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Quote of the Day: “You Cannot Be Serious”
I’m old enough to remember it in real time: the moment on June 22, 1981, when the enfant terrible of men’s tennis had a meltdown in the hallowed grounds of the Championships, Wimbledon, rocking the well-mannered crowd and the horrified announcers to their core. (He’d almost been thrown out earlier in the tournament for having called one of the umpires “the pits of the world.”) Lawn tennis (when you can find it) has not improved since the advent of “Johnny Mac,” at least in this former fan’s opinion — I was always more about the strawberries and cream, and the cream teas, than I ever was about the on-court antics of spoiled and vulgar young men and unnaturally muscular and grunting young women.
John Patrick McEnroe turned 60 years old Saturday. Welcome to geezerhood, John. Nice to see you’ve decided to act your age at long last. Or at least that you’re self-aware enough to quote basketball great Connie Hawkins: “The older I get the better I used to be.”
Gosh, I think that’s true of me too. And probably everybody else. Happy Birthday, John McEnroe!
Published in Sports
“I’m not as good as I once was,
But I’m as good once as I ever was.”
John McEnroe actually made me feel sorry for Jimmy Connors.
Boy were those shorts short ! Bjorn Borg was my favorite.
Loved him. I was also fond of Boris Becker, a very different style of player, but such exuberance in his early years. It was just fun to watch him play.
I remember that too. At the time I was not especially a fan, thought he was embarrassing, but I also appreciated his moxie. I didn’t dislike him. Maybe because I come from the same scrappy Irish environment.
I’ve come to understand that my own Irish background was replete with bursts of anger and vitriol and thought nothing of it. Anger doesn’t bother me as much as it does others. I truly don’t understand why it’s as bad as it’s supposed to be. I think it’s a perfectly valid emotion and can be expressed just like any other, though not to excess.
At least he never demanded an apology like Ms. Williams.
“Is this a private fight or can anyone join in?” said the Irishman at the barroom brawl.
I know it’s a valid, and not in or of itself a “bad” emotion. And there’s nothing wrong with expressing it constructively. And acting out on a tennis court, even rudely, is nothing compared to what some people are guilty of when it comes to handling anger poorly.
Yes, McEnroe’s outbursts sprang from an honest belief that, in any given situation he was in the right, and was being treated unfairly. Most of the stuff that goes on today, particularly on the women’s side, seems calculated, and too-well thought out to be called “anger.” It seems more like grievance-mongering and baiting of one or another sex or race or class so score a societal or political point.
lol. My husband’s family is Polish. They seem to have the same set of rules.
Say what you will about McEnroe’s behavior, he was a tennis genius and fun to watch.
The difference for me with tennis today and the tennis of the 1970’s & 80’s (ie: Conners, McEnroe, Borg, Aggassi, Lendl, Edberg, Becker, Cash, Wilander, Noah, etc.) was that in that era I actually turned on the television and watched the tennis.
There has never been anybody quite like “Rocket” Rod (Rodney George) Laver. He has been my tennis hero ever since I learnt about the game, now over sixty years past. My sister met him years ago and has assured me that he is a perfect gentleman, also.
Hate to be a nitpicker She but Connie Hawkins was a basketball player. As for Mac, as far as I was concerned he was a huge step up from Jimmy Connors who he knocked off the top of the American tennis heap. At least he knew he was a jerk and his style of play was genius.
Oh, thank you. I did know that, but my fingers betrayed me. I’ll fix it in the OP.
Neither of them was self-effacing or humble, I’ll give you that. I’m not so sure there was much between them, but I agree that McEnroe, perhaps because he was more volatile in his personality and had more variety to his game style, was more fun to watch when he was actually playing tennis.
Laver and Newcombe are favorites here…But Mac is definitely the clown prince – and a wonderful successor to the late, great Bud Collins.
I used to watch Rod Laver (and Margaret Court, and Virginia Wade) with Granny and Grandpa when I was a small child). I’m not surprised at your sister’s report on his demeanor. His game, although tough, was always patient and his behavior gentlemanly. I’m sure he carried all those things with him off the court.
We are blessed that the current top players who do not use theatric gamesmanship. You will note that Mc didn’t use the screaming claims of injustice against Borg in any of their matches. He was a genius, and he tried to get Borg to return to the game when Borg abruptly retired. He understood that the rivalry would improve his game and be a benefit to the game, it is a pity that Borg could not make that choice. It is also a pity that folks who make the decisions concluded that serve and volley tennis was boring and that all courts would become so slow that we no longer have top players who can succeed playing that style. The 6’10” doctor Ivo is the only player to play mostly serve and volley. Mc may have had one of the best years in tennis history loosing less that 5 matches. It is hard to know how Fed would match against Rod if both were at their prime, I pick Fed, the 5+ inches in height that all the current top players have would be hard to consistently beat. Fed first beat Sampras at Wimbledon playing serve and volley, so I think he could match up with Rod who played all of his winning grand slam matches on grass except of course the French.
Forgot about John Newcombe, yes, another terrific player. Ken Rosewall, as well. The great Australians of that era.
Not even I am old enough to remember Fred Perry, the last Englishman to win Wimbledon (in 1936). Andy Murray, who won in 2013 is a Scotsman. Not the same thing at all. Although I do love a man in a kilt.
The Great English Hope of my childhood was Mark Cox, the first amateur player to beat a professional (I think it was Pancho Gonzales) when the tennis tournaments started to go “Open” around 1970. He also played on the British Davis Cup team, and Dad and I went to Cincinnati to see him play in one of their more successful outings. Probably mid-70s or so.
McEnroe was entirely correct about this. The ball was on the line. Chalk flew up. It was a bad call.
Unlike Serena Williams’s recent, pathetic display, he didn’t claim some victimhood, real or imagined, and he didn’t demand an apology. He forthrightly confronted someone who had done something wrong, with a mild amount of anger and annoyance.
It is very difficult to understand how this call could have been missed. The chalk puff was quite apparent on the camera, and I would expect that the line judges (or whatever they’re called in tennis) have a better view than the camera.
I actually played in several pick up basketball ball games with Connie Hawkins on the opposing team. Thank goodness he wasn’t guarding me. Before he was cleared to play in the NBA he played on the two entries of the ABA the Condors and the Pipers . They won the ABA championship in their last year of existence . I was at the game. Connie stayed in Pittsburgh in the summer and frequented the courts at various parks to stay in shape. They had a real cast of characters. My college team played their games before the ABA games at the Civic Arena and I got to know a few. Connie was a quiet guy that let his actions speak for him. He must have had his arm twisted to come up with that quote.
He was Australian, wasn’t he? And left-handed, too, if I recall correctly.
I loved the Civic Arena, and attended many shows, performances, and games there over the years. Was there one evening (at the Pittsburgh Folk Festival) for one of the very few times they retracted the roof. It was lovely. For those who aren’t familiar with it, the Civic Arena was in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh, and looked like this:
The roof could split open and circle back on itself until it was all layered and hidden underneath the 1/6th segment that you can see at the front in the photo. It turned out to take much longer, and cost much more than had been anticipated (the more things change the more they stay the same), but was an unforgettable experience, as you went from being enclosed under the dome into a night under the stars.
It was quite the venue however it really destroyed the black community that was razed to build it. I watched a lot of good stuff there, basketball, soccer, hockey,boxing and shows. I saw Bill Cosby there. I saw Sugar Ray Robinson’s last fight there with my dad. The Civic Light Opera used it for years although it wasn’t light enough for me. We saw Billy Joel there. The Roundball Classic the predecessor to the McDondals All American game was there.
This is/was the beloved “Igloo”, right?
Yes. @phcheese is right, though, it played havoc with the community.
Point taken; my Pens fan of a niece preferred her hockey there, tho’. PPG Paints Arena is nice, she says, “but how cool is a dome that retracts, Aunt N?”
There was a decent movie put out about Mac and Borg not long ago on either Netflix or Hulu. It started that kid who played in Holes. He nailed John.
Strawberries and cream, anyone? Anger is truly justified if the strawberries aren’t ripe.
Actually, I’m getting to the point where even that isn’t true.
She,
YOU CAN NOT BE SERIOUS!!
Sorry she, I just had to do this.
Regards,
Jim
Yes and yes.
Even though I get denigrated by some here (whose name I won’t mention) for being left-handed, I’m proud of it; and I like to contemplate the success of other left-handers. It cut me to the quick every time I saw Obama sign a bill.
When I was in junior high and high school, those were the kind of shorts we wore for PE.