Happy Days When The Successful Fall...

[Tennis-Chris]

It is almost with glee that some people celebrate the failure of others. Why? Is it because of their success at their chosen profession? Is it because we perceive that we do not like a certain person? Is this dislike based on a single interaction or press reports? I really hope that I am not judged on a single interaction or rumor.

Ms. Hingis comes to mind first with her recent retirement and the allegations of cocaine use. Some of the posts on TW (and I'm sure elsewhere) are almost happy that she has retired amid reports of cocaine use. Why are some people happy that she is taking these hits?

Venus and Serena Williams are two others. It is very easy to blame any distasteful remarks of the Williams sisters on skin color/race but I think it is much more than that. James Blake does not receive the ridicule Venus and Serena do but he has not enjoyed the success in tennis that the two of them have either.

The current Presidential race in America. I enjoy American politics much more when I am out of the country than I ever do when I am at home. As I watch some of the channels and read internet posts regarding some of the different candidates it is amazing how much passion (nice word) or hate (ugly word) goes into people's opinions.

I played tennis this morning with my girlfriend and I noticed she kept apologizing for unforced errors she made (not something she normally does). I finally said to her, when I stop making unforced errors then let's discuss how big an issue your errors are. She whacked me on the *** with her racquet and smiled.

 

[LuckyR]

Jealousy is not uncommon, in fact it is an innate part of the human makeup.

Reminds me of what my HS AP English teacher said: that for a story to be a true tragedy, the protagonist must be of high station since if a horrible thing happened to a lower class individual, that isn't tragic (!?!) because, heck they weren't doing so great anyway, no big deal...

 

[El Diablo]

Hingis has invited some reproach, with her history of comments about manliness directed towards some notably black or lesbian tennis players in the past, and she seems unwilling to bite the bullet and acknowledge drug use. I don't think this is so much about jealousy, as players less apt to take potshots at their colleagues (Davenport, Clijsters, others) have not become targets so much when they had difficulty in their careers.