Tennis legend and Carlsbadistan resident Rod Laver will be traveling to Australia this week to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his second grand slam tennis win, according to a story in The Canadian Press.
Hard to believe, but it’s been four decades since the slightly built, red-haired Australian known as “Rocket” won the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in the same year. . . . The four men he beat with his powerful left arm in his 1969 Grand Slam, Spaniard Andres Gimeno and fellow Aussies Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe and Tony Roche, are scheduled to join Laver at a legends lunch.
The 2009 Carlsbad Marathon & Half kicks off on Friday January 23, 2009 with the Health & Fitness Expo in the parking lot at the Westfield Plaza Camino Real. Saturday will feature the Keebler Kids Marathon Mile at Legoland, and then Sunday January 25, 2009 runner’s feet hit the pavement of Carlsbadistan.
Online fee collection website Count Me In is out of money and that included $70,000 of dues paid by parents of Carlsbad Youth Baseball players that never made it to the league, according to a story in the LA Times.
Tom Watson, president of Carlsbad Youth Baseball in San Diego, said more than 90% of parents paid for their children’s fees with credit cards through Count Me In and the group was missing $70,000. . . . “It’s going to be a challenge for us to operate our programs,” he said. “The kids and their parents are going to suffer.”
Count Me In founder Terry Drayton says he was “he was in discussions with three possible investors to raise funds to pay back their money”
How did we get here? We made some errors with the lack of financial oversight,” Drayton said in a telephone interview. “At the end of the day this is my responsibility. I’m the CEO and my job is to fix it.”
Oddly, there is no mention of the problems on Count Me In’s website. Which you’d think would be step one in “fixing” things. So far no criminal charges have been filed. Maybe they should be.
We are knocking on the door,” Pfankuch said. “But we have to conquer the Baja 1000 before we can take a breath and enjoy what we’ve done this season in SCORE,” said Pfankuch, who earlier this year won his class in the Baja 500 over parts of the Baja 1000 course.
Carlsbadistan golfer Aaron Goldberg, 22, has been “playing the right game,” according to a story in the Press-Enterprise.
In September, he won the Golden State Tour event played on La Quinta’s PGA Tour West Norman Course. A week later, he played himself into the top five at PGA Tour pre-qualifying on the same course — only to be disqualified after he signed and walked away from an incorrect scorecard.
The scorecard was an accident and he’s the one who reported the problem. Now he is tied for the lead in the California State Open.
While the ride usually just rolls through Carlsbadistan, this year a 30 mile ride has been added that starts and finishes in Carlsbad at the Westfield Plaza Camino Real.
Remember to give the riders a little extra room this weekend. They’re riding for a good cause.
Carlsbadistan’s best hope for the Ironman World Championship Kailua-Kona, Hawaii on October 11, 2008 has withdrawn from the competition after “suffering a slight tear in her right calf” on Sunday, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Jones, winner of the 2006 Ironman Hawaii, suffered the injury while running the half marathon at the Ironman 70.3 Cancun (Mexico). Jones had recorded the race’s fastest 56-mile bike split. . . . “One of the things that I learned from my disastrous defense of my Ironman World Championship title last year in Kona is that the Hawaiian Ironman is not a place to be unless you are 100 percent,” Jones said in a statement. “I am really looking forward to coming back to Kona in 2009 with a vengeance. I am extremely disappointed.”
We’re bummed for Michellie and for triathlon fans everywhere.
For the first time in 13 year the American’s have won the girls’ junior U.S. Open Championships. And that’s all thanks to Carlsbadistan’s Coco Vandeweghe winning over Venezuela’s Gabriela Paz 7-6 (3), 6-1, according to the New York Times.
After a competitive first set, Vandeweghe took control almost immediately in the second, breaking Paz in her first service game to take a 2-0 lead. After holding serve, Paz then double-faulted to give Vandeweghe a second break and a 4-1 lead. Vandeweghe was never in danger from there and went on to break Paz a third time to win the match on a sizzling forehand winner down the line.
She’s the first to ever win it as a wildcard entrant and the word is Coco is just beginning to hit her tennis stride. Congrats, Coco.
Carlsbadistan’sKeith Elwin, 37, is somewhat of a pinball wizard. How else could he explain to World Championship titles. According to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Elwin just took first place at the Professional and Amateur Pinball Association in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The tournament, which draws about 500 players and spectators, is considered the Holy Grail of pinball competition. . . . “Sometimes I do get nervous and don’t know why,” Elwin said of competing. “I’ll kind of stay away from the tournament area, watch the other end of the building or go outside for a quick run. . . . “At this tournament, I wasn’t nervous.”
It might help that Elwin’s day job is that of a pinball machine repairman at Area Amusements in San Marcos. Looks like mixing business and pleasure is working for the new World Champ. Congrats.
It is to lead off the Arthur Ashe Stadium portion of the tournament’s evening session at 4 p.m. PDT, and thus should be part of USA Network’s television coverage, which begins at 4.
Guess that’s a solid maybe on catching Vendeweghe on the TV.
[Editors’ Note Updated 8:22 PM: Coco lost 6-3, 6-1. Looks like Jankovic “eases past Vandeweghe“]
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