The UK wins the Davis Cup

In this age of rampant professionalism (including salaries and bonuses) in sports, the Davis Cup of tennis stands out as an anachronism of amateurism.

The players don't play for money, they play for country.  Without appearance fees or anything else, just for their country.  And they also play real tennis, no tiebreakers, in any set.

(Which can lead to some true epics, like the 1982 match between John McEnroe and Mats Wilander, which went 9-7, 6-2, 15-17, 3-6, 8-6 and over six hours.  McEnroe, to his credit and at odds with his boorish behavior, always showed up for the Davis Cup.)

For many years and for many countries, the Davis Cup was their main sporting event.  It seems almost quaint now, but it used to be one of the premier sporting events on the calendar.

So winning it still means something, and this year, led by the heroics of Andy Murray, the Brits have captured the Davis Cup by defeating the team from Belgium.

Andy may not have won everything he could have or should have (though his timing is good, first winning the Olympics on the Wimbledon centre court and then following that up by winning Wimbledon), but he came through this time.

He won both of his singles matches (both in three sets).  He and his brother Jamie won the doubles match in four sets.  So this is very much Andy's Cup.

It happened to be the first time the UK won it since 1936 -- they also lost in the final in 1978,