It's 8:15 PM and I'm STILL multi tasking...

That's right...Not only am I providing witty and insightful prose for all the world to read, but I'm also doing laundry. Alright, maybe I embellished the first one a bit, but I'm definitely doing laundry.

I just arrived home from work/working out and I'm about to settle in for a night chock full of tennis. No really, there's not even a joke here. Tonight's James Blake vs. Andre Agassi match should be very entertaining as it features not only the only two remaining American men but also the (easily) most supportable players in the tournament.

I'm not going to sit here and pretend to be a tennis aficionado because I'm about as far from that as anybody who ever actually watches tennis could be. I am, however, a fan of high level athletic competitions as well as a sucker for the underdog or sentimental story. In one way or another, both of these guys fill each of the afforementioned roles. It's not often that I'll make a point to sit down and watch a tennis match that isn't a Grand Slam Final but tonight is the definitely the exception to the rule. I've got my Bud Collins bowtie on and, damnit...I'm ready for some Tennis.

In a completely unrelated note, I love playing the game of comparing some new young can't miss athlete to a former highly touted prospect. More often than not, the comparisions that I draw are extremely unflattering for the present day prospect. At the same time I am often much closer to the truth than the many scribes and talking heads who make every young guy with the ability to run without tripping over his own feet the next coming of Jeezy Chreezy himself. (sorry about the Mr. Show reference...I couldn't help myself) So without further ado, I present the first edition of Random Athlete Version 2.0:

Marvin Williams: Anybody who has read this space with any regularity knows that I am not a believer in young Mr. Williams. As I was sitting on my couch a couple days back it suddenly hit me that I knew exaclty who Marvin reminded me of. None other than former 3rd pick Billy Owens. Think about it for a second, they both came from loaded college teams where they didn't have to carry the load in any way. Yet, they were both regarded as the best prospect on the team despite the presence of numerous other first rounders (Seikaly, Douglas, & Coleman or Felton, McCants, & May). Both were players with great athletic skills who didn't really have a postion nailed down as the entered the NBA. Both were lauded as can't miss prospects despite some glaring holes in their respective games. Finally, both went to traditionally awful teams that were going to throw them into action from the word go. Is it really that impossible to imagine Marvin Williams in about nine years being traded to his seventh team for a first round pick and cash considerations? Don't say you weren't warned Hawks fans.

Ronnie Brown: Let me preface this by saying that I am a HUGE fan of Brown. I personally witnessed his breakout game at Auburn. Brown came off the bench as a sophomore against Florida after Cadillac Williams had broken his leg and almost single handedly beat a superior UF team while combining for over 200 yards rushing and receiving. He was so amazinng that I just started calling him Walter Payton towards the end of the night.

Okay, now that I've go that out of the way...I was sitting with a couple of my friends who are Dolphins fans the other day when I immediately realized the perfect way to torture them. I declared that Ronie Brown was the 2004 version of Terry Kirby. Originally, it was just a joke but there are some eery similarities in play here. Both are huge tailbacks that have (or had) tremendous speed. Both are extremly versatile, able to run, block, and catch out of the backfield with equal amounts of aplomb. Both were drafted by the Dolphins as they were searching for that elusive franchise tailback. While Kirby never achieved the monumental success that many had him pegged for, he did have a very solid career, even doing an admirable job as a kick returner late in his career with the Raiders. Who here doesn't think that Ronnie Brown could end up returning kicks and being a third down back for somebody other than the 'Phins late in his career? The proverbial kiss of death for Kirby was that he didn't have pure running skills to be true NFL tailback. Can anyone say without a shadow of a doubt that Brown does? Not honestly they can't, if only because he didn't get enough carries as the #1 tailback these last two years. In all honestly, I think that Brown will be better than Kirby, much better but you have to admit that there are some striking similiarities between these two.


Finally, I haven't been paying a great deal of attention to the match but Lindsay Davenport is already down a set to Russian Girl Dementieva...whatever. Don't even act like you know her name off the top of your head. .