As Far As You Know

Had a painless flight from London to Toronto; the plane was half full, so there was plenty of room to stretch out. The new airport here is comfortable and attractive. I had a bit of bad luck, in that it took a while to get my baggage to the part of the airport designated for U.S. connections (so I could pre-clear U.S. immigration and customs formalities on this end of my next flight). When I arrived, it looked as though I could make a much earlier flight at 12:45, rather than 5:15, but I had to wait too long at the baggage carousel and barely missed my window. So I've got a few hours to kill in Canada. At least there is wireless access, so I can finish downloading my Monday shows and watch them.

Made it to Toronto, about two hours behind schedule. My 6:30 flight from LaGuardia was canceled, but I go a seat on the 7:30 flight. That got in late and had to wait in the long queue to take off on a busy night in New York City airspace. But I am here. Now I will drive to Stratford.

By the way, it was clear I was on a Canadian airline because we got updates from Stanley Cup hockey the whole trip. It seems the Penguins are popular champs up here.

Refueling my rental car before dropping it off at the Pearson Airport here in Toronto, I was reminded how relatively untaxed gasoline is in America. Of course, calculating what one is paying at a Canadian gas station is doubly tricky: in addition to the currency conversion, you have to convert liters to gallons. But I am one of those who believes it will be in our long term best interest as a nation and as a planet to tax gasoline more heavily in the U.S., which will force consumers to adopt more fuel-efficient vehicles and rely more often on public transportation. The economy will be helped by giving the auto industry and mass transit shots in the arm. And obviously anything we do to reduce our collective carbon footprint is extraordinarily helpful at this point.

The flight from Bradley to Toronto took nearly two hours because we were on board a turbo prop propeller plane rather than a jet, but it left plenty of time to read and watch some video on the iPad. I have just rented a car and will spend the night in Guelph, about halfway between the airport and my weekend destination of Stratford.

Looking forward to seeing all the top names in men's tennis in town here this week. I'll be out at the tournament site tomorrow and Tuesday.

Although the tennis tour has been in full swing since Wimbledon ended, this week represents the first time all the top stars in the game are back in action, as the Toronto tournament is a Masters 1000 level event. In the last seven years this stop on the circuit has been won by Andy Roddick, Roger Federer (twice), Rafa Nadal (twice), Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray. And all five are in action here this week. Unfortunately today's schedule was trashed by intermittent rain. I got to spend some time out at the site, though, and saw some play.

Yesterday was rainy and today was sweltering out at the Rogers Cup venue. And if the spectators were roasting, it had to be very tough conditions for the players on court.

I always wanted to attend this tournament--which always used to be called the Canadian Open--since the days I watched it on television as a kid (a Borg/Lendl final is promient in my memory). What I miss is the red trim that used to adorn the court. (Just like the Queens Club tourney, red has been abandoned in favor of blue.)

Now that I've seen this tourney staged in both Montreal and Toronto, I figure I have hit all the sites of all the major North American tennis tournaments--most of them multiple times. I came up with a list of pro events I have seen in person:

• U.S. Open [Grand Slam]--many times


• Stratton Mountain/New Haven [ATP/WTA] (currently the Pilot Pen)--many times, since I used to work for the tournament


• Key Biscayne Masters [ATP/WTA] (currently the Sony Ericsson Open)--half-dozen or so times


• Indian Wells Masters [ATP/WTA] (currently the BNP Paribas Open)--half-dozen or so times


• Montréal/Toronto Masters [ATP/WTA] (currently the Rogers Cup--once at each site


• Cincinnati Masters [ATP/WTA] (currently the Western and Southern Financial Group Masters)--once


• Newport [ATP]--a couple times


• Boston (Longwood) [ATP]--a couple times


• Delray Beach [ATP]--once


• Stanford [WTA]--once

I've also attended Davis Cup ties in Connecticut and Rhode Island.

and outside North America I have been to:

• Wimbledon [Grand Slam]--at least a half-dozen times


• Australian Open [Grand Slam]--twice


• Roland Garros (French Open) [Grand Slam]--once


• Sydney [ATP/WTA]--twice


• Melbourne (Kooyong Club) men's exhibition--twice


• Queens Club, London [ATP]--once

So what's left on my "someday" list?

• Monte Carlo


• Rome


• ATP Finals (currently in London)

Off I go! Vancouver or bust.

I had my pick of movies tonight at the 24-screen multiplex across from the Eaton Centre shopping mall in downtown Toronto. The one that fit my schedule the best was not my first choice: Knight And Day, with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. But folks who saw this when it came out in the States a few weeks back all said the same thing: it's not as bad as you'd think. Though such a comment may be damning the film with faint praise, after seeing it, I know exactly what they meant. While this movie had been pummeled by critics, it was fun in that mindless sort of summer blockbuster way.