BY JIM KNIPPENBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Yeah, yeah, we know it's about tennis. But the Great American Insurance ATP Championship is more. It's also party mania.
Consider: When Psst! started covering the event back in the Stone Age, there was one party tent. Later, it expanded to a full row. Later, it expanded next door to the Golf Center. Now this: A new tent has sprung up on the north side, bringing party sites to three.
FULL NIGHT: Tuesday was the mother of all party nights . . .
Time-Warner's annual do is such an event that it takes two tents. "And by the end of the decade," said Joan Knowleswhile checking guests in, "we intend to take over all of them."
This was 450 Warner friends, clients and staffers for cocktails, dinner and such fun that many guests skipped the tennis and stayed at the party.
The round table in the corner, for example. A mix of Channel 9 types, ESPN types, and tennis player Craig Boynton laughed louder, longer and later.
And why was Boynton sitting there with his pants leg pulled up to his knee? Seems he had his injured ankle taped. With no cast to sign, he had folks sign his leg with magic marker. He toasted them: "In the words of Howard Stern, we are all here because of me."
Tag Liebel, as in Liebel and Co., did his annual do for 100 with, what else, dinner and cocktails.
This is a more tennis-conscious crowd, so after beef, ham and turkey, they did the matches, ducking back now and then for a beer or -- 'cause these are some high powered types -- get on a cell phone. The Greater Cincinnati and Dayton chambers of commerce married up for another whopper, one that people always go out of their way to hit. About 400 guests who, like Liebel's guests, disappeared at 7 p.m. for the matches. Because, as Joe Ganim said, "This really is world-class tennis."
And world-class parties.
KIDS TOO: Kids had their day Monday at the United States Tennis Association all-day party.
All day? Yep, says tennis regular Bobbie Farley, who worked the party full of kids and adults from 10 a.m. to nightfall.
Hottest item? After the popcorn, it was the cut glass ATP winner's trophy. Volunteers -- Farley had them from as far as Illinois and Florida -- shot Polaroids of people posing with it.
That's a huge deal to the kind of hard-core tennis fans who hit the USTA party.
Hard-core fans such as Angela Brynn who promised, "next year, I wear some kind of huge blouse and steal the trophy. It's the only way I'll ever get one."
We think she was kidding.
SERVE IT: Tennis wannabes had their day, too.
That would be Cincinnati Bell exec Tom Osha and wife Susie's annual pro am, where they invite 12 clients and four senior players for a mini-tournament. This year, he says, was the best yet.
"All the ones who came were really strong players -- strong enough to make the seniors sweat. I mean really sweat."
Seniors were Tom Gullikson, Davis Cup captain; Fred Stolle, who has the best dirty jokes in North America, Ross Case, an Australian here for the first time, and Marty Riessen, known as The Grubber and a major cut-up.
They did eight games, then retired to Osha-fest, a party full of, well, the usual, and had such a time ATP staffers had to chase them into the other party tents for a meet 'n' greet.
Psst! appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Have an item to report? Call Jim Knippenberg at 768-8513; fax: 768-8330.
Psst! appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Have an item to report? Call Jim Knippenberg at 768-8513; fax: 768-8330.
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