"I deserve to get a call once in a while."
"Believe me, I've had things go against me many times, plenty of times. I deserve to get a call once in a while."
- Jennifer Capriati of her win against Serena Williams after a poor call by US Open umpire
ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST - next to the equality and fairness lessons my mom really hammered in- that was always the mantra. I remember the first time that I realized that the boys were pulling away from me athletically. That suddenly they could run faster and maybe farther, that they could kick the ball harder in kickball, that they could really peg me during dodgeball games and that they were nearly taking my arms off during RED ROVER. I also recall the first/last time I tried - and failed - to play the "weaker sex" card. My little brother and I were biking and running at this little paved over play area in Swope Park. He came up with the clever idea of having a race. We lined up at one end with my mom on the other side of the play lot waiting to declare the winner.
On your Mark...
Get Set...
Go...
Jason and I took off, only I was already behind him within seconds. I couldn't let him humiliate me without doing anything. So I grabbed my leg and fell to the ground writhing in pain. A performance worthy of Shakespeare in the round. I rolled to and fro, panted, moaned in phony agony and waited for my mom to come rushing to my side to fawn over me and forget that my brother would have decimated me in the foot race. The seconds soon turned to minutes and I realized that I was making an even bigger dolt of myself by making my loss into a Broadway production.
No one likes a disgraceful loser and people loath a boastful winner. The only thing I can think of as worse than either is a winner who somehow thinks the victory was "owed" to them. The fact is that umpires, referees and judges are human, they will make mistakes and the second fact is that this humanity will work to each athlete's advantage, at times, and disadvantage, at others. Capriati's statement after her US Open victory today just opens up a can of worms no one wants to deal with. Should we go back to footage of every match ever played by each woman - Capriati and Serena - and tally the times that the judges have slighted each, divide by the total number of matches each has played and them multiply by some factor of the number of victories each has racked up? This seems to be Capriati's suggestion. I don't agree.
Great - you won - now be a decent sport and go home with your head held high - not because you were paid back for all the times you were let down in the past, but because you played a stellar game and came out on top.
Too bad - you lost - now be a decent sport and go home with your head held high - not because you lost because of one bad call and it would have otherwise been yours, but because you did your very best.
The presupposition of this argument is, of course, that the playing field is indeed fair.
- Jennifer Capriati of her win against Serena Williams after a poor call by US Open umpire
ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST - next to the equality and fairness lessons my mom really hammered in- that was always the mantra. I remember the first time that I realized that the boys were pulling away from me athletically. That suddenly they could run faster and maybe farther, that they could kick the ball harder in kickball, that they could really peg me during dodgeball games and that they were nearly taking my arms off during RED ROVER. I also recall the first/last time I tried - and failed - to play the "weaker sex" card. My little brother and I were biking and running at this little paved over play area in Swope Park. He came up with the clever idea of having a race. We lined up at one end with my mom on the other side of the play lot waiting to declare the winner.
On your Mark...
Get Set...
Go...
Jason and I took off, only I was already behind him within seconds. I couldn't let him humiliate me without doing anything. So I grabbed my leg and fell to the ground writhing in pain. A performance worthy of Shakespeare in the round. I rolled to and fro, panted, moaned in phony agony and waited for my mom to come rushing to my side to fawn over me and forget that my brother would have decimated me in the foot race. The seconds soon turned to minutes and I realized that I was making an even bigger dolt of myself by making my loss into a Broadway production.
No one likes a disgraceful loser and people loath a boastful winner. The only thing I can think of as worse than either is a winner who somehow thinks the victory was "owed" to them. The fact is that umpires, referees and judges are human, they will make mistakes and the second fact is that this humanity will work to each athlete's advantage, at times, and disadvantage, at others. Capriati's statement after her US Open victory today just opens up a can of worms no one wants to deal with. Should we go back to footage of every match ever played by each woman - Capriati and Serena - and tally the times that the judges have slighted each, divide by the total number of matches each has played and them multiply by some factor of the number of victories each has racked up? This seems to be Capriati's suggestion. I don't agree.
Great - you won - now be a decent sport and go home with your head held high - not because you were paid back for all the times you were let down in the past, but because you played a stellar game and came out on top.
Too bad - you lost - now be a decent sport and go home with your head held high - not because you lost because of one bad call and it would have otherwise been yours, but because you did your very best.
The presupposition of this argument is, of course, that the playing field is indeed fair.
posted by Fluffy78 at 11:30 PM
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