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Breakfast w/Greg: Adam Lambert sells mags; Ling and Lee thank supporters; Why Serena Williams isn’t #1
HOME SWEET HOME: It was so dramatic how former President Bill Clinton flew into North Korea to negotiate the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, two reporters who were held captive by the North Korean government for almost five months.
The government had convicted the women of entering the country illegally and had sentenced them to 12 years hard labor.
They appear on a new video posted on the Current TV Web site giving thanks for the outpouring of support they received during their ordeal. They plan to tell their story at some point, but for now, want to spend time with their families.
I wanted to post this because it is just so good to see them safe and looking healthy.
SERENA ONLY THE BEST SOMETIMES: Gawd, the most tiresome story in tennis is that world number one Dinara Safina is not deserving of her top ranking because she has yet to win a grand slam title. The pressure is mounting on the Russian star whose brother Marat Safin is a former number one and two-time grand slam winner.
Well, I blame Serena Williams.
Serena is ranked second and is the reigning Wimbledon, Australian Open and US Open champion. So why isn’t she numver one? Because she can’t win the flipping tournament that’s not a slam! She proved this, once again, in Cincinatti yesterday with an uninspired third round loss.
This is typical.
Serena doesn’t play enough as it is and of the 10 tournaments she has entered in 2009, she has only won two – and they were grand slams.
There’s a growing chorus of people saying the system should be changed to weight the grand slams more. Why? Because Serena Williams doesn’t play enough or win enough to earn the top spot? Ridiculous.
Safina should have never have achieved the top spot because Serena should not be losing to most of the players she’s loses to throughout the year. The Russian ascended by winning three tournaments and making it to the finals of the Australian and French opens. People would be very impressed with her year if she were ranked number two or three.
Similarly, the previous number one, Jelena Jankovic, achieved the top ranking without a slam because she was winning matches and tournaments while Serena seemed to only be giving full effort at the slams. Jelena seemed so freaked out by the “You must win a slam to justify your top ranking” that she overtrained and has had a dreadful season.
Now it is Safina who must face this irritating question at every tournament.
I like what her brother Marat had to say about it last week at the men’s tournament in Canada: “It gets tough on her. But she’s there. She’s fighting. She’s trying. I’m really proud of her that she can stand, and I tell everybody to fuck off basically in every press conference. I would do it this way, but unfortunately she’s very polite to you [reporters].”
Marat and Dinasra are the onl;y brother and sister in the history of the sport to both be ranked number one.
Comments
(All comments are reviewed before being published, and I review submissions several times per day.)
Sasha says:
Adam is a freak show. Your “news” about him is only 2 months old. Fail.
Mike Andrews says:
Typically, I hate Rolling Stone as they always cover rock / rap artists with little attention giving to dance music. However, they got it right with Adam.
Maria says:
I don’t get Adam Lambert and his constant references and comparisons to his and Clay Aiken’s coming out. Adam did exactly the same thing, except, ummm, he was already out. It would be cool to come out on RS? How old is he, 12?
Give me a real person like Kris Allen any day, and just say NO to Adam Fakebert. Ugh.
Hillary says:
From your article above: “”” he tells us. “I didn’t want the Clay Aiken thing and the celebrity-magazine bullshit. I need to be able to explain myself in context. “””
This so cracks me up. Adam did exactly what Clay did and used celebrity magazine bullshit and you are using the cover of that magazine on your site.
chico says:
LOL, claymates, fail.
Wicked Glitter says:
Thank you Greg for spotlighting Adam Lambert’s beautiful Rolling Stone cover! I couldn’t wait for that issue to come out. I think PEOPLE magazine should put Adam on their cover as sexiest man alive. I just saw Adam perform at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Michigan. He is even more beautiful in person. He signed my issue of Rolling Stone outside after the show. He walked all the way across the parking lot to the back of the line(where I was at)so he could sign as much as he could. He even signed a copy of Mad magazine that I had! His performance on stage was spectacular. Everyone of all ages,and genders were screaming for him. It was surreal to see how many adoring fans he has. God, If I were him I would be freaking out from this frenzy of people who would do anything just to smell his colonge! I hope he tours in Michigan on his own soon. My family and I had so much fun.
terie says:
I see all the Claymates are out in full force by some of the posts here. ADAM did NOT do the same thing Clay did … he was NEVER in (unlike Clay) … he probably thought it was obvious after the pics on the internet so why bother to openly address the issue. He went on AI to showcase his TALENT … NOT his sexual orientation. WHY was it anyone’s BUSINESS to begin with? He is UNDENIABLY TALENTED … a GRACIOUS human being … unlike some of these posters … not to mention “drop dead GORGEOUS” … and EXTREMELY popular WORLDWIDE without even having released an album … he even made a soundtrack for the upcoming movie 2012 and his version of MAD WORLD is the background music for ABC’s fall program’s FLASH FORWARD promo AND he’s packing ’em in on the tour!! No need to say anything more … CASE CLOSED!!!
terie says:
Oh, and BTW there are many of these WORLDWIDE fans lamenting the fact that that issue of ROLLING STONE is unavailable to them … much to their CHAGRIN … and BEGGING the American fans to mail them to them … you ppl should read some of the posts from UK, AUSTRALIA, PHILLIPINES, JAPAN, MALAYSIA, SOUTH AFRICA, NEW ZEALAND, EUROPE, etc.