FINDING POSITIVITY IN SPORTS RIVALRIES
Do you ever read sports articles online at ESPN or on Yahoo! and then try to read the reader comments on the various boards afterward, thinking you’ll find a fan who thinks as you do or a comment that may help elucidate a point only vaguely referenced in the article itself? So many of the articles play on the readers’ feelings about rivalries, whether it be Alabama vs. Auburn, Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal, the Celtics vs. the Lakers, the Boston Red Sox vs. the New York Yankees, the Russian Federation Olympic team vs. Team U.S.A. or just pick your own favorite sports rivalry. The writers do take advantage of the readers’ feelings about their favorites to get lots and lots of comments. The more comments, the more likely ESPN or Yahoo! will let the writer write another article. Most intelligent readers see through this and still behave positively. Others let their fanatic support of one over the other get the best of them and they start spouting the most vile negative comments.
Playful stuff like “Jeez, the Heat, more like the Cold, bwahahaha….” and “Pac-10, haha, more like too-much-talking-smack-10 bites you in the ass 10…” turns into weird outta’ insane left field stuff like, “Bunch a’ damn Commies making those little girls do that just for a Gold medal…” Too much patriotism gets fired up, too much sexism, racism, homophobia, and all kinds of hatred just runs rampant on the comment pages. The moderators seem to be ineffective at best. “FANS,” as I call them, fanatics that only enjoy the sport when their team or player is playing and ONLY if their team wins and ONLY if the battle doesn’t have any “damn referees blind as bats” judging the action, “FANS” will throw out the most egregious stats, stats they pulled outta’ their asses just to defend their patriotic racism and/or geocentric fanaticism against their perceived enemies.
Oh, the enemies that a tennis ranking system can cause or a football bowl invitation can make. I grew up in Alabama, a University of Alabama fan through and through, so I certainly know about sports rivalries. I hate Auburn; the hatred of Auburn was passed on to me by my parents, the community I grew up in, and by my peers. I barely even know why I hate Auburn; I just do. It’s not even something I think about; it’s just something that is.
(Wow, I guess all hatred is like that.)
Why? Why am I so negative about Auburn? Where does this hatred come from? Where does that negativity get me? I’ve been getting to know my sister-in-law’s sister, Stacey, these last many months—she’s as much an Auburn supporter as I am a Bama one; however, we just agreed to disagree at the beginning about our specific teams, and we just don’t talk for a few weeks out of the year around Iron Bowl time. We bonded further by simply looking at the bigger picture—we both fervently agreed that the SEC, the SouthEastern Conference, is the ONLY conference of college teams worth supporting, which is a courageous feat indeed as we both are SEC’ers stranded in the middle of the Pac-10 portion of the U.S. now. “Pac-10,” ouch, even typing it out makes my fingers hurt and feel drained of any power at all.
Stepping back from our two specific teams and looking at the bigger picture, the bigger conference that they both play in, in this case has helped us both become more positive.
Let me try to demonstrate the Power of Positivity by using women’s tennis as an example since some of you may not be into the latest rivalries or issues since the Golden Age days of the Women’s Tennis's Chrissie/Martina rivalry with all its negative aspects—commies vs. capitalists, East vs. West, straight vs. gay that ultimately all morphed into a big positive aspect—two friends who were supremely trained and talented driving each other to extreme athletic perfection to fight the great fight. I only do this because I’m into it but realize that most friends I talk sports with are not and not out of any sexism, racism, or patriotism or any other –isms I’m aware of on my part. That way, presumably, most readers of this blog will not have great feelings one way or the other, so maybe they will then be able to make the big step at the end, stepping out away from the negative commentary to see the big positive picture.
Let’s focus on a burgeoning tennis rivalry, the two most recent number-one-ranked players, Serena Williams and Dinara Safina. The two tennis stars have both been out for the last few months with injuries, but both will return to the tennis tour over the next several days and will perhaps get a chance to renew their new rivalry and perhaps renew all the commentary about who really is the true number one player.
When Dinara was # 1, many complained because Serena was arguably the more talented player with bigger career wins and accomplishments. When Serena was # 1, some complained because she only played the big tournaments and didn’t show up to fight for the smaller titles like Dinara did.
The stories and comments grew though from stories about two talented athletes fighting for positive wins into negative stories about Russians vs. Americans, black vs. white, and East vs. West and the silly like. Negative, negative, negative…
You know, to be the current number-one, Serena Williams obviously ignores as much negativity as she can, her own and outside negativity, and uses positivity to win; so does current number-three-ranked Dinara Safina. Both could probably use even more positivity (view Serena's 2009 semifinal U.S. Open footfault-gate and a veritable smorgasbord of smashed-racquet videos starring Dinara on Youtube for examples of their negativity). But, you know, we could all use a bit more positivity. Certainly, the commenters on the sports boards at Yahoo! and ESPN could certainly stand a bit more positivity; there are too many folks there that need to step back and look at the big picture. Who can help them do that to help rid all of us of their vitriolic, insane negative comments and relieve us of their made-up statistics and protect us from their “FAN”atic attacks? I'll answer that call... (Get ready for a heapin’ helpin’ of positivity and probably just a tad too much self-involved nostalgia…!)
You can’t get two comments in after a story about Serena’s comeback, a positive thing, she’s been out since January with leg/knee issues, without some “FAN” of Dinara’s or other players’ spouting about how “typically American” Serena is with her “sense of entitlement” or spouting about race. You can’t get two comments in after a story about Dinara’s comeback, she’s been out since January with back issues, without reading a “FAN” of Serena’s or another players’ comment about Dinara’s “feeble Russian mentality” (apparently, she fights to the final strongly then crumbles, having been in 3 Grand Slam finals with no wins, much the way that Communism fought the fight until the Wall crumbled) or about how if anyone supports Dinara over Serena he or she must be racist or anti-American. The negativity is so so so frustrating and unnecessary. What does it matter what country a great player comes from or what color the skin surrounding her athletic body is?
These two players typically do well in just about every tournament they enter. When any tennis player reaches the quarterfinals in a tournament, she's done better than 75% of the field. For any pro player to win ANY tourney at the pro level is a remarkable achievement, from the biggest and best tournaments, the Grand Slams (the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open), to even the smallest tournaments, now called the International level. Serena has won 36 tourneys since she became a pro, and Dinara 12 so far. Dinara and Serena, as players, do deserve a great deal of praise, consideration, and respect. BOTH do.
For any college team to just have a winning season. Think about it... You have to admire what went into all those players and coaches and all they had to do to just show up to the game. To have a winning season--greatly deserving of respect. Hey, maybe the team doesn't end up # 1 for the season, but respect the wins. And, oh, the win over the rival is just the tastiest morsel on the planet at times. Iron Bowl '85, anyone! Oh, when Van Tiffin elder kicked a winner for Ray, Bama once again defeating Auburn, dee-licious!
Let me tell you, I myself have, off and on through the years, led a tennis life and have sometimes been negative. I've played tennis since I was 9, took lessons for years as a youngster (I learned early the negative “value” of throwing more than a few racquets over fences) and starred on my high-school tennis team as the # 2 seed (so I know something about fighting for # 1 as well). I played intramural tennis in college and made proud points there but also continued tossing my racquet over the fences; again, once or thrice. I've coached middle-school tennis and have even gotten around to entering a tourney or two as an adult here and there, with the negative over-the-fence-tossing-of-the-racquets finally a thing of the past at this point. You could say I had an early peak at 18; I was better then than I ever was at 9-17 or 19-25, but I got very lucky and had a "comeback" at 26/27 as I began coaching and was never better than then in my mid- to late-20s, serving hard and slapping the back- and forehands forcefully from the baseline mixed in with a fair bit of slick volleying too, which used to be THE way to play. Luckily for me, as the boys on the team I coached became better, so did I. After a few more years, well, the knees began to creak, and the shins began to ache. Again though, luckily for me, as the pain got worse, the negativity lifted more and more. I became more appreciative of the skills and time I’d been given and the overall history of the game. I hope Dinara, who’s lost the # 2 ranking while she’s been out injured, and Serena, who’s managed to hold on to # 1 since her injuries, can both come back positively from their recent pains as well.
All along through my own years of playing and coaching, I followed pro tennis pretty closely, since about 1976.
I say all this so I can freely admit and perhaps you'll believe me that I've followed some greats' careers and really over-defended them against their rivals, putting the rivals down, way down, just as some “FANS” have done in comments on ESPN and Yahoo! (and, yeah, just as I do with wonderful Alabama over horrible Auburn). I was all about Tracy Austin way back then and couldn't stand Martina Navratilova for a few years. I would only hear and think good of John McEnroe and wanted to vomit when Ivan Lendl came up in conversation. I came around. Martina and Ivan are 2 of the greats, and I admire them both now. I admire Martina greatly, as a matter of fact.
You know, some # 1 players do fade from memory, but so do some Grand Slam winners as well; regular life just gets in the way of your tennis fandom sometimes. I honestly cannot picture Yevgeny Kafelnikov clearly in my head, and he's won 2 Grand Slams and been # 1. Sergi Bruguera, already gone out of my head, another 2-time Grand Slammer. Did I ever know Brian Teacher, another Grand-Slammer? I remember that Russian year when Sveta Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova rose up and each won a Grand Slam, but I honestly don't remember Anastasia Myskina winning the French Open that same year, and she made it to the # 2 ranking then, too.
Many commenters on the various tennis boards say that only the Grand Slam winners are ever remembered or are the only ones that deserve respect. Fewer numbers say that most # 1 players are remembered, but even the feat of reaching # 1 is less deserving of respect, for some reason, than a big-time Grand Slam win. You know what though, I can clearly see and remember plays and shots and tourneys starring pros, some even in non-Grand-Slam tourneys, pros who never made it to # 1 or who never won a Grand Slam, pros like Wendy Turnbull, a # 3 ranking and a 3-time Grand Slam finalist; Kathy Jordan, a # 5 and a 1-time Grand Slam finalist. Don't even get me started on Andrea Jaeger, oh, I remember the young belle of the early 80s, working that Tracy vibe and making it her own and then scoring # 2 in the rankings and French Open and Wimbledon singles finals, too. (She’s a nun now; how’s that for an epilogue to a great sports career and a true testament to positivity! Go, Andrea! Go, Sister!) 1986 French Open finalist Mikael Pernfors, he's still clear in my mind as is the cat, Miloslav Mecir, a late 80s 2-time Grand-Slam finalist.
I want to be able to peruse and enjoy intelligent, positive reader comments after reading a sports article online, but sometimes it’s difficult to read through them. It's even disturbing reading some of the vitriolic comments there, comments against perfectly adequate pros like Serena and Dinara and fine teams from fine sporting institutions, like the SEC. Remember, someone out there will remember each of these fine players and remember them fondly, no matter how their careers flow from here, and they’ll gain positivity from the remembering.
So, how can we get the “FANS,” the ne-gators, to crawl up out of the dark swamp and see the big, positive countryside that a well-trained, gifted athlete can race through and dominate in a positive way to the positive betterment of all of us true fans? How can we get them to turn the negativity down about 85,000,000 notches and then focus on the sport they've chosen to care about in a positive way?
Verily, I say unto the ne-gators, the so-called too-negative “FANS”…
“FANS,” support your favorites BUT, yes, admire their opponents, too. Pro Tennis can't be an easy thing, even for a gifted athlete, like Martina, or even for a trust-fund youngster who had all the "breaks" early, like McEnroe. The pursuit of excellence in pro tennis is a difficult, demanding thing. Seeing that difficulty and the dedication it takes to win is how fans are born. Yes, even just being a fan of such an endeavor can be as much a positive, wonderful, life-affirming, victorious thing as actually playing the matches yourself--IF YOU LET IT. Be positive! The positivity you gain from supporting your favorite is not negated by the positivity someone else gets supporting his or her favorite. I’d rather think positively of all the hours of training of their talents that Serena and Dinara worked through to get them to the final or semifinal or quarterfinal and marvel at the intense play each forges against the other than think in a negative way about who’s American and who’s not or what it means to be ethnic-Tatar Russian or African-American or who’s in better shape at the moment. I really don’t care about “Serena’s big ass” or “Dinara’s little mound of belly fat.” If they can smoke the skinny-ass girls with abs of steel off the court, that’s fine with me; more power to the big girls. I may pause and wonder how great they’d be in better shape, but rather than let that get negative about now, why not let it be positive about the future.
Furthermore, “FANS”, now, if you really, really honestly still think something's terribly wrong with the ranking system, then do something much more proactive and positive than calling names (like “She’s # 2, and I mean ‘# 2,’ if you know what I mean, and we all know who the true # 1 is”), MAKING UP STATS, or, wasting one more second vomiting your filthy negativity out into the universe on a Yahoo! or ESPN tennis sports page comments section and get your concerns more directly to those that can do something about it.
”FANS,” perhaps you see the comments boards as the only such forum available to you. I'll tell you honestly though, as a tennis player and a REAL FAN of tennis first and as a person who HAS BEEN PAID TO ANALYZE and has professionally graded thousands and thousands and, yes, thousands of pieces of writing next, you will NOT make a positive change to the Women’s Tennis Association Rankings system by being SO crassly and dehumanizingly negative like a few of you on the sports boards are being. How does the old saying go, you can catch a lot more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. “Honey,” positive; “vinegar,” negative. If you need a sports analogy--you can catch a lot more pop flies with a positively well-built glove than you can with a negatively-balanced golf club. Take the fire of your negativity and let it light up some research about to whom to truly address your concerns and ideas about a better ranking system.
”FANS,” restart here and now; you can do it. Start positive here. Grow from there. Maybe one day, you'll be a pro player, a sports agent, an ad-agency copywriter specializing in tennis ad copy, or even the Women’s Tennis Association CEO. Maybe, just maybe, you'll finally, finally just be A TRUE FAN of tennis overall and not just a “FAN”atic about 1 or 2 players, insanely making crap up online. Go for it. Step back, away from so many specifics and personalities and colors and trophies and this and that. Step back away from all that little stuff and see the big picture, two stupefyingly awesome athletes trained to fight it out to the best of her own limits, two athletes at the top of the game that a couple thousand currently attempt at the pro level. Two out of two thousand. That’s an inspiring accomplishment for any two athletes to attain, even if, say, they were just from some little almost unknown European country, say, Belgium, and not huge Russia and not gigantic America. See what I did there. Think Big Picture. Think Global. And,…Think Positive!
By the way, just so you “FANS” know, the ranking system in place now that takes a player’s results over the past twelve months and awards points as to how far she got in the various levels of tournaments works just fine. Serena's been # 1 in the past; she's been ranked out of the Top 50 and then been # 1 again. She's won a Grand Slam here and there; she's lost one here and there. Dinara's also been # 1, and she's also been ranked much lower. She's won a low-level tourney here and a higher-level one there. She’s lost a few matches here and there and then come back to win more tournaments here and there. So have Martina, John, Andrea, Miloslav, Chrissie, Mary Joe, Tracy, Dinara’s older brother Marat Safin, Virginia, Jim, Rafael, Serena’s older sister Venus Williams, Jimmy, Steffi and the list goes on and on... My list of favorites will be different from yours, and our list of greats may also differ, but let it all be positive love of the game rather than negative name-calling and fear-mongering and phobias. It’s a game. Enjoy it! Furthermore, let me enjoy it, too.
All the names and stats and lists, it all ends up history stored pretty accurately as names on the trophies and in the rankings through the years. Fans do care and notice who wins Grand Slams; they ALSO DO CARE AND NOTICE Grand-Slam finalists too. They certainly notice # 1s; they notice # 10s too. The ranking system works just fine. It positively does!
It POSITIVELY does!
Positivity is better than negativity. Not just in your favorite sports rivalry either, but in all walks and runs and fights and discussions in life. Positivity is better than negativity. It positively is!
My Auburn-fan sister-in-law’s sister, Stacey, and I, Bama graduate and fan, share a niece, Elizabeth. It just occurred to me while writing this that I need to get some white and crimson Bama clothes to that beautiful little girl before she’s burdened under all that yucky Auburn orange and blue. Hold on, Elizabeth, hold on. (Oh, that poor girl, growing up in the middle of all those Pac-10 schools, too. Eek! Just don’t look at them, Elizabeth. They’re used to that and will soon calm down.) Do your best, girl. Treat your Aunt Stacey with respect and positivity when she’s on about Auburn this and that, but it is O.K. to just say, “Roll Tide!” when she’s done and then to just say no to her orange and blue stuff. It positively is.
Isn’t it…? It still is, right? Even after all I said…
War Damn Eagle!
Roll Tide Roll!
(Ths blog entry is COPYRIGHT 2009/2010 Michael S. Adams)
Labels: alabama, auburn, dinara safina, espn, john mcenroe, posititivity, red sox, roll tide, serena williams, sports boards, war eagle, yahoo, yankees, youtube
