Sunday, September 7, 2008

Scotland Me Ain Haim Awa Frae Haim


A GLORIOUS day in Manhattan after the rain of yesterday. Glorious. I got to be out with Ron for breakfast and Frank and Pat for lunch and wander in the Village for a bit before heading home to watch Andy Murray from Dunfermline, Scotland beat Rafael Nadal from Spain and tennis' #1 ranked player. I was all for a Nadal/Federer final, until pesky nationalism came into the picture.


I know I am not originally from Scotland, but my soul is. My mum was born there and I lived there for almost three years and it is the country of much of my heart. Ireland is there too, but not in the same way. (And of course I am proudly American as I feel so many are so quick to say for fear of being labled, (did I just do that?!), but that is not what I am talking about. I can be brought up one place and very happy to live there, but I can have a spiritual and emotional nationalism as well. Until told otherwise by my government?)

And though Scotland can boast engineering faves like James Watt and the odd screen star like Sean Connery, it is rare that Scotland gets a place on the world stage in current events or acheivements that are cool. I hate to say it, but I think it is kinda true. Though Andy got labeled a BRIT, he is a SCOT and talks like a SCOT and I think he was playing for the Saltire and not the Union Jack. That is what I wanted to take away from it.

So when a Scot ascends so high in the rankings as to come into the semi-finals at the US Open I am all about. I watched yesterday as Andy was up two sets when the rains came. Today with sleep and a good talking to no doubt, Rafael was ready. They played hard and Andy won. He won a spot in the FINAL of the US Open. That is something to cheer back home. This is HUGE.

I wish him best of luck tomorrow against Roger. Wouldn't that be great if Scotland won the US Open. That is the stuff cool films like "Breaking Away" and "Local Hero" are made from.

Go! Go! Go!!

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