NY Times Correctly Predicted That Federer Would Lose To Soderling In 4 Sets

While most tennis fans were stunned by Federer's loss to Soderling in the Quarterfinals of the French Open, the NY Times predicted the loss and that the loss would occur in 4 sets. The loss ends Federer's streak of 23 consecutive Semifinals or better in Grand Slams. The streak is more than twice as long as the second longest streak of 10. Last year, Soderling ended Nadal's undefeated record at the French Open and prevented Nadal from potentially winning his 5th consecutive French Open championship.

Varsity G Club Trip to Pirates Game

The Varsity G Club took its annual trip to a Pittsburgh Pirates game on Thursday, May 20, 2010. Fifty-five people took a coach bus to enjoy the great weather and beautiful ball park. If the game could have ended after the 1st inning, the Pirates would have beat the Brewers 3-0. Unfortunately, the Buccos could not generate any more offense. The final score was Brewers 4 and the Pirates 3. But the group had a great time!

Greenville Tennis Finishes Another Championship Season

The Greenville Boys' Tennis Team finished the 2010 season as Region 1 Co-Champions. This is the second straight season the Trojans have been Region 1 Champions. While the tennis team failed to win its third straight Tri-County Championship, Cody Marshall was the Tri-County Champion at 2nd Singles and the Tri-County Champions at 4th Doubles were Sean McErlane and Jake Hunker.

Best wishes to the seniors (Cody Marshall, Tyler Wasser, Jeff Hunker, Matt Goda, and Jose Olivares), who have finished their careers with Greenville High School. The accomplishments of the seniors are much appreciated.

Kyle King Named to All-PSAC Team

Kyle King, one of the best tennis players in Greenville High School history, has been named to the All-PSAC Team. Kyle is finishing his collegiate career at Mercyhurst College with some well earned honors.

To date, Kyle has posted a 19-5 record in singles play, primarily competing in the third position. He went a perfect 4-0 in PSAC matches, and was also a key contributor at doubles, going 13-5 at No. 2 doubles with Adam Marnik and 13-6 overall. Kyle was named PSAC Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Week March 15. A senior, Kyle has posted a 50-28 career record at singles and has gone 45-34 in doubles competition. Kyle has been captaining the Men's Tennis Team since his freshman year.

Anyone fortunate enough to have spent time with Kyle will tell you that he is not only a terrific tennis player, but he is a special person. I was fortunate to be his teacher and tennis coach. I am proud of the job he has done at Mercyhurst College. I have been lucky enough to have won a couple of doubles titles playing with Kyle.

A Trip To The Dentist

My daughter went to the dentist today and ended up in the jaws of an alligator!

Kyle King and Mercyhurst College Tennis versus Carnegie Mellon University

Mercyhurst College lost a tough match to nationally ranked Carnegie Mellon University. Greenville's own Kyle King won both his singles and doubles matches for the Lakers. Commenting on his win in his singles match, Kyle said "It's one of my better career wins." Check out the video of Kyle and the other players on the Mercyhurst College Men's Tennis Team.

Edmodo - Teaching and Learning Tool

I have been using Edmodo as a teaching and learning tool in my math classrooms the entire school year. Here is a video from ABC News on technology and teaching that talks about Edmodo.

16th Grand Slam Title

Edinboro University of PA to Reinstate Tennis Program

Northwestern Pennsylvania receives more good news for those of us with a passion for the great sport of tennis. Edinboro University of PA has announced that it is reinstating the men's and women's tennis programs for the 2010-2011 season.

This announcement comes just weeks after Thiel College announces that it is also reinstating their men's and women's tennis programs for the 2010-2011 season. I discussed the Thiel College situation in an earlier post.

Since I am enrolled in a graduate program at Edinboro University, I just got a crazy idea. I wonder if I am eligible to join the men's tennis team? Do you think they could use a mature doubles specialist?

Tough Loss

Tough loss. Hand the Cardinals a 17-0 and later on a 21 point lead, only to lose in overtime on a turnover. The season ends in a split second. Unexpectedly.

Everyone knows how much I love Brett Favre. But Aaron Rodgers has proven to be one heck of a quarterback and leader. The loss still hurts. My Packers are out of the playoffs. Now I root for Brett Favre. As always, team (Packers) first, then player (Favre) second. But you really have to love watching Aaron Rodgers nearly as much as Brett Favre.

Happy New Year!

Thiel College To Reinstate Men's and Women's Tennis Programs

After an interruption of several years, Thiel College is reinstating the men's and women's tennis program for the 2010-2011 academic year. The Tomcats will compete in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (NCAA Division III).

This is great news for tennis in Greenville, PA and Mercer County!

In the last couple of years, the tennis courts (6 of them) at Thiel College have been neglected with tattered and torn nets. The College is planning to resurface the courts in the near future.

The Tennis Teams at Greenville High School have benefited tremendously over the years by having the tennis facilities at Thiel College. I have coached many players who grew up playing on these courts. In fact, some of the best players in recent Mercer County history (including the current captain of the Mercyhurst College Men's Tennis Team) obtained an early love for the game of tennis in part due to these tennis courts. Access to tennis courts is crucial for the growth of the sport.

Math Is Not A Spectator Sport!

I often tell my students that "Math is not a spectator sport!"

From Screen Jelly and Blabberize:

http://www.screenjelly.com/watch/_XQ-yXeUGcc

Arthur Benjamin's formula for changing math education | Video on TED.com

Arthur Benjamin argues that the pinnacle of math education should not be calculus, but instead it should be statistics and probability. Check out the interesting video.

Arthur Benjamin's formula for changing math education | Video on TED.com

WolframAlpha - A Computational Knowledge Search Engine

A student at my school let me know about a computational search engine called WolframAlpha. The goals of this search engine are ambitiously laid out as follows:

Wolfram|Alpha's long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything. Our goal is to build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries.
Wolfram|Alpha aims to bring expert-level knowledge and capabilities to the broadest possible range of people—spanning all professions and education levels. Our goal is to accept completely free-form input, and to serve as a knowledge engine that generates powerful results and presents them with maximum clarity.
Wolfram|Alpha is an ambitious, long-term intellectual endeavor that we intend will deliver increasing capabilities over the years and decades to come. With a world-class team and participation from top outside experts in countless fields, our goal is to create something that will stand as a major milestone of 21st century intellectual achievement.

The people at WolframAlpha are associated with Mathematica, a powerful math software package. I performed a search with WolframAlpha to have it compute the derivative of 2 + 6sin^2 (0.3t). It correctly gave me 3.6sin (0.3t)cos (0.3t). It also provided me with graphs of the derivative and other information.

This might be a great tool for math students.

500 Touchdowns and Counting!

Yesterday, Favre recorded his 500th career touchdown in the Vikings win against the Bears. By the end of the game, Favre's career totals in the regular season amounted to 502 touchdowns (488 passing and 14 rushing).

Daddy Playing Tennis

This is a painting by my 4 year old daughter of me playing tennis. The tennis world is warned that she intends to play tennis with me when she gets bigger. She told me that "We will win!"

Tennis Is Growing!

 

The U.S. Tennis Association said in a recent survey that 30.1 million people hit the courts this year. That’s a 12 percent increase from 2008 and up 25 percent from six years ago.

The survey showed participation grew in all age groups under 50 and within all ethnic groups. The biggest increases were among Hispanics, with 32 percent more playing the game. Blacks had a 19 percent increase.
There were 7.1 million newcomers to the sport, a 19.5 percent increase from last year. Regular players, those playing between four and 20 times a year, increased 26 percent this year to 14.8 million.
“Over the past several years, we’ve strived to make the game more accessible, particularly at parks and schools around the country,” said Kurt Kamperman, the USTA’s chief executive of community tennis. “Combine this with the health benefits of tennis, and you get surging interest in the sport.”
Among age groups, the biggest percentage of players are 12-17 years old at 20.5 percent, followed by 18-24 at 18.4 percent, and 6-11 years old at 16.25 percent.
The survey showed the sport is doing better at retaining players, with a 6.3 percent increase from the year before. Former players are returning to the game for the third year in a row, with nearly 7 million coming back this year.
The annual survey of 6,000 Americans was done by Taylor Research Group on behalf of the USTA and the Tennis Industry Association.

Kraynak's Christmas Land and Light Up Night Parade

NFL's Top Rated Passer

 

Don't look now, but the highest quarterback rating in the NFL belongs to a 40 year old named Favre.  Favre has a QB Rating of 107.5 with 17 TDs and only 3 Ints.