Page 1 Consider (07/20)

Swann Song: The house near Dupont Circle where Robert Wone was mysteriously killed in 2006 is on the market, again. (Who Murdered Robert Wone?)

The Ginsberg Effect: Reading tea leaves on gay marriage, and the importance of the distinction between "gay people" and "homosexuals." (NYT)

Oklahoma, OK! Has gay-hating Oklahoma Republican Sally Kern finally met her match in Brittany Novotny, a Democrat and Oklahoma’s first known transgender candidate? (NYT)

Not That It Matters, But ...: Voter opinions on gay marriage is holding steady in California, with 51 percent of registered voters in favor of same-sex marriage to 42 percent opposed, a result that mirrors surveys over the past two years but not voter approval of Proposition 8 in 2008. (SignOnSD)

Who Says Chivalry Is Dead? While I was still deep in R.E.M. sleep -- I wake daily at 1 p.m. -- a very polite robber bearing flowers was busy robbing the bank on the corner of my block. (City Room)

Goddamn It! It would be great that churches were backing President Obama's plans for immigration reform if it were for any reason besides THIS.

Again: Yo-yo diet queen Janet Jackson is back with her (new) old bod -- and a new man. (Daily Mail)

Frankly Speaking: Barney Frank thinks Kathy Griffin was "wholly unfair and inappropriate" to joke that Scott Brown's daughters are prostitutes, despite the new senator's televised attempt to pimp one of them out. Frank's probably right: he knows a thing or two about prostitutes. (Boston)

Endless Deadlines: Find out why dot-com journalists are burning out so much faster than their predecessors. (NYT)

United in 'Holy Etymology': What to do when two words become one. (Columbia Journalism Review)

Marriage Equality: I couldn't agree with Hillary Clinton more that it's great that "so many of the barriers that prevented people from getting married -- crossing lines of faith or color or ethnicity -- have just disappeared" (Chelsea is marrying a Jew later this month). Now how about lending some of that sentiment to same-sex couples, Hil? (Daily Intel)

ECOSOC It to 'Em: The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, a U.S.-based advocacy group, was accredited by the United Nations on Monday, despite efforts by Egypt, Russia and some Republicans to keep the group out at the world body. (WaPo)

Sidespin: It's pretty shitty that Greg Norman's sister talked to the tabloids about the demise of her brother's marriage to Chris Evert. (The couple signed an agreement not to discuss details when they divorced earlier this year.) But despite my love for Chris, why am I finding it really easy to believe Ms. Norman's assertion that Chris couldn't handle being with someone more famous than she? "We all saw it, including his friends. We all agreed that she did not like the fact that Greg had a higher profile, and that she was now taking a back seat." Oh, Chris. You made fun of John Lloyd for not having enough drive and were the star in your marriage to Andy Mill. Is there no pleasing you?! (Daily Mail)

Shark-Infested Waters

Wow, how the mighty have fallen. From an hour spot on Oprah and a plum segment on "60 Minutes" on the way up, to a coverline (and refer photo) on Woman's Day(?) magazine after the fall, Chris Evert recently gave her first interview about the end of her rush marriage to Greg Norman. In the piece, Evert was asked if she missed Norman.

"I miss my family time with Andy and the kids," she replied.

"That was 20 years of history. Probably the best years of my life."

"I also really miss Greg's parents. The best part about him are his parents."

The thrice-married Ice Maiden said she had no inkling that she and Norman were about to split.

"I had no idea it was coming. No idea. It wasn't talked about, ever."

"Never in a million years did I imagine it would end up like this."

Grand Slam

After failed marriages to a Brit (tennis player John Lloyd), an American (skier Andy Mill) and an Aussie (golfer Greg Norman), The Washington Times points out that Chris Evert is only a Frenchman away from the matrimonial grand slam. (Poor Colette.)

The Ice Maiden Cometh

Chris Evert and Greg Norman have called it quits after just 15 months of marriage, bolstering Dick Enberg's infamous on-air assessment that the line to date Chris Evert "is long but moves quickly." You gotta think that Norman's former wife -- Laura Andrassy, aka "The $115 Million Dollar Woman," who claims Chris aggressively pursued Greg in front of her and her own husband, Andy Mill while the couples were on a vacation together -- is enjoying the taste of schadenfreude right now.

But despite Chris' claim that Laura had too much time on her hands to criticize other people, she was the (near) model of grace when informed about the news: "I feel sorry for the children," Andrassy told Palm Beach Post columnist Jose Lamiet on Saturday by telephone from her new home in the Hamptons. "The kids [Norman's son and daughter and Evert's three teenage boys] are the ones who are going to deal with another break-up," she said. "They just went through the same thing with their mom and dad." Of course, no woman dumped after 26 years of marriage would be human without adding her own observation of where things went wrong with her ex's new love: "'Here were two people very much alike -- high-profile and narcissistic -- and that would make a relationship difficult." Advantage, Andrassy. (Andy Mill has weighed in on the situation too, saying "it's horrible, what they've done.")

Trail of destruction: Chris Evert was spotted over the weekend

Double Fault

Following an explosive interview with Greg Norman's ex-wife, Laura, the Shark and his new bride, Chris Evert, went on "60 Minutes" in Australia to break their silence and give "their side" of the messy story. You know I love Chris, but I'm not shy about using the word whore when describing her. If she redeemed herself at all in this interview, she kinda did herself a HUGE disservice with her parting comments about Laura at the very end. And Greg seems to flat out blame Laura for everything, saying she's afraid to "look in the mirror." See for yourself HERE.

Double Fault?

I spent (what felt like) the majority of my childhood glued to the television praying that Chris Evert would take Martina Navratilova down each year in the final of Wimbledon and each year my heart was broken in 17 places. These days Chris has embarked on another type of heartbreaking, seen here with her latest trophy, golfer Greg Norman, and his family at the 23rd Sport Australia Hall of Fame dinner. That's Greg's daughter Morgan-Leigh on the right, accompanied by her gorgeous boyfriend, Michael Scorson. I wouldn't leave your new step-mummy alone with that one if I were you, Morgan-Leigh ...

Inside-Out Foreplay

While it's no secret that America's tennis sweetheart Chris Evert is an ice princess on and off the court -- wasn't it Dick Enberg who once said of her male suitors, "The line is long, but it moves quickly"? -- it was still kind of startling to hear what Greg Norman's ex-wife had to say about Chrissie's shameless homewrecking ways. Laura says: Chris "came after him -- I have never seen anything like it." Greg was best pals with Chris' husband at the time, Andy Mill, and Laura suspects the affair began on a vacation they all went on along with Matt Lauer (mmm, wasn't he having marital problems a few years ago?). Laura went on: "It just turned into a fiasco. I really don't have a lot of respect for her as a woman -- she is not a great person. I never would have thought anyone would be so aggressive in pursuing him in front of me, like I didn't exist." When The Shark was asked if has plans to marry Evert, he responded: "Sure. Why not?" Isn't it romantic. (NYP)

Tennis Week Gets a Hollywood Makeover

Ever wonder what would happen if Tennis and Us Weekly magazines had a baby? No, probably not. How about if Peter Bodo and Bonnie Fuller did the nasty and their kid grew up to be a magazine editor? No, that's not going to work either. Well, maybe it's just easier to show you what happened to my favorite tennis magazine, Tennis Week. Once the ultimate guide to the professional tour -- without all of that annoying club-player fashion and instructional crap that ruins Tennis magazine -- Tennis Week was always the place to go for in-depth interviews with the players and officials, tour analysis, plus (my favorite feature) the complete draws of all professional events. What's the new Tennis Week like? For starters -- like many publications -- they've reduced the size of the book. But when I say reduced I mean reduced: it's now a mere 6.5 by 9 inches (think teenage girl pubs, like Teen Vogue). This alone makes it difficult to handle, although you quickly discover that in an apparent attempt to cash in on the "Tennis Hollywood" craze(!) it doesn't really matter much since all of the writing has been replaced with gossip and tabloid-ready photos, mostly of Maria Sharapova, Anna Kournikova and any other player who would be likely featured in, well, the tabloids. Let's have a look:

OMG -- Maria's totally at Fashion Week with Mischa Barton and that Dan guy who was on "The Real World" when they were both 8.

The celebrity lookalikes feature was clearly written by someone who is, well, way too old to be working at the Star. Rita Wilson and Daphne Zuniga? (Did I write that?) And if I were Beyonce I'd be hiring a lawyer.
As widely reported, Chris Evert did officially leave her husband of 18 years for one of his friends -- the golfer Greg Norman. It's weird how a 50something Evert is twice as fit as she ever was when she was a player, although she's way too old to be wearing that outfit no matter how fit she is. (God, is this place hiring?)
And then there's the piece de resistance: Ashley Harkelroad (who??? oh, wait: she's No. 95 in the world, but she's attractive -- sign her up!) and her What to Do With My Hair spread. (Who cares about her hair -- what about her dismal win-loss record?) While the words "get the look" should never be associated with professional tennis players and makeup -- see the 1985 WTA Calendar if you need clarification -- I suppose if there's anyone for whom the rule can be broken it's Ashley. It's just a shame Ted Tinling isn't alive to write TW's FASHION UMPIRE column. I can already see it: "Those shoes with that dress? Double fault." "In that outfit someone needs to be sent back to the quallies." "Her new hairstyle is what I call a code violation."


And lastly, feature articles have been replaced with a gossip section, with goodies about Bjorn Borg's new underwear collection (OMG!), Billie Jean King at Fashion Week (OMG, did she run into Maria and Mischa?), the latest on Anna (what's she up to since retiring 10 years ago?) and what's really on James Blake's iPod (I can finally sleep tonight).

Well, I've been saying it for years. The Us Weekly-ification of America is in full swing, and clearly Tennis Week is its latest victim. While that may be what the market calls for (although I doubt it in this case), it's pretty sad when the 33-year-old insider's look at the sport you love suddenly mistakes Novak Djokovic for Andy Murray in a caption (page 47) --hello, people! one has washboard abs, the other has jacked-up teeth! -- yet you get the sinking feeling that they got the name, make and shade of every lip gloss 100 percent correct.

My grade: C-

Tennis weak

Will alienate true tennis fans and garner no new ones