Howdy, X-Fans!

I just got back today from a truly glorious 3-day weekend at a trailer park in beautiful sunny Appalachia. There’s nothing like a crisp October day when the mountains are ablaze with foliage, the sky is blue and cloudless, and the air is so still that it takes a falling maple leaf a half-an-hour to hit the ground. Honestly, who doesn’t love a three-day weekend cooped up in a dingy tin can with four of your smelliest and most fun compadres? (And when I say “fun”, I clearly mean “drunk”!)

On Sunday morning, while driving to town, a dribbling hobo bolted across the road, just in front of us – so close we could hear the toenails sticking out of the front of his frontless shoes clicking-clicking on the asphalt and see the pink prism of conjunctivitis shining in the clear, crisp air. The hobo ducked under a strand of barbed wire, without missing a stride, showing agility and reflexes that even Roger Federer would envy, combined with energy Rafael Nadal would be hard-put to match.

I want to thank the indefatigable Rick Vach for keeping the home fires burning while I was away. Thanks to that cat-loving singleton, the light is always on at home for the X-Fans and it gives me a great deal of satisfaction to know that someone is here for you to talk about anything and everything unrelated to tennis – not including tuna casserole recipes, relationship issues, thoughts of suicide, or even mass homicide. That’s what tennis websites are for, right?

For that same reason, I’m somewhat dismayed by reports of sniping by some fans over here and the treatment they get from fans of another blog. While it’s true that we’ve been on a bit of a run here, what with ten people consistently posting anywhere between 200 and 500 random, inconsequential thoughts; I think the balance in the long term has been fair. Hell, my ghostwriter even gave props to singleton while I was at the bar!

Unless something shocking happens in pro tennis this week, we’ll be doing an “open thread” on Friday. That means I’ll post something called “an open thread”, with a one-line subject and we can all talk about it. Basically, an open thread is what us bloggers use when we’re too bored, flustered, or hopped up on goofballs to think of anything to write. Open threads give frequent commenters the chance to talk about whatever they want, about the game or not. (See, you just learned something about blogging… Good for you!) Usually they go unannounced, but I prefer to announce ahead of time that I have nothing to say.

Here’s an example: Were you laid off? Was your job shipped overseas? Well, we could have a little fun and go with something like “Advice to Would-Be Dumpster Divers”, in which you can seek advice on the job market, or whether or not you should hold up the liquor store you’ve been casing for a while now. Post a comment if you think that would be fun! Comments are fun!

Anyway, singleton tells me that he will be posting something else non-tennis related with thinly veiled references to professional tennis players shortly… so stay tuned!

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