The "Basketball" Set

The match that wouldn't end finally did, after three days and 11 hours and 5 minutes on court, with a 70-68 final set victory for American John Isner over Frenchman Nicholas Mahut. In this nonpareil moment, the loser was an equal winner (held serve 65 times with the match on the line), the club honored both players and a first round match between a qualifier and a young American became a classic -- the longest match in history, with the most points, the most aces (individual and collective) and the most winners. The moment leaves us with indelible hints of the human spirit as the largely cynical world beyond seems to learn little from the continuing financial crisis, an unprecedented oil spill in the Gulf, ongoing wars and the mounting human costs of neoliberal economic policy and unfettered corporate hegemony. Wimbeldon and the World Cup give us these sublime moments the world so infrequently offers, from a last second U.S. win, to the two finalists thrust out of the cup in the group stage, to a huge first round comeback from Roger Federer, to the goals that we marvel at from Brazil and Portugal to a match that started on a quiet Court 18 and ended with a media frenzy on that same 750-person court two days later. This is the beauty of sport, to offer respite from a world where just today . . .

- BP is going forward with even more dangerous drilling in Alaska
- Blackwater gets a $100,000 contract from the CIA under its new sobriquet: Xe
- Massey Energy sues the Mine Safety and Health Admin over potential safety regulation
- And yesterday the new British PM announced cuts of $99 billion dollars, mainly to social services including education. One wonders if the whole Western world will soon follow the U.S. in dumbing down anyone unlucky enough to find themselves in public schools.