Serena Williams destroyed the Olympic field at Wimbledon this weekend. Ms. Williams capped things off my beating Maria Sharapova 6-0 and 6-1. That is a beatdown on par with the US men's basketball team's dismantling of Nigeria except that Ms. Williams' beatdown was against a higher seed. Let that soak in. Like every other event in Ms. Williams' career, there was controversy. To celebrate Ms. Williams did a little dance know as c-walking aka crip walking. C'mon Serena. Some observers blasted her for disrespecting the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club with this demonstration... they missed the mark. Crip walking is associated with gangs. Why would you associate yourself with such lowlifes? When a reporter asked Ms. Williams the name of the dance, she wouldn't answer and claimed it was inappropriate. Hall of Fame coach Johnny Majors had instructions for his players that scored touchdowns: act like you've been there and will be back. Ms. Williams could serve herself well by heeding Coach Majors' charge.
The Penn State Board of Trustees had decided to take the NCAA to court over the sanctions imposed regarding the cover up of the Jerry Sandusky situation. I hope Mark Emmert is true to his word and imposes the super death penalty of four years if they pursue this lawsuit. An example has to be made out of Penn State. Athletic programs have to know that the hammer will fall if they let moral transgressions be placated.
Why does everyone assume that Ye Shiwen doped? Can athletes not shatter records without the cloud of steroids hanging over their heads? Or is that just Western athletes?
I’m not a big fan of the Olympics. As a geographer, I
love the geographic aspect of 204 countries competing against one another and as an American exceptionalist, I certainly love
that the United States has a thousand-medal, all-time advantage over the next
closest country. I do find myself enjoying the swimming events primarily for
the commentary of Rowdy Gaines, a true American. I really don’t care who wins
qualifying fencing matches between Somali and Latvia. It does not turn my key to
see women from Saudi Arabia shoot skeet. Generally, I could not give a darn
about what Chinese badminton players do or don’t do. In fact, I had to look the
word up to spell it properly. My interest is piqued by the Olympic badminton cheating
scandal. For those of you who live under a rock but read this new blog,
badminton doubles pairs from Indonesia, South Korea (x2), and the top-seeded
team from China threw matches in order to secure more favorable pairings in the
round-robin tournament. The top-seeded Chinese team stated they threw their
match in order to avoid the second-seeded team, also from China. The IOC
removed all offending teams from completion and kicked them out of the Olympic
Village; kudos to the IOC. These athletes deserve to be thrown out on the curb.
To borrow from the great philosopher Herm Edwards, “YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME.”
Former Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis’ mantra was “Just win baby.” My high
school basketball coach put it most politely “Just win and we don’t
have to worry about anything else.” How can these women call themselves
competitors? They are all-stars in the sport of lawyerball, nothing else. You
don’t have to find sneaky ways to succeed if you are truly the best. Champions
take all comers. Mike Tyson circa 1988 would have defended his titles simultaneously against multiple men in the
ring if it had been allowed; Michael Jordan would not let his teammates go to
bed until he beat them in poker; Ricky Bobby would either win or crash-and-burn
trying. If you’re the best, prove it the old-fashioned way. One of the Chinese badminton players has bid adieu to her beloved sport. Billions of Asians care, alas, I do not.
The one and only Herm Edwards
Sidebar: round-robin tournaments stink. Poor format or not, there is never any reason to game the system if you are the best. The Australian Football League has the best playoff structure I have ever seen:AFL Grand Finals Series. Take a few minutes to take it in... Compound that fact with this: if there is a tie in regulation of the championship game, they replay the championship the next week. Imagine if that was the rule for Super Bowls. Class dismissed.
