Lack of Sportsmanship = Lack of Class & Dignity

Abbott has RSS feeds that flag black athletes.

 

Race-baiting tactics aside, would there be this kind of outrage if someone called out, say, the Notre Dame quaterback should he make those kind of comments? It IS pretty insolent to say "oh well, I didn't play that great, so it's not so bad," because it minimizes your opponent's accomplishment. It's a way of saying "well, she didn't beat me so much as I beat me," which isn't the first or last time someone will say that, but it's still disheartening, especially from someone that for many people is still the face of women's tennis.

 

Maybe I'm missing something, but what Serena said isn't much different than the things Tiger Woods says after a bad round.

 

Big difference. In golf, you don't "beat" anyone, you outscore them. Your opponent can't do anything to beat you. In a one-on-one tennis match, your opponent can beat you, do things to make you lose. Saying something like that is saying your opponent didn't do a good job. Not terribly classy, but not terribly rare, sadly.

 

Serena may not be great about giving credit to opponents, but I think she also believes she will win if she plays her best game, so she's just being honest. For the record, I think Serena playing her best tennis would have creamed Safina, too. I also think calling a female athlete an "overweight (one word by the way) freak" is pretty classless.

 

He's a one trick pony
One trick is all that horse can do
He's a one trick pony
It's the principle source of his revenue

 

Why let the fact the thread was started by an a-hole dictate discussion?

It's a fair point that athletes who don't give credit to opponents are more about keeping their confidence up rather than showing up the opponent. "Hey, I got my butt kicked, but, uh . . .I could play better! It's on ME!"

It would be nice for there to be a happy medium: "She played great; I'll have to do better next time."

Serena is a hell of a tennis player, absolutely. Do I need to mention that it's not right to focus on anything weight-related when discussing her?

Still, if you speak with enough hardcore "Tennis Etiquette" people, it bears mentioning that the Williams family's reputation is not one of great respect for opponents or the old-school etiquette and traditions of the game. So to some followers of the game, they don't really have the benefit of the doubt.

 

I think it's a very valid discussion, too. And whether the "superior" athlete lets this enter their mind or not, it is a pretty direct insult to the person who beat them to dismiss it as an aberration caused by their own poor play. Their first thought should be to give credit to an opponent that got the better of them -- whether they think they're better or not.

And I even got through all that without a mention of race. ;D

 

Anyone know how many unforced errors she had?

 

Outside of the interview, no ...

 

I don't really mind the quote to begin with, but I mind it even less if she had a gazillion unforced errors and did basically beat herself.

Just like I wouldn't mind a baseball team that gave up a bunch unearned runs talking about how they beat themselves and not giving props to the other team.

 

You'd be wrong about that. Tiger usually goes out of his way to praise his opponents.