Wednesday, September 07, 2005


Invaders from the Planet Oblivion

What I've always disliked about the Williams sisters is their unwillingness to concede when they lose to a superior opponent.  They always make lame excuses, as Venus did last night after losing to Kim Clijsters at the U.S. Open:

"I was playing decent and she started playing really bad and it totally
threw me off," Williams said, whose lack of graciousness after the match
equaled her lack of precision during it. "She started hitting these
really weird shots and short balls, just weird stuff. Next thing I knew I
was playing as bad as she was. She was able to recover. I just wasn't. I
guess maybe it was a good strategy."
But then, as the NY Times points out:
If advised correctly, Serena Williams would not have celebrated herself as a philanthropist by offering $100 per ace to hurricane relief when her dog, Jackie, travels in a designer handbag that costs many times that much.

If anyone in her management group had prepped her, Venus Williams would not have used an unfortunate line like, "I really don't watch the news," when asked about the devastation in New Orleans.

But then, you don't have to be a self-absorbed athlete to make clueless statements like "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees" and  "Out of the rubble of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch."

Maybe Bush should offer the Williams sisters cabinet posts.  They could be co-commissioners of sports in the Department of Homeland Security. 


2:27:21 PM    comment []