Nick Paumgarten of the New Yorker is a truly gifted writer - and I don't say that just because he was my roommate for two years at Princeton. If you've read his quirky, wide-ranging stuff over the years you know I speak the truth.

So I'm thrilled to see Nick will be filing dispatches from the US Open at Flushing Meadows (along with John Colapinto) on the New Yorker's new blog, The Sporting Scene.

Here's a riff from Nick's first post:

For some reason, New Yorkers, when referring to the U.S. Open, tend to just call it "the tennis." As in, "Did you watch the tennis last night?" "Are you going to the tennis?" "See you at the tennis." You don't hear anyone saying, "I'm going to the football." "Did you watch the baseball last night?" Or, if you do, you're probably talking to someone from, like, Estonia. (I'm told by my brother that in Britain they say "the cricket" and in Australia "the footy.") "The tennis." The use of the "the" is odd but telling. It hints at the elemental status that the Open has in this town. To most New Yorkers, there is no tennis save that which is played in Queens for two weeks at the end of the summer.

Keep your eye on this blog for the next two weeks. You will not be disappointed.