Tennis -- Australian Open

Maybe I am a little bit peeved at this story because I am a proud Australian.

However, the idea of changing the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament into the Asia-Pacific Grand Slam event is interesting as I wonder whether people would consider the French Open and Wimbledon being combined into the European Open and the US Open being changed to the Continental American Open, and then to ensure that there remained "four grand slam events", the introduction of the African Open.

The idea of having an Asia-Pacific Open that rotates around from places such as Doha to Suva instead of having a single grand slam event in Australia is flying in the face of history.

With a bit of luck we will see a similar piece from the author of the story linked above for each of the remaining three grand slam events of the year. The pros and cons of each and the need to share around the spoils.

Tiger Woods

It is being reported that Tiger Woods is to miss the rest of the 2008 golf season because of injury. The injury is a ruptured ligament in his left knee and double stress fractures of his left tibia. This has been confirmed in a news announcement on Tiger's own website. This will require a round of reconstructive knee surgery.

Now, all his fellow pros are sending their best wishes for a speedy recovery. I am sure that some though will be a little relieved that at least for the rest of 2008 they might be a shot for a win without having to look over their shoulders to see whether or not the Tiger is lurking.

For a man who has just concluded his 500th week as the world's top ranked golfer the news is bad but the prognosis is good. Over the long term he should fully recover and be back as good as ever. Nevertheless, if you are one of those fellow pros and you now know that the bloke just won the US Open on one leg, you have to be worried about your chances when he comes back to the tour with both legs in full working order!

This injury will delay the Tiger Woods march to history. He is currently the best golfer on the planet and soon enough he will be the greatest ever to have played the game. This should be a lesson to any youngster out there looking to succeed in sport; love the game, be passionate about the game, work hard, train hard, and the results will take care of themselves.

Well, I night get back to watching golf next year once Tiger returns. The game just won't be the same until then!

Coffee and Stress

I have found the perfect reason to drink more coffee although I am not sure whether I have to be a rat to benefit. A South Korean trial has uncovered that just the smell of coffee triggers action in a number of genes that produce proteins with anti-oxidants that are good for you. It must be pointed out that these responses were measured in rats and not humans (picture was found here).

Nevertheless, anyone who knows even a little bit about scientific testing knows that the rats get it first! The results of the trial have been published in the "Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry". The report indicates that generally just smelling coffee alleviates the stress levels of the sleep-deprived rats.

So, I am going to drink more coffee today or at least go to Starbucks, Gloria Jeans, or the Coffee Bean and buy some fresh roasted beans to sniff because I am sleep-deprived after having watched the US Open Golf. As it turns out I could have stayed asleep as Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate have to go at it again today in a playoff!

It seems like catch-22 to me as the drinking of the coffee keeps you awake and causes stress increases but the aroma of the beans reduces that stress, weird! Apparently, previously studies have shown that coffee consumption reduces depression and the risk of suicide. All this time I just thought these big coffee drinkers were just wired on the excess caffeine but in fact they were not wired but enjoying levels of reduced stress.

In any event if you want to learn more about current coffee research you should go here, The Coffee Science Information Center or CoSIC.