Tennis Night in America
- Jenna Maroney (played by Jane Krakowski) in NBC's 30 Rock
THIS WEEK:
Hitting the tennis courts
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The David Triptych + Tennis: The Board Game
BEHIND THE PAY WALL: Take me out to the ballgame
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Did you ever watch 30 Rock? If you missed it during its original run on NBC from 2006-2013 and if you missed it on Netflix about six years ago, it’s currently on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock. Don’t have a Peacock subscription? Most people don’t. Neither do we. But we do have the first six seasons on DVD (season 7 isn’t worth watching, in my opinion. The show suffered a pathetic fade out beginning in season 4 or 5 and the first signs of trouble appeared as early as season 2. It’s a shame. The series had a good first season and it was downhill from there. Like Survivor. And Riverdale.). We haven’t watched the show in about five years so I suppose we’re due for a re-watch (if we can fit any TV in around episodes of Paw Patrol and Clarkson’s Farm.
Arguably, one of the best parts of the television series, was the music composed by Jeff Richmond (husband of 30 Rock star Tina Fey). Michael Buble singing Mr. Templeton; Werewolf Bar Mitzvah; Milton Greene’s “Kidney Now” Drive… classics.
Real Buddy and Real Romeo played varsity tennis in high school. I’m sorry to say that we may be more remembered for our tempers than our playing ability. Well, maybe we’re best remembered for the jokes, but I’m sure temper is a close second. We played a few times a week together in high school and college and though the matches began amicably, it didn’t take long for either of us to succumb to rage. By the time we reached the age 24, we finally found a way to check our anger and expectations for playing ability (for ourselves and for each other) and just hit around. Eliminating the competition between us was for the best.
This must have come from accidentally clicking the like button on social media post, instantly taking it back, then realizing it’s too late because the notification will appear in that person’s feed and they’ll realize I unliked it, and having to click that stupid button again anyway just to participate in “digital society.”
I’m enjoying how Buddy storms into their apartment with a racket and a complaint, catches Romeo off-guard eating an apple and then Romeo pulls his racket out of nowhere to defend himself. They’re like a couple of Jedi.
Just remembered the lightsaber fights Real Buddy and I (Real Romeo) used to have after hours in the illustration studio in college. Those were awesome. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith had just come out and we were really into Star Wars again. We were like Palpatine and Yoda dueling in the Senate (::sigh:: I promised no more links!).
In case you don’t play tennis, love is zero and the server says their score first. So Buddy saying the score is forty-love means Buddy has forty points and Romeo has zero (though he argues he has 15 points).
Freshman year of college, I had a plans to meet a girl for tennis on the Wednesday during spring break. On Tuesday, it snowed. About eight to ten inches. I’d had a crush on this girl for four years and there was no way I was missing that date. So I got there an hour and a half early and started shoveling. I wasn’t done when she arrived so she started helping too. Where did she get a shovel you ask? From me!
. . .
Apparently I brought two. Clearly having anticipated there was a chance I’d have her help me. It took another 45 minutes to an hour. After about two and a half hours of shoveling, we attempted to play, realized one of us was going to break our neck and called it a day.
My dad loved that story. He couldn’t believe I asked a girl on a date and made her shovel snow for an hour. He said “Bring her over and she can pull weeds or spread some mulch!” Obviously, happily, that relationship went nowhere.
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In 2022, DiPerri produced a mixed media triptych celebrating the big three in men’s tennis: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. Each player was posed to recreate on of the famous David sculptures from art history: that of Michelangelo (Federer); Bernini (Nadal); and Donatello (Djokovic).
The David Triptych: Roger, Rafael, and Novak.
We recently did a few tennis and pickleball cartoons that we’re shopping around on the magazine circuit but here’s one from 2021 that is currently listed in our CartoonStock catalogue.
For this and more Frega DiPerri cartoons, visit CartoonStock.
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