Backed-up.

Blogger has been fucked for the last day or so. So while I have a chance, here are some things I have accumulated over the last couple of hours.

• Being the tennis fan that I am (it's my favorite sport to play, though I haven't stepped onto a court in over a year now *tear*), I enjoy the hell out of the Grand Slams. My #1 dream growing up was to win Wimbledon, as Pete Sampras was and probably will be the greatest athlete ever in my eyes (I've modeled much of my game after him), and I loved the serve and volley action on the grass courts as much as I loved the keen upper crust English-ness. But lately I find my loyalties switching to the red clay of Roland Garros, site of the French Open. I've really come to appreciate the sheer stamina and the tactical fortitude that players must have to win on the much slower surface; there's a reason some have recommended that the French Open have three set matches for the men through the quarters (unheard of in the Slams) to save them from ubiquitous five-hour matches early on, like Rafael Nadal (sooooo awesome) had in the second-round last week. Anyway, here's a look at why the clay is so tough, and why I'd really like to play on it sometime soon and try it out.

• As if I needed any more reason, I'm really gonna miss Lawrence.

• The new UniWatch column on ESPN.com today focuses on one of the best reasons to watch the World Cup: the 'kits', as they're called in Europe. I know I mentioned Portugal as having my fave uniforms, but seeing all of them in one spot, I have to go with the Netherlands (the primary and alternates complement each other so well), followed by Italy (typography rules!) and Mexico (ditto, plus the underprint on the front stripe is great historical touch).