wow serena willams is a head case

[JohnHemlock]

LOL, someone could start a thread about organic carrot gardening and Lance would get mentioned within 20 posts. So predictable.

This is a world-class athlete who cut her foot open and couldn't finish the 2010 season. Then had a pulmonary embolism this spring, putting her 2011 season at risk. To go from that to the finals of the US Open is a fairly tremendous arc and she was no doubt putting huge emotional pressure on herself to essentially salvage the last 12 months of her waning career. Not excusing the rant or the unprofessionalism but I didn't think her behavior was any worse than churlish.

Wait, I forgot that we don't really give the benefit of the doubt around here. So I say DOPER!!! OFF WITH HER HEAD!!! I THINK SHE AND LANCE HAVE ORGIES AT THE BEAVERTON HQ!!!

[Chad]

Magic?

[Jef58]

A lot of the points brought up were about composure and respect for the rules and guidelines of the game. If you don't like the way things go, it doesn't give you the right to act in that manner on a very public stage. Keep it in the locker room. She gets paid a lot of money swinging a racket at a ball, compare that to people who busted their ass getting degrees to end up making a fraction of what she does.

She can act like a spoiled little child who didn't get her way, but the public who pays her salary doesn't have to approve or put up with it. They seem to forget that aspect of what they do....

[JohnHemlock]

A lot of the points brought up were about composure and respect for the rules and guidelines of the game. If you don't like the way things go, it doesn't give you the right to act in that manner on a very public stage. Keep it in the locker room. She gets paid a lot of money swinging a racket at a ball, compare that to people who busted their ass getting degrees to end up making a fraction of what she does.

She can act like a spoiled little child who didn't get her way, but the public who pays her salary doesn't have to approve or put up with it. They seem to forget that aspect of what they do....

Right, she lost her composure. Unfortunate but it doesn't make her a doping she-ape. She lost her cool, big deal, don't watch her next time. That doesn't mean we need to sic Jeff Novitsky on her.

And when the public quits paying the salaries of people like that or much worse (Barry Bonds, Tiger Woods, Mike Tyson, Tony Stewart, etc) let me know.

Finally, not sure what her level of income has to do with it? Maybe some of those people who busted their ass for a useless unproductive degree should've looked at one of USTAs fine tennis academies? It's never too late, ask for the VSalon discount!

http://www.usta.com/Coaches-Organize...CourtTraining/

[JeffS]

She gets paid a lot of money swinging a racket at a ball, compare that to people who busted their ass getting degrees to end up making a fraction of what she does.

Yes, let's compare the amount of time, work and dedication it takes to become a top level professional athlete to that of the average college degree holder.

Busted ass indeed... maybe if they fell out of their loft.

[Jef58]

Wow... I didn't realize that it would strike such a nerve. As far as her income level goes, if I have to explain that to you....... In the grand scheme of things, that call did not ruin the world or her career. Get over it and play the game.... Maybe we'll see her in Cage fighting or wrestling soon.

BTW... I never said anything about doping. I don't really like or dislike Serena Williams, my point is respect the rules and guidelines of the game, something that is getting rare nowadays.

[krthornton]

Yes, let's compare the amount of time, work and dedication it takes to become a top level professional athlete to that of the average college degree holder.

Busted ass indeed... maybe if they fell out of their loft.

Why are we comparing the top level to the average?

[XR2]

She was rude but I wouldn't class that as an outburst. WTF? She disagreed with the chair's call and rudely set about letting her know. I was expecting a McEnroe yelling spell. Not a tennis fan but it seems mild compared to.........uhm lets say .

[bikinchris]

Eddy Merckx was not an ass and he was the biggest cycling champ ever, proving you can be both a champion and a gentleman.

Champs and not asses:

Jack Nicklaus
Arnold Palmer
Martina Navratilova
Eddy Merckx
Magic Johnson
Steffi Graf
Walter Payton
Roger Staubach


It can be done without whining and moaning and bitching about the umps.

Add Drew Brees to that list. Class act in every way it can be measured.

As for Venus... Look at her arms. She has bigger guns than the men. That IS NOT natural.

[bikinchris]

Yes, let's compare the amount of time, work and dedication it takes to become a top level professional athlete to that of the average college degree holder.

Busted ass indeed... maybe if they fell out of their loft.

Okay. A college degree holder started probably in kindergarten or pre k and went theough 12 years of elementray, middle and high school. Then 4 years of college, 2 of which are graduate school. Now, if they are going for an advanced degree, then add 2 to 6 years depending on which degree and what field. Then to be successful in business, they may have to work as an intern (although probably not with an advanced degree). So, they are still in school when your average pro athlete does two years and goes to the draft for stupid amoiunts of money.

So overall, they are not too different in the number of years it took to develop the talents they use to make money. Maybe a few more years for the graduate.
Of course, another aspect is that your average pro athlete is flat broke and bankrupt 5 years after retirement and your average college graduate has a normal chance to make money until retirement at a much later date.

[bellman]

She gets paid a lot of money swinging a racket at a ball, compare that to people who bust their ass working at thier chosen profession to end up making a fraction of what she does.

I think this reads better

[justinf]

Wait, I forgot that we don't really give the benefit of the doubt around here. So I say DOPER!!! OFF WITH HER HEAD!!! I THINK SHE AND LANCE HAVE ORGIES AT THE BEAVERTON HQ!!!

Cool. Based on her support of the fight against cancer, I'll forgive the occasional roided-up tirade.

[JeffS]

Why are we comparing the top level to the average?

I didn't make the comparison, he did.

[JeffS]

Okay. A college degree holder started probably in kindergarten or pre k and went theough 12 years of elementray, middle and high school.

Along with every other person in the country, including the pro-athletes, many of which have the four years of college as well.

I stand behind my statement. Yes, there may be people who spend as much "free" time studying as an athlete spends training, but they are few and far between.

[dang]

Along with every other person in the country, including the pro-athletes, many of which have the four years of college as well.

I stand behind my statement. Yes, there may be people who spend as much "free" time studying as an athlete spends training, but they are few and far between.

It's neither here nor there. Plenty of people training for serious work put in 10-12 hours a day as grad students, or post docs, or med students or residents, or young scientists trying to establish a lab, a stream of publications and funding, etc., or junior attorneys practicing in certain segments of the legal profession. And you cannot really practice 10-12 hours of tennis a day -- tennis plus gym plus whatever, your arm would fall off. Trying to make it in pro tennis requires some very taxing travel, and an ability to handle all sorts of psychological strain, and the physical tools or gifts, and a whole bunch of luck, and yeah, some focus and a work ethic, but hours per day is not really a big deal compared to all sorts of work, whether the other work requires a Ph.D. or a G.E.D. And hours-per-day counts, but it's really just a small component of what differentiates one sort of compensation from another.

For one's self or one's kids? It's really more about what one values and where might find a combination of engagement, satisfaction, and a livelihood. And what you're capable of. Johnnie Mac's dad was a lawyer who sent his kids to private school. Mac then went to Stanford, if only in an athlete's program, and only for a year before dropping out to become one of the greatest tennis players to ever swing a racket. I was a decent regional-caliber tennis player, but I knew before I was fifteen that I was not going to develop into a world beater and I had other talents, and potentially more sustaining interests. I don't begrudge Serena her money. She's a champion who has helped to elevate the women's pro game, and the money comes from the fact that she's not just a human person but also a product and a brand. Millions of people find beauty or excitement or entertainment or even just distraction when her hitting the ball is represented by pixels on a tv screen. Her brand sells tennis rackets because folks like the association. A surgeon cannot really sell his services to 10 million people at a time. And my buddy Dave doesn't sell autographed copies of his retina surgery tools.

My dad loved tennis and I was raised, I suppose, to admire certain tennis players. But I think I was raised to admire other people more, and to admire them for other, very different types of work and accomplishments. I think that was a good thing, not least because being the number 500 tennis player for anything more than an instant on your way up the ladder means that you're a struggling hack for a few years, one whose struggles are of no real value to anybody, whereas being the number 500 in all sorts of other things might actually make for a life-long career, with work that's of value to one's self and others.

The tirade? Not a little nuts, and she should chill; and she'd do both herself and her brand a service if she'd apologize. But I'm not a hater. I like watching her play.