Shall we?
Full disclosure - a bitch is a former high school tennis diva, a huge fan of professional tennis and the kind of tennis viewer who watches that McEnroe/Borg match every damn time it comes on to fill in during a rain delay at Wimbledon.
I fell in love with tennis because it allowed me an outlet for my anger and frustrations built up while being bullied as a young child. There are idols...people of color who I could always look up to...but there was also the amazing satisfaction of hitting the living shit out of a forehand after a day filled with taunts and humiliations.
I also fell in love with the ceremony...the rules, the sorta- courtesy of players calling each others lines (translation - some of those players from "the club" cheated like a South Carolina Governor on a business trip)...and loved knowing that I was part of a tradition that went back hundreds of years.
Sigh.
Over the weekend Serena Williams, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, lost her shit on the court.
I've followed the Williams sisters since they were in braids and braces.
Serena doesn't have a reputation for losing her shit...she has a reputation for channeling her intensity into her game.
But Ms. Williams lost her shit on the court...and one only insults her if one tries to act as if that outburst was normal match-based behavior for her.
Cough.
We've all lost our chili over some bullshit call. Hell, I still have a scar on my leg from a tantrum gone wrong (note to self - hit the ground with the racket, not thy leg).
Many of us have regretted our behavior post freak-out...just as Serena regrets her actions.
Tennis has addressed the incident...Serena has addressed it...and time will repair whatever damage has been done.
Black people get angry...black women get angry...anger happens.
Sometimes we express that anger well and sometimes we don't...just like everyone else.
And, just like everyone else, black hall of fame tennis players will get some serious media attention when they lose it on the court.
Unlike everyone else, those black hall of fame tennis players will also get the added bonus of having racist knaves jump out of their caves and add their two cents to every damn article and post written about whatever incident went down.
Just once...just once, damn it...I'd like to be able to read an article about something a black athlete does without being subjected to a deluge of ig'nant as hell racist comments trying to use an individual's behavior as proof that ALL black people are inferior beasts who should be kept locked up.
Just once...I can't even imagine it...I'd like to be able to read an article like other folks got to read articles about Jimmy Connors - the facts, the opinions and the response minus the absolute statements about ALL black people (well, in Connor's case it would have been ALL white people) blowing up unreasonably at a bad call, not being able to properly express their anger and generally being dangerous bad sports who should be banned from the court.
If I were a lesser person, I'd respond in kind for every Congressional "You lie!!" outburst, every tea bagger who steps over the line between protest and KKK rhetoric, every celebrity who falls from grace and every conservative lawmaker who gets outed for fucking around on his spouse.
But I'm not a lesser person (damn it!) so I must wade through the muck without tossing out a juvenile response featuring an example of a white person who has done the same shit or worse during a tennis match.
Sigh.
There is a weight that many public figures of color carry...the "credit to their race" weight that is added to everything they do, say and support. 'Tis that weight that lingers...even after people of color have made history, broken down barriers and added their achievements to culture and sport.
And 'tis that weight, the predictable absolute statement-based racist comments and thoughts, that demonstrate just how post racial we are not...in politics, in sport or in life.
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Absolutely.
sharkfu-
I might be exaggerating a little here but not too much. You are one of the most amazing writers I have ever read, in blogs or any other medium. I light up whenever I see a new "notes from a bitch" post.
"And, just like everyone else, black hall of fame tennis players will get some serious media attention when they lose it on the court."
"Unlike everyone else, those black hall of fame tennis players will also get the added bonus of having racist knaves jump out of their caves and add their two cents to every damn article and post written about whatever incident went down."
Those two passages put together utterly deconstruct excuses for media racism that, while very lame, are often difficult to flesh out in so few words...at least for me.
I've stored so many of your points since I started reading "notes from a bitch" and they've made for some really valuable ammunition in arguments, both with others and with myself.
I don't have anything to add. I just want you to know that your work is really appreciated. And I'm sure I speak for a lot of readers.
Shark-fu--BTW, I love those McEnroe-Borg matches myself, I was glued to the TV for all of them the first time (rooting for Borg.)
Anyway, I totally agree with you. I'm a huge fans of the Williams sisters. They are so incredibly talented, and they make no excuses for being big, muscular women. They have to be to play their sport, and it's the natural result of their training on their bodies. I'm a big, muscular woman myself, although nothing like their level, and they are my physical heroes.
Serena lost it. It happens to everyone. It was very shocking when it happened because Serena isn't like that normally, but it isn't something we've never seen before in tennis. It's really sad the lengths that the media has gone to criticize her. Wasn't she punished enough by losing the match? Even if these reporters write that sort of racist bullshit, their editors should know enough to pull it out. That's what editors are for! A lot of people aren't doing their jobs, just to sell a few newspapers (or blogads, or whatever.) The good thing is that Serena will get past this and continue her amazing career. And we've learned a few more idiots to skip when reading sports reporting.
"Serena lost it. It happens to everyone. It was very shocking when it happened because Serena isn't like that normally, but it isn't something we've never seen before in tennis. It's really sad the lengths that the media has gone to criticize her. Wasn't she punished enough by losing the match?"
To be fair, her boastful, egotistical comments afterward, coupled with the lack of apology to the lineswoman, seem to be more the focus of current commentary than her offensive behavior on the court (she's hardly the first tennis pro to be a complete jerk on the court, and that's a fact). But she brought it on herself.
I could be wrong, but I thought she did apologize to the lineswoman. I seem to remember something about wanting to give her a hug. Anyway, I'm not sure what they're talking about with "egotistical" comments afterward, but--she IS a champion. If she states that, it's not egotistical, it's stating fact. Why are male athletes allowed to talk themselves up as being so wonderful, I've certainly heard them do it all the time, but if a woman does it, she's "egotistical?"
Hi--
Are you referring to a specific article or video clip? Or just the fact that this is news?
I've gone through a few articles about the incident (NY Times, Wall Street Journal) and I didn't catch absolutist statements in those sources.
Could you post a link?
Thanks!
the comments on the youtube clips are pretty abhorrent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlWoVY0-WHc
From watching the clip, I'm not even sure if it's fair to say she was pissed purely over the call, or because she might have been wrongly accused of something. The judge said that Serena told her "I would kill you." Serena seems genuinely surprised at this accusation. Since it is so out of character for Serena to lose her shit over a bad call, I wonder if the judge was mistaken in what she heard. I can't tell anything Serena says until a couple of officials were brought out to talk to her, so It's impossibly to verify what she actually said.
If she was wrongly accused of saying that, I think her pissed off mood was justified.
You are kidding, right? In case there's any doubt about expletive-laced tirade, here it is.
http://vodpod.com/watch/2186489-serena-im-gonna-fcking-shove-it-down-your-throat
This was way, way over the line. She physically threatened the lineswoman, she's lucky they don't suspend her for a period.
Personally, I think she knew she was going to lose and found a convenient questionable call to go nuts on, and didn't mind getting kicked out.
Her usual class showed. My favorite is when she loses and its never her opponent. To wit:
Top seed Henin beat the American 7-6 6-1 in the quarter-finals for the third consecutive grand-slam event on Tuesday but a despondent Williams gave the Belgian scant praise.
"I just think she made a lot of lucky shots and I made a lot of errors," Williams said at her news conference.
"I really don't feel like talking about it. It's like I don't want to get fined. That's the only reason I came. I can't afford to pay the fines because I keep losing."
Its pretty sad when a great athlete is such a poor sport.
You are kidding, right? In case there's any doubt about expletive-laced tirade, here it is.
Actually, I was not kidding, and I still can't even hear what she says in that clip either. I'll take your word for it, however.
Personally, I think she knew she was going to lose and found a convenient questionable call to go nuts on, and didn't mind getting kicked out.
Now what makes you say that? Serena Williams has been one of the top players for a decade and has come from behind in worse cases than that. I doubt she *knew* she was going to lose and was just waiting for a convenient moment to get thrown out. That's crap.
Her usual class showed. My favorite is when she loses and its never her opponent.
While she has been known to be a bit arrogant after the fact, she has never lost her cool on the court like that before. So it actually did seem out of place for her.
Much of this racism stems from what President Obama talked about in his speech on race. The pushback against welfare and affirmative action was motivated by, as Obama talked about, "...the immigrant experience. As far as they're concerned, no one gave them anything."
If they were all capable of articulating their resentment in those terms alone, then that would be one thing. But resentment has a way of breeding childishness and petty insults along the way. As long as there is a tightly held belief among many that any minority is granted special advantages for whatever reason, then one will always find people who use the slightest slip up to justify their own racism. I wish it were not so, but it is.
Two words John McEnroe no one got to bent over him.
I'm wondering if you followed tennis very closely during that era. I did, and McEnroe often got himself in media hot water when he went overboard (it occasionally spilled out of the tennis media world into the general media, which was very much less common in those days). I don't know whether any one of his incidents was worse than Serena's, but he sure as heck has a longer list of being a complete a$$h0le on court. The difference today is probably partly that it's less forgivable for a woman to be such a jerk because only men are forgiven being outspoken (whether in a civil,constructive way or a really offensive ugly way, as was the case here), and that media attention on sports celebrities has increased dramatically over the years from McEnroe's heydey to Serena's.
I did follow tennis closely during that period, much more so than I do now. McEnroe not only insulted and abused officials, he screamed at them, he got right up into their faces, pointed at them, and even threw his racket in anger more than once. I can be misremembering, but I seem to remember Jimmy Connors throwing his racket so hard it broke and hit a spectator. Can you imagine someone doing that today? Can you imagine if a woman did that? Yes, I've seen players smash their rackets into the court (racket abuse) but that's different than flinging it into the air and not caring what, or who, it hit.
This is what gets me, too. I don't watch tennis, but there are tons of commercials poking fun at his outbursts.
Not to mention that Feddy threw a fit after his match as well, which I heard mentioned in passing before the coverage of Serena's pitching a fit.
Yah not to say she was as nice as pie but some folks thought the call was wrong. And even those female "newscasters” seemed so personally hurt by her. I think it's just her being female and built so well that really pissed them off. Mr. McEnroe became famous for his sh2t and I hear a male commentator kind of brush it off as his purposeful use of intimidation not that I want to see women do the same what Serena did was not really out of line and not in McEnroe league but let's see if she's lauded in the end for it .Sometimes there is a place for anger and angry words. I don’t know about this time but what happened seemed within normal range.