Is pro tennis a whiny sport?

As our careful readers know, we love to watch tennis and especially the Williams sisters. Guy tennis is good, too, but we really don't have a favorite right now. And Andy Murray got some respect yesterday at the U.S. Open when he put up with the wind and other stuff to win. At one point, his opponent Berdych complained that Murray's hat blew off and distracted him. Really?

But here's the question: Why are tennis players so persnickety about noise and sneezing fans and weather and such? So didn't any of these people ever play on public courts? Every time we go near courts we see kids whooping, people running outside the fences and stuff blowing around. And weather? Hey -- it's an outdoor sport, so you have to expect the wind now and then.

We have to agree with Staffer Dad on this one -- baseball players can hit a 100-mph fastball with thousands of cheering or jeering fans and squirrels running on the field. That seems a lot harder to us.
And we put up with a lot of stuff, too -- baths, wet high grass at walk time and heckling squirrels. (What's with the squirrels?) Not to mention Skeeter's antics in the house. Makes a blown-off hat seem trivial.

A blogosphere moment

Maggie's been reading a lot lately. She tries to share what she can with Bandit, but with his blindness and ability to sleep all the time he's not really listening. He just looks like he is. We've seen Staffer Dad do that to Staffer Mom before. Every now and then, we'll post our faves here since Maggie needs to share.

Still the best

Check out the fun posts over at The Long and Short of It. Those guys are hilarious and they find the absolute best stuff about our adorable breed. Please follow them.

Abysmal treatment 

We'd never be caught on a site like Dog Shaming, but we think the staff might try to catch us in a situations that could be misconstrued like when the chimney leaked after a rain, but they thought Maggie had forgotten to request a moment outside. We're pretty sure it rained while they were at work. Why are there so many dachshunds on there?

Elephant butt and big kitties

Aunt Jenn and Uncle Brad have been traveling in Africa. They are keeping a blog over at Esta Bien and we're following it very closely. First they told us about seeing lots and lots of elephants. Then they met the lion who was hanging around outside their tent. They were really scared of it. Apparently, we didn't teach them much at all: It's just a big kitty.
But so far, our favorite story is about Toilet Hippo who roared every time Aunt Jenn went to the latrine. We think we're going to try barking every time Staffer Dad tries to find quiet time in the bathroom. And we know we're going to light up Skeeter when he's on the litter box. That scaredy cat will probably hit his head on the ceiling.

Olympics and more

Ok, so we've been pretty quiet during the Olympics.
We haven't made fun of how long you have to hold your breath if you're a synchronized swimmer or said anything about how butt cheeks are apparently OK to show now for volleyball players.
We've mostly resisted the urges to be catty. (Well, Maggie hasn't....)

We were very happy to see Serena and Venus kick some butt, and we love Misty and Kerri. They rule.
And we're begging the staff for Subway sandwiches since they seem to be the ticket for Michael Phelps. But when they get them, Staffer Dad snarfs them down without even offering to share.

But here we are watching today -- it's a weekend and NBC still won't show us what's actually going on live at the games. We're stuck with Moroccan handball or something. Please. What's next? Cricket? Sadly, Staffer Mom likes obscure sports, so she'd probably like that.

Speaking of competition -- the registration's open for the Savannah Wiener Dog Races Oct. 6.
Click here to see details and register.
Also, follow the updates and conversation before the race on Twitter with @SAVWienerDog. We're helping out with the feed, so if you recognize the humor, you'd be right!

It's Bandit's birthday!

Yes, we're back --
It's Bandit's birthday and we had to celebrate with all of you!

After all, how often does a great dachshund turn 18?

We don't have a lot of plans for the week, but we intend to spend it wisely. The staff is distracted by yet another raccoon break-in on the back porch, but we think they are aware it's a very special day on Thursday. We're sticking together and plan to refuse funny hats or stupid pictures. 

Bandit may have lost his vision, but he certainly hasn't lost his dignity -- and it's not going to happen with an asinine hat.

And we're certainly not going anywhere with Staffer Dad. He seems to think Bandit needs to go register for the draft. What's the draft anyway? We have had a draft beer before though, and that was good. We could use another one of those....maybe a mug for Bandit's birthday?