The marathon tennis match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut mercifully ended Thursday after three days, two suspensions on account of darkness and 11-plus hours of gutsy play. Wednesday’s segment of the match alone lasted 7 hours, 6 minutes, which is longer than any other match in the history of the sport. It got us to thinking what we could accomplish with seven hours of free time on our hands:
1 » Hop on a flight from New York, land in London and order a pint at the airport bar.
2 » Drive from Washington, D.C., to Wilmington, N.C. Or, if you left on a Friday afternoon, drive from Washington, D.C., to the Fairfax county line.
3 » Mow the lawn … at Versailles.
4 » Watch Robert Cheruiyot win the Boston Marathon three times.
5 » Attend a baseball doubleheader. Or, if it’s a Yankees-Red Sox game, catch the first seven innings of Game 1.
6 » Take two Advanced Placement Calculus exams, back-to-back, with a 30-minute break in between.
7 » Watch “Avatar.” Discuss the movie’s political symbolism for an hour and a half. Watch it again.
8 » Teach yourself soccer. Teach yourself French. Walk out of practice.
9 » Teach yourself soccer. Teach yourself Italian. Flop.
10 » Watch every inning of Stephen Strasburg‘s pro career on loop.
