The tennis challenge was a good time for all last night. The attendance wasn’t quite as high as in the past, and there were some people (the Mayor) who were missing, but it was still a great event. Here are a few highlights. Above, I’ve put Lindsay Davenport serving becasue I think it’s a good picture and becasue the Orioles sign offers some proof of the location. Below, well, there’s JohnMcEnroe playing his role for the crowd.
Though the Terrapins suffered a defeat on the road this week, this coming Saturday will be the first home game and will be a good chance for the team to get back on its feet.
Byrd stadium, though 59 years old, has been growing for the last two decades. The majority of the upper deck that you see in front of you was built in the 90′s and this year it is going to show off the completion of construction on new suites and press areas.
This picture comes from corresponding photographer Bryan, who attended Monday’s season opener at Camden Yards, where the Orioles handed the Yankees a severe beating that every fan really needed. Look at that packed house.
To end this mini-posting series about the tennis challenge, we have a picture of pam shriver and Mayor Shelia Dixon. What’s significant about this is that the mayor was there, not only to make the commemorative first serve of the Orioles tennis challenge, but also to give Pam the key to the city.
Here’s the other side of the match from Friday and the woman who won the tournament, Elena Dementieva.
This past Friday, Baltimore hosted Serena Williams and Elena Dementieva in the annual PNC Bank Tennis Challenge. Every year Pam Shriver organizes this even to raise money for the Baltimore Charitable Foundation. The challenge is always headlined by one or two of the biggest names in tennis, and this year we were fortunate enough to see just about he biggest name there is. Here’s a picture of Serena serving during the warmups. I chose this shot, with the Oriole’s sponsor board as proof that it took place in Maryland.
Since the Olympics have been focusing on swimming and gymnastics for the last few days, I thought I’d look for a good picture to go with them.
This is the sister shot to this one
Good luck to the Ravens in the upcoming season. Tonight’s game doesn’t really mean anything, but it will give us a chance to recall the almost amazing victory that the Ravens almost had the last time they played the Patriots. We can all hope that this season is neither miserable nor tragic.
For many reasons, I think we are all looking forward to a later game when Flacco finnally gets to play. Something about that guy just sounds right.
Corresponding Photographer Bryan offers us this picture or Ernie Tyler, seen at the tenth anniversary of the 2131 game. Ernie is the official ball boy for the Orioles and runs the the Umpire’s Room in the clubhouse. With the exception of the games during and before Cal’s induction, he hasn’t missed a game since the 50′s. The ’60 season was his first as ball boy, though he served as an usher in prior seasons.
He’s certainly tough. In some of the footage that they run now between innings (you know like when they aren’t doing the hat game/crab shuffle) there is a blooper reel where Ernie takes a hit from a player going after a ball and is apparently unfazed.
