UGA's Isner at Wimbledon, in world's longest tennis match

John Isner, class of 2007, is locked now in the longest tennis match in the sport's history.

He's trying to get past Nicolas Mahut and clear the first round at Wimbledon for the first time in his career.

Update: This is just ridiculous. They've suspended play again. From The New York Times:

On Wednesday, it resumed, but after 118 games in the fifth set, which itself would be the longest match in Wimbledon history, the sun set and play had to be suspended again.

You can watch the tape delay now (4:50 p.m. eastern) on ESPN2. According to the broadcast, Isner has smashed the world record for aces in a match, recording more than 90.

Thursday update: Our man John Isner has won. Damn good dawg.

Henley: "If I never play another round ..."

From The Telegraph:

“If I never play another round of golf, then this is enough,” Henley said after shooting a 2-over-par 73 in the final round. “This was just the most amazing experience.”

He finished tied for 16th.

Magic mouth guards: I'll take 94,000

Somewhere during Monday night's Falcons-Saints game Jon Gruden started talking about these mouth guards the Saints were wearing that align their jaws and result in increased flexibility, jumping ability and general cold-wreckindness (9 second mark).

And it sounds like a bunch of crap. Except that the Saints are awesome. And I mean Awesome. And Gruden and the rest of the Monday Night announcing team said they tested these things, which increased their range of motion.

From Makkar:

The Makkar PPM™ naturally aligns the athlete's jaw, and in doing so, has been shown to enhance explosive power, balance, range of motion, flexibility, endurance and oxygen flow during training and competition, allowing the user to maximize their performance.

The process of properly aligning the jaw position is based on the principles of Neuro-muscular Dentistry, which indicate that a “good” bite is achieved when the muscles of the face, jaw and neck are allowed to be at their most efficient state, which is a restful state. What we have observed, and demonstrate time and again, is an immediate improvement in posture, range of motion, flexibility, balance, and strength. Our users have reported to us increased endurance and faster recovery.

We believe that these results flow from a combination of factors, including a more efficiently functioning neuromusculature, and enhanced oxygen flow through an increased airway. The various and many testimonials by prominent athletes in several sports appear elsewhere on this website. They all relate immediate and substantial improvement in performance.

We have in hand results of a research study performed by a reputable US College with funding from us that compared the results of a traditionally-fitted custom mouthguard with a PPM™. We will be in a position to release the full research report shortly.

Dear Coach Richt: Holy shit, buy all of these now.

Kupets: Seven 10's, 2009 Sportswoman of the Year

Damn right, Courtney Kupets.


Image: UGA sports communications staff (galleries).

The official announcement:

NEW YORK --- Former Georgia gymnast Courtney Kupets received the Sportswoman of the Year Award for individual sport athletes Tuesday at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. She was honored at the Women's Sports Foundation's 30th Annual Salute to Women In Sports Dinner.

As a senior in 2009, Kupets led Georgia to its fifth straight NCAA Championship title, and she won the all-around, bars, beam and floor individual competitions. She became the first gymnast ever to win a national title in all four events and received five First-Team All-America honors, making a total of 15 for her career, the maximum for only competing three years.

Kupets is the all-time NCAA leader with nine individual championships and was named SEC Athlete of the Year, as well as the AAI National, NCAA Southeast Regional and SEC Gymnast of the Year. Kupets became the third Gym Dog ever to record a 10.0 in all four events, and she had seven 10.0s in 2009, including three at the NCAAs.

If only it made you Tebowproof, too

There isn't a single paragraph of this story that isn't awesome:

Russian soccer fans have been told to drink whiskey on their trip to Wales for next month's World Cup qualifier to ward off the H1N1 swine flu virus, the head of the country's supporter association (VOB) said Monday.

"We urge our fans to drink a lot of Welsh whiskey as a form of disinfection," VOB head Alexander Shprygin told Reuters.

"That should cure all symptoms of the disease."

Russia's Health Ministry has issued a public warning against traveling to Britain because of the spread of the H1N1 virus but Shprygin said he expected at least several hundred fans would go to Wales for the September 9 qualifier in Cardiff.

"Health officials say this virus is very dangerous but being a fan myself I can tell you that for a real fan nothing is more important than the well-being of the team," said Shprygin, who also sits on the executive board of the Russian FA.

"Russian fans don't fear anything or anybody so this virus will not stand in our way of supporting our team."

The Russian FA also said health issues should not prevent fans from traveling.

"We don't want our team to be without any support for such an important match so we urge our fans to go to Wales despite the health warning," a spokesman said.

Thanks to Athens Bureau Chief Brian Huff for the link. He notes that whiskey also makes you waterproof.

Dan Patrick leaving ESPN

I just heard Dan Patrick say on his radio show that he's leaving the network Aug. 17. And ESPN has confirmed it to The Detroit Free Press.

Damn shame. The guy's entertaining.