We have all heard about the incidents. During the U.S. Open, Serena lost a match due to penalty points and Roger Federer was criticized after he had an altercation with an official. The same week, Michael Jordan was inducted into the Hall of Fame and gave, what some consider, to be to a rather conceded acceptance speech. Everyone has a different opinion of how athletes (male or female) should act during certain situations. When the game or match is one the line, who's to say how they themselves would react to an unfortunate line call? When did aggression and passion become a negative quality in professional athletics? Dictionary.com defines civility as "courtesy, politeness." Competitive activity can get quite intense and being polite is often not the first instinct athletes possess in the heat of the moment.The Serena Williams play call has been disputed for several days. I believe much of the criticism is because of her gender. After all, she is a female and she wears dresses during tournament play and has shown (somewhat) her softer, feminine side. However, her behavior was very aggressive and threatening. I think the way she acted on her emotions could have been handled differently. As a professional, Serena should know better and remind herself of the millions of viewers that were watching her every move. However, I disagree with those that want her suspended. I think the remarks and criticism that came after her behavior was punishment enough. I doubt that we will see that side of Serena on the court again. Also, I doubt that line judge will appear in another tournament while Serena Williams is competing.
Roger Federer displayed his emotions in a much calmer manner. Although we could hear the conversation he had with the official, Roger remained seated, facing a different direction and was non-threatening. Sometimes people forget that athletes are real people like everyone else. Just because they have celebrity status does not mean they are inhumane and can act perfectly in the lime light. These tennis examples are perfect real-world situations where athletes should be taken off of their pedal stools and treated as regular people. Civility does remain in sports but the general public needs to be more understanding.
To me, Michael Jordan can do no wrong. Yes, he might be somewhat arrogant at times-but he is the most talented player to ever step on the court! Let him have his shining moments until someone else takes his place. Although he may have lacked some sense of civility in his speech, we got to see a personal side of Michael that was not representing the brand name. He was given his 15 minutes of fame and he chose to read a speech he felt was worthy of his induction. He is a grown man and who are we to tell him what is good and what sounds bad? He put in the blood, sweat and tears in order to be successful. We (the critics) did not and what makes our opinion worthy of going against his? The general public, sports writers, bloggers and many other critics need to look at their own civility before coming down on infamous professional athletes for playing the game they love so much.
Civility does exsist in sports. We may have to look harder to find it in people, but athletes continue to display positive messages and healthy competition. Until we walk a mile in their shoes, we cannot judge their actions through a television screen.
I wanted to comment on a couple of things that you said about Serena's outburst. Interestingly, tennis officials are still contemplating whether or not to suspend her. I cannot defend her actions toward the lineswoman, however if they were going to suspend her, I believe they should have done it immediately. What is the point of suspending her for the Australian Open? It just reveals that the International Tennis Federation is indecisive. Come to think of it, I wonder what John McEnroe would do since he has always talked about wanting to be the commissioner of tennis.
ReplyDeleteI do believe there is something to the double-standard, and I was glad to see that you posted the photo of Roger Federer. What amazes me is that I never heard of that even though it happened in March. Why not? Roger is considered almost a saint, and so when he did that, no one seemed to want to criticize his behavior. And yet, Serena continues to be vilified.
Overall, you make some great points, and your last sentence says it all: "Until we walk a mile in their shoes, we cannot judge their actions through a television screen."