Against synchronized swimming

In this article, Chris Spicer defends synchronized swimming as a difficult discipline that requires great talent and athleticism and is unfairly lambasted for bad reasons. The only such reason he (she?) considers is that maybe people hate it because it "looks easy."

I don't hate it because "it looks easy." I hate it because it is sexist and looks dumb.

I totally agree that the routines are crazy hard and deserve respect for the athletic prowess they require. That's the whole point. The talent and athleticism are all but drowned by the supposedly artistic presentation, and THAT is what turns people off and makes them ridicule the sport.

The forced smiles, the nose clamps, the unnecessarily revealing high-cut swimsuits, the circus head gear, the whorish makeup...

All these artificial superstructures turn amazing gymnasts into meat on display, which of course wouldn't happen if they were male.

Wimbledon quarterfinals!

Amazing round of 16 today! Few real surprises, but they were shocking. First of all, here's the men's and women's tables in the quarterfinals:

Lisicki-Kanepi
Radwanska-Li
Stephens-Bartoli
Kvitova-Flipkens

Surprised to see Lisicki here instead of Serena? I sure am! I thought it would be little more than a walkover, and for a while there it was, but then Sabine dug deep and pulled through (more on that later). I had also expected the Li-Vinci match in the R16 to be far more contested than it was, so hopefully the Radwanska-Li match here will be a lot better: on paper, that and Stephens-Bartoli are the ones to really look forward to. I am a big fan of Marion, but if Sloane goes through it will be quite amazing: three consecutive quarterfinals in her first three Major tournaments, all this year. Not bad at all.

Djokovic-Berdych
Ferrer-Del Potro
Kubot-Janowicz
Verdasco-Murray

This is where Federer-Nadal "should" have been. In its place, instead, is the first-ever all-Pole match in any official tournament. The top half is also crowded, with the repeat of the 2010 semi where Berdych destroyed Djokovic and what I believe to be one of the most entertaining meetings in modern tennis: Ferrer-Del Potro. While I still predict a Murray-Djokovic final, this is going to get quite interesting!