Mr. Decker vs. Cptn. Fist Pump Live In Japanese

After doing a little searching, I found a website that streams live sports from all over the world and watched the fantastic Roddick-Murray match live (on some Japanese site), listening to the British internet-radio call on ESPN.com, but I was shocked this morning to find out that the Wimbledon men's semifinals did not air live in the U.S. Even with an American playing, and the match only starting around 7:45 a.m. Pacific time, they still tape delayed it on NBC till noon. Thank God for the internet.

I won't spoil the match yet in case someone reads this before the match airs (as though anyone is reading it anyway), but Captain Fist Pump lived up to his nickname. The two big trends in tennis over the last few years have been these awkward, tight-to-the-chest fist pumps that seemingly every woman and Andy Murray do on every single point won, and of course the Seles-screams on almost every woman's shot.

If Andy Roddick can serve the ball at 140 miles per hour without screeching, I think Maria Sharapova can figure out a way to hit a volley without it as well. This screeching brings up the obvious question: what is the most annoying sound in sports - tennis screeches or the steady two-hour droning, swarm-of-bees sound at soccer games? Or a Yankees fan?

I was certainly biased towards Roddick in this match because he is American and given that 233 years ago they were starting to sign the Declaration of Independence, in my eyes Murray may as well have been wearing a red jacket and standing at the baseline with a musket, but it seems to me that Roddick winning is just good for the world because if he's playing then there will be more shots of Brooklyn Decker in the stands on Sunday. And any shots of Brooklyn Decker are just good for humanity.

I was impressed with the improvement in Elena Dementieva's serve in this Wimbledon, but I think her improvement there may pale in comparison to the overall improvement of Roddick's game. Previously Dementieva's second serve was perhaps the most glaring hole in a crucial element of any game by any truly elite athlete in the world. And Roddick was basically just an ace-or-nothing type player. But both of them have completely transformed their weaknesses and become much better overall players.