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Connors-McEnroe 1980 U.S. Open semifinal running thread

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by poindexter, Jul 22, 2009.

  1. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    on ESPN Classic tonight. For once, this POS network breaks out of the bowling/boxing/billiards/rodeo mode to re-broadcast something good.

    6:00 pm PDT

    I am thinking Summerall, John Newcombe, and Tony Trabert doing the match? I am fired up. Connors was in the middle of his four-year Grand Slam final slump - Mac had just taken Borg to the limit that summer at Wimbledon.
     
  2. Small Town Guy

    Small Town Guy Well-Known Member

    Holy crap, this is incredible. ESPN Classic sort of living up to its potential. As long as it's done by 11, cause I don't want my AWA Wrestling interrupted.
     
  3. sportschick

    sportschick Active Member

    I'm jealous you get to watch it, Poin. Stupid work. This is an all-time classic match.
     
  4. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    I will DVR it and you can come over after work.

    Oh yeah, Mac was the defending Open champ. Wilson T2000 vs. Dunlop Maxply (I'm going from memory).

    Connors was getting b-slapped so bad by Mac and Borg at this time - I never thought he'd win another grand slam, let alone three (I just started following tennis at this time, and never had seen/remembered Connors winning a Slam).
     
  5. Small Town Guy

    Small Town Guy Well-Known Member

    Here's Curry Kirkpatrick's story about the tourney.

    http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1123777/index.htm

    Why doesn't ESPN Classic sometime show the Super Saturday from 1984, Lendl vs. Cash, Martina and Evert, and Mcenroe and Connors, all going the distance? Instead we'll get plenty of Russo Car Auction.
     
  6. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    Wow.

    Sometimes the old days just plain were better.
     
  7. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    And then there's a 1974 Evert-Billie Jean King match that Tennis Channel showed a couple of weeks ago.

    Fugly tennis. About 1 winner for every 10 unforced errors. And I don't mean high-risk, go-for-the-line errors. I mean the kind of shots that announcers today would describe as loose shots (poor footwork, lazy racket preparation, etc.).
     
  8. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    I've seen some of those 1970's women's matches from Forest Hills. BRUTAL
     
  9. Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.

    Corky Ramirez up on 94th St. Well-Known Member

    Come on, there's NOTHING wrong with this.

     
  10. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    Tennis Channel is showing a US Open match every Monday from now through the end of August. So it surprises me that this one ends up on ESPN Classic.

    But, like Poindexter, I'm partial to the old-timers.
     
  11. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    That was awesome. The flashing "SPORTS" and "BOWLING" which wouldn't be out of place at a rave, plus HBO featuring "Home Box Office" in its graphic. Stockton and that other yokel aren't quite Schenkel and Burton, but they were OK. Fascinating to see a young Marshall Holman.
     
  12. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    Was the quality of the TV picture that shitty back then, or is it just degradation of the film over the years?
     
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