It's a Conspiracy, Re Gamwto

Our very own Captain Pikifrinos reports on the conspiracy that scuppered Our Marcos' streak. We will always love Marcos and we hereby vow to punish the Swedes.

"Off we went to the Pilot Pen, again with our flags, shirts, hats, signs...we missed the couple of first games in the set but the whole stadium knew when we arrived...Ate Marko mou....yelled the other crazy Cypriot...Lebenti mou...I yelled at the top of my lungs....(then some geese flew from the nearby marsh)...perfect weather....perfect day for tennis...perfect day for the Cyprus flag to be waving in the air

Like classic parapotties-Cypriots we bought Middle Tier tickets but made it straight to the box seats...(no, no meso involved here...just a sleeping 2-yr old and some nice talk from the spouse (No1 tennis player in Connecticut in her prime, before she met me, the sieftalia-master)

So, we are sitting with this lady in her box seats but she is loving it...of the 6-7,000 in attendance you hear these two crazy folks from the Northwest corner yelling with every opportunity, even though our insticts almost pushed us a couple of times to yell soccer slogans.


I have said it before and I will say it again...I never felt more proud to be from the enalia Kypros than the last couple of nights...the first time I held a Cyprus flag was when they lined us up along the road before the Hilton Hotel to welcome Kaunda....a re Spiro...you were big, large, larger than life...just the thought of my last intimate encounter with the flag almost made me puke the Nathan's hot-dog I just had between the 3rd and 4th game.

But this encounter with the Cyprus flag was different. It felt good. Marcos played well but the cold, skinny, bowlegged Swede had an answer for everything...he was at least 6'2" and he had a tremendous reach...

So the two of us (sharing the same last name, born and raised in the Ayios Dometios streets and playing for ENADara back in the days-he played basketball, I played soccer, both vegeterians (ie eating animals that eat vegetables) are yelling and screaming for Marcos...he sees us and after I promise him sheftalia if he wins he cruises through his next game...next thing I know the whole stadium is rooting for Marcos.

The people next to us are asking us to tell them somethin to say in Greek...people are coming up to us and telling us how great Marcos is and that he has a great heart...

In the end Marcos lost but what counts is that his name and Cyprus were heard in the stadium...people in Connecticut now know where Cyprus is...and it only cost us a few bucks for the tickets, and some yellow and green t-shirt paint from JoAnn's fabric ...without spending money to feed fat lobbyists in NY and Washington, without parties at embassies and consulates...just a family of four, a couple of friends, some t-shirts and flags were enough....

I wish we had 1000 Marcoses to play tennis...Marco you made us proud...you have allowed my kids to see me get excited once again for my heritage, my country, my gene pool (OK, OK now I am pushing it).

We might not have thrown a reception at presidential palaces or pretended to be your greatest fans like some to be unnamed back in the homeland, but we humbly applaud you for what you have done for yourself and for us, the simple Cypriot folk.

As I was leaving the court I could control this crazy idea that suddenly popped into my brain, which has been infected by that Mulan Disney song: '...Ancestors hear my plea...'etc,etc - which my kids hear non-stop these days.

Could this have been a conspiracy? If Marcos had beaten the Swede, maybe the Swedes would be upset and would cancel their trips to the island...and then the government officials would not be able to show that our tourist industry is still doing well ...kkiaorka sou...the instant-replay cameras were obviously tampered with....and if the couple of challenges Marcos made had gone for him he would be through to the next round. But sikkime, let the Souigezes go to Cyprus and let the locals, donning MarO'Polo sleeveless shirts welcome them...

So after a nice family photo-op, we put away the Marcos t-shirts until next year's Pilot Pen tournament. But we will see what happens next week at the US Open.

There's no doubt, though, that it was a conspiracy. Captain Lillique strikes again."