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To: Above My Pay Grade
I agree 100%. If Serena were a baseball manager, her outburst would be considered fairly routine.

Well, what about football and basketball coaches, who constantly complain to officials? But what all you apologists blithely dismiss is that Serena crossed the line and made personal threats.

All these managers and coaches are not making personal threats when they complain about officiating.

31 posted on 09/14/2009 5:44:33 AM PDT by Will88
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To: Will88

But what all you apologists blithely dismiss is that Serena crossed the line and made personal threats.

All these managers and coaches are not making personal threats when they complain about officiating.”

Serena definately made threats to the safety of the official. She made one trip over to the official, made a second, and then made a third.

A baseball manager would be thrown out of the game.

I would like to see a hefty fine—$10,000 is tip money for the Williams sisters—and I would like to see her benned for a year.

Someone has to get the message. Soccer had the red cards-
there are many other types of disqualification. Even in Endurance horse riding, riders have been given as much as a 5 year ‘time out’ from a major event for misbehavior.


35 posted on 09/14/2009 5:55:27 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: Will88

>>>All these managers and coaches are not making personal threats when they complain about officiating.<<<

I have to think, with all the over the top tirades we’ve seen, over the years, once in a while a manager or player makes what could be considered a personal threat against an official or umpire. The difference is, they are generally not picked up on microphones, as in tennis. She certainly should not have said what she said, and deserves some sort of suspension, but I don’t think this was any sort of unprecedented outburst.

I think I might be tougher on Williams if it hadn’t been such a horrnedous call. The lineswoman apparently decided to impose herself on the match, making a call that nobody ever makes in a spot like that, and that was clearly, 100% wrong.

It wasn’t like she simply blew an in/out call, where a call must be made. She went out of her way to make one of the worst calls in sports history. It would be like a basketball referee calling a player for taking too long to shoot a free throw with a chance to send a playoff game into overtime, when he only took 5 seconds, as opposed to the 10 seconds allowed.

I find it rather odd that the USTA would hire a person with on obvious vision problem (the lineswoman wore glasses) for a crucial position, where eyesight is about 90% of the job. (I say this as one who is very nearsighted.) But, that is our politically correct. affirmitave action, society. Kind of reminds me the stuttering announcer in the short story “Harrison Bergeron”.

The way things are going, in 10 or 20 years, we will have the first (literally) blind major league umpire or NBA or NFL offical and it will be hailed as a historic victory for diversity.


41 posted on 09/14/2009 6:49:17 AM PDT by Above My Pay Grade
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