While traveling the past week, I didn't have much chance to watch sports. But I did catch the men and women championships of the U.S. Open tennis. They were both exciting and tension filled matches that went to the maximum number of sets. Both champions won by coming from behind. There were no spectators so you don't get the usual excitement and roar after great shots. Still the telecasts showed that for a few hours sports can give relief to the problems of the world.
But the women championship did not hide the problems of the world. Naomi Osaka had refused to play the semi-finals of the previous tournament in protest of racism. The governing body of tennis backed down and postponed the tournament a day and she then agreed to play. During the U.S. Open, Osaka wore a mask with the name of a victim of racial violence when she came onto the court before each match. She also wore the mask during interviews after the matches. This raised attention to systemic racism in the country. While the NBA and other sports supported the protest movement, Osaka was the only top tennis player who openly supported the movement with her actions.
Osaka is now a three time major champion. She is also at age 22, the future leader of women's tennis. Her activism is to be applauded. It can't be easy to be a champion on the court at the same time a champion for social issues off the court. Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova were two names I can come up with who did the same. But I think they were older and had been on tour longer when they became spokeswomen for their causes. Prior to this, Osaka was seen as a young woman who laughed at herself for giving poor interviews and acceptance speeches. It is amazing she is now an activist with potential to be a great leader among sport stars.
I haven't really payed much attention to the US Open this year. I had seen that Osaka had worn masks with different names each match and that she wore a Kobe Bryant jersey on what I think was the day of the finals. Being 22, she's seen as the future of the women's game. She has a lot of guts to be able to do what she did and hopefully others will follow. I know she's been embraced by most fans, but I wonder if her mixed heritage, dark skin and Asian last name will hurt her. I hope not, but we've seen it before. I also would argue that the Williams sisters have done a lot for the black community and have made it more acceptable to have a champion of color.
ReplyDeleteI felt bad for Djokovic when he got ejected. A rule is a rule, but it was not intentional and I'll never understand how these types of rules are so black and white. Same thing happened in the Lions game where a defender was talking to the ref and the ref actually moved into the player. The player was ejected from the game because he came in contact by the ref, even though in replay, the ref was the one that initiated the contact.
Donald Trump Jr. was in metro Detroit at a rally yesterday. A friend of mine from high school took her daughter. I was not shocked about her support but what shocked me is that she took pictures of her and her daughter in a packed area without masks on. Keep in mind her daughter is in high school and even though I'm sure her school is currently online, I thought it was reckless and I've lost some respect for my friend.
-LBOAYM
I did not hear anything from Serena about the protests. In the past she has complained about racism on tour but given that the top players are given preferential treatments, I doubt that she was treated as badly as she claimed. Then there were the controversies about threatening to kill a lines woman and clash with the chair umpire at the U.S. Open and that makes her much less of a leader than King or Navratilova and now Osaka. Prior to Serena, I would say champions like Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe were much more helpful for blacks to be accepted in tennis.
ReplyDeleteOsaka, as a mixed race person, must have a greater understanding about racism at an early age in both Japan and the U.S. Sure, she may get backlash about her stands. She already got some from companies that pay her in Japan. But I think she is brave enough to continue to use her voice against racism in the U.S. and Asia.
I did not see the Djokovic match. I thought it was an excessive penalty when I heard about it. I thought what would they do if there was a crowd in the stand which would have rioted if the match was defaulted! But then I saw the video and Patrick McEnroe talked about how Djokovic had smash balls against fences many times before. In fact, he did it earlier in this match. Seeing how hard he hit the ball, causing the woman to have trouble breathing, I changed my mind. This was unintentional but not unpreventable. It is like saying you don't mean to hit someone with your car, but you always drive 30 miles over the speed limit. The odds are that you will cause an accident if you keep doing it. And while the players may not kill someone with a tennis ball, they can certainly take out an eye given how hard the pros are able to hit the ball. So I can see how the rule is black and white. If they didn't default him, what happens when a lesser player do the same. Worse, if Serena does it and they default her, can you imagine the outcry about racism and sexism that follows?
I hope Djokovic learns from this. This most likely cause him to lose a major. He is still likely to pass Federer and Nadal in majors but he was not as popular as those two before and he certainly won't be now or in the future. He is basically a good guy with a lot of personality. He is extremely funny at time. But he is still immature. He and others got COVID earlier at a tournament he started in Europe. They were not careful off the court. He should have learned a big lesson then. So will see how he learns from this episode.
Did you hear about the Raptors GM, who is black, was sued by a security guard after the Raptors won against Golden State in the finals last year? The GM was running onto the court to join in the celebration and was stopped by this guard. The guard claimed that the GM hit him. A year later video shows that guard pushed the GM first. So he has no case. But I am thinking, would a white guy wearing a suit going onto the court be shoved by a guard? And why would it take a year for the video to be released? There were thousands of people around, why would it take so long to get to the truth?
Sounds like you have a lot of Trump supporter friends. You may need to stay away from them during this pandemic. At least wear a mask when near them since they will be higher risk given their behaviors.
Well, I am not sure why you are discounting the Williams sisters and their importance to the black community. As far as I know, they've influenced many black girls to play tennis and I think Osaka's father even emulated Mr. Williams on how he approached getting the girls to approach the game. Serena was an early supporter of BLM, so I think she's been an ally of the movement. Her being the top player all these years is a huge influence to young women.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see someone like Osaka take charge though. She has a lot to lose but I think she's gained a lot in the eyes of people who are deeply committed to getting justice.
I didn't think that Djokovic hit the ball back that hard, but it was obviously hard enough to hurt the line judge and he seemed remorseful as soon as he realized he hit her. But the rule is the rule.
As far as the security guard...I don't know how he would think he would win the lawsuit.I kind of think he was upset because the Warriors lost so he wasn't going to be nice to anyone who wanted to celebrate with the Raptors. To me, it sounds like a money grab for the security guard. I can't see that he will be back working at the arena next season. I wonder what his daytime job is.
I do know a few Trump supporters. It's a little hard for me to understand but I knew them before they were his supporters and know them to be good people. It makes you wonder if I am a bad judge in character!
You forgot to mention anything about your favorite show. There were two dancers who I thought stood out and neither of them was the woman who was in first place (I think she was one of the bachelorettes). There was the 18 year old girl who I really liked and the one guy who is named Nev. I think Johnny Weir will still do well, but he has to reign things in which might be hard for him to do.
I didn't really enjoy Tyra Banks like I thought. There were some awkward moments and there really needs to be a co-host.
-LBOAYM
Did you happen to catch any of the Trump townhall last night? I refused to watch because it was either going to be a trainwreck or he was going to lie the whole time. From what I understand, he sidestepped a lot of it and put the blame on many of things on the Democrats. So I am glad I did not watch it. I am interested to see what the ratings were though. I am sure he will say the ratings were through the roof and ABC should thank him for being on!
ReplyDeleteI wanted to clarify that I am not the biggest Serena fan though I do think she is the GOAT for women's tennis. I haven't been excited about the women's side for a long time but I think I will watch more now that Osaka is near or at the top. Even in the men's game, there haven't been any newcomers. It seems like it's either Nadal or Djokovic. Heck, Federer is still up there and he seems like he's been playing for 20 years.
-LBOAYM
I did not watch Trump last night. I did see some clips of it where he was just making things up and deflecting blame. He was doing what he would do at one of his rallies. But this a road game where the crowd is not on his side and this is not going to do him any good. I doubt the ratings are good. The people against him would not have watched. The ones who are for him would not want to watch him on a liberal network like ABC and if they did tuned in, they probably turned off and complained about Stephanopolous of being against their man. There are not that many real undecided voters out there and those that tuned in probably were not impressed by Trump.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Serena is GOAT and their family has a lot of influence of black female athletes including Osaka. I just have not heard anything from her about BLM and certainly nothing during the U.S. Open. Maybe she did say something and I missed it. But here in LA where the Williams sister grew up, we here leaders like LeBron quoted almost daily. Even Kershaw has spoken up in support of his teammate Mookie Betts and justice. So if Serena had said something, I think I would have heard it.
I also have not heard from Magic. Given that he is a big icon here, I would think that he would say more. Maybe I am being too harsh on certain top athletes but I would think they have the responsibility to be very vocal about issues. Magic was big on HIV but I think that striked him personally so I am not surprised he is a big advocate on that issue.
In the past, men's tennis was more competitive than women"s tennis. But that has changed since the emergence of the big three. If Djokovic did not get DQed, Thiem probably would not have won. Busta, who was a semi-finalist in the U.S. Open, just lost to Nadal 6-1, 6-1 at the Italian Open today. So the women's game is going to be more interesting and competitive for the next two or three more years at least, until the big three retire (if they ever do).
I was not at home on Monday so I did not watch any of the DWTS. So I have no opinion until I get a chance to watch it. Obviously, I am not as a big fan as LBOAYM!
I think we are talking about different things when it comes to Serena. I'm kind of looking at a bigger picture and I think you might be talking about the current state of affairs. If that is the case, I do agree with you that Serena and Magic have stayed silent recently. I did some digging and I do see that Serena was an early supporter of the BLM movement in 2016. She hasn't been as vocal as Naomi, but maybe she would have been more so had she made it to the finals. I'm a little shocked that she wasn't asked questions during the US Open (and maybe they were asked but not reported).
ReplyDeleteMagic is a little strange. He tweets more about sports and his business adventures than anything else. He did tweet in June about his support for the movement and how impressed he was with the people who were marching. I know his business has always put money back into black communities and he's done a lot for MSU but has never asked that he be praised for it.
I don't want to make assumptions on both of those people because they can do whatever they want and they have their own interests to look out for. I do think that this movement is in the hands of the younger generation. We see in history that younger people are usually the ones that take the reigns for movements like these. We don't hear as much from the old guard like Sharpton, Jackson, etc. Heck, you probably won't see Obama march in protest and he's been mostly in the background.
How do you contrast or compare the people who are protesting peacefully and non-peacefully with the ones in Hong Kong? It's interesting to see the administration side with those protesters in HK but don't call them thugs.
-LBOAYM
When American politicians, not just Trump, give a name to a group of protestors, you have to take it with a grain of salt. When there were protests in HK against the British colonial rulers, I am sure the American politicians did not call them freedom fighters. If there was a slight amount of violence and the British call them rioters, the American side will go along with that description. Of course, Trump is not going to call HK protestors thugs since they are protesting against China, not him. Those who are against racism here will be called thugs even though overwhelming number of them are peaceful.
ReplyDeleteLet's compare the protests in HK and here. In both cases, the majority of people are peaceful. The non-peaceful people here are mostly people who try to take advantage of the situation to steal, and destroy property. They are for the most part, not associated with the protestors.
In HK, there is a small minority who are part of the protest movement who are violent. They are actually trying to cause chaos and they have very little respect for the danger that they put ordinary citizens in. They are not just breaking into stores like some do here, but they were occupying the airport, burning subway stations, throwing molotov cocktails and other firebombs. They had occupied an university and fired rocks and bricks into public roads. And when they were finally driven out, a whole arsenal of weapons were found on the campus. So if anything, they are more thuggish than the people called thugs by Trump.
Despite all these violence and months of protests by thousands of people, no deaths occurred at the hands of the HK police. The West condemned the use of tear gas and water hose by the HK police but look at what happens here. We used tear gas to drive out peaceful protestors so Trump can have a photo-op. The hypocrisy is obvious.
Trump, more than anyone, has no interest in freedom for people of other countries. Heck, he has no interest in freedom of Americans. The HK protestors are naive to believe that Trump or the American government is on their side because they want them to have freedom. They are only voicing support for HK protestors because of China. There are no voice of support for freedom fighters in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and now Belarus.
Did you see any of Barr's talk at Hillsdale. What a moron! I did not know Hillsdale is such a conservative school. Isn't there another small school in Michigan that is also very conservative?
I didn't realize Barr's talk was at Hillsdale. There are a few schools that are conservative but Hillsdale is known for being conservative. Pat Sajak was or is the chair of the board of trustees there.
ReplyDeleteWell, RBG died tonight. It's something that I feared personally. This will be interesting to see if the senate will be able to get enough votes to pass Trump's nominee. This might be close if the moderate women and Romney decide not to vote or vote against.
-LBOAYM