What do you like and dislike about OTF?

I always enjoy reports from posters who have seen players/matches live.  I never have.  I'm far away from the action, and my one shot has been Rogers Cup but it is always in conflict with a national conference.  Also, for some time now it has been a tournament that Roger is likely to ditch.  Starting next July we have a year of leave and I'm hoping to insert some tennis between Galapagos, Botswana and a return to Borneo so I'd appreciate suggestions and advice!  Clearly S America and southern Africa won't be handy to anything but perhaps we could time something in south Asia.  Or even AO 2015!

Great stuff BN, go for it!
Here is my blog from this year of my day at wimbledon.
Hope ya like it!
http://richard-mills-sports.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/my-day-out-at-sw19_28.html

BN,
stuff Botswana and Galapagos and come to watch some tennis in good old Europe.
I have even managed to get to RG this year and it was a great adventure, all of it, right down to sitting under an umbrella and heavy rain for 4 hours in Chatrier.
And I wasn't bored for a minute!
Planning to go to Monte Carlo next year.
But the place to die for as a tennis fan is Wimbledon. Oh, I love it madly!!!

If you look through our tournament threads you'll see quite a few reports from us visiting places we have had matches seen live in Czech Republic, Belgrade, RG, Wimbledon, Rotterdam...it would be great to hear from Toronto/Montreal.
Long live TENNIS NATION

Galapagos is the holy grail for a biologist, can't give up my best chance to visit.  And I missed the elephants in Malaysia last time so I am determined to have my African experience.  I would above all love to visit Wimbledon, but it sounds so difficult and daunting to get tickets.

bluenose wrote:Galapagos is the holy grail for a biologist, can't give up my best chance to visit.  And I missed the elephants in Malaysia last time so I am determined to have my African experience.  I would above all love to visit Wimbledon, but it sounds so difficult and daunting to get tickets.

No, it's dead easy to get the tickets.
IT'S JUST THAT THAY ARE SO DARN EXPENSIVE!!!!!!!

Well expense be damned!  It's MY YEAR!!!  How do I do it?

bluenose wrote:Well expense be damned!  It's MY YEAR!!!  How do I do it?

http://www.keithprowse.co.uk/tennis_the-gatsby-club.aspx

In reality,  these figures are not this expensive, just projected, they are half price in June, lovely food champers, Pimms etc on tap  
You can also do a budget version if you've got the time to camp, LS is OTF's camping Wimbledon expert as well as part-time schmoozing instructor!

You know it nitb!  

bluenose wrote:Galapagos is the holy grail for a biologist, can't give up my best chance to visit.  And I missed the elephants in Malaysia last time so I am determined to have my African experience.  I would above all love to visit Wimbledon, but it sounds so difficult and daunting to get tickets.

Oh, don't you worry, you'll be able to see all kinds of animals in Wimbledon!

luvsports! wrote:You know it nitb!  

Well, I hats off to you big time for sharing how to be able to schmooze, did it in CC and watched Nole-Haas, it was a phenomenal experience!

hehe! Are you a hsbc customer? That got me my first ever strawberries and cream!

I am.
And it was my first  (and last), too!
I even got two free sandwiches by the staff at about 8 PM while I was watching Mannarino-Brown killing my knees on some metal bar on court 15 trying to get a better view on court 14 which was full.

noleisthebest wrote:You sound a bit bitter LF, not sure why you kicked us out not the other way round.

I am not bitter, but you do show yours when you say you were kicked out.

paulcz wrote:We are not afraid of a critism but vice versa. We want to speak as open as possible. I personnaly appreciate any open critical comments if they are honest.

Baseless accusations of substance abuse is not openness. Unsubstantiated accusations without any proof are not mark of openness, but a mark of the paranoid, the schism of fear and pure escapism.

And this is an open critical comment.

One year I think OTF should arrange to meet at wimbledon one time!

Has anyone here read the short story Harrison Bergeron in Kurt Vonnegut's collection "Welcome to the Monkey House"?  You should.

luvsports! wrote:One year I think OTF should arrange to meet at wimbledon one time!

One year I think OTF and V2 should arrange to meet at wimbledon one time!

bluenose wrote:I always enjoy reports from posters who have seen players/matches live.  I never have.  I'm far away from the action, and my one shot has been Rogers Cup but it is always in conflict with a national conference.  Also, for some time now it has been a tournament that Roger is likely to ditch.  Starting next July we have a year of leave and I'm hoping to insert some tennis between Galapagos, Botswana and a return to Borneo so I'd appreciate suggestions and advice!  Clearly S America and southern Africa won't be handy to anything but perhaps we could time something in south Asia.  Or even AO 2015!

Bluenose - Here we have watched quiet a few matches live with Federer at Wimbledon and WTF. If you stop in London it should not be too difficult to get ground tickets at least. They are the best as you can watch the best players (almost) from touching distance.

luvsports! wrote:One year I think OTF should arrange to meet at wimbledon one time!

Always up for it. You know I can pop there any time during the fortnight usually.

bluenose wrote:Has anyone here read the short story Harrison Bergeron in Kurt Vonnegut's collection "Welcome to the Monkey House"?  You should.

Are you close to Toronto? What's your take on the Mayor there? We heard about Rob Ford story here. Funny guy it seems!

Tenez wrote:

luvsports! wrote:One year I think OTF should arrange to meet at wimbledon one time!

Always up for it. You know I can pop there any time during the fortnight usually.

In fact, Tenez and I looked for you last summer when you worked there, just was difficult to find you among 10000 other unfamiliar faces....

noleisthebest wrote:

bluenose wrote:Galapagos is the holy grail for a biologist, can't give up my best chance to visit.  And I missed the elephants in Malaysia last time so I am determined to have my African experience.  I would above all love to visit Wimbledon, but it sounds so difficult and daunting to get tickets.

Oh, don't you worry, you'll be able to see all kinds of animals in Wimbledon!

Including this species:

NITB, you're banned.
Oh sh!t, wrong forum  

Anyway, that photo of me is at least 10 years out of date. I have much less hair now.

I'm on the Fundy shore of Nova Scotia - we're called Bluenosers because of the schooner.  We are not near anywhere, being a distant peninsula.  I grew up in the northern territories where we were really not near anything - no roads, food (dried and canned) twice a year on barges up river after break-up and before freeze-up and otherwise berries and game - so being distant is the story of my life.

This is what we call Lower Canada, and we are having great amusement over Toronto's humiliation.  Toronto has been obsessed with becoming a "world-class" city and now look at them!  We had a a huge laugh with their last mayor who called in the army when they had a snowstorm.

Good to hear. I must say I find it difficult to understand how someone like that could find enough vote to become a mayor. Having said that it happens everywhere and that includes our Presidents and PMs.

I used to fly over you land 4 times a year for 15 years on my way to the US. It looked like a beautiful region from high above. Completely frozen most of the time.

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:

luvsports! wrote:One year I think OTF should arrange to meet at wimbledon one time!

Always up for it. You know I can pop there any time during the fortnight usually.

In fact, Tenez and I looked for you last summer when you worked there, just was difficult to find you among 10000 other unfamiliar faces....

Ahh, I didn't work there last year, it was the two years before.

If you guys did the schmoozing it would involve running

It was last year - 2012, when Fed won it!
We even watched him on Court One, aaaah.....

Ohhh sorry last year, course, 2012! Yes i worked there in 2012. 
I was round court 2 when i worked. 
One day i'd love to go to wimby as a sports journo

I"d love to the the resident poet.....if only Kate was my sister....

I want to go there as the defending champion!

Tenez wrote:I want to go there as the defending champion!

Love it!  

About Rob Ford - again I urge you to read the Vonnegut story.  It's about making everyone equal by handicapping talents eg dancers have to wear weights.  I'm afraid we've let ourselves believe that anyone can "do" politics, being smart and well-educated isn't necessary.  I don't think many would choose a brain surgeon that way though!

bluenose wrote:About Rob Ford - again I urge you to read the Vonnegut story.  It's about making everyone equal by handicapping talents eg dancers have to wear weights.  I'm afraid we've let ourselves believe that anyone can "do" politics, being smart and well-educated isn't necessary.  I don't think many would choose a brain surgeon that way though!

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Who elected Rob Ford? You must have seen this already - http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/21/us/congressman-pleads-guilty-to-cocaine-possession.html?_r=0

Wrong country - we're Peace, Order, and Good Government.  Apparently, Ford Nation elected Ford and now there are lots of Torontonians wishing they had taken the trouble to vote!

The whole point of the story is the confusion of equality as a general statement in moral philosophy with sameness in instantiation.  Individuality is a profound aspect of biology.

I do think the road to power is a very hard and competitive road to select the most rotten and cunning people amongst ourselves, and strangely enough we are made to believe they are the best and we vote for them.

Usually great presidents and MPs are those we do not choose and turn up thanks to a an almost divine mission to save us: Churchill, de Gaulle for instance but also Gorbatchov and other so called "dictators" who simply wish to do good for their country.

I am always amazed at the naivety of people who believe a single word politicians say, especially those related to "promises": bombastic, meaningless, hollow cliches that never change, only get recycled and revamped for different times and "needs".

Gone are the days where people believed in ideals and were prepared to die for them.

This is how they view us:

We had our own Philosopher King in Pierre Trudeau, fiercely intellectual but also flirtatious and whimsical.  We didn't guess he had balls of steel until he invoked the War Measures Act during the October Crisis and had hundreds of separatists locked up.  Now we have his son Justin as Liberal leader.  I like him because he has always been involved with youth and environmentalism, but I just can't accept political dynasties.

yes good one and we know that at the end of the day it's the paper with the page 3 girl who runs the country. In other words we are governed by tits....nothing change!  

noleisthebest wrote:I am always amazed at the naivety of people who believe a single word politicians say, especially those related to "promises": bombastic, meaningless, hollow cliches that never change, only get recycled and revamped for different times and "needs".

Gone are the days where people believed in ideals and were prepared to die for them.

This is how they view us:

I really like British sense of humour. It is the best thing you have been producing