Who wants to go to Sweden?
I do. I hear its a lovely country. As everyone knows, the U.S. will be playing the Swedes next September in the Semifinals of the Davis Cup. Earlier this week, the Swedish Tennis Association announced that the tie will be held in the city of Gothenburg (pictured on the left), at the Scandinavium Arena. Last time the Davis Cup was played here, Sweden defeated the U.S. 5-0 in the Davis Cup Finals. Gothenburg is located on the Southwest coast of Sweden, about five hours away from the Swedish capital, Stockholm. Quick side note, I checked out the drive time on Google Maps, and I bet it would be one of the more scenic drives, if anyone is inclined to do so.
Gothenburg is the second largest (to Stockholm) in Sweden, with nearly 500,000 people within the city limits, and close to 900,000 in the metropolitan area. Situated along the North Sea, Gothenburg is a prominent European harbor city. In fact, it boasts the largest and most prominent harbor in all of Scandinavia. In addition, Gothenburg is where major companies Volvo and Ericsson were founded, and Volvo is still headquartered there today.
Through a bit of research, I’ve found quite a number of interesting places that could be part of our tour over there. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, Gothenburg is a major European city, but I am relatively ignorant when it comes to foreign cities that aren’t involved with tennis on a more regular basis. According to many websites, the Botanical 
Garden in Gothenburg, aptly named the Gothenburg Botanical Garden, is one of the most beautiful in all of Europe. In addition, there is an opera house, art museum, and even Liseberg Amusement Park (pictured on right). With an average attendance of over 3 million people/year, it ranks amongst the top 10 most visited European amusement parks.
So now you have a small feel for the location where the U.S. will take out (I mean take on) Sweden September 21st-23rd, with the winner moving onto the Finals. We are in the midst of putting together an incredible package for this event, but if anyone has any recommendations or insider information they could offer up, we will try to add that in as well.
One more thing, since I’ve discussed a bit of baseball in my last couple posts, I’ll continue the trend. Last night, the story came out that Curt Schilling apparently painted his sock red in the playoffs in 2004, I’m not going to get into the whole story, for that click here. For what it’s worth, I just want it to be known that as a Red Sox fan I could care less if it was real blood or paint. In fact, I think it would be even funnier if Schilling intimidated his opponents with fake blood.
Onto some links, all tennis related.
Wimbledon to raise prize money, and use hawk-eye.
Stephen Tignor’s plan for Roger. Hopefully I’ll get to see them play in Rome, and I’ll try to come up with a plan of my own.
Can Serena win the French Open, she certainly thinks so.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Well for all you historians out there or fellas who are along with your significant other and have to put in the sight seeing time, there’s a pretty cool place called the Elfsborg Fortress. Apparently it was some war castle built to protect the country from the Danes back in the 17th century ( I dont know i wasnt really paying all that close of attention). But i must say it was a cool little place. They have a museum, restaurant and a souvenir shop inside as well, it overlooks the water, check it out, I’d recommend it from my experience there….
Onto more important matters, there’s no disputing the fact that Schilling had his ankle operated on and stitches were inserted to keep his tendon in place, whether it was blood or not doesnt change the fact that it was one of the gutsiest performances in recent memory (whether you like Schill or not its in disputable). For the record though, it was blood and Gary Thorne (the O’s announcer who made the accusation on the broadcast) is clearly got it in for Schill, they spent the entire game slandering him for various reasons and then he mentions how Mirabelli told him this over two years ago and yet he waited all this time to tell us??? Riiiiiight
Ok there I feel better, go US!!!
April 27th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Jeremy gets half way through an awesome blog on Sweden… And the mind wonders to the Red Sox. Talk about a one track mind. Maybe we can get the Sox to play a game in Gothenberg on Monday the 24th of September right after we beat Sweden 5-0. Talk about Euphoria