A few years ago a colleague referred to a turf battle at work as less of a turf grab and more "after you, Alphonse." I didn't know what he was talking about, but found out it was a reference to this early 20th century comic strip, featuring two bumbling Frenchmen taking politeness to ridiculous levels. I asked my father if he'd ever heard of it and he said he didn't know the comic strip, but that baseball announcers sometimes refer to two outfielders letting a ball drop between them as an "Alphonse Gaston move." It made me wonder why no one ever says this when two doubles players let a ball pass between them. Maybe it's because doubles isn't covered much on TV. Maybe it's because the Bryan brothers do this less often than I do. Whatever the reason, this seems like a job for Brad Gilbert, who, along with Patrick McEnroe, is announcing today's US Open men's doubles final between Jamie Murray/John Peers and Nicolas Mahut/Pierre-Hugues Herbert on ESPN3 (aka the Internet)) at noon. I would be completely disheveled if @bgtennisnation said this.
And speaking of Brad Gilbert, I am loving these Voya ads:
Photo credit:
"Alphonsegaston" by Opper, Frederick Burr - American Journal Examiner Retrieved from Scoop. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons.
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