Hillary Flammond: Who do you favor in the Virginia Slims tournament?
Blindman: In women's tennis, I always root against the heterosexual.
Posted on 04/10/2020 6:48:32 AM PDT by Libloather
The "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs is one of the most iconic moments in American sports history. Set against the backdrop of the women's liberation movement, King's 1973 victory over Riggs transcended sports. But a news tip from an unexpected source, 40 years later, sent ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr. down a path that led him to investigate whether the match was rigged. Van Natta details his reporting on the lead-up to The Battle of the Sexes, and how Riggs' own agenda may have impacted the historic outcome. Play.
(Excerpt) Read more at m.espn.com ...
Good info.
The article does serve a purpose, though. You know how everyone says, "media has gotten so bad, lately?" Media has always been this bad. ABC was the network carrier. Match was rigged. Fifty years or so later, ABC(ESPN) can admit the fraud, while acting all surprised that it happened.
A lot of sporting events are rigged. Remember when Tim Donaghy (NBA ref) was caught in a game fixing scheme and said a lot of referees fixed games? NBA commissioner gave a presser, called him a rogue referee, and the sports media grabbed the script, said "yep, rogue referee" and went on their way.
The most absurdist part of this is listing it as a "great moment in sports."
Listening all the way to the end and, even with all the facts laid out, they still emphasize the impact of the match on society. I guess even a fraudulent event can have an impact, but once the fraud is proven you’d think there’d be a reassessment. Just shows how deeply everyone was invested.
Was it fixed? Maybe.
But the age difference was a huge factor.
King was 29, she was still playing at a very high level, and she was without question one of the best female players of all time.
Riggs was 55.
Most male tennis players have peaked and started to decline by age 30, with some obvious exceptions like Roger Federer.
Then why did Riggs destroy Margaret Court, a few months earlier?
I liked the follow on show “Battle of the Network Stars” as the ladies wore very thin bathing suits : )
And the networks and the ladies knew : )
A little T&A is nice.
Not coming from the likes of Billie Jean King. Then it's cause for blinding yourself with a corkscrew.
“ABC was the network carrier. Match was rigged. Fifty years or so later, ABC(ESPN) can admit the fraud, while acting all surprised that it happened.”
Have they admitted Nightline was rigged as well?
Yeah, it was rigged. Riggs needed cash. Fags needed a hero. Helen Reddy (”I am woman. Hear me nag, complain and gripe.”) needed affirmation. Blah, blah, blah.
“Then why did Riggs destroy Margaret Court, a few months earlier?”
The whole spectacle was engineered by Bobby Riggs, including the match against Margaret Court. He knew that he could blow away the #1 ranked female tennis player, so why not the #2 player.
On paper Margaret Court was the tougher opponent. Court was big, rangy and very athletic. Billie Jean should have been an easier opponent as she lacked the reach and range of Court. Assuming that Riggs set this all up(and I think he did), then the strategy of Margaret Court first makes a lot of sense. If he wins he gets the odds heavily in his favor when the match against #2 BJK is announced. He tanks that match and anybody who had money on Billie Jean cleans up.
Riggs was always a hustler. He said as much. He’d bet on anything — especially himself. And he’d press bets after tanking 1 or 2 sets just to get a better payday. Yeah, he did it.
Actually, Riggs had destroyed the #1 female player , 6-2/6-1.
That is what drove King to take up his challenge. King forced the 55-year-old Riggs to run all over the court, and wore him out.
Contrary to what some have said here, he was not playing the doubles court. That was a match in the 90s between Jimmy Conner and Martina Navratolova.
And Elton John needed another hit song.
With soul, baby!
I was in the Astrodome for that match and it certainly was a spectacle.
Hillary Flammond: Who do you favor in the Virginia Slims tournament?
Blindman: In women's tennis, I always root against the heterosexual.
This happened in my early youth but I learned about it in my teens. I’ve never doubted that this was a put on. Nothing about this rang true to me.
Maybe it’s my lifetime devotion to pro wrestling made my cynical.
Then Billie Jean King went on to write her book on Tennis: “How To Lick Your Opponent!”
“King forced the 55-year-old Riggs to run all over the court, and wore him out.”
A strategy that wouldn’t have worked for Billie Jean if Riggs was getting his 1st serve in with a reasonable percentage. The easiest way to ‘make it look good’ is to just flub your first serve cuz you know that Billie Jean’s game is to run you side to side and come to the net to finish you. It’s like if a fighter just stops throwing jabs. No jabs, you can’t control the fight.
That did not happen. Riggs-King played to the same rules. You might be thinking of the 1992 match between Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova. Jimmy won, even giving up the doubles alleys to her. He also won a small fortune betting on himself. Jimmy gives an account of this in his book. Quite a good read by the way.
Souvenirs / Novelties / Party Tricks.
I skipped the phony dog...
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