The delightful Li Na. Congratulations anyway!

Notice how Li Na seemed happy even in defeat at last Saturday's Australian Open Final? She looked thrilled to just be there at the end of a hard fought match. She was delighted, and having a good time at the finish.

Li Na played a great tournament all through, especially a top class semi final and final. She went down fighting to Kim Clijsters, and dominated the match until the middle part. She likely won ten-fold more admirers in the tennis world with this performance (despite asking the umpire to tell loud Chinese fans not to 'teach me how to play tennis' in the II set).

And at the end, there was no disappointment shown externally. Li Na had quietly gone further than any Asian in Grand Slam singles competition. She was no 'storms in, crashes out' first round specialist. 

She smiled as she sat courtside after her loss, smiled as she chatted with Kim C on the podium, and then gave a graceful, cheerful speech. Gamely, in English, to a vast audience. It was all a good feeling.

As she posed for post match pictures, all dressed up as she held her runner-up plate, she still looked as pleased.

(Now watch for several new Chinese players on the tour. They'll have added this to their production lines)

A great sporting weekend - Tennis, Football, (and swimming).

And there have been several such before.

• Fri,a stellar Australian Open semi final: Nadal vs. Verdasco. List this among the all-time great five setters.
• (Sat, disregard the women's final. Boring. More reason to not watch any of these one siders. Had actually stopped watching a few years.)
• Sun, an amazing men's final. Too bad FeDex lost again to Rafa, but what else could he do to save the match?
• Sun, a thrilling Super Bowl. It all happened in the final two minutes for the Steelers, but it was almost the second (or third?) coming of Kurt Warner. Think his performance was enough to qualify.

No wait, there's more -

• Sun, swim legend Michael Phelps demonstrated his ability to smoke from a bong.

He said:
"I'm 23 years old, and despite the successes I have had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner that people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public -- it will not happen again."

And last time, he'd said:
"Getting into a car with anything to drink is wrong. It's dangerous and it's unacceptable. I'm 19, but was taught that no matter how old you are, you take responsibility for actions, which I do,"

So we look for when he'll say:
"I'm 27 years old, and...."