Sports Then and Now

After being the number one player in the world in 1995, Andre Agassi had fallen to number 141 in 1997.

It goes without saying that drugs are bad – even recreational drugs. That is why it is impossible to get them, right?  If drugs are a cancer to our society, then, of course, as a society we are doing everything in our power to counter them, protecting our children, our community, our cities and our states.

It is much the same for harmful weapons like guns.  We do not allow children or citizens who may harms others access to something that presents such an immediate and present danger.  Right?

As a people, as a community, we are doing everything in our power to create a safe environment for all people living within our boundaries. We treat everyone who breaks the law the same within our equal and passionate justice system.

If you believe the preceding statements are true then you live in la-la land with the rest of the self-appointed name-callers and blame gamers who hug today’s headlines.  It is these holier-than-thou critics who instantly rise to criticize someone else’s behavior who irritate the lining in one’s stomach.

Recently Andre Agassi had the courage to stand up and confess his addition to methamphetamine during his professional tennis career.  In fact he states that in 1997 he was caught using crystal meth by the ATP during a routine drug test.

Read the rest of this entry →

Some people tend to forget that Andre Agassi hasn't always been the prim and proper "pitchman" that we have become accustomed to over the last few years.

Even though it has yet to hit bookstores, Andre Agassi’s new book “Open” has some revelations that are already causing some controversy. Most notably among them is his admission to using crystal meth during his career.

In his first entry for Sports Then and Now, noted tennis writer Rob York looks at the reaction some notables within the tennis world have had to the news along with perhaps how Agassi should respond to each comment.

What Martina Navratilova said:

“Shocking. Not as much shock that he did it as shock he lied about it and didn’t own up to it. He’s up there with Roger Clemens, as far as I’m concerned. He owned up to it, but it doesn’t help now.”

“Andre lied and got away with it. You can’t correct that now. Do you take away a title he wouldn’t have won if he had been suspended? He beat some people when he should have been suspended.”

How Agassi should respond:

Apparently when you when enough majors you feel you have the right to pass judgment on anyone who has won less. Sadly, Martina, your memory isn’t as good as your Grand Slam record: I didn’t win any titles while I was using meth, and only won a total of 12 matches in 13 tour events.

Read the rest of this entry →

Maureen Connolly won nine of the 11 Grand Slam tournaments in which she competed.

“There is nothing like competition. It teaches you early in life to win and lose, and, when you lose, to put your chin out instead of dropping it.”

— Maureen Connolly

Although her career spanned just a little over four years, Maureen Connolly’s reign at the top of women’s tennis was one of the game’s most dominant.

Like many little girls growing up in America, Maureen Catherine (“Little Mo”) Connolly loved horses. She wanted a horse of her own and she wanted to learn how to ride. But family circumstances prevented Mo’s mother from being able to afford to give her little girl riding lessons.

Instead, her mother bought her the tennis racket she desired and enrolled her in lessons. Because of that, Maureen Connolly became a tennis player—perhaps the greatest tennis player her sport has ever known.

Growing up in California aided her development, as, in San Diego, weather was hardly ever an issue. At the tender age of 10, she learned to play on the municipal courts of the City of San Diego, where her first coach, Wilbur Folsom, encouraged the young Connolly to switch from a left-handed grip to a right. Connolly was a natural left-hander.

Read the rest of this entry →

Althea Gibson was 23 before she was allowed to compete in a major championship.

Born in 1927, the year after the historic “Match of the Century ” featured in our previous two articles between the divine Suzanne Lenglen and the poker-faced Helen Wills, Althea Gibson is another of our Queens of the Court.

In 1956 Althea Gibson made history by becoming the first person of African descent, of any nationality, to win a tennis major (the French).

Ironically, Althea Gibson became the first black woman to not only achieve major success in the world of professional tennis, but also to compete after leaving tennis as a professional golfer.

But her career in tennis was a tough row to hoe.

Unlike Suzanne Lenglen or Helen Wills, who both played their first tournaments as teenagers, and so began amassing statistics, Althea Gibson did not enter the world “tour” of tennis until the age of 23. Why?

As an African-American woman from Harlem, New York, Althea Gibson was not allowed to play the majors until in the fall of 1950, when she was allowed to enter the U.S. National Championships (later to become the U.S. Open), then played at Forest Hills.

Read the rest of this entry →

Even Macy's balloons like Underdog wear out over time.

How many times can you inflate a balloon before the skin gives out – before the form will no longer hold air?  Can you extend its life by only rolling it out only once a year to fly above the crowds lining the pavement during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?

I think of Underdog, somehow…always a favorite of mine.

If Underdog only flies once a year does that diminish his super hero powers when he does take to the air to save his darling, Sweet Polly Purebred?

These deep philosophical queries obviously have nothing to do with latex – but rather with the presumed deflating career of the greatest man ever to wield a tennis racket – Roger Federer.

I say this, tongue-in-cheek knowing many disagree with my assessment – understanding the comment may stir the fire again.  Such is the nature of our business – is it not?

Roger Federer is 28.  Most of the 28-year-olds I know are still babies – cloaked in baby fat and disgustingly wrinkle free. Read the rest of this entry →

Suzanne Lenglen won 12 Grand Slam titles.

She was called ‘La Divine.’  Some say in the 1920s Suzanne Lenglen was a bigger name in sports than that of Babe Ruth.

Between 1919 and 1926, at a time when three and not four tennis majors were played, she won twelve Grand Slam titles, on three different surfaces, and an Olympic Gold medal (Antwerp). Notably in seven of 81 singles titles she did not lose a game!

She was dominant in a way that only a handful of male stars have been since the open era of tennis.  More than that, she imposed her personality on the sport, and the entertainment world of the day.  We recognize such a personality in contemporary terms, in modern English, we might call her a diva. Read the rest of this entry →