on Earth shorter than him, to his eternal delight) and an even better senpai – he’d made it his personal mission to keep an eye on both Shouyou and Natsu growing up.

As they sat in the bar that Hinata had been meaning to come back to just to stick out his tongue at the bouncer because well now he was old enough (hah!), Nishinoya had regaled his old school friends and anyone close enough to listen with the Tale of his Workday. A lot of Nishinoya’s old friends liked to joke that only Nishinoya possessed the storytelling skill to make a ten second encounter into a fable in four acts, which was best delivered to a rapt audience of underclassmen – it was almost a shame that Kageyama was overseas and Tsukishima and Yamaguchi had major assessments due. That left only Hinata who, don’t tell anyone, was Nishinoya’s favourite audience member because he had the best reactions. Nishinoya’s hiccupping guffaws chorused with Hinata’s excited crow noises and for a moment you’d really believe someone had let a murder of crows into a bar.

Hinata sat next to his senpai and undertook in perhaps one of his rarest past-times – he thought. Now that he was older and wiser (supposedly) he felt like he should help his senpai out. After all, he’d provided glowing references (didn’t matter for what – Nishinoya, it turns out, could hype Hinata to anyone for any reason at all) and helped him out with his homework (with support, not with content), so now they had managed to progress to being friends without the insurmountable Senpai Wall between them.

Nishinoya was still cackling, dissolving into fits of giggles with each mental replay of the scene, each detail that remained stuck in his mind’s eye. He gripped Hinata’s shirt, struggling to make coherent noises come out of his mouth between the choking gasps of truly chaotic amusement. The back of Nishinoya’s mind registered that wow Hinata had gotten really buff since his holiday in Argentina but was so stuck on this fUCKINGH LUNATIC oH My GoD that the preceding thought sunk back down into the recesses of his consciousness. Even Hinata couldn’t stop giggling at the sight of Nishinoya absolutely losing it and the two remained in a cycle of giggles.

“I almost wanna talk to the guy, y’know? Like what a dude.”

Oooh. The smallest seed of an idea planted itself in Hinata’s brain.

“I mean, I gotta give him a hard time for the table-pfft-and-the-” more giggles, followed by a deep shaking breath as Nishinoya attempted (he really attempted) to compose himself. “-but-anyway-I mean… Maybe he’ll be a bro, y’know, because man, I’m so proud of Ryu, but like, I miss him – am I allowed to miss him while he’s on honeymoon? ‘Cause I fuckinbg miss my bro-”

The seed germinated into a tiny sprout.

“-and if nothing else I need someone to help me find this New Guy – have I told you ‘bout the New Guy – don’t get me started Sho, this guy I don’t even get it who is he where did he come from-”

Now that was like Plant Steroid to Hinata’s growing idea. Unfortunately for Hinata he has the world’s worst poker face, so as the idea bloomed rapidly, the entire bar heard the excited crow screech.

“oooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH! Noya-noya-I’ll help you find the plant-guy!!! I’ll do it!!! I know who he is!!!”

“You DO!?! Why didn’t you say so Sho! C’mon! The night is young, let’s find this plant-killer!”

The two tumbled out of the bar with determination, but upon realising Nishinoya had an opening shift (where he was probably going to have to repair the damage done by the Plant-Killer) and Shouyou had training, they resolved to make a plan during the more reasonable daylight hours to find the mystery New Guy and befriend the walking disaster.

As the two parted ways, only one of them knew those were the same person. And so, Hinata’s Great Idea took root.

Hinata’s Great Idea could be broken down into four steps –

1. Bring Nishinoya and Bokuto together

2. Nishinoya and Bokuto bond!

3. Two Awesome Senpais!!!!!!

4. ???????????????? …kiss?

Point Four was…contentious. He decided to sort that out another day.

For now, he was focused on Point 1 – bringing them together. He already had Nishinoya on board, which meant he only needed the other half of the Brainless Beefcake Bundle (author’s words, not Hinata’s). Luckily for him, he sort-of-kind-of-had-definitely-spoken-to-maybe-once Bokuto which in Hinata’s books meant they were at least good enough friends to invite him to go for a run. The fizzy-drink bubbling sensation in Hinata’s chest when Bokuto agreed could be chalked up to the excitement of a new running buddy and not to whatever emotions lingered behind the question marks in Point Four.

Dawn’s soft light filtered through the trees, illuminating the last wisps of a misty morning. As the world was painted in purples, pinks and yellows, Bokuto could only focus on orange.

Bokuto was thrilled, confused, but thrilled, to be out running with the tiny orange blur. He’d encountered the blur in passing so it was nice to actually attempt to get a look at the face. He wasn’t making much headway though, because whenever he got close the orange blur made a frankly adorable little screeching noise and powered off. It was fun, though, the thrill of chasing after someone full tilt. Akaashi and Kuroo were both too busy to race him, and Kenma would honestly rather die than run. This sprinting, this chasing, was freeing. He’d forgotten how much he enjoyed this.

The blur was getting farther and farther away as Bokuto remained deep in thought. The blur made a confused wail, bobbing in the distance. Right! They were racing! Well if he wanted a race, let’s give him a race! Bokuto threw all his strength into chasing the blur, screaming all the way as he did. The cold air burned into his lungs as his steps pounded into the ground, one after another. He closed the distance between them, grinning ear to ear as he did. The blob wasn’t giving up without a fight and charged onwards, elated. The pair’s joyful screams echoed along the mountains and well into the sunny morning.

If you asked Bokuto what he remembered most from that moment about the blur he’d come to know as Hinata Shouyou, he would have said the instant he raced past him and spotted those wide, hungry brown eyes that watched him like they craved everything he had to give.

When Hinata had told Noya to just “leave it to me” regarding the Table-Flipping Menace, the expectation had been that the second meeting would occur somewhere neutral like a park or bar or even that boba tea store that Tsukishima had worked at over the summer and they’d all relentlessly teased him for.

Suffice to say Hinata’s apartment was not the expected middle ground. Not that Noya minded – Hinata’s apartment was bright, clean but well-lived in, and had lots of fun mementos from Hinata’s travels abroad. Noya felt a lot of fondness for the place, most recently because he’d been asked to house-sit for a three-month stint so it still registered in the back of his mind as ‘home’. It was all the little details that made it so undeniably Shouyou – posters from their school events together, one of Natsu’s artworks (framed, and signed by the artist herself), a chipped planter that Noya had picked out as a housewarming gift and had somehow managed to survive living here, dozens of foreign knick-knacks on a shelf that seemed to grow more and more strained with each sojourn around the world, and of course the photos. They covered a whole wall (right up to the ceiling too, and you could see which ones Kageyama had helped with and which ones Hinata had done with a ladder and gusto based on how crooked they were). Noya was proud to say he featured in a large portion of them, though the catalogue of his bad hair decisions was a little embarrassing.

When Noya turned up, snacks and drinks in hand, the only thing that looked decidedly out of place in Hinata’s apartment was one very confused Table Flipping Menace. The TFM hovered awkwardly, as if not sure where to sit or what he was allowed to touch – though the way his eyes darted as they tried to soak in the sheer magnitude of personality in Shouyou’s apartment screamed excitement. Noya knew it was the TFM because he’d never forget a haircut that cool – a mental reminder to talk to Sakeo about upping his ante – and because when the TFM’s eyes finally landed on him Noya had to fight the urge to giggle. The Ave Maria played on repeat in his head.

“Oh! Oh! Nishinoya-senpai! You’re here!!” Hinata bounded over, making sure to put Noya’s offerings down before throwing all his weight at him in a hug that was more collision than anything else. Noya crushed him close in return, squeezing Shouyou’s not-actually-scrawny-any-more body and something akin to a memory attempted to wriggle its way to the surface of Noya’s mind. Unfortunately, it took too long to dig itself up, because just after their hug finished, he heard “Bokuto-senpai!”

Nishinoya felt the recoil of that emotional slap to the face for about a week after this moment.

“Bokuto-senpai, this is Nishinoya-senpai! Nishinoya-senpai’s the coolest – he works at the plant store with his mums, you met them, they’re super nice, and he went to school with me and one time he an-”

“Hey hey, let’s not spoil all my good stories at once!” A quick ruffle to Hinata’s hair (despite the mock offense with which the gesture was received) and Noya finally got a good look at the monster of a TFM who was standing there.

Noya was used to tall people – no surprises there – but this guy exuded a completely different presence. Everything about him seemed to be screaming ‘look at me – I’m worth watching’, from the way that he moved (even awkwardly) to the way he spoke. He radiated an energy you couldn’t ignore. It wasn’t that ethereal, passive beauty that drew people in either – like Blessed and Holy Kiyoko-no, Tanaka-san, or God’s Gift to Humanity Sugawara Koushi – but it was something different. Something strange. Something Noya decided he’d add to the list of things he was going to work out (like ‘why they teach useless maths in school’ and ‘how on Earth did Daichi manage to outdrink them at every opportunity’).

Well, no time like the present, he figured. “Nice to finally get a name for our plant-killer! I’m Nishinoya Yuu, guardian of the plants, friend to this little loser,” a quick noogie to Hinata’s head, for good measure, “and best senpai ever! So ‘Bokuto’?” The TFM’s – Bokuto? – eyes went wide. “Tell me ‘bout yourself!”

The TFM – who had been eyeing him with one of those expressions Noya could never tell was romantic interest or constipation – jolted to life suddenly. Introductions quickly gave way to apologies, “Please tell your family I’m super sorry again about the table I don’t even know what happened,” then to stories of adventures and misdemeanours as the little group found their own awkward rhythm of chaos and laughter. Hinata’s neighbours did tell them to keep it down at one point when the screaming (from all three parties) got a little intense, but all that did was reduce three grown adults to little children stifling giggles.

By the time night fell, Noya was no closer to working out what it was about Bro-kuto (as he was now saved in his phone) that intrigued him, but honestly, he didn’t really mind.

“Bro-ku-to!!! Get your ass up this second! Let’s go let’s go!”

Bokuto mumbled a hazy ‘Datekou?’ between snores. Answering Kuroo’s panicked three-am call about which tie he should wear to his big client meeting – whilst not a regret because he loved his friend and wanted to see him do well – was evidently not a smart decision for his sleep schedule.

Bokuto rolled over and snuggled back into his pillow, floating into dreamland. He was receiving a medal, and as they hung it over his neck, he could hear the crowd cheering him on, chanting his name – Bokuto! Bokuto!

“Bokuto! Bokuto!!! Wake up!!!” Noya shook the puddle that called itself Bokuto Koutarou as vigorously as he could to no avail. You may be wondering how it was Nishinoya Yuu managed to make it inside Bokuto senior’s house to start shaking him. The open window provides some clues but raises more questions, especially given that it’s two floors up. The answer was simple: Nishinoya Yuu had performed a stunning homage to Da Bois Night (Summer Edition – The Remix), not that Noya was familiar with the word ‘homage’. If he was able to climb the outside of their concrete school in the rain, then getting into an open window on a sunny morning on a brick house was easy.

Bokuto was still sleeping like the dead, mouth hanging open and all, and Noya needed a new plan. Noya however was not a ‘plan-man’. He took a couple of steps back, drew all his breath in, and then… “Rrrrrooling THUNDER!!!!”

Flinging himself with all the force he could muster, he attempted to tackle Bokuto off his bed. His shoulder slammed into the small of Bokuto’s back, which succeeded not only in making Bokuto yelp but also moving enough of his body that the mass of limbs and blankets rolled off the bed with a loud thump.

The blanket mass that now contained two useless disasters simultaneously started groaning and laughing from the floor. Bokuto untangled himself from the sheets to find Noya laughing in what had since become characteristic of their friendship, and he couldn’t stop himself from giggling along. Soon both were cackling, and each time one tried to stop the other would make eye contact, or say something, or in one notable case snort ungracefully, and the two would simply start all over again.

Their laughter echoed down the halls. His grandfather, thankfully, had hearing aids which he took out at night. The man couldn’t hear a thing without them.

Once they’d managed to calm down (and put most of Bokuto’s sheet’s back on his bed, which Noya had then jumped on and flopped into like some kind of demanding cat), Bokuto decided to at least try and do his normal morning routine. This attempt at normalcy was somewhat thwarted by Noya’s commentary and fashion advice. “Grab the pink shirt!” “Sick I love this– wait, shit, I’ve got work later.” “What about flamingos hula-hooping is unprofessional? They’re hardworking animals!”

“Can you grab me the gel?” “You use the pine one? God, no wonder you always smell like air freshener.” “Hey! I’ll have you know my friends say I smell ‘rugged’ and ‘not overbearing’.” “Dude.”

“Is that how you get it to stick up?!” “Duh, makes more sense like this!” “Bokuto, my man, I may have seriously underestimated you. You may actually be one of the coolest people I know. And I know plenty of cool people.” “Yeah, your aunt is awesome.” “Not who I meant, but damn straight.”

As Bokuto flipped back down from the bar in the doorway where he’d been hanging upside down, Noya absently checked his phone. Normally, Bokuto would have found the scrunch of Nishinoya’s nose rather cute, but there was something in the furrow of his brows that filled Bokuto with confusion. He flopped down next to (or more accurately, around) Noya, attempting to peek at his phone. Noya chuckled lightly, swatting him away with a bat of his hand. No luck. Bokuto leaned closer and watched those eyes as they skimmed over messages, gold tarnished with worry the further down the conversation they got. Noya’s dyed tuft (now a bright green thanks to a bet with Shouyou) had started to fall in front of his eyes but he was ignoring it.

What Nishinoya Yuu could not ignore was when a hand that was not his own moved the hair for him.

Their eyes met, and among other flitting thoughts that struck Nishinoya in that moment, one was how Bokuto’s hand was easily bigger than his face. Another was how nice his hair looked down, even though it was still pretty sick gelled up. Another was how much fun this loud dude was. How much he made him laugh, made him stronger, challenged him, excited him. How lucky he was that he’d flipped a goddamn table in his little plant shop.

The last was how sharp and wild and fucking terrified Bokuto’s owl-like eyes were.

He leaned his head softly into the hand that was so close, that was bigger than his face, and turned his eyes once more to Bokuto, who looked every bit as hopeful as he looked amazed.

Nishinoya was an observant guy.

He didn’t see the kiss coming at all.

Epilogue – Shouyou

When the two of them told Hinata the good news, Hinata was elated! The Great Idea had come to fruition! It worked! Two awesome senpais!

He was so elated, in fact, that the first thing he did was grab Nishinoya and kiss him, before barrelling into Bokuto and jumping into his arms.

Wait. Shit.

Well, that explains Point Four.

You could hear the echoes of their laughing, of their joy – a flock of loud, excited birds – all the way up the mountainside.

#bokuto koutarou #nishinoya yuu #hinata shouyou #rare pair #poly ship #mod kenma rises from the grave #hq rarepair #rare pair exchange #mod kenma writes #i have another story sitting in the drafts if y'all want it #hqrarepairexchange2020

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liamhaydn-blog · 3 years ago

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The ‘Big 3′ on Grass?

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are the three greatest male tennis players of all time, of which there can be no doubt. In which order you rank those three depends on an almost endless list of variables but where there can be no dispute is that Djokovic, Federer and Nadal have been the best hard-court players of this era with the former two also being the best in history on the surface, evidenced by a combined 23 majors at the Melbourne and New York based slams. Nadal, Djokovic and Federer have also been the best clay-courters of their era. That Nadal is the greatest clay-courter ever is one of sport’s most indisputable facts, the Spaniard having won 112 of his 115 matches at Roland Garros on his way to winning the title an untouchable fourteen times.

But have these 3 great’s also been the best of their era on grass? Well with a record 12 Wimbledon final appearances and 8 wins, Federer currently stands as not only the greatest grass courter of his era, but number one of all time on the Men’s side. However with 6 Wimbledon titles, Novak Djokovic will not have given up hope of catching ‘Pistol’ Pete Sampras (7) and Roger Federer’s total, to become the number 1 of all time on the surface, but he already currently stands as comfortably the second best of his era on grass. So who is third? and this is where grass may differ from hard courts and the clay, as here there can be an argument made that someone in the top 3 on the surface comes from outside the ‘Big 3′.

It is worth remembering that before leaving the tour for surgery in 2017, Andy Murray forced in lots of people’s mind a ‘Big 4′, or at the very least a ‘Big 3 and a half’. He was by an enormous margin the fourth best player of his era, and on the tour he was closer to the ‘Big 3′ than any of the others were to him. Between 2006 the year Murray won his first ATP final and 2016, his last full injury-free year on the tour the Scot reached 64 finals, winning 44. In the same time period, Federer won 55 (an average of 1 more than Murray per year), Nadal 57 and Djokovic 66. For comparison, Stan Wawrinka won 15 and reached another 10 finals.

Between 2008 (the year Murray reached his first Masters 1000 final) and his last full year on the tour 2016, Djokovic won 30 M1000 events from 43 finals, Nadal won 19 from 28 and Federer reached 21 finals and won 10. Andy also reached 21 finals in the time period but actually won more than the Swiss, as he came out victorious on 14 occasions. In contrast, the three other men’s slam winners of the era Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic and Juan Martin Del Potro played a combined seven Masters finals, winning just two.

Murray made his first Slam final appearance in 2008 and his last in 2016, reaching 11 Grand Slam finals. In that period Djokovic reached 20, Nadal 15 and Federer just one more than Murray across 9 years, with 12 final appearances. It wasn’t just in final appearances that Murray and Federer were close at slams, in this time Roger won 5 to Andy’s 3. Between 2010 the year Murray made his second major final appearance and 2016, Murray reached 10 finals which was four more than Federer in that period and only two fewer than Nadal. Federer’s only two slam final wins in that 7 year period both came against Murray, but the Briton still outnumbered him in that time with 3 major wins. In comparison, across their whole careers Wawrinka, Del Potro and Cilic have reached a combined 9 slam finals, fewer than Murray alone reached in that 7 year period between 2010 and 2016. Wawrinka has the 5th most slam final appearances of his era with 4, which is fewer than Murray has made at the Australian Open alone.

By the end of 2016, Murray trailed Federer by 10 M1000 titles, given the Swiss won his first 6 years before Murray’s first due to age difference, this was not an enormous number. Andy also had reached 9 fewer Grand Slam finals than Nadal, with Rafa playing 5 before Murray’s maiden final. Murray had just turned 29 when he reached his 11th final and won his 3rd major, given he became year-end number 1 on his last full year on the tour it was highly likely he would have gone on to make many more and far from out of the question that he would have won a few more too.

These stats are not to claim that Murray was ever going to get numbers *that* close to the Big 3, but to remind that in some areas he wasn’t that far away compared to now where they have been able to pull much further away. Whereas the 30′s of the Big 3 has been defined by their consistency and longevity which has seen them further cement their untouchable status at the top of the men’s game, Murray has spent the better part of his 30′s side-lined through multiple hip surgeries and ultimately a hip replacement. When he has been able to play, it’s been with a ranking so low that it’s been difficult to find any form and rhythm due to early meetings with high ranked players. Despite this and despite missing so much of the tour over the last 5 or so years (evidenced by Murray playing only 5 slams of the last 18 held), Murray has managed to reach a total of 70 ATP finals, which is exactly twice as many as the player with the 5th most final appearances of this era, Marin Cilic. He has also won 46 titles which is more than Cilic and Del Potro (who have the 5th and 6th most men’s titles of this era) combined.

Despite the hip injury robbing him of what may well have been his prime years given his age and position at the time of the injury, Murray has still managed to be only the second player ever after Andre Agassi to win a Slam, a Masters, The Davis Cup, Olympic Gold (Murray is the only player ever to win 2 in Singles, which he won in successive events) and the ATP tour finals. He is also the only player of this era outside the big 3 to have won multiple times at one slam, making him the only player to have won as many titles at a slam as a Big 3 member when that number of titles is more than one (for example Wawrinka has as many slams as Federer at Roland Garros, but Federer has only won it once).

This brings me to the main point of this article which can be summed up by a question: Who has been the 3rd best Grass court player of this era of men’s tennis? Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray? The only place to start with this question is Wimbledon. Both men have taken the title twice, once against an extremely formidable opponent and once when they were strong favourite going into the match. Nadal has reached 5 finals there to Murray’s 3, with both men appearing in 7 semi-finals at SW19. Nadal’s first Wimbledon final came at his second appearance at the event where he met Roger Federer. Nadal was bagelled in the opening set, then lost a narrow tie-break before taking a tie-break of his own to force a fourth set, though Federer took this 6-3. The following year Nadal returned to the final to meet the same opponent, the Spaniard won 6 games in four of the five sets, but lost two tiebreaks and went down 6-2 in the final set.

In the 2008 Final Nadal met Federer for their sixth successive European slam final. At that point Nadal had won 3 from 3 on Clay and Federer was 2/2 on Grass. In this Wimbledon final they produced the greatest Grass court match of all time, and one of the greatest on any surface, as Federer fought back from two sets down to win two tiebreaks to force a fifth, which Nadal won 9 games to 7. This was one of the greatest wins of Nadal’s entire career as Federer was one set away from winning a record breaking 6 successive Wimbledon titles. Nadal’s win ended Federer’s run of 41 straight victories at the slam. Federer would go on to win his 6th the following year meaning this was Federer’s only loss at the slam in 7 years.

Nadal missed the chance to defend his title in 2009 due to injury but returned the following year. In the Semi-Finals Rafa met Murray who was in his first Wimbledon semi with Nadal prevailing 6-4,7-6(8-6),6-4. In the final he met Tomas Berdych who was playing what would be his only ever slam final, and he too was beaten in straights by Rafael Nadal. Nadal and Murray met again in the semis in 2011, Nadal again triumphant despite losing the first set. This meant Nadal had knocked Murray out of Wimbledon three times between 2008 and 2011, at all three of the events that the Spaniard played at in this time. In the final Nadal met Djokovic who was playing his first ever Wimbledon final with the Serb coming out on top by 3 sets to 1. That run of reaching 5 Wimbledon finals from the 5 he played between 2006 and 2011 was an incredible one for a player for whom grass is considered by far his weakest surface. Though since that 2011 final, Nadal has not been back in the final, reaching the semi-finals only twice since.

Andy Murray has always had a special relationship with his home slam of Wimbledon, it is where he reached his first fourth round and then his first Quarter. He would though lose 3 successive semi-finals, two against Nadal and the other against Andy Roddick before he was able to reach his first final in 2012. In that final he met Roger Federer against whom he took the opening set, before the Swiss levelled it up in the second. Rainfall meant the third set had to be delayed for the roof to close, and on becoming an indoor final Federer was able to take control winning 3 sets to 1.

Murray returned to the final the following year where he met Djokovic. It was to be their 3rd slam final meeting of the last 4 played, with a win apiece going into this final. Murray became the first British man in 76 years to win Wimbledon by defeating Novak in straight sets. It was the Serb’s only straight set final until the 2020 Roland Garros final, and remains to date the only Wimbledon final he has lost, having won the other 6, including 3 against Federer.

Murray’s defence ended at the Quarter-Final stage against Grigor Dimitrov in 2014, but he returned to the semis again the next year but was bested in straight sets by Roger Federer. 2016 saw Murray reach his third Wimbledon final and he took the title against Milos Raonic the same way he won 5 of his 6 previous matches, in straight sets. Due to injuries Murray has only featured at 2 Wimbledon’s since then.

So who has had the better Wimbledon career? their final victories were similar with one incredible victory over a grass-court King and another when they were big favourite in the final, which they both won in straight sets. Nadal has been the better semi-final performer winning 5 of his 7, whereas Murray has won 3 and lost 4. Nadal’s Wimbledon success however has been more concentrated in a smaller period, aside from the run of 5 finals in 5 successive tournaments played, he has only reached the Quarter-Finals on 2 other occasions. He has been forced to endure a number of upsets, notably a 2nd round exit to Lucas Rosol in 2012, a 1st round exit the following year to Steve Darcis, a 2nd round defeat to Dustin Brown in 2015 and a 4th round defeat to Giles Muller in 2017. During this period between 2012 and 2017, Nadal was unable to reach the last 8 and in that time his Wimbledon win/loss record was a poor 12-8.

Murray reached atleast the Quarter-Finals for 10 consecutive years at Wimbledon and has only exited before the 4th round twice, once at his first ever slam and not again until 2021 when he entered Wimbledon short of match practice. Overall Murray holds a record of 59-11 at the slam for a win % of 84%, and Nadal’s record is 53-12 which gives a win % of 82%. With 10 Quarter-Final appearances to Nadal’s 7, Murray has been more consistent and reliable when it comes to going deep in the slam and has been less likely to lose against a player he’s expected to beat, and with more matches and more wins despite playing one fewer Wimbledon than Rafa, he deserves to get the nod here as the 3rd best Wimbledon player of his era up to now, though it’s so close that it could easily change by the end of this year’s tournament.

In total on the surface Murray has reached 10 grass court finals of which he has won 8, and Nadal has reached 7, winning 4. Nadal’s play time on grass has undoubtedly been limited by him going deep in every tournament he plays on clay year after year so certainly that must be taken into consideration when reviewing these numbers. However Murray has reached 5 Roland Garros semi-finals, so he too has on occasion been busy during the clay-court swing before the switch to grass. The Scot has won the pre-Wimbledon tournament Queens a record 5 times, Nadal has won it once beating Djokovic in the final and his other grass court title was at the Stuttgart Open. Aside from Wimbledon, the biggest event to be played on grass has been the Summer Olympics. At London 2012 on the centre court of Wimbledon, Murray defeated Djokovic in straight sets in a best-of-three format, then defeated Federer in straights in the final in best-of-five, to avenge his defeat to the Swiss from a few weeks prior in the Wimbledon final.

Murray became the second man of the era after Federer to win 100 matches on grass, and still currently has the second most wins on the surface despite playing Wimbledon just once since 2018. Murray has 114 wins for 24 losses for a win % of 82.6%, Djokovic has 102 wins and 18 defeats for a win % of 85%, Federer has 192 wins on grass and 29 defeats and has a win % of 86.9%. Nadal with 71 wins and 20 defeats on the surface comes in with a 78% win %.

In conclusion, looking at the evidence it would be fair to argue Nadal peaked higher on grass than Murray did, which is unsurprising given he’s been by far the better player overall in his career. You can also look at the fact Nadal has won all three of their meetings on grass, though Murray has always found Nadal to be his toughest adversary, against noone whom he has regularly faced does he boast a lower win %. However over their careers, Murray has been the more consistent grass court player, it is the surface best suited to his game evidenced by it being the slam he has won most matches at. It is the only slam in which a player outside of the Big 3, competing against them, has been able to win more matches than a Big 3 member, and for that Murray must receive plenty of credit. There’s a reason it’s only been done once, by one player at one slam, and that’s because it’s very difficult to do. To do it in fewer Wimbledon appearances than Rafa too, adds to the achievement.

#tennis #big3 #nadal #rafanadal #andymurray #murray #federer #rogerfederer #novak djokovic #djokovic

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fuzzysparrow · 3 years ago

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In what country was tennis champion Martina Navratilova born?

Martina Navratilova was born on 18th October 1956 in Prague, in what was then Czechoslovakia. Today, Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic. Over a four-decade tennis career, Navratilova won a record-breaking 59 Grand Slam titles, including 9 Wimbledon singles championships.

Navratilova began playing tennis at the age of four and won the Czechoslovakian national tennis championship at 15. She started competing professionally in 1975 when she won her first major title at the French Open. The following year, she sought political asylum in the USA from her communist homeland. Five years later, she became a US citizen.

Throughout her career, Navratilova remained consistently within the top five female tennis players. Her greatest rival was Chris Evert, who she played 80 times, winning 43 of them. By her retirement from single play in 1994, Navratilova had won more championships than any other player, male or female, in the history of tennis.

In 1981, Navratilova came out as bisexual, although later re-identified herself as a lesbian. She was one of the first sports stars to publicly support the gay rights movement. In December 2014, Navratilova married her long-time girlfriend, Julia Lemigova, in New York.

In 2005, 'Tennis' magazine ranked Navratilova the greatest female tennis player since 1965. Since retiring, Navratilova has written three novels about a tennis star called Jordan Myles, who helps solve murders.

#Trivia #Tennis #Martina Navratilova

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googlenewson · 4 years ago

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For the first time in the last 23 editions, Roger Federer has missed a visit to the Australian Open. The champion of Basel is not yet 100% physically and the strict measures imposed by the local government have certainly not led him to force recovery times. The former world number 1, who has retained a place in the Top 5 thanks to the new ranking, will return to the field in Doha in the second week of March. If there are no further hitches, the 39-year-old Swiss should also take part in the clay court season, but not forgetting that his big goals will be Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics in the summer. Many wonder if 2021 will represent King Roger’s last year on the tour, although no communication has ever come from his team. The 20-time Grand Slam champion will blow out 40 candles in August and it will not be easy for him to be competitive again for the most prestigious titles. In a lengthy interview with Express Sport, former ATP number 2 Alex Corretja warned that Federer's retirement is increasingly imminent.

Corretja on Roger Federer's retirement

"Roger Federer is a unique player and you can see everywhere he goes everyone adores him," Eurosport pundit Alex Corretja told Express Sport. "It has been a while he has been away and everybody is waiting for him. When he said the other day he way going to come back in Doha the reaction from everybody was 'wow, he is coming back'. It's a question mark to see how he is playing. Losing these kind of players, who are so important for the sport in general, you are always going to miss them. It is time to start realising that sooner or later they won't be there and we will have to get used to that and we are going to miss them. That happens in life. You have to enjoy them at the present time because when they're gone you really miss them." Tennis superstar Roger Federer has hailed veteran NFL stalwart Tom Brady for leading his Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a stunning Super Bowl win on Monday. The 39-year-old Federer, who has been out of action for a year following knee surgery, is bidding to make a comeback this year. He seems to be taking inspiration from the age-defying feat of the 43-year-old superstar quarterback. Rolling back the years, Brady was on top of his game as he shepherded his troops ably and inspired them to a 31-9 win over Kansas City Chiefs on Monday.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3p7qaQY

#World News

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pakcricwiz · 6 years ago

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Hugh McIlvanney, Ireland v England in Dublin and blindfolded boxing | Classic YouTube

This week’s roundup also features the Patriots and Rams’ Super Bowl highs, hockey fights and underarm box cricket

1) The legendary writer Hugh McIlvanney, “a giant among journalists”, died last week at the age of 84. His finest work may have been in print, but McIlvanney was also an accomplished broadcast journalist, as seen in his documentary series ‘Busby, Stein & Shankly: The Football Men – here are parts one, two, three and four. McIlvanney also wrote and narrated Goal TV – The World of Georgie Best, first shown in 1970. The Scot had a particular passion for boxing. Here he is in a 1987 interview with Mike Tyson’s manager, Jim Jacobs, and in conversation with Sugar Ray Leonard.

2) The Six Nations is back in style, with Ireland v England this Saturday. England may have labelled the defending champions “boring” this week, but both teams will go some to match this fixture in 1963, a mud-caked nightmare that ended 0-0. It was a livelier affair in 2007 at Croke Park, when Ireland thumped their old rivals 43-13 – but went on to lose the title to France on points difference thanks to Elvis Vermeulen’s last-gasp try against Scotland. Finally, something for England fans to cheer: a 42-6 thumping that sealed the grand slam in 2003.

Continue reading... from Blogger http://bit.ly/2UqCZXu

#http://worldsportspoint1.blogspot.com/2019/01/hugh-mcilvanney-ireland-v-england-in.html Hugh McIlvan

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movietvtechgeeks · 8 years ago

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Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/singles-men-watch-wimbledon-2017-plus-updates/

Single's men to watch at Wimbledon 2017 plus updates

Wimbledon 2017 kicked off on Monday under a chilly cloudy sky, and top-seeded Andy Murray faces off against Alexander Bublik on Centre Court. Thus far, Madison Keys won her opening match against Nao Hibino 6-4, 6-2. Nick Kyrgios retired after his first round match against Pierre-Hugues Herbert after trailing 6-3, 6-4. He called his trainer to work on his hip, but shortly after stopped the match. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Cameron Norri 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. The Tennis Integrity Unit has provisionally suspended Australian tennis player Isaac Frost with immediate effect. It says the suspension "will remain in place until the conclusion of Tennis Integrity Unit investigations into alleged breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program." The statement on Sunday added: "During this period Mr. Frost, most recently ranked 1498, is excluded from competing in, or attending, any tournament or event organized or sanctioned by the governing bodies of tennis." It gave no further details. The 28-year-old Frost was previously sanctioned under the sport's anti-corruption program for not co-operating with a TIU investigation. He was suspended from October 2013 to September 2014. [pdf-embedder url="https://movietvtechgeeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/wimbledon-mens-singles-2017-draw-schedule.pdf" title="wimbledon mens singles 2017 draw schedule"] Below are all the stats on the men to watch at Wimbledon 2017. ANDY MURRAY Seeded: 1 Ranked: 1 Age: 30 Country: Britain 2017 Match Record: 21-9 2017 Singles Titles: 1 Career Singles Titles: 45 Major Titles: 3 - Wimbledon ('13, '16), U.S. Open ('12) Last 5 Wimbledons: '16-Won Championship, '15-Lost in Semifinals, '14-QF, '13-W, '12-Runner-Up Aces: After run to French Open semifinals, lost opener at Queen's Club grass-court tuneup, then withdrew from exhibition matches in England, citing a sore left hip. ... Made at least QFs in each of last nine appearances at All England Club. Topspin: Murray's comfort level, and crowd support, at Wimbledon are both so strong that he can't be ruled out as a serious title contender. NOVAK DJOKOVIC Seeded: 2 Ranked: 4 Age: 30 Country: Serbia 2017 Match Record: 28-7 2017 Singles Titles: 2 Career Singles Titles: 68 Major Titles: 12 - French Open ('16), Australian Open ('08, '11, '12, '13, '15, '16), Wimbledon ('11, '14, '15), U.S. Open ('11, '15) Last 5 Wimbledons: '16-3rd, '15-W, '14-W, '13-RU, '12-SF Aces: After losing in French Open quarterfinals, entered grass-court tuneup for first time since 2010 - and won title at Eastbourne on Saturday. ... Since 2016 French Open made him first man since Rod Laver in 1969 with four consecutive major championships, failed to defend any of those titles. Topspin: Djokovic's once-impervious aura has disappeared. Will unusual part-time coaching arrangement with Andre Agassi pay more dividends in London than it did in Paris? Djokovic also has added former player Mario Ancic to his team. ROGER FEDERER Seeded: 3 Ranked: 5 Age: 35 Country: Switzerland 2017 Match Record: 24-2 2017 Singles Titles: 4 Career Singles Titles: 92 Major Titles: 18 - Wimbledon ('03, '04, '05, '06, '07, '09, '12), U.S. Open ('04, '05, '06, '07, '08), Australian Open ('04, '06, '07, '10, '17), French Open ('09) Last 5 Wimbledons: '16-SF, '15-RU, '14-RU, '13-2nd, '12-W Aces: After skipping clay-court season, then losing first match on grass, looked back at his best in winning title at Halle, Germany. ... Seeks record-breaking eighth Wimbledon men's title. Topspin: Simply can't count Federer out, as his Australian Open championship in January proved after missing last half of 2016. Time off does him good, clearly. RAFAEL NADAL Seeded: 4 Ranked: 2 Age: 31 Country: Spain 2017 Match Record: 43-6 2017 Singles Titles: 4 Career Singles Titles: 73 Major Titles: 15 - French Open ('05, '06, '07, '08, '10, '11, '12, '13, '14, '17), Wimbledon ('08, '10), U.S. Open ('10, '13), Australian Open ('09) Last 5 Wimbledons: '16-Did Not Play, '15-2nd, '14-4th, '13-1st, '12-2nd Aces: Enters Wimbledon on a three-week break from competition since winning record 10th French Open title. ... Has won a total of five Wimbledon matches over past five years. ... One of his coaches, Carlos Moya, is taking a break and is not at Wimbledon. Topspin: If his knees hold up, could return to the form that carried him to the final in five consecutive appearances, including two trophies, from 2006-11. "My legs are fine," Nadal said Saturday. "My week of training has been positive." STAN WAWRINKA Seeded: 5 Ranked: 3 Age: 32 Country: Switzerland 2017 Match Record: 26-10 2017 Singles Titles: 1 Career Singles Titles: 16 Major Titles: 3 - French Open ('15), Australian Open ('14), U.S. Open ('16) Last 5 Wimbledons: '16-2nd, '15-QF, '14-QF, 13-1st, '12-1st Aces: A Wimbledon championship would make him the ninth man with a career Grand Slam, although he insisted Saturday: "For me, it's not something I think about."... After run to Roland Garros final, lost opener on grass at Queen's Club. Topspin: Never past quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 12 appearances, needs to stick to an attacking style to try to make a breakthrough. MILOS RAONIC Seeded: 6 Ranked: 7 Age: 26 Country: Canada 2017 Match Record: 22-8 2017 Singles Titles: 0 Career Singles Titles: 8 Major Titles: 0 - Best: RU, Wimbledon ('16) Last 5 Wimbledons: '16-RU, '15-3rd, '14-SF, '13-2nd, '12-2nd Aces: One of four men with 400 aces this season. ... First major semifinal and final appearances came at Wimbledon. Topspin: Big serve carried him to 2016 final and could bring him far again - as long as his body holds up. ALEXANDER ZVEREV Seeded: 10 Ranked: 12 Age: 20 Country: Germany 2017 Match Record: 33-12 2017 Singles Titles: 3 Career Singles Titles: 4 Major Titles: 0 - Best: 3rd, French Open ('16), Australian Open ('17), Wimbledon ('16) Last 5 Wimbledons: '16-3rd, '15-2nd, '14-DNP, '13-DNP, '12-DNP Aces: Recently made top-10 ranking debut. ... Slid out after first-round French Open exit. Topspin: By reaching final at grass tuneup, showed his game translates to the slick surface. Now needs to get to second week of a major.

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

#Andy Murray #Milos Raonic #Novak Djokovic #Rafael Nadal #Roger Federer #Wimbledon

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livevsongame-tv-blog · 7 years ago

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Live Update: The Latest: Woods tees off at Masters for 1st time since ’15

New Post has been published on https://livevsongame-tv.com/golf/live-update-the-latest-woods-tees-off-at-masters-for-1st-time-since-15-2/20726/html

Live Update: The Latest: Woods tees off at Masters for 1st time since ’15

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) The Latest on the first round of the Masters on Thursday (all times local):

11:55 a.m.

Tiger Woods has his first birdie at the Masters in nearly three years.

Article continues below …

Woods almost drove the green at the par-4 No. 3, pitched to about 10 feet and made the putt to set off a huge ”Tiger Roar” at Augusta National.

It was Woods’ first competitive birdie at the famed course since April 12, 2015, at No. 15 in the final round of the Masters. He finished tied for 17th.

Woods gave the stroke back on the next hole when his tee shot found a greenside bunker. He chipped out and missed a 20-footer for par.

Playing partner Marc Leishman was leading the event at 2 under.

—

10:25 a.m.

Tony Finau says he is ”optimistic” after a ”crazy day” at the Masters.

Finau dislocated his left ankle celebrating a hole-in-one during the Par-3 Tournament on Wednesday and then popped it back into place.

X-rays were negative. Finau was scheduled for more tests Thursday before teeing off (12:43 p.m.) in the first round at Augusta National.

”Crazy day,” he posted on his Twitter account. ”Thanks for thoughts of concern, messages and prayers from all. I’m optimistic.”

Finau flew the back of the seventh green on the Par-3 course and spun it back into the hole for an ace. He started running toward the hole to celebrate, then turned and backpedaled before landing awkwardly on his left ankle. He dropped to one knee and ended up pushing the joint back into place.

Finau, ranked No. 34 in the world, stuck around for the final two holes and then gingerly walked to a golf cart and was driven off the course.

—

8:15 a.m.

The 82nd Masters has begun.

Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player officially got the tournament started Thursday morning with the ceremonial tee shot.

Player, 82, took the first swing followed by the 78-year-old Nicklaus under a clear, sunny sky with the temperature in the 40s. It is expected to be in the high 60s by the afternoon.

Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley told the crowd crammed around the first tee how privileged they were to have the duo with nine green jackets to start the tournament.

Wesley Bryan, Austin Cook, Ted Potter Jr. were the first group to tee off when play began.

—

4:45 a.m.

No matter where Ian Poulter turns, there’s someone with an outstretched hand and congratulatory words.

Certainly, no one took a more harrowing path to the Masters.

The 42-year-old Englishman was the last player to qualify for the first major of the year, winning last weekend’s Houston Open in a playoff after sinking a 20-foot birdie on the 72nd hole .

”Nice putt,” someone said as Poulter lingered under the mammoth oak tree in front of the clubhouse at Augusta National.

He responded with a sly wink and a smile that signaled more relief than joy.

”To do it the way I did it, after all the disappointments, all the highs and lows, it’s really nice,” Poulter said on the eve of the Masters.

When the tournament begins Thursday, there will be no shortage of compelling storyline’s.

Tiger Woods is playing for the first time since 2015, healthy again and looking very much ready to contend for a fifth green jacket. Phil Mickelson is coming off a World Golf Championship victory and trying to become the oldest Masters champion at age 47. Rory McIlroy is looking to complete the career Grand Slam. Sergio Garcia is the defending champion. Dustin Johnson is the world’s top-ranked player. Justin Thomas has seven wins since the beginning of 2017. Jordan Spieth already has three major titles, including the 2015 Masters.

—

For more AP golf coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/apf-Golf

(function()IEMobile()); Source by [Anando]

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bountyofbeads · 5 years ago

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❤️ ⚾⚾ON A LIGHTER NOTE ⚾⚾❤️

A baseball miracle or a deal with the devil? Nah, it was just Nationals baseball.

By Thomas Boswell | Published October 31 at 1:19 AM ET | Washington Post | Posted October 31, 2019 |

HOUSTON — Pay attention to the Washington Nationals’ victory parade Saturday. Make sure those who ride in those cars and sit on that stage appear young and hearty.

Because if instead Anthony Rendon, Howie Kendrick, Juan Soto, Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and 20 others appear to be elderly men, we will know they truly sold their souls to pull off this once-in-a-century triumph.

Yes, they did it again. The unbelievable, late-game-dancing, break-their-foes-hearts Nationals did it again.

Washington has a World Series champion for the first time in 95 years after a 6-2 Game 7 win over the utterly stunned, disbelieving 107-win Houston Astros here Wednesday night, and the only explanations seem to be baseball miracles or deals with the devil.

This time, as if to show that the deeds of these Nats truly are once-per-century stuff, the game-transforming blow was a two-run home run sliced off the right field foul pole by Kendrick, the same 36-year-old gentleman whose grand slam extinguished the season of the 106-win Los Angeles Dodgers in the division series two weeks ago.

Two teams whose brilliant thinkers believe players of his age are dinosaurs on the edge of extinction have been pushed into a tar pit by Howie.

For the fifth time in an elimination game in this postseason, the Nats came from behind, thundering into the lead with home runs. No team has ever done such a thing. But then no team has had Adam Eaton, Rendon, Soto and Kendrick — every one of them touched with baseball magic — batting second through fifth in its order. All four were at it again in Game 7. In all, that quartet drove in 24 of the Nats’ 32 runs.

This time, the Astros led 2-0 entering the seventh inning behind Zack Greinke, who had allowed just one single at that point. Repeat: one single. The Nats seemed doomed, almost out of breath and baseball sleight-of-hand.

But the Nationals seemed similarly moribund when they trailed the Milwaukee Brewers 3-1 and the Dodgers 3-1 in the eighth inning of elimination games. And look who’s now standing as champs.

Suddenly, it was time for Rendon to do a reprise of his entire late-inning clutch hitting masterwork, unequaled in postseason history. To that point, he had come to bat seven times in the Nats’ five elimination games in the seventh inning or later. In what is several orders of magnitude beyond normal baseball possibility, Rendon produced in those situations a walk, a double, a home run, a double, a home run, a double and, this time in Game 7, another home run, into the seats in left field.

After more than two hours of silence, the Nats finally made a noise — and a loud one.

Next, Soto walked, and Greinke was removed from the game. Don’t ask why, after just 80 pitches, a former Cy Young Award winner with a 2.98 ERA this season would get the hook. But the Astros think they are smart — very, very smart — and that they have the mathematically perfect player for every situation and matchup. Somewhere amid their numbers and graphs, their conclusion was: Bring in Will Harris to neutralize Kendrick.

After a vicious swing and miss at a first-pitch curveball, Kendrick did what smart hitters do: He cut down on his swing and looked at the opposite field. When he got a perfectly placed fastball on the low-outside corner — an ideal pitcher’s pitch — he slapped it high down the right field line. In a few seconds of mounting disbelief, the Houston crowd felt as if it was seeing ghouls and horrors a day early. Surely, Kendrick’s humble effort would go foul — or even be short of the fence.

But Minute Maid Park is just 326 feet to the right-field foul pole — and with a low wall, too. In Nationals Park, Kendrick’s ball might have reached the middle of the warning track. But here, in devastated Houston, it hit the foul pole six feet above the top of the wall.

Howie Do It had done it again.

So had the Nats.

This game had a hidden fulcrum, an inspiring player who made what happened in the final three innings possible: Scherzer.

Heroes can’t help themselves. They hear the call to battle, and they charge toward the sounds of danger. Sometimes, if that admired hero is a general, no one can tell him whether his ideas about the best plan of action are wise or simply brave. Sometimes only the field of battle gives the true answer. And you can’t know until you get there.

For more than three days, Scherzer has been 6-foot-3-inches and 215 pounds of adrenaline in spikes, pure kinetic energy barely contained in a Washington Nationals uniform. After feeling angry, disappointed and perhaps even mortified Sunday when he could not pitch in Game 5 of the World Series because of back and neck spasms, he made it clear that, with the help of a cortisone shot in his neck that day, he planned to pitch a Game 7, if there was one. It was not a point to be discussed.

On Sunday, when Scherzer couldn’t start, Annette Lerner, wife of team principal owner Ted Lerner, remarked what a tough break it was for the team but that, as in the lyrics from “Damn Yankees,” the 1958 Broadway play, “You’ve got to have heart, miles and miles and miles of heart.” That song is sung by the Washington Senators team to inspire itself to beat the New York Yankees.

But sometimes it is almost as important to have luck — and hard-hit outs, miles and miles and miles of outs.

That’s what Scherzer got in his first five jam-filled innings against an Astros lineup that seemed determined to break the speed limit for exit velocity for balls leaving their bats. Several times, Scherzer was one pitch from putting his team in a 4-0 hole or worse.

Sometimes the baseball gods seem to say, “You’ve done enough. You deserve this. So, here’s a little help.” That’s how it seemed for Scherzer, 35 and running out of time for his first World Series ring.

Merely middling Max completed a gallant and perfectly respectable 102-pitch five-inning two-run outing.

Could this Nationals strategy — just hanging within two runs of the Astros — possibly work? As it had all season as they recovered from a 19-31 start with little margin for error? As it worked in the wild-card game, when the Brewers handed the ball to all-star reliever Josh Hader? As it worked when the Dodgers handed the ball to future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw?

Yes, it could.

In 1914, another team was 12 games under .500 then rallied to get to the World Series. No other team in the 105 years since has come from so far below .500 to reach as many as the Nats 93 wins this year. That team was known then and is still known now by only a nickname since it went on to win the World Series: the Miracle Boston Braves.

But that team survived only one postseason series. These Nationals won four. And escaped five elimination games, in all of which they trailed.

What is the word above “miracle” in sports? Maybe, with the years, an amazing streak, weeks and weeks of defying odds and believing in each other, will just come to be known as “doing a Nationals.”

Presumably, the Nationals have not sold any of their souls this October, but they have certainly broken many wills — in Milwaukee, Los Angeles, St. Louis and now mighty Houston.

And when Eaton provided the coup de grace with a two-run bases-loaded single up the middle for a 6-2 lead in the ninth inning, hearts in Washington, supposedly interior organs unaccustomed to life outside the body, tried to escape their bounds and dance or do the shimmy with Soto or sit next to Kendrick and Eaton as they do a dual car-race home run celebration.

Of course, human hearts can’t do such things. But for many years, for decades and into future generations, when the doings of this team are recalled, hearts will dance and race and scream in joy.

This October has been an out-of-body experience for Washington baseball fans, who seem to levitate over their world, barely believing what they are seeing, game after game, series after series.

But they should, the entire sports world should, because this has been going on since May 24. Since then, including playoffs, the Nats have gone 86-43 — two wins for every loss — and have the best record in baseball.

What they have done this October is dazzling. But it is also in character. The 106-win Dodgers and 107-win Astros may find it hard to believe, even now. But the Nats, at this moment, are their peers.

And, now, their betters, baseball kings with brand new crowns.

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The 12 crazy stats that define the Nationals’ World Series title

By Matt Bonesteel | Published October 31 at 9:14 AM ET | Washington Post | Posted October 31, 2019 |

There’s a lot to take in on this lovely Halloween morning in Washington. The Nationals are World Series champions and that’s a little strange, considering Bryce Harper’s departure and the 19-31 start and the 74-38 finish and “Baby Shark” and Howie Kendrick and the sweep and (deep breath) two wins in Houston and three losses in Washington and Anthony Rendon and Howie Kendrick again.

How crazy was the Nats’ World Series win? Let us count the ways.

[Svrluga: For the Nats, there wasn't much doubt but lots of hope]

1. The Nats’ 19-31 start is the worst of any team to win the World Series. (MLB.com)

2. Only one other team that was 12 games under .500 at any point in the regular season has won the World Series: the 1914 Braves. (MLB.com)

3. The Nats went 8-1 on the road in the postseason, winning their last eight such games. The 1996 Yankees are the only other World Series-winning team to match those numbers. (MLB.com)

4. Only one team has won three winner-take-all games in one postseason: The 2019 Washington Nationals. (ESPN Stats & Info)

5. Stephen Strasburg is the first No. 1 overall pick to win World Series MVP, and only the third first or second pick to win the award (Josh Beckett in 2003 and Reggie Jackson in 1973 and 1977 are the others). (Elias/ESPN Stats & Info)

6. Only two other pitchers besides Strasburg have won five games in a single postseason: The Angels’ Francisco Rodriguez (2002) and the D-backs’ Randy Johnson (2001). Strasburg is the first to do it without a loss. (Elias/ESPN Stats & Info).

7. The Nationals won 12 games this postseason. Strasburg and Max Scherzer started 10 of them. With five each, that’s tied for the most all-time with the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner (2014), the Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter (2011), the Phillies’ Cliff Lee (2009), the Phillies’ Cole Hamels (2008), the Diamondbacks’ Curt Schilling (2001) and the Yankees’ Andy Pettitte (2000). (MLB.com)

8. Anthony Rendon is the first player to hit a home run in three straight elimination games of the same postseason. (MLB.com)

9. In Game 6, Rendon became only the third player since 1920 with at least five RBI with his team facing World Series elimination. The Diamondbacks’ Danny Bautista in 2001 and Cubs Addison Russell in 2016 are the others. (Elias)

10. With his Game 7 home run, Howie Kendrick became only the sixth player in World Series history to hit a go-ahead homer in the seventh inning or later of Game 7. Roger Peckinpaugh (1925 Senators), Hal Smith and Bill Mazeroski (1960 Pirates), Ray Knight (1986 Mets) and Alfonso Soriano (2001 Yankees) are the others. (ESPN Stats & Info)

11. Kendrick also is the only player in MLB history with more than one go-ahead home run in the seventh inning or later in elimination games of the same postseason.

12. With five home runs, Juan Soto set the record for most home runs in one postseason by a player age 21 or younger. Soto also is the youngest player to hit three home runs in a single World Series. (ESPN Stats & Info)

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Nationals win first World Series title, storming back on Astros in Game 7, 6-2

By Dave Sheinin and Sam Fortier | Published October 31 at 1:15 AM ET |

Washington Post | Posted October 31, 2019 |

HOUSTON — Suddenly, it was all over, and the blue-jerseyed visitors were spilling and screaming out of every corner of Minute Maid Park — from their dugout along the third base line, the bullpen in left field, the expanse of outfield, all four corners of the diamond — and converging upon the joyous pile of humanity forming near the center. Once the Washington Nationals had no more giant mountains to climb, they took the small dirt hill of the pitcher’s mound, and they hugged and bounced.

With one more comeback win, at the end of a comeback season for the ages, the Nationals were World Series champions. A 6-2 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 7 on Wednesday night sealed it, delivering the first baseball title for the nation’s capital since Walter Johnson’s Senators won their only one in 1924.

Having existed for the better part of five months as a decided underdog — their chances of winning the World Series on May 24, when they were 19-31, were 1.5 percent — the Nationals had come to live for the daily fight for their lives. And now, the fight was over.

Seventh-inning home runs by Anthony Rendon and Howie Kendrick, the former an MVP-caliber third baseman possibly playing his last game in a Nationals uniform, the latter a 36-year-old veteran in the deepest autumn of his career, turned a slim deficit into a slim lead for the Nationals. A tacked-on run in the eighth and two more in the ninth provided some breathing room.

The final out, delivered by reliever Daniel Hudson, settled into catcher Yan Gomes’s glove at 10:50 p.m. Central time, touching off the mad dash to the center of the diamond. A hushed crowd of 43,326 watched the visitors celebrate as the Astros slouched off the field.

And so ended the longest season in Washington baseball history — one that began on a chilly Thursday in late March, cratered in late May, caught fire in the summer months, tested hearts in September and careened through October like a wobble-wheeled wagon set free at the top of a steep hill. This Nationals season was a wild, screaming, impossibly long ride, one that carried them all the way to the doorstep of November.

Take a step back and consider what these Nationals accomplished: They notched all four of their wins in this series on the road, in the building where the Astros had the majors’ best home record in 2019, and became the first team since the 2016 Chicago Cubs to take the World Series by winning Games 6 and 7 on the road. They outhit an Astros offense that ranked among the most potent in history. They hung losses on the Astros’ twin aces — Gerrit Cole in Game 1, Justin Verlander in Games 2 and 6 — and outlasted yet another Houston ace, Zack Greinke, on Wednesday night.

“To win four games on the road in the World Series,” said first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, the longest-tenured National, “it’s almost fitting for us.”

On a makeshift stage moments after the final out, pitcher Stephen Strasburg, the overpowering victor of Games 2 and 6, was presented with the World Series MVP trophy. The Lerner family, which has owned the team since 2006, stood alongside General Manager Mike Rizzo and Manager Dave Martinez and lifted the Commissioner’s Trophy. Players hugged and waved to their families below. Pitcher Max Scherzer stood off to the side and cried openly.

“I’m speechless,” principal owner Mark Lerner said. “I’ve dreamed of this my entire life.”

There had never been an October like this in the nation’s capital, one so full of baseball and life. The last time a Washington team played in the World Series, the original Senators in 1933, it ended Oct. 7. But in the current, expanded playoff format, with 10 teams and four rounds, this October stretched on for week upon glorious week — an exhilarating ride that took them from Nationals Park on the first night of the month to Minute Maid Park the night before Halloween.

Those two bookend games, the win-or-go-home wild-card game that launched the Nationals’ October and the Game 7 on Wednesday night that ended it, had one thing in common: They were both started by Scherzer.

Three nights earlier, the Nationals’ ace could barely get himself out of bed and couldn’t raise his pitching arm, because of a severe bout of neck spasms that would force the team to scratch him from his Game 5 start at Nationals Park on Sunday. Getting him ready to pitch Wednesday night required a cortisone shot, ample rest and perhaps divine intervention.

Getting him past the Astros’ lineup, the best in baseball this season, would not be as easy.

Scherzer lived in near-constant danger throughout his five innings, allowing only a pair of runs but pitching with traffic on the base paths throughout. One of the great strikeout pitchers of his era, he didn’t record his first in Game 7 until his 17th batter of the night. It was Scherzer’s great fortune that the vast majority of the Astros’ line drives and deep smashes landed in the gloves of his teammates.

That Martinez had failed to get a reliever warmed up as a clearly diminished Scherzer was allowing the Astros’ second run to score in the fifth seemed to be either an egregious mistake or a staggering show of faith in his ace. By the time the fifth ended, the Astros led 2-0 but already had stranded nine base runners.

In other words, after a month of exquisite play and narrow escapes, Game 7 had carried the Nationals to a familiar place. They had spent so much of the past five months playing from behind — from the long slog of digging out of May’s 19-31 hole to the win-or-go-home games of early and mid-October — that it almost brought a perverse sense of comfort. They were at their best, they liked to say, when their backs were to the wall.

Wednesday night marked their fifth elimination game of the month, where a loss would end the season, following one at Nationals Park in the wild-card game, two against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the division series and Tuesday night’s Game 6 win over the Astros. They had trailed in all of them, storming back each time to win. Their reputation as the sport’s ultimate fighters was well earned.

The seventh inning homers by Rendon and Kendrick — the former a no-doubt blast into the stands in left, the latter a bending, twisting, opposite field drive that clanged off the right field foul pole — were merely confirmation. Suddenly, the Nationals’ 2-0 deficit was a 3-2 lead, and they were nine outs from winning the World Series.

By Wednesday night, the Nationals were running on a cocktail of fumes, painkillers, Red Bulls and dwindling supplies of adrenaline. Each player was reduced to his component parts and what each had left in it — how many pitches, how many innings, how many competitive at-bats.

After all the speculation about how the Nationals might piece together the necessary 27 outs for victory, it was as tidy of an affair as they could have dreamed. Scherzer went five, giving way to left-hander Patrick Corbin, their Game 4 starter, now pitching on short rest, who handled the next three innings without incident. And finally, Hudson entered for the ninth and set down the Astros.

“I kept counting down the outs in my head,” shortstop Trea Turner said. “Nine more outs. Eight ...”

Throughout this month, the Nationals left their fans a trove of memory-book moments: Soto’s eighth-inning, three-run single off Milwaukee Brewers relief ace Josh Hader to lift the Nationals to victory in the NL wild-card game, the back-to-back homers from Rendon and Soto off Dodgers icon Clayton Kershaw in the eighth inning to tie Game 5 of the division series and Howie Kendrick’s grand slam two innings later off Joe Kelly to push the Nationals ahead.

The World Series alone featured two excellent starts from Strasburg, the World Series MVP, three homers from Soto and Scherzer’s heroic effort just to get himself to the mound for Game 7.

The Astros may have been baseball’s best team in the regular season — a 107-win juggernaut out of the top-heavy American League, with an offense that ranks among the best in history and a rotation headed by a trio of aces — but they were outplayed across seven games by the Nationals, humble wild-card winners out of the National League.

To the very end, the Nationals played with a joy and camaraderie that is impossible to fake. They were an Internet meme come to life, with their dugout dance parties, “Baby Shark” singalongs, pink sunglasses, Soto Shuffles, champagne-soaked renditions of Latin pop hit “Calma” and their ubiquitous catchphrase: “Stay in the fight.”

The fight lasted as long as it possibly could, through the final date on the baseball calendar. Washington had waited 95 years for another World Series champion. But the wait is over. The next time anyone sees this team, it will be at the championship parade down Constitution Avenue on Saturday.

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Inside the Nationals’ postgame celebration of their first World Series title

By Sam Fortier | Published October 31 at 7:12 AM ET | Washington Post | Posted October 31, 2019 |

HOUSTON — Dave Martinez slowed and looked up, his eyes again filling with tears. There had been a procession of Washington Nationals down these dugout steps, into that clubhouse, and the red wave of fans had screamed and hollered for all of ‘em. Most players offered a wave, or an index finger — No. 1 — but Martinez detoured. The manager stopped and gestured, hushing the crowd. He had something he wanted to say.

“You!” he shouted at the fans, and though the din of Minute Maid Park drowned out the rest, it was enough. His appreciation for a fan base that hadn’t always repaid him in kind shone through. The fans erupted again for the man who’d piloted the Nationals past the juggernaut Houston Astros in Game 7 to capture the franchise’s first World Series title.

The clubhouse, when Martinez reached it seconds later, seemed somewhat subdued compared to the previous four clinching celebrations. They still shouted; they still danced; they still poured alcohol all over each other. But this one felt less frantic. Maybe it was a mission accomplished. Maybe it was the oldest team in the league, the self-proclaimed “Viejos,” finally getting tired. Maybe it was because some of the chief partyers went missing.

Television cameras needed Nationals, so at 11:58 p.m., minutes after the celebration started, a half-dozen players hustled out to the sets. Trea Turner almost carried his Clase Azul tequila onto the field before someone suggested it might not be the best idea. The shortstop kept his goggles and North Carolina State helmet but abandoned the white-and-blue ceramic bottle near the dugout railing. It caught the attention of Houston police officers, who were standing near home plate.

“Is that a bong?” one asked.

“I don’t know,” said another. “Should we go over?”

They debated it for a few seconds until a third voice chimed in, urging them to leave it be.

“They just won the World Series!”

The players, unburdened by season’s end, spoke on TV as candidly as they had all year. Howie Kendrick, usually reserved, dived into the finer points of the hitting-tee routine he credited for his prowess at the plate. Turner revealed the right index finger he broke in early April, the one that sidelined him for six weeks, never fully healed (he tried to make a closed fist, but he couldn’t bend the finger far enough). Stephen Strasburg joked his 6-foot-5 frame didn’t fit into the 2020 Chevy Corvette C8 he won as World Series MVP, so he might give it to 5-foot-8 Adam Eaton instead.

The cameras, after a while, switched off. The broadcasters and the Nationals dropped any pretense and spoke to each other as ballplayers. Pedro Martinez complimented Strasburg on his growth as a pitcher. David Ortiz unwrapped one of his “Big Slugger” cigars and handed it to Kendrick. Frank Thomas shook his hand and pointed to right field.

“I love your game,” he said. “Keep hitting it over there.”

The champagne-soaked players started shivering. Eaton eventually ran back to the clubhouse as, a few feet away, Turner yelped: “I thought this place was indoors! It’s freezing!”

Players filtered back into the clubhouse and it seemed like each existed in his own miniature world. Victor Robles danced wearing a cape fashioned from a Dominican Republic flag. Aaron Barrett rap-battled a verse on “Grillz” with a communications official. Tim Mead, the president of the Baseball Hall of Fame, huddled with Kendrick.

Mead and Kendrick stared at the baseball in Mead’s hands. It was scuffed from Kendrick launching it for a two-run, lead-seizing home run in the seventh inning. It had a yellow bruise from smacking the right-field foul pole.

“Wow,” Kendrick said.

Across the clubhouse, Nolan Ryan sought out Anthony Rendon. The executive adviser to the Astros stole a quiet moment with the fellow native Texan. Ryan put his hands on Rendon’s shoulders and grinned.

“I’m so happy for you!” Ryan said.

“Thank you!” Rendon replied.

Finally, at 12:44 a.m., the clubhouse speakers rolled on the comparatively low-key “Celebration” by Kool & The Gang. Players showered, ripped down whatever remained of the plastic and dressed. One player handed three $100 bills to the Astros’ clubhouse manager responsible for the visiting team. Another Astros employee snapped a photo with Juan Soto. The team bus left the stadium a few minutes after 1 a.m.

The night continued, for most, on the third floor of the nearby Four Seasons. Javy Guerra arrived with the fiancee he will marry in two weeks. Patrick Corbin with his extended family. Gerardo Parra with his daughter Aaliyah, the little girl who unwittingly sparked a movement with her favorite song, “Baby Shark.”

Family, friends, team staff joined. The moment felt theirs as much as the players. It belonged to ownership, to baseball operations, to those behind the scenes who every day nudged the organization forward. It belonged to the players’ loved ones, their support systems through a daily grind for eight months. It belonged to all of them.

The private room behind two security guards radiated. This was the night players had chased since they were children. What happened earlier at the field was a dream come true. What happened at the party was waking up and realizing it’s still real.

The clock marched toward morning. The difference between late and early blurred. The tricky thing about nights you waited your whole life for is that they end too, just like the rest of them. But these nights are different. They flare feelings to help you remember. They spur stories to be later told and retold.

And maybe, because they have that power, they didn’t actually have to end. This one in Houston, the one that seemed as though it might never come, the one that crowned the Nationals World Series champions, felt like that. It could, in a way, live forever.

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