A few thoughts, if I may...
- While I think horses are cute (Why the long face?), my husband thinks that all the losing horses in the Kentucky Derby should be made into high-end dog food ($5000 a can?) for celebrity pets. If the horses could somehow be made aware of the stakes, it would provide a more compelling race for both the spectator and participant.
- I feel badly for the people who drive the Indy 500 cars instead of the NASCARs. They seem to get less attention than their regular car driving cousins. I don't know if Indy cars wreck worse than NASCAR ones, but I would think they do. I'd love a few comments on this.
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- Sportz Assassin has a good note in his journal(I'll include a link if I remember) regarding the lack of personality on the Tennis Scene. Damn straight. Tennis doesn't sell well these days, although it will always be a major sport.
To make it a huge sport, they need to make changes.
More /personality sex appeal is needed. Martina Hingis seems snooty, the Williams sisters have that awful father of theirs, Capriati smokes the cheeb, and the rest seem to be burly, silent Europeans.
Thus, they are very difficult to relate to. We don't feel joy for the winner, and we don't pity the loser. They're both young, rich and will retire at 28 or so.
They are usually heavily into the sport in their teens, and grow up in this insular world of travel and training. I'm surprised they aren't arrested more often.
The best known tennis player in the world is Anna Kournikova, who isn't really that good. She was ranked 308th in 2003, and lost to a high school kid(Carly Gullickson, pictured below) in straight sets.
It doesn't matter. She's mint. Hot, blonde, Russian, and as slinky as the day is long. She turns up in the news a lot, dating Derek Jeters and such. She fills seats, and draws people to the televison. If she could last a little longer in the tournaments, she'd attract a lot of attention to the girls who CAN play. Then, non-fans might actually develop an interest in the game, or the players that aren't on a MAXIM cover.
If the proficient players looked more like her, they'd make piles o' cash. If I was taller and thinner, I'd be working on my game right now.
The guys have a visual problem, too. They need a few guys who LOOK like they could play some football. Too many pretty boys who seem a bit delicate walking those courts.
They also need a few colorful personalities. Surely, this generation has produced a few guys who know who to scream at a ref, remove their pants, and draw attention to themselves?
Also, the rules should be changed so that we are treated to an occasional NHL-style fist fight. Imagine the entertainment if a judge had hopped off a chair and gone after McEnroe? Fights, however wrong they are, tend to be tremendous viewing, and should be incorporated into tennis as soon as possible. Then, people would be interested.
I'll be honest with you regarding my dream of making it big in Pro Tennis. I was never any good at it. My thighs are too big for any sport that is played in a short skirt, especially if Anna was on the other side of the net....unless I could hop over the net and fight her. I'd step up and Power Bomb the tramp.
2 comments:
Is the black and white you? My youngest daughter is a tennis player (was state and nationally ranked in the 12 & unders, and just aged up to the 14 and under age level). I want so bad for her to be a professional tennis player. She's 13 and almost 6 feet tall. She's been playing since she was 9 years old and trains with boys so she is REALLY powerful. On the down side, she's 13 and to be the best of the best you have to dedicate your life to it. She's a straight A student and is very social and she wants to be with her friends sometimes too. If I've learned anything with sports, it's that the athlete must want it for him or herself. So for now I'm content to have her continue with her tennis academy and hopefully once these middle years pass she will decide for herself to focus and hone her talent. She's so very good and if she applied herself, she'd be the best.
The black and white picture is an amateur teenage player from Tennessee named Carly Gullickson. She beat Anna K in straight sets at a tournament, so I figured I'd give her some national props. I'm cuter, btw...
Interesting quandry you have there. A tennis star can make things easy for the family- if she wins $30 million or so, you stand a good chance of getting hooked up with a few mill of that. Even if she disowns you, at least you will never have to worry about her being homeless and forced to eat tree bark to continue her squalid existence. Many parents could only wish to enjoy that security.
Still, veal cows get more of a normal upbringing than a tennis prodigy. She could waste her best years, never make it as a pro, and then retire to a trailer park with some guy named Luther. On the other hand, she could play well enough to get free college, local celebrity, Olympic gold or a job as a tennis pro at the local club.
If she likes it, back her with all you have. If she hates it, let her bail. Just a bit of advice, from someone who knows very little about the situation. Beware of advice from Internet people.
I wish her all the best. Maybe she'll be the illest tennis player in the world by 2008. How cool would that be, huh?
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