Video of the Day: Serena Williams retirement
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One of the most dominant athletes in my lifetime has announced her retirement. Serena Williams is expected to retire from tennis following this year’s U.S Open Championships so she can focus on her family. Serena Williams has dominated women’s tennis for the last 20 years with strength, agility, intelligence, and the will to win like women tennis player before her. I have said many times in this blog over the last two years, that we have been blessed to watch the four greatest tennis players in history during the last two decades with Williams, Federer, Djokovic, and Nadal.
As stated in the NY Times today. Beyond all the championships — Williams has won 73 singles titles, 23 in doubles, two in mixed doubles and has played on four Olympic teams, winning four gold medals — her impact on how the world perceives female athletes and inspiring the younger Black girls who now lead American women’s tennis may be her greatest legacies.
With a unique mix of power, strength, speed, touch and the tennis intelligence that produced her dominance, Williams made irrelevant the distinction between great male and female tennis players as no woman had done.
Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, the great male tennis players of the 21st century — and the greatest the men’s game has ever produced — spoke of Williams as one of them.
When it comes to dominating athletes, I put Williams in that rarified group of athletes that not only won but dominated their competition. Athletes like Michael Phelps, Edwin Moses, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Bob Gibson (especially 1968), Tom Brady, Jim Brown, Bill Russel, Hussein Bolt, Diana Taurasi, and Secretariat. All these athletes have two things in common, winning and a desire to bury the competition.
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Today Tiger Owner Chris Ilitch did what he needed to do, he fired GM Al Avila. Per Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News. It had to happen, not just because the Tigers were losing too many games and too many players and wasting too much time. GM Al Avila was fired because he lost the trust and patience of fans, media and, most importantly, the owner.
It wasn’t necessarily a bold move by Chris Ilitch Wednesday, or even a particularly tough one, personal relationships aside. The situation grew more toxic by the day, as virtually every one of Avila’s big moves flopped. For those who say Ilitch isn’t as invested or demanding as his dad was, this was the appropriate response.
Ilitch spoke of the change with a forthrightness that actually evoked images of Mike Ilitch. He dismissed a long-time employee during the season with unflinching bluntness. You could argue it took him too long, seven years after Avila replaced Dave Dombrowski — who was fired by Mike Ilitch during the 2015 season — but perhaps, it’s a sign he’s getting it. In his other business endeavors running the Ilitch empire, fans don’t pay money to cheer or boo the spreadsheets. In sports, you’re judged daily and passionately, and Ilitch felt it.
Let the new rebuild start again for another five years.
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We, the consumers, got good news today. The annual inflation rate in July dropped 0.6% from 9.1% in June to 8.5% in July. More importantly, the prices for the month of July did not increase over June’s prices. Economists are optimistic that inflation will continue to come down. How far is anyone’s guess. Wall Street was excited about the inflation news as the DJIA was up 1.6%, the S&P up 2.1% and the NASDAQ up 2.9% for the day.
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When you are a politician, it is important that you chose your words carefully because it is likely they will come back to haunt you. Case in point today with former president Trump when talking about the fifth amendment.
In a rally in Iowa during the 2016 presidential campaign, candidate Donald Trump chastised Hillary Clinton’s staffers for taking the fifth during the Benghazi investigation. At the time Trump said. “The mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”
During today’s hearing with NY Attorney General Letitia James, former president Trump pleaded the fifth for every question he was asked. Following the hearing he released the following statement.
“I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?’” he said while reading from a prepared statement, which overlapped significantly with one he released to the public. “I now know the answer to that question.” He said that he was being targeted by lawyers, prosecutors, and the news media, and that left him with “absolutely no choice” but to do so
The web continues to spin around him from multiple sources.
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Elections Matter. Pray for peace and tolerance. What are you doing to stop the violence and mass killings?
Orchid of the Day: Serena Williams
Onion of the Day: Al Avila, for not getting it done.
Quote of the Day: “When Serena steps away from tennis, she will leave as the sport’s greatest player. After a career that has inspired a new generation of players and fans, she will forever be known as a champion who won on the court and raised the global profile of the sport off it.” Billie Jean King on Serena Williams
Question of the Day: Who is the most dominating athlete of your lifetime?