Serena Will Serve Your Ass Like John McEnroe

September 14, 2009

Serena

“I`ll serve your ass like John McEnroe
If your girl steps up, I`m smacking the ho”

“Jump Around”, House of Pain

In every sport you have athletes who have outbursts. In Baseball, you’ll see everyone running from the dug out to fight when someone is struck with the baseball. You’ll have a coach kicking dirt on the mounds. In Hockey, you’re bound to loose a tooth, not only from a puck, but possibly for a blow to the face with a hockey stick. In Basketball, a player with a big ego occasionally feels he’s fouled too hard and retaliates. In Football, you’ll get tackled by some player who weighs up to 300+lbs, wait, that’s a part of the game right? So Football, isn’t such a good example, but you get my point.

As a kid I always enjoyed watching John McEnroe play, not only because he was one of the greatest players, but he played hard and didn’t back down on a flagrant call. Just take a look at some of his best outbursts below.

I’m sure McEnroe was fined tens of thousands of dollars throughout his career, but thats nothing compared to the backlash Serena Williams has received over the past few days. I’ll be the last to say that Serena Williams is the epitome of good sportsmanship, but I truly think one of the problems people have with her has to do with these simple facts:

a) She’s not White

b)She’s a black woman

c)She’s a woman who’s not white, who happens to be black, who happens to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time

You don’t have to be a Rocket scientist to figure that out. So here is Serena Williams, the big black female athlete, yelling at the demure lineswoman, with her racket in the air. Yes, I can see how a person could feel as if their life was in jeopardy in front of thousands of witnesses. Actually, I can’t. Serena may be a bit hot headed but she’s far from stupid.

Why is it ok for male athletes in other sports to express their displeasure in a call that they feel is unjust? Wasn’t instant replay invented for a reason? I didn’t even bother reading what people have been saying in the blogosphere about Serena, because I’m sure I would have been disgusted beyond belief. I’m quite certain in this post-racial, black president society that we live in, that no one would have the audacity to throw around the word ‘nigger’. Actually, I know better to believe that.

As of today, Serena issued an apology to the lineswoman, Kim Clijsters, the USTA and her fans. She was also fined $10,000 for the unsportsmanlike conduct and $500 for breaking her tennis racket. Of course those fines are the tip of the iceberg. A full investigation is underway to see if other penalties can/should be imposed. Do I think the USTA will make this an opportunity to make an example out of Serena once and for all? I’m quite certain they will. Will Serena loose any huge endorsement deals? I’m quite certain she won’t. The only valuable lesson I’m sure Serena will take away from this situation is that it’s just not that nice to threaten to shove a tennis ball down their throat in person. Maybe the US government should take note on how governing bodies of sports organizations punish their athletes. Could you imagine if someone could make an example out of Joe Wilson and fine & expel him from Congress? That would be a beautiful thing, indeed.