Oh, Stanford
The actual point of this post was to lament the fact that Stanford men’s tennis won while Stanford men’s volleyball lost. I really wish those results were reversed. With the loss, Stanford’s at-large chance at the NCAA Championships decreases. I might not get to see Erik Shoji 😦
Anyway, I might as well make an actual post out of this, so here goes. I played hooky today and went to the following tennis match between UW and Stanford. It was a great, albeit cold, day to be outside playing tennis. The bonus of outside matches is having tons of space to chill out in (as a spectator). The downside = the fences.
(#1 doubles match. For Washington – Kyle McMorrow (L) and Jeevan Neduchezhiyan (R). For Stanford – Bradley Klahn (L) and Ryan Thacher (R). Klahn/Thacher won 8-4. Quick tip – Klahn is the shorter Stanford player.)
It was a fun to watch more live, top-quality men’s college tennis once again. I was well equipped with a fully-charged camera and took 40 photos that weren’t all fuzzy! I would think the players are used to people taking photos of them and I was at least separated by a fence. It was kind of awkward when I went to the courts further down and I was pretty much only 10 feet or so from the fence because I couldn’t comfortably stand anywhere else. I felt too close at that point.
After the second sets were underway in the singles, I began my wanderings down towards the lower numbered courts where only a few park benches were located. As I walked along, there was this other guy who seemed to be following me. When I settled at a bench eventually to watch the end of the #4 singles (the match that Stanford won and clinched the win), he was sitting on the bench next to mine. Maybe he thought I had good taste in matches? He didn’t follow me to the standing-room only area of court #6 where I went afterwards, but soon the Stanford team gathered nearby. I felt awkward but I was also trying to overhear their gossip and not self-impose. You don’t eavesdrop well if they know you are there, after all 🙂 Way to sound creeper, self. But really, it’s like catching random gossip at a restaurant or something. I didn’t pester them because I couldn’t pester someone who wasn’t a professional athlete who is expected to give back to fans, even though I could have gotten some really clear, non-fence photos of the Stanford team right then. But if I really wanted nice photos, I could just go to their official website. It’s not like I actually have camera skills.
Anyway, gossip. It wasn’t like the boys were really saying things that people who are fans of college tennis didn’t know. Kyle McMorrow, a UW player who grew up in California, was talking to his buddy/friend/former and current rival? Denis Lin about previous matchups with UCLA and about Oregon with interspersed cheers for their respective teammates. I didn’t hear the other stuff too well. Besides, there was just a lot of texting going on, like most people do. Bradley Klahn gets props for showing extra competitiveness or leadership or whatever it is by trying to encourage his teammate still playing on court 6.
I thought about wishing the Stanford players before I left (had an eye exam to make) luck against Oregon, but I wouldn’t have really meant it. I would have meant it if I told them “great job today”, but alas I didn’t talk to them at all. I hope they don’t actually remember me as the creeper who stood by them as the matches finished up. I believe in my relative power of anonymity and invisibility, but I suppose you never know…
Tomorrow is another great home tennis match – UW vs. Cal-Berkeley. I might post about it, I might not.
Also related but not really to this post – Henrique Cunha lost in singles today at Georgia Tech. I stop crushing on him and he loses, haha. What a weird coincidence.
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