International Audience!

It has been brought to my attention that my blog Fry That Chicken now has an international audience!
I have page views from France (which I have gotten a good amount of views from), Canada, Germany, Russia, The Netherlands and Ireland. Oh, and I also have a few from the USA.

I love seeing this to keep me motivated and I want to keep expanding this blog!

Fry That Chicken

Del Potro out, Bogomolov loses strange match; US Open Day 5 Recap

Howdy,

Sorry about not posting my recap until now, and having my predictions look like I typed them out from my phone: which I did...

For those of you who don't know I made a surprise trip home to Cleveland this weekend (I decided I'd come back around 10 last night). So when I realized I forgot to make my predictions, I pulled over to a rest stop and typed them out real quick.

Also for those of you who don't know, I was at the urgent care hospital facility in Westminster, MD due to illness (I am recovering), so I only got to watch 2 matches yesterday as well.

So the first match I watched, I was drinking an Arnold Palmer and feeling like I got hit by a bus, as I layed in my bed. This match featured American Wildcard Tim Smyczek and Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr. Bogomolov in the past has let his emotions hold him back from becoming a great player. A big win of his is when he beat Andy Murray in the 2nd round of the Miami tournament in 2011. Since his big year in 2011 and switching his allegiance to Russia (from the USA), he has not done much as a player. This news report and video shows Bogomolov quitting a match this summer after he got frustrated:

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/08/alex-bogomolov-jr-quits-match-tennis_n_3561849.html

Onto the match: I started watching in the 5th set, and Smyczek was up a break at 2-1. Bogomolov then fought back to earn 2 break points, but couldn't convert. So with Smyczek up 3-1, Bogomolov picked up the pace and went up 4-3 in the 5th set. After Smyczek held his serve, Bogomolov was up 30-15 (at 4-4) when out of nowhere he called the trainer and took an injury timeout. It appeared that he was having cramping problems in his quadricep. After he returned to the court though, Smyczek went on to win the next 7 of 8 points (I believe) to win the match 3-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Was Bogomolov really hurting that bad, or was just this another instance of him bailing out of a match?
Smyczek will play Spaniard Marcel Granollers in the 3rd round.

My last match of the day I watched was Juan Martin Del Potro play Lleyton Hewitt.  I actually just got back from hanging out with some of the guys on the tennis team at McDaniel and was ready to go to bed when I saw 2012 NCAA Singles Champion Chase Buchanan tweet LLEYTON! I actually met Chase at a pro tournament in Cleveland this summer, so I tweeted back at him asking if Lleyton won. Chase replied and said they just started the 5th set. I thought, "A 5th set in a night match at the US Open? I'm in." So I went out to the common room in my dorm to watch. As I watched the 5th set, it was incredible seeing Lleyton the way he played. At this point in his career, it was great to see this performance out of him against the 2009 US Open Champion. I also noticed Del Potro for whatever reason sort of bowed out in the 5th set and didn't really look enthused. It looked just the way he played John Isner in the Cincinnati Semifinals a few weeks ago, after John saved a match point and came back to win. Whatever the case, Hewitt was the winner as he won 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 7-6, 6-1. The Aussie will play Russian Evgeny Donosky in the 3rd round.

So with being home for the weekend I am only making a few promises with my blog:
I am delaying my HS Sports moments further, and am still expecting guesses at what they are,
I will have a daily US Open recap with my predictions,
and tonight I will work on my Junior US Open preview.

Thank you for understanding and have a great day,
Fry That Chicken

I went 11-5 Friday and am now 64-31 with my picks

Picks for Saturday

Nadal
Federer
Isner
Robredo
Ferrer
Sock
Raonic
Gasquet

2 Qualifiers onto the 3rd Round, as well as 2 Americans; US Open Day 4 Recap

Due to me not being in the dorm room much today, I only got to cover a few matches.

First off, a final tip of the hat to James Blake as he went out in the doubles today with Jack Sock, officially ending his career. He did American tennis justice for many years and was fun to watch.

Onto my matches, during the day I happened to watch two Frenchman battle each other. Richard Gasquet, the number 8 seed, went up against qualifier Stephane Robert. Gasquet originally went down a break in the first set. But after that Gasquet kept on firing away and caught on fire. He went to break Robert twice in a row, eventually taking the 1st set 6-3. Robert's nice serve kept him in the 2nd set until 5-5. That's when Gasquet broke Robert, after Robert had a disaster game including 3 unforced errors and a double fault. Robert didn't quit though, as he had 2 break points on Gasquet. After not converting, Gasquet won the second set and winning the match 6-3, 7-5, 7-5. He will play 32 seed Dimitry Tursunov (Russia) in the 3rd round.

After getting home from the Fall Out Boy concert, I fortunately got to watch at least another match. In the set I watched, the Gael Monfils (France)-John Isner (USA) match was not a let down. Isner was up 2 sets to 1 as I turned the TV on. The 4th set provided everything that a US Open night match is known for: The energy was great, it was a high level of tennis, and of course everything is cooler under the lights. After Isner was up love-30 on Monfils' serve at 5-6, Monfils won 4 straight points to hold serve to force a 4th set tiebreaker. Isner ending up winning this and the match 7-5, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6. Isner will play German Phillip Kohlschreiber in the 3rd Round. A year ago Kohlscreiber defeated Isner in the 3rd round of the US Open so as Isner said, "I'll get revenge on him."

American Jack Sock is into the 3rd round for the 2nd straight year after beating Maximo Gonzalez, and will play Serbian Janko Tipsarevic.

I went 14-2 Thursday and am now 53-26 with my picks. Here are my picks for Friday:
Djokovic vs. Becker
Hewitt vs. Del Potro
Kudla vs. Berdych
Murray vs. Mayer
Haas vs. Lu
Young vs. Mayer
Granollers vs. Ram
Baghdatis vs. Anderson
Benneateau vs. Chardy
Seppi vs. Devvarman
Bogomolov vs. Smyczek
Wawrinka vs Karlovic
Dolgopolov vs. Youzhny
Nieminen vs. Sousa
Kamke vs. Istomin
Donskoy vs. Gojowczyk

Have a Great Day,
Fry That Chicken

The Waters of Separation

The polar bear is with the herd,

Or whatever you call it (I'm not a nerd), 

when the polar bear ventures out,

 all alone and scattering about,

 when the ice breaks, 

and with that the polar bears heart shakes, 

the ice he is on is floating away, 

and at this point there is nothing the polar bear can say, 

all he can say is good bye, 

as water fills up his left eye,

 the separation evidently is growing, 

and his heard no more is showing, 

the polar bear is now on his own, 

and he hopes to eventually get back to his zone, 

but there is no telling how that will end up, 

so sit back and watch the show and drink up. 

Top 10 High School Sports Moments Update

Howdy ya'll. I am taking a break within the Top 10 Countdown for various reasons. First off, today I honestly did not have time to write one. I was either doing homework, in class, watching the US Open (which I am doing now) or at the Fall Out Boy Concert.

So I was thinking I'd have some fun with this and see my readers opinions on what my final 3 moments are going to consist of. And if you're dead on, which order. So either tweet or comment your thoughts on what my top 3 memories will be.

Memory #3 will be posted on Saturday, Memory #2 will be posted on Sunday, and Memory #1 will be posted on Labor Day between 1 and 2 pm.

I will still have my US Open Recap tomorrow morning as usual, but with school work needing to be taken care of, I need to delay this Top 10 until the weekend.

So start posting your comments or tweeting at me what you think my Top 3 is going to consist of. And here's a hint: 2 of my events are combined into 1 spot. So there's really 4, but 2 are combined, so also guess which 2 they are!

10. Perry vs. Lakeside Football Game (Senior Year)
9. Perry vs. Madison Basketball Game (Sophomore Year)
8. Wrestling
7. Winning the CVC Tennis Tournament for my 4th and Final Time
6. Winning the CVC Team Tournament as a Freshman
5. Burning the Jersey: Beating Geneva in the 2013 Tennis Season
4. 2011 Regional Cross Country Meet

Have a Great Night,
Fry That Chicken

8 Americans in the 2nd Round; US Open Day 3 Recap

Not feeling well last night and with rain delays, I was only able to cover 2 matches. And today might be similar as I am attending the Fall Out Boy concert at the Maryland State Fair.

Anyways, a match I wasn't able to cover between American James Blake and Croatian Ivo Karlovic went the distance, as Karlovic won the 5th set 7-6 (2). This was Blake's last singles match on the ATP World Tour since this is his last US Open. Blake will be teaming up with fellow American Jack Sock tonight in the first round of the Men's Doubles, in hopes Blake will not be officially retired after that match is said and done. Good luck tonight James.

My featured match of yesterday was Indian Somdev Devvarman and Lukas Lacko from Slovakia. Going into the match, my belief was it could go either way. I happen to be a fan of Somdev Devvarman, but his recent struggles at the tour level had me picking Lacko to win this match. Throughout the 5-set battle, both players were playing very steady from the baseline. Throughout the whole match though, Lacko seemed very uncomfortable playing steady tennis (instead of attacking). After being down 2 sets to 1 and a lengthy rain delay, Lacko starting building momentum, as he looked very comfortable taking the 4th set 6-4. But after that, Lacko looked back to being uncomfortable, tightening up when he tried to go for his shots instead of being defensive. After Devvarman got the break he needed in the 5th set, he went onto win the match 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. The qualifier Devvarman will play 20th seed Andreas Seppi from Italy in the 2nd round.

I also briefly watched Tim Smyczek (USA) play James Duckworth (AUS). The young Aussie seemed to be in control after taking the first set 6-3. From there, the match was all Tim Smyczek. Smyczek was playing the steady tennis he needed and Duckworth started spraying errors all over the place. It was obvious the frustration was building, and Duckworth couldn't handle it from there, as wildcard Tim Smyczek went onto win 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1. He will play Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr. in the second round.

Although I didn't see it, a tip of the hat goes to the American wildcard Rajeev Ram for downing the Italian 16 seed Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. He will play Spaniard Marcel Granollers in the second round.

I went 10-8 Wednesday and am now 39-24 with my picks. Here are my picks for Thursday:
Federer vs. Berlocq
Dutra Silva vs. Nadal
Ferrer vs. Bautista Agut
Isner vs. Monfils
Mannarino vs. Querrey
Andujar vs. Raonic
Tomic vs. Evans
Lopez vs. Klahn
Gasquet vs. Robert
Roger-Vasselin vs. Kohlschreiber
Sock vs. Gonzalez
Robredo vs. Devancic
Sela vs. Tipsarevic
Haider-Mauer vs. Kukushkin
Dodig vs. Davydenko
Rufin vs. Tursonov

Have a Great Day,
Fry That Chicken

4. 2011 Regional Cross Country Meet

Our goal was right in front of us. The stars were lining up and we were toeing the line waiting for the gun to go. Our nerves were all over the place. Our thoughts were flying everywhere. This was everything we had been training for. If we did what we had to we would be the second boys team in school history to get to state in cross country. BOOM. The gun went off. Time to go.

Rewind.

In 2011, our cross country team at Perry was trying to do something that only one other team in school history had done. The only other boys cross country team that qualified for the state meet before made history in the fall of 2008. Ironically my brother was on this team. Or maybe it wasn't ironic that 3 years later I was attempting to do with my team what him and his team once did.

The real thoughts of advancing to state derived in the summer of that season after noticing their had been a change to our regional. Our team had noticed that the teams that usually filled a good part of the spots were out of our regional and into a different one. These schools included state powerhouses CVCA, Akron SVSM (Alma Mater of LeBron) and 5-time defending state champion Woodridge. With these schools out of the mix, was it possible this was our year to do what my brother had once done? But now at this point the focus became who was there versus who wasn't. From our district, we would have to worry about the heavy favorites NDCL and then University. Going into the postseason, we hadn't beat NDCL and hadn't lost to University all year. In the Trumbull district, we had to worry about a progressively strong Cortland Lakeview team and Jefferson (led by a 6'6" basketball player). In the Youngstown district all we realistically had to realistically beat was Marlington (who we beat twice in the regular season by convincing amounts each time). Now, this is where things became to get a little cloudy. A regional in cross country is made up of sixteen teams, or four districts. We now had three districts accounted for, but what about the fourth? The fourth would come from the Cambridge District as we soon learned. However, we were informed the Cambridge District itself is two districts (so we wouldn't know until the last minute which teams are in the district that came to our regional). As we would later learn, Dover, Claymont, Carrollton and Sandy Valley would come to our regional.

After the death of our former teammate and friend Dominic Gagliardi (as you may remember from my last Top 10 article) we had to go out and race the district meet. With that sense of motivation, for the first time we beat a state-ranked team in NDCL to win the district championship. In the next state poll, we appeared for the first time that season.

Now heading into the regional meet the teams from Cambridge were favored to win. Led by Dover, the week before their times were flying compared to the other regions who dealt with muddy conditions and slow times.

Onto the Race.

For the 2nd time, I was set to compete in the Boardman Regional. The only difference is this time we had a strong chance to get to state versus the previous year we got 15th out of 16 teams. It was a rainy day after what had been a rainy season, making the course pretty much a mud pit (also we were the 5th race that day, so the prior races didn't help with that). Our goal was right in front of us. The stars were lining up and we were toeing the line waiting for the gun to go. Our nerves were all over the place. Our thoughts were flying everywhere. This was everything we had been training for. If we did what we had to we would be the second boys team in school history to get to state in cross country. BOOM. The gun went off. Time to go.

The field of 16 teams got off to a strong start in the mud. And throughout the race, our team showed our determination to make it to state. Although I personally had a bad race my team picked me up. And just like that the race was over. All we had to do now was wait and see.

It was one of the longest waits of my life until I saw Sarv (our coach) looking at the results. Then he put 3 fingers up, and we had done it! We got 3rd! I yelled that out to my team who wasn't paying attention and we all went crazy. Sarv ran over to us and we let the celebration begin. For the first time my teammates and I qualified for the state meet. In terms of our placing, we only lost to NDCL and University. Jefferson was the 4th team that qualified. The favored Cambridge District couldn't handle the mud and tanked when it counting, so bad that the team favored to win (Dover) came in 14th.

It was a moment that won't ever be forgotten, as all of our hard work and training finally paid off into creating success for our team, our school and our community.

Have a Great Day,
Fry That Chicken

Results to this race:
http://www.baumspage.com/cc/reg/young/2011/b2.htm

Americans Make Some Noise: US Open Day 2 Recap

USA USA USA. Big day for the American men, as 4 men advanced to the second round of the main draw. I did not cover this match, but American qualifier Donald Young made some loud noise as he took out Martin Klizan (SVK) 6-1, 6-0, 6-1. Young will play German Florian Mayer in the second round.

My first match of the day that I covered featured 2013 Kalamazoo Champion Collin Altamirano. I was interested in how his game from the junior level would stack up at this high of a professional level. The story line of the match as the commentator said, "Rome wasn't built in a day." Altamirano did not have his best performance surely but there is improvement to be made. He played too far back compared to him playing on the baseline most of the Kalamazoo. For how defensive he was playing against German Phillip Kohlschreiber, he was making to many errors. This would've been fine if he were playing the aggressive style he played in KZoo but for his passive style that was not working today. There is room for improvement for Altamirano which is a plus, including his obvious frustration throughout the match. Kohlschreiber will play Edouard Roger-Vasselin from France in the second round.

Keeping with an American theme, I briefly watched Jack Sock's match with qualifier Phillip Petzschner from Germany. The German's high red socks didn't get anything going for him as Jack Sock took him out in 3 sets (Although Petzschner retired at 5-2 in the third set). Sock has a very good opening in the draw, playing Argentinian qualifier Maximo Gonzalez in the second round.

Canadian Milos Raonic was next for my viewing, after having a very big summer on the hard courts (including reaching the finals in Montreal). I was not very impressed with his performance as he played as defensive as I've ever seen Raonic played. But as seeded players sometime do, they are just trying to get through the first few rounds versus being concerned with playing well. The 28 aces though helped Raonic cruise to a straight set record over Italian qualifier Thomas Fabbiano. Roanic will play Pablo Andujar in the 2nd round.

Lastly, my disappointment of the day goes to Polish player Jerzy Janowicz as he lost in straight sets to Argentinian qualifier Maximo Gonzalez 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. After being down 6-4, 2-1, Janowicz came out rejuvenated but couldn't convert on three break points. Janowicz seemed to have a back problem as he called the trainer and took an injury time out. After that, the frustration kept building up as he hit 2 balls out of the stadium after missing a first serve. Gonzalez did what he had to do and kept the ball in play, as Janowicz had a meltdown and beat himself. So much for following up on that Wimbledon Semifinal run.

I went 16-10 Tuesday (Not Good) and am now 29-16 with my picks. Here are my picks for Wednesday:
Garcia-Lopez vs. Del Potro
Murray vs. Llodra
Hewitt vs. Baker
Blake vs. Karlovic
Brands vs. Anderson
Stepanek vs. Wawrinka
Smyczek vs. Duckworth
Ram vs. Fognini
Lacko vs. Devvarman
Paire vs. Bogomolov
Baghdatis vs. Soeda
Mahut vs. Youzhny
Sijsling vs. Gojowczyk
Goffin vs. Dolgopolov
Mayer vs. Henescu
Seppi vs. Malisse
Melzer vs. Donosky
Zopp vs. Granollers

Have a good day,
Fry That Chicken

5. Burning the Jersey: Beating Geneva in the 2013 Tennis Season

Personally, the Geneva-Perry tennis rivalry dates back to 7^th grade when I played my first ever tennis tournament for the middle school team. It was a doubles tournament and I paired up with my best friend Dom Gagliardi. In the semifinal match, a rivalry would be born that still lasts to this day. Dom and I played a team from Geneva featuring Jacob Groce and Ford Carlisle. Dom and I ended up winning in a 3^rd set tiebreak and eventually winning the whole tournament. But at that point Dom and I were invited to play with the Geneva guys that summer at their annual tennis camp. Becoming very familiar with the Geneva tennis guild, featuring Coach Dubsky leading the charge, friendships became to be born. The next year in 8^th Grade, we had a dual match against Geneva. Our team won and one particular conversation with Coach Dubsky motivated me to do more than that. I won the Geneva summer tournament that year and as a prize I almost got a Geneva Tennis jersey. And I even told Coach Dubsky if he gave me that, I would burn it. His response was, “Once Perry beats Geneva, I’ll personally give you a jersey to burn.” But I explained how our middle school team beat Geneva in middle school tennis and he said in high school tennis. You see, the tricky part to this argument was that Perry had never beaten Geneva in tennis is school history (for high school). So to do this history would also be made. I made sure to let Coach Dubsky know that it would happen by the time I graduate.

Unfortunately, in 9^th grade Geneva wasn’t on our schedule. Once again in 10^th grade Geneva wasn’t on our schedule again. However this time, our coaches took a proactive approach and at least set up a scrimmage. For this scrimmage I was really nervous as it was my first ever match at 1^st singles. I ended up beating Jake McMahan (who beat me two year prior to that 6-1, 6-0) but that was not enough as our team still lost 4-1. Even though we lost, it wouldn’t have truly counted anyways as a match.

Onto 11^th Grade. For the first time in my high school career Geneva was on our schedule for the season. We were scheduled to play at home but due to rain the match got moved indoors to our home club Pine Lake. Our team lost 5-0, after Dan lost a tough 3 set match at 2^nd singles and I lost a memorable match to my friend (and still my rival) Jacob Groce. Our match started at 3:30 and ended at 7 (3 ½ hours for you math scholars). Jacob won 3-6, 6-4, 7-6. It was great tennis on both of our end but it ended up being his day in the end. So with the 3 other bad losses at the other positions, that 5-0 loss would stick with us for the next year.

Now, story time. In Pine Lake’s first annual preseason tournament, Jacob got the best of me and won 7-5, 6-0 (in the final). In the regular season we were supposed to play Geneva on the road. But once again due to rain the match got moved indoors to Pine Lake. In terms of lineups, our team was going to sacrifice our 3^rd singles spot, in order to focus on getting a win or two at doubles so we could win the team match. However, Geneva had an idea we’d do that so they did that too. Except their “sacrifice” ended up beating ours, putting them up 1-0. As for my match, I was matched up to play (you guessed it) Jacob Groce. I jumped out to a quick lead, closing out the first set winning 6-2 in a reasonable amount of time. Between Jake not being on his game and getting frustrated, I turned the tides from last year winning 6-2, 6-2. So now it was 1-1. However, Geneva once again took the lead after they won at 1^st doubles in convincing fashion. 2-1 Geneva. Dan had a big lead on Brock Ebersole so I was not concerned about him. But to be honest I thought we lost anyways with me thinking our 2^nd doubles lost. However I went to sit down on the benches off the courts and our 2^nd doubles team came off saying they won. T$ and Ryan Best had won their best match of the year when we truly needed it. Was this real? We were about to beat Geneva for the first time in school history. It all came down to Dan. After a few tight points from the both of them, Dan did it. He clinched the win for us to become our first team in school history to beat Geneva. I went out the court and gave him a big hug and we were all so excited. Mr. Walker had me go to Georgio’s to pick up pizzas to celebrate our victory. This win meant so much to everyone on our team, considering last year we lost 5-0. This match also swung the momentum (p in physics) for our team and boosted our confidence. Considering the exclusive coverage that Geneva tennis gets, it was ironic that when we beat them no one from the Star Beacon did a story on it. Interesting.

 

Now back to that jersey. I never asked Coach Dubsky for that jersey to burn. I think just knowing our team beat his team was enough. However, in July I played a mixed doubles tournament at Geneva with long time friend Ann Johnson. We won the tournament, allowing for me to receive another prize. When it came time to pick, I chose the Geneva Tennis jersey. Coach Dubsky saw me take it and said I better take good care of it and represent it well when I wear it. I think he had forgotten about our wager that was made back in 8^th grade. But nonetheless I now have one in my possession. So the real question is should I burn it like I intended? Or keep it to reflect on the rivalry that once was between Perry and Geneva tennis. I do not know the answer now, but only time will tell.   

 

Goodnight,

Fry That Chicken

 

PS Comment and tell me what I should do. I'd love to hear your thoughts. And just a side note, Jacob and I trained together on a regular basis throughout high school, and all summer this year. We are now the best of friends and we actually played on a team together this summer and we got 8th in the Midwest (even without our top 2 guys Shouta and Vince). And ironically last night, I was made aware of a tweet (tweeted by NEO Sports Battles).

So for those of you that need interpretation, you vote by retweeting the tweet to vote for me or you favorite the tweet to vote for Jacob. As you can see I won this round. I had a slight unfair advantage as many Perry people follow this account, unlike Geneva people. But I actually texted Jake after I saw this and we both laughed about it. I guess one last competition didn't hurt anyone.

Blake Retires; Nishikori and Gulbis fall; US Open Day 1 Recap

14 years after turning professional, former number four in the world James Blake announced his retirement. He will retire after playing this years US Open. A big face in American tennis, this is exactly a year after another big American face in Andy Roddick retired. Blake will play Croatian Ivo Karlovic in the first round of the singles. Blake is also playing in the Men's Doubles, teaming with rising American star Jack Sock. However, they drew the short stick and will be playing the number 2 seeded team of Austrian Alexander Peya and Brazilian Bruno Soares.

To the action, 11 seeded Kei Nishikori (Japan) lost to qualifier Daniel Evans (Great Britain) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Watching the match, Nishikori seemed kind of dreary out their and waiting for Evans to lose versus going after it and being aggressive. Evans will play Bernard Tomic in the second round.

Former NCAA Champion Bradley Klahn came ready to play after receiving his wildcard into the main draw. Klahn was paired up with Kenny de Schepper (France), who reached the fourth round of Wimbledon this year. However, de Schepper had not one a match since then (losing 4 straight first round matches). In the 3rd Set tiebreaker, Klahn was in the drivers seat on almost every point. With de Schepper on defense, there was really no chance for him. With a game like de Scheppers, I was very surprised to see him only come in the net once in that tiebreak. Klahn won that tiebreak 7-0, en route to winning the match 6-7, 6-2, 7-6, 7-6. Klahn will play Spaniard Feliciano Lopez (23rd Seed) in the second round.

Another match I covered yesterday briefly was that between Spaniard Albert Ramos and Aussie Bernard Tomic. Both of these players are hit or miss at grand slams so this sparked my interest. In the 4th set tiebreak, with Ramos up 2 sets to 1, it was amazing how tight Ramos got. Ramos even threw in a foot fault on a second serve. Bernard Tomic jumped all over his opponent at that point, swinging the momentum entirely to his favor en route to winning the match 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3.

My last match of the day featured the Australian Open Junior Champion Nick Krygios (Australia) again number 4 seed David Ferrer of Spain. I watched this match in the interest of seeing how Krygios could adjust playing at this level versus the junior level. Krygios played some excellent tennis but at the end of the day Ferrer over powered him and played more consistent (not needing to go for huge shots).

Lastly, Marinko Matosevic was a big disappointment yesterday. After a good summer, Matosevic just looked weary and uninterested losing in 4 sets to Tommy Rebredo 6-3, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2. Former University of Tennessee star Rhyne Williams lost in 5 sets
to Russian Nikolay Davydenko after being up 2 sets to 1, and 4-1 in the fourth set. That's a tough one.

Number 30 seed Ernests Gulbis also bowed out, losing Austrian Andreas Haider-Mauer in 5 sets.

I was 13-6 with my picks from Monday. Here are my picks for Tuesday:
Federer vs. Zelmja
Djokavic vs. Berankis
Raonic vs. Fabbiano
Pella vs. Querrey
Isner vs. Volandri
Lorenzi vs. Berdych
Monfils vs. Unger
Haas vs. Mathieu
Janowicz vs. Gonzalez
Sock vs. Petznschner
Kamke vs. Johnson
Altamirano vs. Kohlschreiber
Giraldo vs. Berlocq (Previously Picked)
Young vs. Klizan
Benneteau vs. Przysiezny
Istomin vs. Almagro (This should've been on a TV Court)
Sousa vs. Dimitrov
Mayer vs. Monaco
Andujar vs. de Bakker
Lu vs. Gimeno-Traver
Montanes vs Roger-Vasselin
Kubot vs. Nieminen
Pospisil vs. Dutra Silva (Previously Picked)
Chardy vs. Stakhovsky
Becker vs. Rosol

Have a good day,
Fry That Chicken

6. Winning the CVC Team Tournament as a Freshman

As said in the last Top 10 story, I won the conference tournament individually all four years for tennis. Unfortunately, the same could not be said in regards to winning the team championship. However I was fortunate to be a part of the winning team during my freshman season. So I’m here to tell you a story so here it is (Did I do a good job with my prologue?):

Coming in as a freshman to the tennis team I specifically remember a cold day driving to Heisley Racquet Club with my coach Mr. Walker and we were talking about how the CVC conference had changed for tennis. In our division now we had 6 teams (Aurora, West Geauga, Harvey, Kirtland and Wickliffe). So Mr. Walker and I were talking discussing the conference and we knew the teams to beat were Aurora and West Geauga. So come season time, we had a dual match against both of those schools. We were to play West Geauga at home and Aurora on the road at Western Reserve Racquet Club. So the first week of the season we played West G and won our match (I believe 5-0) easily. So with West Geauga out of the way all we had to worry about was Aurora. After winning our other 4 conference matches, the regular season title was between us and Aurora. In our conference, the regular season counted for 50% of the total and the tournament counted for 50% as well. So theoretically, you only had to win one or the other to be crowned a conference co-champion at least. On our way to Aurora, we had no idea what to expect out of them. Seeing their box scores of previous matches in the papers, we were not very confident going into the match. We were that unconfident, especially with Brennan Sailors (I love you breezy) at 3rd singles. So to try to "stack" our lineup a little bit, we sacrificed our 3rd singles match and put Brennan at doubles. This was our normal lineup:

1st Singles: Dan Walker 2nd Singles: Myself 3rd Singles: Brennan Sailors
1st Doubles: Vrabec/E Sailors 2nd Doubles: Kifer/B Walker  (Or Emily Hinton)
This was what we changed our lineup to.
1st Singles: Dan Walker 2nd Singles: Myself 3rd Singles: Nick Kifer
1st Doubles: B Walker/B Sailors 2nd Doubles: Vrabec/E Sailors
With this lineup, we hoped either me or Dan won and both of our doubles won.
At the match, Dan unfortunately lost his match to a very good player named Nick Von Roden (who had beaten me before as well). To my surprise, I won my match quite easily after a tight first set. At this time I first thought that I could possibly win the conference tournament invidually and be a CVC Champion. And with our sacrifice at third singles, the score was 2-1 Aurora. Therefore we had to win both doubles matches to win the conference regular season title. After a big win at 2nd doubles by Ryan and Elise, it came down to a third set tiebreak at 1st Doubles. It was a tough one to watch as we ended up losing, costing us a regular season title. However, with seeing how weak the Aurora 3rd Singles player was, we thought we'd have a better chance if Brennan went back to 3rd singles and we went back to our normal lineup for the tournament.
Tournament Day at Perry:
After all of the players from Aurora and Perry making it to the finals of each position, the tournament pretty much came down to a dual match again. Whichever team won at least 3 individual titles would win the tournament. Dan lost his match in the first singles championship against Von Roden, but Brennan picked up the win at third singles to win his first ever individual title (and to even the match out to 1-1). Onto my match: For me, this was my biggest match I had ever played in. Just knowing I was so close to being a conference champion, as well as helping my team out to be the team champions. I got up 3-1 early playing a tough opponent. However, then I saw a gym class from our school come out to support us. If my nerves weren't already all over the place, that certainly did the trick. Tightening up, my opponent got back to 3-3 and I was starting to get frustrated and even more nervous. But that's when it clicked. I wanted to be a CVC Champion and that was the time to go. I then played solid the rest of the match, eventually winning 6-4, 6-2. Only a freshman and winning this tournament meant so much to me and helped motivate me for the rest of my tennis in 9th grade. So with that our team was up 2-1 for the team title. That means, only 1 of our doubles teams had to win and we'd win the whole thing. Ironically, both of those matches went to the third set. All we had to do was win one more set! Our 2nd doubles I believe lost that deciding set pretty easily, tying up the team score to 2-2. It came down to our 1st doubles team who was down in the second set. After looking down and out, Ryan and Elise played their best tennis of the whole season to help us win the CVC Championship! We were all excited especially after every point in that third set being s nerve wracking I could barely watch. Nonetheless we did it! It was just amazing to think that I was a CVC Champion, a feat a lot of Perry athletes worked for and could never get. And especially as a freshman too. I remember seeing how exciting Mr. Walker was for us, especially since that was our first title since 1998 (ironically his son was on that team). I will never forget that day, making that number 6 on my Top 10 High School Sports Memories Countdown.

Goodnight,
Fry That Chicken

The Highland Grind

Beginning with a drive up route 271,
started a day that was destined to be fun.
Seeing the faces of the little kids and even Reid,
then working for ourselves and trying to succeed.
In our down time we always had fun,
living in that third set in that hot highland sun.
I had a blast this summer and don't want it to end,
but we will be reunited and happy right around the river bend.

#LetsGoAces

Big Day on The Hill

Unfortunately or fortunately (I haven't decided yet), today my college classes begin on The Hill. Even though my night class got cancelled for tonight, I still will have a minimal amount of free time with everything else going on around campus. Mondays are my busiest days, so if I can make it through today I'll be fine for every other day. However, I had a few blogs I planned on publishing today so I am hoping I will pull through on those.

Today also begins my US Open coverage so on top of everything else I will be watching and writing about as much of the US Open as I can in between everything else.

Also as I tweeted yesterday, I'd give a shout out to the first 5 people to comment on my blog. As I looked this morning, I had 6 comments so I'll give 6 shout outs instead.

First, Hunter Reid for tweeting my blog to his 1000 followers which is always a big help so thank you for that.
Secondly, Kayleigh O'Brien for being a big fan of my fry that chicken music videos.
Third, Peyton Marce for being a huge Fall Out Boy fan.
Fourth, Rachael Kayfes because she's Rachael Kayfes.
Fifth, to the anonymous wrestler who commented on my blog thanking me for writing about the wrestling team. That was a very fulfilling comment to read.
And last but not least, Myka Gray for being my homecoming date for her dance in 33 days. I'm excited to come home for that and see everyone (surprisingly including you) and also just rubbing it in again that I'm seeing Fall Out Boy before you. Put on your war paint.

Also a 7th shout out goes to Doug in my FYS at McDaniel for saying he liked and had been reading my blog when he saw me at Alumni Hall yesterday (hopefully he reads this one).

Have a great day,
Fry That Chicken

McDaniel Fall Tennis Schedule

So if you Ohioans are bored at all this fall, come over to the east coast and watch me play tennis. Our fall schedule just got released and here it is:

September 14-September 15         Kings Invitational                        Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
October 4                                      @ Goucher College                      Baltimore, Maryland    (3:00pm)

Keep in mind in college tennis the fall season is a mini-season, with most of the matches played in the spring.

7. Winning the CVC Tennis Tournament for my 4th and Final Time

(Finally something about me actually playing a sport). The pressure was certainly on. No

one in school history had ever won the CVC tennis tournament all 4 years of high school. The person who came the closest to achieving this feat was my private coach Rob Walker. The downfall of Rob came in his senior year losing his first ever final at the CVC tournament. So obviously I did not want history to repeat itself in the fashion that it did in 1999. My opponent for the CVC final was Scott Adsit from Aurora. He was a very good player whom I had beaten 6 previous times without ever losing to him before. Would the seventh time be a charm for Scott? Our most previous meeting was a 2 ½ hour slugfest at Western Reserve Racquet Club, coming down from 4-1 in the first set, and 5-4 in both sets to win 7-5, 7-5. Fortunately for myself, in the CVC final I condensed that 2 ½ hours to 45 minutes, beating Scott 6-0, 6-1 in easy fashion. I had done it. I became the first person in school history to win 4 CVC titles in tennis (3 Conference MVPs as well).

Syd Gave Me The Idea to Write A Poem About Hippos

Everybody likes Hippos

I mean, why not?

How could you even hate ‘em,

Seeing them always hits the spot.

I don’t know what else to write,

Because I’m not very smart.

But all I know is those hippos run the night,

Like Havana Brown and Pitbull at the local K-Mart. 

US Open Main Draw Qualifer Preview; Junior Wildcard Up for Grabs

First of all, I would like to add in terms of that 8^th Wildcard up for grabs for the Boy’s Singles, this wildcard may be saved for Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis. Kokkinakis is ranked 896 in the world in Men’s Singles. This would be his fifth junior grand slam (3 previous appearances at the Australian Open, 1 at Wimbledon). With also relying on wildcards for those events, he has made the best out of his ones for the 2013 season. Kokkinakis reached the final of the Australian Open Boy’s Singles (losing to doubles partner Nick Krygios) and with Krygios won the Wimbledon Boy’s Doubles title. It would seem with Kokkinakis recently playing futures events in Canada, he will likely make an appearance for the US Open Boy’s tournament. Another possibility is UVA commit Thai-Son Kwiatkowski who is not entered in the tournament as well, but with an injury that kept him out from the USTA National Championships in Kalamazoo, most likely this wildcard spot is not for Kwiatkowski.

Secondly, here is a list of those players who won their three qualifying matches, earning a place in the main draw for Men’s Singles

1. Mikhail Kukushkin, Kazakhstan

2. Ivo Karlovic, Croatia

3. Florent Serra, France

4. Phillip Petzschner, Germany

5. Rogerio Dutra Silva, Brazil

6. Somdev Devvarman, India

7. Thomas Fabbiano, Italy

8. Donald Young, USA

9. Nick Krygios, Australia

10. Frank Devancic, Canada

11. Peter Gojowczyk, Germany

12. Go Soeda, Japan

13. Daniel Evans, Great Britain

14. Maximo Gonzalez, Argentina

15. Stephane Robert, France

16. Albano Olivetti, France

Here is the list of first round matchups for these qualifiers:

Igor Sijsling (NED) vs. Peter Gojowczyk (GER)

Donald Young (USA) vs. Martin Klizan (SVK)

Lukas Lacko (SVK) vs. Somdev Devvarman (IND)

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) vs. James Blake (USA)

Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) vs. Go Soeda (JPN)

Stephane Robert (FRA) vs. Albano Olivetti (FRA)

Florent Serra (FRA) vs. Feliciano Lopez (ESP)

Thomas Fabbiano (ITA) vs. Milos Raonic (CAN)

Maximo Gonzalez (ARG) vs. Jerzy Janowicz (POL)

Jack Sock (USA) vs. Phillip Petzschner (GER)

Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) vs. Andrej Martin (SVK) (Lucky Loser)

Nick Krygios (AUS) vs. David Ferrer (ESP)

Frank Devancic (CAN) vs. Robin Haase (NED)

Daniel Evans (GBR) vs. Kei Nishikori (JPN)

Rogerio Dutra Silva (BRA) vs. Vasek Pospisil (CAN)

Out of the qualifiers, Ivo Karlovic has the firepower and experience to go the furthest. However, his potential second round match up with 9 seed Stan Wawrinka may stop him (although I think that’d be a good match). American Donald Young has an interesting draw, having Slovak Martin Klizan in the first round. If Young were to get past him, don’t be surprised to see Young in the third round against Andy Murray. As what happens sometimes, two qualifiers got paired up against each other in the first round (Stephane Robert (FRA) vs. Albano Olivetti (FRA)). Even more ironically as seen, these two are both from France.  The most intriguing matchup I see in the first round amongst the qualifiers is the matchup between qualifier Phillip Petzschner from Germany and American Jack Sock. This is Sock’s fourth US Open Main Draw (5^th Total), advancing a round farther each year as he won two matches before losing in the third round last year. On his first direct acceptance into the US Open, it’ll be interesting to see if Sock can make some more noise in Flushing Meadows this year.

8. Wrestling

As a student at Perry, it was very exciting following wrestling team through all of their

glory. It was especially easy for me to follow considering I had very good friends on the team, such as Evan Nichols and Aaran Gessic. Also, the team was lead by a great man and great coach in Coach Rowan. It was evident that he was a leader in all of the wrestling teams success for the four years I was there. This even was displayed by the “Rowan Trained” t-shirts that all the wrestlers proudly wore on occasion. Mr. Rowan was also fortunate enough to have his great staff as well. But great coaches don't get the job done on its own. Hard work from the athletes, as well as buying into the system their coaches display for them makes a great team. Their run this year was very impressive, to say the least. The team qualified for the state duals in convincing fashion in front of a very loud home Pirate crowd. Unfortunately losing in the first round there, they would all rebound for the individual tournament. The wrestling team’s dream of crowning a state champion was still at this point a very live dream with 5 wrestlers qualifying to the state tournament. The first day of the state tournament I was in Mrs. Traina’s room updating her AP Calc class (this was a perk of being a teacher’s aide). Good results were filing in all morning until out of the blue I saw a tweet that was to the dismay to many. My good friend Evan had been defaulted for slamming a kid the ground, disqualifying him for the championship bracket. Everyone was questioning what happened and were in complete shock. But fear not, even though Evan couldn’t win the state title he rebounded back for a third place finish. Also at the Perry-West Geauga sectional basketball game at Lakeside High School (day 2 of the wrestling state tournament), our student section was focused on what was going on in Columbus. We had four wrestlers still alive in the semifinal round. But at that point the bad news kept pouring in as we had three wrestlers lose in the semis. Fortunately, Billy Miller at heavyweight won his match, landing him a spot in the state championship match. Although I did not get to have the opportunity to go down and watch, I was at a party and refreshing twitter every five seconds to see new updates during it. The party I was at actually had a lot of interest devoted to Billy’s match so the whole time everyone was refreshing twitter and cheering at points. With Billy up late in the match, the time updates kept happening on twitter as well. I remember seeing 5 seconds left and at that point I counted to 5 and refreshed the page. Billy Miller had done it. He had become Perry’s first state wrestling champion. This helped the team to a second place finish in the team standings, even with only five guys (compared to schools having a few or a lot more there). Congrats on a great season guys, it was fun to watch and be a part of.

Off to Neverland

With the childish notion that I want to be an adult,
I still just want to go out and play and do a summersault.
But now that adulthood is here,
I miss that childish notion when I had no fear.
No fear of where I'm going to school,
and instead when is the next time I'm going to the pool?
No fear of where I'm going to get a job,
and instead what's for dinner tonight? Corn on the cob?
No fear of when I am going to go on my next date,
and instead we need to hurry to my t-ball game so I won't be late.
The reality is that we are all fighting growing old,
where we all are growing cold. 
We sometimes forget to have fun,
and just enjoy our teenage time in the sun.
But while all of you guys are freaking out,
I am going to take this time to put away any doubt.
I am going to a place called Neverland,
 where I will always be a kid just playing in the sand.
And until it is time to transform from a little pup,
I am going to neverland and am never going to grow up.

Junior US Open Wildcards

For those of you who don't know, I am a follower of the top levels of junior boys tennis (mostly international). So I have a blog, therefore I'm going to be blogging about the upcoming US Open (Juniors and Men's). Recently, the USTA announced wildcards for the main and qualifying draws of the Junior US Open. Here is a list of the names:


Boys main draw:
1. Collin Altamirano
2. JC Aragone
3. Gage Brymer
4. Jared Donaldson
5. Dan Kerznerman
6. Mackenzie McDonald
7. Tommy Paul
8. TBD

Boys qualifying draw:
1. Jake DeVine
2. Taylor Fritz
3. Sameer Kumar
4. Reilly Opelka
5. Henrik Wiersholm
6. Kenta Miyoshi

Collin Altamirano, the champion from Kalamazoo will undergo an interesting task: his first junior grand slam. After coming out of nowhere to capture the USTA National Championships crown, this will be a test of how he stacks up amongst international competition. It'll be interesting to see if he will live up to his title of national champion, or if he ended up just being a one hit wonder in Kalamazoo. Jared Donaldson (Kalamazoo finalist), MacKenzie McDonald, Dan Kerznerman and JC Aragone are more familiar stacking up against international competition. This will be McDonald's first grand slam since the Junior Australian Open and this will be Donaldson and Kerznerman’s first one since last year’s Junior US Open. Unlike those two, this will be Aragone's first go round at a junior grand slam. Tommy Paul and Gage Brymer have had their experiences with international tournaments (mostly all in the USA), but none to this degree. After coming up short as a 1 seed at Kalamazoo, Brymer will have a second chance to prove he’s the best junior American player. The 8^th wildcard is to be determined. I would like to think there is an outside shot of former 16&Under singles national champion Henrik Wiersholm of getting this wildcard (as of now he only has a qualifying wildcard). Also, this spot may have been saved for Ernesto Escobedo if he was to make the trip to New York. If not, it is a mystery who the USTA is saving this for and how long it will be until they release the 8^th wildcard.

9. Perry vs. Madison Boys Basketball Game (Sophomore Year)

The Senior Class of 2011 was a class I truly missed through my last 2 years of high

school. I had some good friends in that class such as the cross country seniors (Jared Champion, Nick Nelson, Josh Shoup and Ryan Beyer), as well as my power ranger Brennan Sailors from tennis. This game was such a great time. A good ol’ fashioned high school rivalry between neighborhood rivals was in store for that night. Throughout the whole game, both student sections were incredible. As a matter of fact, one of the people from our student section almost got kicked out by our AD. Chants such as “Start your tractors” and “Let’s go to Wal-Mart” based on Madison cliché’s created a big atmosphere. Also, our student section participated in Silent Night. This means our section didn’t make a noise until Perry scored 10 points. At that point we went crazy, eventually Perry beating our big rival.    

10. Perry vs. Lakeside Football Game (August 31st, 2012)

Yes, a Perry football game against an Ashtabula county school is usually not a close

blockbuster of a game. This game in particular did not differ from usual results of these types of games. Perry blew away the Dragons in an easy fashion. However, this game gets number 10 on my list for cliché reasons. High school football games are usually very symbolic of the whole high school experience. Unfortunately through my first three years of high school, I was enrolled in the Perry High School Marching Band as a percussionist. Being in the marching band had me dreading Friday nights. As much as I like watching football, it was an awful experience consisting of me hating most of the band members (obviously with my exceptional few friends). Instead of ranting about that, this game steals the number 10 spot because I consider this game to be my first football game of high school. With pleasure, it was everything I expected it to be: a night consisting of a loud student section, bonding with a girl, hanging out with friends, great food and football.

Top 10 High School Sports Memories

As a graduate of the class of 2013 at Perry High School, I have been an avid sports

participant and fan my whole life. Reflecting on all where sports has taken me as an athlete and a

person, through triumph and through celebrating, these are my top 10 high school sports

memories. Each day for the next 10 days I will be releasing a new story in my countdown.

 

 

 

Night

Never shall I forget that night, the first night without my best friend, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that phone call. Never shall I forget my mom’s face completely change, from her cherry self to an absolute breakdown into tears. Never shall I forget those fire sirens I could hear in my head. Never shall I forget all of the late night phone calls to other friends and teachers that kept me up late into the night. Never shall I lose the thoughts of what, how and why? Never shall I forget the memory he left within me and everyone else on this planet. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God himself. Never

In remembrance of the tragedy that occurred in Mayfield today. I promise, everything will get better. It won't be today, it won't be tomorrow. But with time comes acceptance and understanding of everything that has happened.

I had a tad bit of help with this from my boy Elie Wiesel http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/37319-never-shall-i-forget-that-night-the-first-night-in