Elvado
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Post by Elvado on Sept 13, 2009 10:05:37 GMT -5
has just announced he will investigate the lineswoman who called a foot fault on Serena "No Class" Williams.
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Sept 13, 2009 10:54:38 GMT -5
While I haven't heard anything about Holder (or my sarcasm detector hasn't kicked in), I do feel compelled to defend Serena here. I've never been a huge fan of hers, but both Williams sisters have always been classy competitors who are well-respected in the tennis world.
Serena isn't everybody's favorite player, but I've never heard a negative word spoken about her sportsmanship. Yes, she went too far today and deserved the point penalty, but that's certainly not the norm for her.
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theexorcist
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Post by theexorcist on Sept 13, 2009 11:51:39 GMT -5
While I haven't heard anything about Holder (or my sarcasm detector hasn't kicked in), I do feel compelled to defend Serena here. I've never been a huge fan of hers, but both Williams sisters have always been classy competitors who are well-respected in the tennis world. Serena isn't everybody's favorite player, but I've never heard a negative word spoken about her sportsmanship. Yes, she went too far today and deserved the point penalty, but that's certainly not the norm for her. Um, she got a previous penalty in the same tourney for breaking a racket.
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Elvado
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Post by Elvado on Sept 13, 2009 12:29:39 GMT -5
One John McEnroe never threatened to stuff a tennis ball down a lineswoman's f&*#ing throat. Serena Williams is a no class bully.
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Sept 13, 2009 12:35:29 GMT -5
While I haven't heard anything about Holder (or my sarcasm detector hasn't kicked in), I do feel compelled to defend Serena here. I've never been a huge fan of hers, but both Williams sisters have always been classy competitors who are well-respected in the tennis world. Serena isn't everybody's favorite player, but I've never heard a negative word spoken about her sportsmanship. Yes, she went too far today and deserved the point penalty, but that's certainly not the norm for her. Um, she got a previous penalty in the same tourney for breaking a racket. Which is pretty common in women's tennis. Other women do it much more frequently than Serena, who isn't known for her temper.
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Sept 13, 2009 12:40:52 GMT -5
One John McEnroe never threatened to stuff a tennis ball down a lineswoman's f&*#ing throat. Serena Williams is a no class bully. No, Johnny Mac did a lot worse. He once called the umpire "an abortion." If this happened in the middle of the set, nobody would be talking about it. It was a simple point penalty, not a DQ. It just happened to come on match point. Foot faults generally tend to touch a nerve with players. Bad line calls are pretty routine, and now they can just challenge them. But foot faults are different for some reason. If the same line judge calls a few foot faults on a player, they tend to get an earful. A few years ago Hewitt went ballistic at a foot fault at the US Open and started screaming racist comments about the line judge. That doesn't forgive what Serena did. She shouldn't have done it, plain and simple. But it would be wrong to call her a classless bully for it.
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hoya95
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Post by hoya95 on Sept 13, 2009 12:53:56 GMT -5
One John McEnroe never threatened to stuff a tennis ball down a lineswoman's f&*#ing throat. Serena Williams is a no class bully. No, Johnny Mac did a lot worse. He once called the umpire "an abortion." If this happened in the middle of the set, nobody would be talking about it. It was a simple point penalty, not a DQ. It just happened to come on match point. Foot faults generally tend to touch a nerve with players. Bad line calls are pretty routine, and now they can just challenge them. But foot faults are different for some reason. If the same line judge calls a few foot faults on a player, they tend to get an earful. A few years ago Hewitt went ballistic at a foot fault at the US Open and started screaming racist comments about the line judge. That doesn't forgive what Serena did. She shouldn't have done it, plain and simple. But it would be wrong to call her a classless bully for it. They showed that match yesterday. It was Jimmy Connors who said that. But he also said things like "bull crap" and "god darn" so he really was trying to walk the line to not get a penalty. (This took place during a tie-breaker where losing a point would have cost him the set.) Regardless of what's happened before, telling any official that you'll "stuff the %^&%$ ball down their %^&$* throat" will get you technicals in basketball, tossed in baseball, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in football, and it will at least cost you a point in tennis. Crazy. However, for great entertainment, they also showed Ille Nastasie nearly starting a riot during a match against John McEnroe in 1979. Poor guy knew he had no chance and decided to go out with a flourish. Now THAT was funny.
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Elvado
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Post by Elvado on Sept 13, 2009 13:20:47 GMT -5
[No, Johnny Mac did a lot worse. He once called the umpire "an abortion."
What could be wrong with calling an umpire someone's constitutionally protected choice?
You can dress this up all you like. Serena Williams acted like a bully yesterday and threatened physical violence on a woman about half her size.
An intersting footnote is how her mother was preemptively carping to the press about how no one would support Serena in this match. Maybe now she knows why.
The Williams sisters always, repeat always, have an excuse, a gripe or an axe to grind.
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Sept 13, 2009 15:24:56 GMT -5
[No, Johnny Mac did a lot worse. He once called the umpire "an abortion." What could be wrong with calling an umpire someone's constitutionally protected choice? You can dress this up all you like. Serena Williams acted like a bully yesterday and threatened physical violence on a woman about half her size. An intersting footnote is how her mother was preemptively carping to the press about how no one would support Serena in this match. Maybe now she knows why. The Williams sisters always, repeat always, have an excuse, a gripe or an axe to grind. Sure, Serena acted like a bully. Show me a person who hasn't acted like a bully at some point in their life. My point wasn't that this was acceptable, my point was that Serena isn't a bully by nature. This was not normal behavior for her. I think Serena's mother was simply observing that the crowd would likely support Clijsters, not whining about it. The crowd has been on Clijsters' side the entire tournament, as it should be. What she's done in this tournament has been absolutely amazing. Serena and her mother knew what was coming, and I don't think they were bitter about it (Serena and Clijsters have always gotten along very well). Everybody wants Clijsters to win this tournament, including Serena now. I think this whole fiasco has also been disrespectful to Clijsters. She had Serena beat before the foot fault.
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Post by AustinHoya03 on Sept 13, 2009 17:35:40 GMT -5
Shades of gray can certainly be found in this story, but it's best summed up in black and white: both parties acted like children.
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theexorcist
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Post by theexorcist on Sept 13, 2009 17:46:05 GMT -5
Shades of gray can certainly be found in this story, but it's best summed up in black and white: both parties acted like children. Um, who was the other party besides Serena who didn't act correctly?
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vcjack
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Post by vcjack on Sept 13, 2009 19:03:08 GMT -5
Shades of gray can certainly be found in this story, but it's best summed up in black and white: both parties acted like children. Um, who was the other party besides Serena who didn't act correctly? As its been said, calling a foot fault in that situation is beyond crazy. Its like calling a decorum tech on a player who doesn't have his shirt fully tucked in at the end of a basketball game.
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theexorcist
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Post by theexorcist on Sept 13, 2009 20:09:04 GMT -5
Um, who was the other party besides Serena who didn't act correctly? As its been said, calling a foot fault in that situation is beyond crazy. Its like calling a decorum tech on a player who doesn't have his shirt fully tucked in at the end of a basketball game. No! Calling a questionable foot fault is not the same as threatening a line judge!
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Post by AustinHoya03 on Sept 13, 2009 21:15:37 GMT -5
As its been said, calling a foot fault in that situation is beyond crazy. Its like calling a decorum tech on a player who doesn't have his shirt fully tucked in at the end of a basketball game. No! Calling a questionable foot fault is not the same as threatening a line judge! I don't think anyone's arguing they're the same thing. If I were forced to pick a villain in this story, it would be Serena, I guess. The line judge reminds me of Walter Sobcheck in the Big Lebowski. Or a grade school gym student who calls kids out when they kick the big red ball before it crosses home plate. I've played tennis all my life, and I've only called a foot-fault once, and only then because I got tired of my opponent taking three steps toward the service line after every toss. Even though he was blatantly over the line, he reacted more or less like Serena, because the foot-fault is the cheapest call in tennis. On top of that, I've heard sound/video clips in which Serena threatens the line judge with cartoonish violence, but I have not heard one in which she threatens the line judge's life. It appeared to me that the person who over-enforced the rules gleefully ran over to the umpire and embellished her story.
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Sept 14, 2009 21:27:44 GMT -5
And Federer went after the chair umpire in tonight's match. By your standards, that makes him a classless bully too.
The real story here shouldn't be two well-respected players having moments that they won't be proud of. The real story should be a 20 year old kid beating the runaway top 2 players in the world in successive matches to win the US Open, and a mother who retired from tennis over 2 years ago winning the US Open.
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Elvado
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Post by Elvado on Sept 15, 2009 8:12:02 GMT -5
And Federer went after the chair umpire in tonight's match. By your standards, that makes him a classless bully too. The real story here shouldn't be two well-respected players having moments that they won't be proud of. The real story should be a 20 year old kid beating the runaway top 2 players in the world in successive matches to win the US Open, and a mother who retired from tennis over 2 years ago winning the US Open. My TV feed must have gone out when Federer threatened to stuff the ball down the umpire's fu#*ing throat. It's this kind of relativism that makes me sick. Serena acted the part of a bully and a jackass. Accept it.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Sept 15, 2009 8:31:41 GMT -5
Serena Williams acted ridiculously. She gave what I thought was a pretty good apology afterwards, so I'm inclined to just let it go. She certainly deserves to be fined, I think suspending her might be a bit much. I don't know the woman, and I don't really follow women's tennis, but I don't think she has a reputation for this sort of thing, does she? If not, I think it's something that can be chalked up to a very bad moment in the heat of competition, and move on. I did not see what Federer did, but I haven't seen any stories mention anything untoward today. What does "went after" mean? If he was just arguing a call, it is completely unfair to compare it to Ms. Williams' actions. Arguing calls and physically threatening an official are on pretty opposite ends of the "acceptable" spectrum. If Federer did more than that (which I really doubt), I'd like to see it. Either way, I think we can all agree on one thing: Kanye West is an idiot.
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kchoya
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Post by kchoya on Sept 15, 2009 10:24:50 GMT -5
Serena Williams acted ridiculously. She gave what I thought was a pretty good apology afterwards, so I'm inclined to just let it go. She certainly deserves to be fined, I think suspending her might be a bit much. I don't know the woman, and I don't really follow women's tennis, but I don't think she has a reputation for this sort of thing, does she? If not, I think it's something that can be chalked up to a very bad moment in the heat of competition, and move on. I did not see what Federer did, but I haven't seen any stories mention anything untoward today. What does "went after" mean? If he was just arguing a call, it is completely unfair to compare it to Ms. Williams' actions. Arguing calls and physically threatening an official are on pretty opposite ends of the "acceptable" spectrum. If Federer did more than that (which I really doubt), I'd like to see it. Either way, I think we can all agree on one thing: Kanye West is an idiot. He was sitting in his chair between sets arguing with umpire that his opponent took too much time to challenge a call. He did drop the f-bomb a couple of times, but it's not even in the same universe as what Serena did.
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Sept 15, 2009 10:31:00 GMT -5
I'm jsut amazed Del Potro won. He's only the second person besides Feder or Nadal to win a major title since Djokivic won the 2005 australian open. that's ridiculous and the fact that he had to go through Federer and Nadal is sick. I'm sad I didn't watch the final.
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EasyEd
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Post by EasyEd on Sept 15, 2009 10:49:12 GMT -5
I think Serena should be forced to stand in the middle of the court and apologize to the professional tennis association and then reprimanded in public.
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