U.S. Open in Coronavision: I Got Nothing Right Now

This is supposed to be my last-minute U.S. Open preview post. But true-confession time: It's been hard to watch tennis and I sure as hell have not seen the draws yet. This disinterest isn't just for the obvious reasons, I'm starting to realize.
Chadwick Boseman died the other day, on top of this dumpster fire that is 2020. It's hard to watch this country tear itself from the inside because that's a better option for some than properly valuing the lives of black people. It's also hard to look away. And it makes sense to look at something else, and I thought that thing would be tennis for me. But I've not been able to watch more than five minutes of this rebooted season. Not even Venus v. Serena XXXXXVIII or whichever one this was. As I watch athletes do the work that our government won't in demanding justice and fairness, I realized why sports isn't doing it for me right now.
It's because we're asking athletes to put their safety on the line for our amusement/distraction when we know it isn't necessarily safe. It's not just that -- it's that other countries are well underway living their best post-pandemic-wave-1 lives, while so many Americans were willing to ignore facts and get mad about masks, yet many of those same people demand that these athletes come to New York and entertain them. Or suit up in Alabama for college football. No one should be in this position, and most importantly, I should be in New York enjoying my rainy day make-up ticket from last year.
That was a joke. I used to have a ton of them.
The fact is that they're there now, ready to play and I have almost no interest in tuning in. I want to try, though. This is mainly because I've finished binging Schitt's Creek. Also, theoe players are there, doing their jobs, for better or for worse, and if they're OK with it, then I guess I'll get OK with it, too.
I don't think, however, I'll be OK with this Novak Djokovic-led union for men only. Sounds ... er, promising. Just about as promising as anything involving John Isner would. (I'm including that whack-ass Wimbledon match.)

If You Win A Slam With a Gutted Draw In an Empty Stadium, Does it Make a Sound?

When Nick Kyrgios is the adult in the room, you know we have really lost the plot.
While Novak Djokovic was hosting the Corona Open and Alexander Zverev, Borna Coric and Grigor Dimitrov then got infected with the virus, there was one person saying that playing tennis tournaments was a bad idea at the moment. We got Danielle Collins leaving the World Team Tennis bubble to go into West Virginia of all places and getting kicked out of the tournament. The baseball season started like 10 minutes ago and half a team has coronavirus already. And it wasn't even unexpected. Playing any big-scale event in a country where folks are actually debating whether masks are a violation of their rights (spoiler: um, no) is not going to work. No one really wanted to say it -- to say that professional tennis right now is a bad idea. No one except Nick Kyrgios. He announced his plan to skip the U.S. Open in what felt like a hostage video, but it was actually a sensible message.
I think we have to give him a pass now for his next tantrum. Sorry, new rule.
No one wants to be cooped up all day in their homes, even those of us who thought it might be kind of nice before. It's not nice. I want to play tennis and it's possible to play tennis safely while practicing social distancing, but that's like playing with a friend, not going to a major. It's so crazy right now to see people just pretending this virus is over. It's stupid to play a Grand Slam right now, even though I need to see a Grand Slam right now. Let's bypass the logistics of keeping everyone safe for now (which includes electronic line-calling and at some point, I'm going to need to know why this wasn't the standard if it's a thing that works), and consider the value of winning the 2020 U.S. Open* held in the country that's the most overrun by this virus. Most countries won't let Americans in because it's clearly out of control here. We're asking Simona Halep, Bianca Andreescu, Garbine Muguruza to come here for a tennis tournament? Ash Barty, who already said heck no? Do you really want a player who lives and trains in Florida coming to New York right now? I live here, and you don't. We still have cities thinking about mask ordinances.
OK, let's assume the answer is no. What if you're Serena Williams and you win this gutted tournament? What does it mean? Serena's a bad example because she has nothing left to prove. I only use her because as far as I know, she is the first big-name player to commit. Whoever "wins" this tournament will have that asterisk next to it, which will suck if the person is a first-time winner.

Tennis With Notions
The dress is going well, although I've not cut the pattern yet. I made the bodice template and am on to the skirt. Then I merge and cut and poof? I don't know. Despite my earlier ranting, I'm playing a league match this week but we have a uniform of sorts, which means I'll have time to debut the dress. I might finish the skirt template today. I'll post if I do. Otherwise, here's the front and back bodice pieces:

Pretty right? Well, it will be is what I'm saying.