Bagel ~ the bread & the Golden Bagel Award

What you see here is sure an edible item ~ some like it so much – it is known as ‘Bagel’ 

Q :  Bagel, shaped like ring doughnut is made of bread – do you know what Golden Bagel Award and with which game is it associated with ?

Bagel is of course an edible item made of bread, shaped like a ring doughnut with a whole in the middle.  The term is associated with Tennis.  When a player wins 6-0 i.e., wins a set without losing a game in that set, he hands out a bagel.  The Golden Bagel Award is an award established in 2004 that honors the professional male tennis player who has handed out more "bagels" (sets won 6-0), than any other player on the circuit.

First on the edible ‘bagel’ ~ shaped like a ring doughnut, but made entirely of bread, it is most sought after though there are many variations. The Bagel ~  bread product, is traditionally shaped by hand into the form of a ring from yeasted wheat dough, roughly hand-sized, which is first boiled for a short time in water and then baked. The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior. 

Bagels are often topped with seeds baked on the outer crust, with the traditional ones being poppy or sesame seeds.  Bagels have become a popular bread product in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, especially in cities with large Jewish populations. Historically, it is believed to have its origin to Poland almost 400 years ago. The country was a sitting duck for the Russians and Swedes, who kept invading and then messing around with the elections of the Polish kings. The Polish were annoyed and took out their frustrations on their invaders.  An unsung hero is credited around this time  to have  rolled malt, salt, yeast, flour, and water into a sort of proto-bagel, a distant, chewier ancestor of the multitudinous bagels we know of today.

In Sports, just like we have ‘ducks’ for the zeroes made on Cricket field; the bagel is associated with Tennis.  The Golden Bagel Award is an award established in 2004 that honors the professional male tennis player who has handed out more defeats without allowing opponents to win even a single game ‘6 – 0’  is  "bagel" ; the award goes to the Player who has handed out most bagels. 

Roger Federer holds the all-time record for most bagels in a single season with 18 going into the Tennis Master's Cup, and a total of 19 in 2006.  To qualify for the award, a player must be ranked in the Top 8 or play in the year-end ATP World Tour Finals. The winner is the one who captures the most bagels between January 1 and the start of the ATP Finals. Davis Cup matches and incomplete sets are not counted. The Association of Tennis Professionals website is used as the definitive data source. Since 2007, in the event of a tie, the number of 'fries/breadsticks' (6-1 sets) determines the winner.

In 2004 it was Roger Federer; 2005 – Rafael Nadal; 2006 – Federer again; 2007 David Ferrer; 2008 & 09 -  Nadal; 2010 – David Ferrer ; 2011 & 12 – Novak Djokovic.  

In modern times, Canadian-born astronaut Gregory Chamitoff is the first person known to have taken a batch of bagels into space on his 2008 Space Shuttle mission to theInternational Space Station.His shipment consisted of 18 sesame seed bagels, the edible ones, for sure

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

25^th Nov. 2012