Fernando Verdasco out of French Open for positive COVID test

On final day, 2 NL spots and AL Central crown in play

There&rsquo;s a reason I don&rsquo;t like mirrors.
				It&rsquo;s like when I look in a mirror, I see myself and, quite frankly, mirrors don&rsquo;t lie.
				Oh yeah, some of them are made incorrectly &mdash; they tend to perform like those in the Fun House at amusement parks, distorting one&rsquo;s actual image.
				Yeah, right. Or as my friend says, &ldquo;Sure.&rdquo;
				Mirrors and scales &mdash; the two most feared inventions of overweight humans.
				Like me.
				Well, it&rsquo;s time to take action.
				I really don&rsquo;t know how I gained as much weight as I have, but I am determined to lose some of it. I want to return to a normal weight that will return me to my clothes that I can no longer wear.
				And also, to allow me to look in a mirror and step on a scale.
				My doctor tells me the key is to lower carbohydrate intake. Sounds simple, until you actually institute this plan. But I will give it a shot.
				I plan on staying away from some of my favorites, like pizza, pasta, bread, sweets, starches.
				The war on carbs is on.
				I remember what my Uncle Jim once told me when he was losing weight.
				&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to look portly in my casket,&rdquo; he said.
				Well, OK Uncle Jim, but let&rsquo;s have a better approach to weight loss than that.
				How about we lose the weight so we don&rsquo;t look portly &mdash; a kinder, gentler term for fat &mdash; in the mirror or in the eyes of others?
				I have many friends and family &mdash; of all sizes and shapes. And I have noticed a trend in America that seems to indicate that being overweight has become somewhat commonplace. We need to change that.
				Many years ago when I took a wonderful trip to Europe &mdash; England, France and Italy &mdash; I learned something quite remarkable.
				The European people were in much better shape than the group I was traveling with &mdash; they weren&rsquo;t quite as &ldquo;portly,&rdquo; shall I say.
				While in Paris, around the corner from our hotel was a pastry shop. Of course there was.
				This little shop was lurking within short walking distance, and it had two big front windows that displayed many of the fine pastries made right there in that shop.
				Of course a group of us had to go in and try out some of those products.
				A lovely woman was behind the counter. I said &ldquo;bonjour,&rdquo; and she responded appropriately in French. I tried my best to continue the conversation in her native language, but my French vocabulary was a bit limited.
				At this point, the woman began to speak to me in English.
				She thanked me for at least respecting her language, but she said she knew as soon as we all walked in that we were Americans.
				I asked her how she knew that so quickly.
				&ldquo;We know which tourists are Americans,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Americans wear shorts and sneakers and they are fat.&rdquo;
				Ouch.
				But truer words were never spoken.
				I tell that story because if there ever comes a next time for me to be in France, Italy, England or any other country, I don&rsquo;t want the native folk to know my nationality by my waistline. And I won&rsquo;t be wearing shorts, either.
				So with that determination at hand, I embark on this quest to drop some pounds &mdash; to get un-portly.
				Willpower is a must. Prayer will also help.
				Where there&rsquo;s willpower, there will be a way.

Beyond the Byline: Bonjour diet; au revoir pounds