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Here’s the release from the Pilot Pen people on what’s going on with tickets.

Session 10 – Friday, 8/28 Day Session
Session 11 – Friday, 8/28 Evening Session
Session 12 – Saturday, 8/29 Day Session

Ticket Exchange Policy

Sessions 10 & 11 of the 2009 Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament have been cancelled. Session 12 has been delayed and the men’s semifinals have been moved indoors due to inclement weather. Weather permitting, the women’s final will take place during Session 12. Session 10, 11, & 12 tickets can be exchanged for the following session:

Session 13 – Saturday, 8/29 Evening Session
Gates Open at 5:00 p.m.
Matches Begin at 7:00 p.m.

To exchange your tickets, please bring your Session 10, 11, or 12 tickets to the Box Office located at the Main entrance of the Tournament. There will be windows designated for the ticket exchange that will open starting at 10am on Saturday.

For ticket holders who purchased tickets and are not able to exchange their tickets for Session 13, we will offer the opportunity for the Original Ticket Purchaser to exchange tickets for their choice of any session to the 2010 Pilot Pen Tennis tournament.

In order to take advantage of this exchange for 2010 tickets, you must mail your
original tickets for Session 10, 11, and/or 12 to the Box Office. A Ticket Exchange form will be posted on pilotpentennis.com at the conclusion of the tournament for guests to download and mail in with their request for tickets for 2010.

ALL TICKET EXCHANGE REQUESTS (INCLUDING THE SESSION 10, 11 AND/OR 12 TICKETS FROM 2009) MUST BE RECEIVED BY FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2009. Any requests received after that date will not be honored.

If you have further questions about the Ticket Exchange Policy, please call 1.888.99 PILOT
(1.888.997.4568).

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Workers at the Pilot Pen are blowing dry Stadium Court in the hope of actually getting some tennis played.

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Rain, rain … go away…. please!

After a four-hour rain delay, Pilot Pen officials have decided to cancel Friday’s afternoon session. Tickets for Friday (Session 10) can be exchanged for tickets to either Friday evening’s session (11) or Saturday’s day session (12). To exchange your tickets, you MUST bring your Session 10  tickets to the box office located at the main entrance. There will be windows designated for ticket exchanges starting at 5 p.m. today.

Meanwhile, the schedule has been revised in order to try and get as much tennis in as possible. According to Weather.com, there is a possible three-hour window of opportunity starting around 4:30 p.m.

Flavia Penetta and Caroline Wozniacki will begin play (if the rain stops) on Stadium Court, not before 4:30 p.m. That match will be followed by Amelie Mauresmo and Elena Vesnina.

On the men’s side, Igor Andreev will face Fernando Verdasco on Stadium Court, not before 7 p.m. (again, if the rain stops) and that match will be followed by Sam Querrey and Jose Acasuso.

The three doubles matches scheduled for today will be played, no matter what. Why? Because all three will be played indoors on the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center, starting at 3:30 p.m.

First will be Jill Craybas and Lisa Raymond vs. Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez followed by Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer vs. Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa. Finally, it will be Martin Dam and Robert Lindstedt vs. Bruno Soares and Kevin Ullyett.

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As expected, the Arena at Harbor Yard has submitted a bid to host the the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference men’s and women’s basketball championships in either 2012, 2013 or 2014. So have the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y., the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. and the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass.

The MassMutual Center??

Why would a building with no ties to the MAAC want to bid on hosting the tournament? I’ve been scratching my head over that news since the league issued the release Wednesday afternoon. Albany has hosted many times and I’m sure will get one of the three years up for grabs. Next season Bridgeport will be hosting (it’s second time after a successful 2007), so it’s likely they’ll get a year and with the MAAC offices being located in Edison, New Jersey, look for “The Rock” aka — The Prudential Center to land a year.

I see it like this:

2010 — Albany (March 4-8)

2011 — Bridgeport (March 3-7)

2012 — Albany

2013 — Newark

2014 — Bridgeport 

All of the bids will be examined by the MAAC Council of Presidents and the Committee on Athletic Administration in late October, and bids will be awarded this December.

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The Joy of No. 6 …

Svetlana Kuznetsova, the reigning 2009 French Open champ, 2007 Pilot Pen winner and the sixth-ranked player in the WTA Tour, is coming back to the Connecticut Tennis Center to play in the ’09 Pilot Pen after she received one of the four women’s wild cards by tournament director Anne Worcester Wednesday.

“Adding a two-time Grand Slam champion, and a former Pilot Pen champion, to our field at this stage is very exciting,” said Worcester in a statement. “Sveta has had a terrific season, and adding her to our field means that 10 of the top 20 players in the world will be playing in New Haven. That’s a strong statement about the quality of tennis that our fans can expect this coming week.”

While adding Kuznetsova is a feather in Worcester’s cap, it going to get REALLY interesting over the next 24 hours or so. Venus Williams lost in her opening match in Toronto and she even though she’s indicated that she’s going to rest up for the Open, you never know. AW can be VERY presuasive. Same for James Blake, who lost  his opening match in Cincinnati and coming off a foot injury, will likely skip the Pilot Pen (Boo! … We want the J Block!), but you never know.

Kuznetsova has had a solid year en route to winning her second career Grand Slam title (first was 2004 US Open) at Roland Garros. She won at Stuttgart, got to the finals in Rome, the semifinals at Miami and quarterfinals at the Australian Open. This will be her third trip to the Pilot Pen where she has been very
successful. She reached the semifinals in 2006, before falling to eventual champion Justin Henin, and won the title two years ago by defeating rising star Agnes Szavay.

In addition to Kuznetsova, American Meghann Shaughnessy, on the comeback trail, also received a wildcard into both the singles and doubles draw. Shaughnessy has returned to action this summer after recovering from a knee injury. The six-time winner on Tour will be playing in the doubles draw with Alicia Molik. The Australian, who won a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, is also recovering from injury and
trying to regain the form that won her five career titles.

That leaves Worcester with two wildcards each for the men’s draw and the women’s draw.

While adding two players today, two others, Juan Monaco and Dudi Sela, have withdrawn from the tournament due to injury.

For tickets, how to become a volunteer, or more information about the tournament, please call the Pilot Pen Tennis Box Office, 888/99-PILOT, 203/776-7331, or log on to www.pilotpentennis.com.

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The Sentinels are coming … the Sentinels are coming …

Who are the Sentinels you ask? Well, they’re one of the four teams that will play in the new United Football League, along with the California Redwoods, the Florida Tuskers and the Las Vegas Locomotives, beginning in October. Why should we care, you ask? Well, because one of the Sentinels “home” games will be played at Rentschler Field in East Hartford on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. against the Florida Tuskers. According to the UFL website, tickets will range from $14 to $47 and can be purchased (right now!) via Ticketmaster.

This game could be a forerunner to Hartford landing a UFL franchise for 2010.

If you’re interested in the UFL, here’s the link

http://www.ufl-football.com/home

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Hey, everyone!

Found this gem surfing the web …

If you happen to be on-line today (if you’re reading this then you probably are), head over to SI.com (Sports Illustrated) and click on the “videos” link. There is a great four-minute segment with our very own Adam Greenberg of the Bridgeport Bluefish.

SI.com tells the story of Adam’s fight to return to the major leagues after being beaned in the back of the head in 2005 on the very first pitch he saw as a member of the Chicago Cubs.  There are some great scenes of the Ballpark at Harbor Yard and a brief interview with new manager Willie Upshaw. Check it out.

Here’s the link.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/video/mlb/2009/08/12/0908.greenberg.SportsIllustrated/index.html?eref=sihp

Els

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Fairfield University men’s basketball coach Ed Cooley has landed his second recruit for the 2010-11 season. Sources close to the Connecticut Post have said that 6-foot-8 forward Adam Jones of Winter Park (Fla.) High School has given an oral commitment to the Stags, joining guard Jamel Fields.

 “I’m very happy with my decision,” Jones said in a story posted on Scout.com. “Fairfield has a great coaching staff and they have been there since day one,” Jones said. “They make me feel like family and it’s somewhere I feel I’m going to play and become a man.”

 Jones helped Orlando Christian Prep win a Class 1A state championship as a sophomore and helped Winter Park (24-8) reach the Class 6A Final Four last season as a junior. He averaged 10 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.9 blocks.

Jones is a great story. Growing up, his single mother was unable to take care of him, so he moved in with his uncle when he was in the sixth grade. Two years ago, the uncle had kidney surgery and told Jones that he needed to find some outside help. Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who’s son Austin, played AAU ball with Jones, took Jones in and in May, legally became his guardian.

It’s truly a blessing. I love it,” Jones said in a Boston Globe story back in May. “I couldn’t be in better hands with better people. I’m speechless to how these people opened their doors for me.”

Fields is a 6-foot-2, shooting guard from Albany, N.Y. Fields averaged 20.8 points a game for Albany Academy (22-2). He gave his verbal commitment to Fairfield in January.