Two thin pieces of yellow rope separate Andy Roddick from a gauntlet of autograph seekers and swooning females. He walks through the crowded hallway after his match – a two-set win over fellow American Marty Fish – and signs oversized yellow tennis balls, hats, visors and Region Morgan Keegan Championship programs. This continues for several minutes until two Memphis police officers in khaki uniforms guide him to the players locker room at the end of the red-carpeted hallwa ...

We’re en route to Memphis for the Regions Morgan Keegan Tennis Championships. It’s our first professional tennis tournament and we’re looking forward to posting some of our observations throughout the weekend.

"Rising American Sam Querrey, all 6 feet, 6 inches of him, was braced to take a painful fall in the opening round of the Regions Morgan Keegan Tennis Championships Tuesday at The Racquet Club of Memphis.

The fifth seed had been broken late ...

Every year on the third or fourth Monday in April (Patriots’ Day), the city of Boston closes down. Bostonians stop working; they pack up their coolers and lawn chairs and set up tailgates along the historic Boston Marathon route. It’s a special day in Boston, probably up there with St. Patty’s Day and Opening Day.
    Yesterday the Mardi Gras Marathon ran a new route down Bourbon St, Rampart St and St. Charles Ave. The city of New Orleans was trying to replicate this fan-friendly atmosphere of Boston Marathon for the race.

The Birmingham News continues its series on the history of the Southeastern Conference.

"SEC schools received on average $10.2 million from the conference office in 2007. And that's nothing compared to the revenue schools produce for themselves, mainly through ticket sales and booster donations.
Per athlete, no conference spends more money, accumulates more revenue or has a higher net profit than the SEC, according to an analysis by The Birmingham News of institutional data filed to the U.S. Department of Education f ...

I find it difficult to sleep when I visit Miami or Las Vegas. They’re such energizing cities. You feed on this energy and it seems to carry you into the night and the morning and the following day. I tend to prefer Miami. The energy in Vegas is too artificial – it’s like Red Bull when the buzz leaves, you crash. Miami is more like iced tea – caffeinated but relaxing. The balmy air keeps you loose and alive and the beach is never more than a mile away.

As a sports city, Miami has hosted the Super Bowl and the BCS Championship more than any other city. The Dol ...

Test the sharpness of your skates by lightly running an edge over your thumb nail, my dad used to say. If it shaves the top layer of the nail, it’s sharp enough. When I tested my skates as I kid, I never thought, “You know, this is sharp enough to cut someone’s throat” but it was always in the back my mind like a bad dream.

Last week the Florida Panthers Richard Zednik suffered every hockey player’s worst nightmare. Teammate Olli Jokinen’s skate sliced Zednik’ ...

I don’t care about his numbers or his play at first base, Kevin Millar is a valuable player on any team. His .366 on-base percentage is considerable but his personality is more important to a team than anything he could do on the field. He proved it in Boston when he helped the Red Sox win the 2004 World Series (Boston fans used to heckle him for fun when he played the outfield at Fenway Park) and h ...

Georgia-Florida. Florida-Georgia. Whatever you want to call this rivalry, I am always right in the middle. My brother attends the University of Florida and says I’m a Gator. My girlfriend, a University of Georgia graduate, says I’m a Bulldawg. They argue about which town is better, which school is better and which name (Florida or Georgia) comes first when mentioning the two teams at “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.” 

“Do you remem ...

What's the Best Oyster House in the Southeast?

I tried my first oyster in Sandestin, Fla. My college roommate was nearly an expert on the mollusk having grown up in the panhandle. I was not. So before we returned to school, he made certain I tried at least one.

On the last day of spring break we went to ACME Oyster House and ordered two dozen oysters and a bucke ...