Don Budge

The ferry is gone, but the town is still on the map. Honest. And this is where you'll find the tall, trim tennis player who ranks as perhaps the best of all time. Going on 73, he lives quietly these days up the hill from the embankment where Andrew Dingman used to bring in his ferry after crossing the Delaware River from New Jersey. That was long ago, and today, Don Budge lives a long way from nowhere. Best of all time, you say?

After two days of mild optimism, NBA labor negotiations ran into bruising reality. The body language of the key figures said it all after talks between owners and players broke off Thursday, ending a three-day run in which 30 hours of discussions took place in New York with the attempted help of federal mediator George Cohen. NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver and San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt glumly assessed the damage at a news conference that was followed a few minutes later by an angry rebuttal from the players' union.

John K. Murio Sr., a member of the Northern California Tennis Hall of Fame, died at his home in San Francisco. He was 84. Murio beat tennis legend Don Budge in five of eight meetings in San Francisco in 1934.

SACRAMENTO -- With California reservoirs low and a second dry winter sure to trigger rationing, Republican lawmakers demanded Wednesday that California's next water bond include new dams. Like Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican legislators insist that California needs to immediately begin the eight-to-15-year process of dam construction to supply millions of additional residents as global warming shrinks the all-important Sierra snowpack.

Don Budge, the first player and only American man to win tennis' Grand Slam, died Wednesday in Scranton, Pa., of cardiac arrest. He was 84. Budge, who had been injured in a car accident Dec. 14, died at Mercy Hospital. After the accident, Budge improved enough to be moved to a nursing home near his residence in Dingmans Ferry. He entered Mercy Hospital on Jan. 17.

A match ending under suspicious circumstances? Indifferent explanations? Strange days on the tennis circuit have not been limited to the modern era. In 1935, spectators at the Pacific Southwest championships were left dazed and confused at the Los Angeles Tennis Club when the players left the court after the third set and never returned. Nineteen-year-old Don Budge recovered from a first-set blowout and won the second and third sets against Roderick Menzel of Czechoslovakia in their final.

When Don Budge was a kid growing up in Oakland, sometimes he would ride the ferry across the Bay to San Francisco and pretend he was on board a great ship that was taking him to England to play Wimbledon. "It was a little game I played with myself," Budge said. "I just dreamed about eventually getting over there." Of course, Budge eventually did get over there and managed to make the most of his appearances.

I am warming up at Rancho Park's driving range in July 2002 when the old instructor approaches. He is wearing a beige Gilligan's hat pulled down to his eyebrows and quietly observes me hitting balls off a faded green mat. "When did you start playing?" he asks. As a teenager, I reply. "How often do you practice?" Not enough. "What is your occupation?" Investigative reporter. He pauses a moment, then gently inquires, "Do you know Frank Deford?" Of course. "Are you familiar with his work?"

Sen. John McCain is scheduled to meet Wednesday with President Bush to discuss changes in how political campaigns are financed, an issue the two divided sharply over during the presidential primary campaign. The Arizona Republican is determined to get an early Senate vote on a major reform plan that he and Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.) have been promoting for years.

Underscoring the importance of gays and lesbians in Democratic politics, most of the party's presidential hopefuls gathered in Los Angeles on Thursday night for a televised forum on gay-rights issues. Six candidates -- including the front-runner, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton; and her closest challengers, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards -- participated.

Underscoring the importance of gays and lesbians in Democratic politics, most of the party's presidential hopefuls gathered in Los Angeles on Thursday night for a televised forum on gay-rights issues. Six candidates -- including the front-runner, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton; and her closest challengers, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards -- participated.

A match ending under suspicious circumstances? Indifferent explanations? Strange days on the tennis circuit have not been limited to the modern era. In 1935, spectators at the Pacific Southwest championships were left dazed and confused at the Los Angeles Tennis Club when the players left the court after the third set and never returned. Nineteen-year-old Don Budge recovered from a first-set blowout and won the second and third sets against Roderick Menzel of Czechoslovakia in their final.

Sen. John McCain is scheduled to meet Wednesday with President Bush to discuss changes in how political campaigns are financed, an issue the two divided sharply over during the presidential primary campaign. The Arizona Republican is determined to get an early Senate vote on a major reform plan that he and Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.) have been promoting for years.

Don Budge, the first player and only American man to win tennis' Grand Slam, died Wednesday in Scranton, Pa., of cardiac arrest. He was 84. Budge, who had been injured in a car accident Dec. 14, died at Mercy Hospital. After the accident, Budge improved enough to be moved to a nursing home near his residence in Dingmans Ferry. He entered Mercy Hospital on Jan. 17.

When Don Budge was a kid growing up in Oakland, sometimes he would ride the ferry across the Bay to San Francisco and pretend he was on board a great ship that was taking him to England to play Wimbledon. "It was a little game I played with myself," Budge said. "I just dreamed about eventually getting over there." Of course, Budge eventually did get over there and managed to make the most of his appearances.

The ferry is gone, but the town is still on the map. Honest. And this is where you'll find the tall, trim tennis player who ranks as perhaps the best of all time. Going on 73, he lives quietly these days up the hill from the embankment where Andrew Dingman used to bring in his ferry after crossing the Delaware River from New Jersey. That was long ago, and today, Don Budge lives a long way from nowhere. Best of all time, you say?

SACRAMENTO -- With California reservoirs low and a second dry winter sure to trigger rationing, Republican lawmakers demanded Wednesday that California's next water bond include new dams. Like Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican legislators insist that California needs to immediately begin the eight-to-15-year process of dam construction to supply millions of additional residents as global warming shrinks the all-important Sierra snowpack.

John K. Murio Sr., a member of the Northern California Tennis Hall of Fame, died at his home in San Francisco. He was 84. Murio beat tennis legend Don Budge in five of eight meetings in San Francisco in 1934.