Tennis star Monica Seles signs autographs and hosts on-court clinics
as part of the American Express U.S. Open Family Day Celebration at
Rockefeller Center. Activities include interactive tennis challenges,
a fashion show featuring several current pro players and a Jumbotron
showing matches. 11 a.m.-11 p.m., free.

====
Welcome to Bizarro TV
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/9_5sullivan.htm

Take the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens; more specifically, the
men's marathon last Sunday. There they were, the best
long-distance
runners the world has to offer, going for the gold.

One runner in particular, Brazil's Vanderlei de Lima, had a
slight
lead with about three miles left in the 26.2-mile race, when the
unexpected occurred. A man clad in a green beret, red kilt and knee-
high socks mugged de Lima, shoving him into a curbside crowd and
shattering the runner's gold-medal aspirations.

The attacker was later identified as Cornelius Horan, a defrocked
priest from Ireland. Like the clergy needed more negative publicity.

The premise of an ex-Irish priest attacking an Olympic marathoner is
everything that is strange and bizarre, but nothing was funny about
it. It brought back memories of 1993 when, in Hamburg, Germany, a
crazed fan stabbed tennis star Monica Seles during a match.

The fan, Guenther Parche, could have killed Seles, and in reality,
ruined her tennis career.

Seles recovered completely, at least physically, but she was never
the same player after the incident, never again the dominant force
who won 30 titles in five years leading up to the attack. It probably
didn't help her confidence on the court knowing Parche only
served
six months in jail before being released, either.

His six months paled in comparison to the nearly three years Seles
spent recovering from being stabbed with his 5-inch blade.

Like Parche, Horan also got a slap on the wrist, as a Greek judge on
Tuesday handed him a 12-month suspended jail sentence. Horan's
reasoning for attacking de Lima?

He's preparing for the second coming. There's nothing like a
good
mugging to prepare for the second coming. Wouldn't cleaning the
house
and preparing a nice meal have been less risky and perhaps more
appropriate?

Regardless, de Lima was fortunate considering he was able to finish
the marathon, and still earn a bronze medal. The former priest could
have had a weapon and de Lima could have suffered as Seles did, or
worse.

You just never know what you might see on TV.

Anyone watching Wednesday night's coverage of the Republican
National
Convention was treated to Conan the Barbarian Republican telling us
who to vote for in the next presidential race.

"He's a man of inner strength," said California Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger of President Bush. "He is a leader who doesn't
flinch,
doesn't waiver, does not back down. "He knows you don't
reason with
terrorists. You defeat them."