Editor's Note: I normally don't pay enough attention to sports to write a post on the stuff. HOWEVER, this is my beloved tennis. So, indulge me today as I rant about sports. I promise this will only happen once in a blue moon.
Generally, I despise spoiled sports people who think they can get away with stuff. That applies to greedy owners, parents on the sideline, and extraordinarily well-paid sports figures. But, mostly to the pro-types*.
When one of these bozos actually gets knocked back into their place, I am happy. Happy because these folks, whether I like it or not, are role models for hundreds of thousands of kids across the world. And whether the athlete likes it or not, they have a responsibility to these kids that came with the price tag called FAME.
So, I read that Serena Williams, defending champion at the US Open, went all mafia on a line judge. Here are the actual details:
1. it was match point but NOT in Serena's favor.
2. the call was poor. There was no foot fault.
3. Serena decided the line judge would feel good having a ball shoved down her throat (announced with screaming and cursing to emphasize the point).
My guess is that Serena was totally freaking out because she saw her title defense being squashed like a bug. That sucks. Still, no excuse. When you go all Michael Corleone on a judge who is just trying to do her job (albeit, poorly), you have lost sight of who you are as a person. You've lost your dignity and your right to be on top. That's exactly what happened to Serena.
Now, if I were Serena's Mommy, I'd have been all over her like stink on poopy. Parents can give stink-eye from as far away as Sweden and their kid will recognize it. Ask Mike. His Mom used to stare him down from the choir loft all the way to the back of the church for talking it up during his Father's sermons. He got the point without anybody raising their voice. If Mrs. Williams, who was in the audience, had done this, it is possible that Serena could have battled back and continued on in the game.
In our lives, we've all had someone make a bad call: like the time your office mate got the raise you really deserved, you lost the game based on someone else cheating and you were the only one to recognize it, or your insurance rates increased because you had a minor health scare four decades again and the condition popped back up temporarily.
But bad calls are an opportunity to do the right thing. You can disagree, but you have to disagree civilly. Especially on a tennis court where several hundred people are watching you and several hundred thousand more are tuned in via TV.
If I spent the next seven hours, I still wouldn't have a comprehensive list of all the sports figures who have gone postal or made bad choices in their careers. From steroids to gambling to drinking and driving, their mistakes are not only theirs alone, but they become a cloudy beacon of light for the youth of America and the world.
Truly, if you can't stand the heat, don't enter the kitchen, people. And it you do and the heat gets all Hades-like to you, please be sure you've made good financial choices so you can sit a spell and get your head back in the right place.
The kids of this country, this world, are counting on you to do the right thing.
*Though, I have to admit that I could write a spell on Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban, the ying-yang of the sports owner's world.
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