Yes, I remember an interview Michael Kaye did with John Mcenroe on the show centerstage and he talked about how when he got to Stanford that his guidance counselor there thank god suggested easy courses to take there instead of taking too difficult courses for him like Calculus 101. Somehow, I think a real academically qualified Stanford student wouldn't think Calc 101 is very difficult to get through.
John McEnroe was a once in a lifetime STUD...there was virtually NO DOUBT that he was going to be one of the greats. Same with Tiger Woods. When you get a chance to nab athletes of a caliber of this...it is a no-brainer. The reality is of the so-called, "top" students in the US, the vast majority of them are from affluence...or at the very least have a sensible place to study, not like say, a public park...walking 44 minutes all the way to get there in time to study if you know what I mean.
To play tennis, you need guess what? Money, time, money...time, money...time...MONEY. That's the bottom-line. The VAST majority of "serious" tennis players are upper middle-class at the very least. It's what's required. They also generally have smarter than average parents...lawyers, doctors, engineers, chairmans of the board, etc., etc.
Do you really think John McEnroe, he of insanely quick wit, and acerbic tongue, and prominent lawyer father...was not "smart enough" to hack it at a place like Stanford? I don't buy that. The only REAL difference between a top-tier student, and the VERY top tier students...say, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, what have you is simple. 9 times out of 10 it's I have a better work ethic than you...but NOT that I am actually "smarter" than you. And the dfiference between a top of the food chain so-so school student, and a top-tier student (say the Brown leaves of the world), is? Yup, money...moolah, otherwise known as "class."
Meaning, the *environment* and *opportunities* to succeed were not quite the same. Many do not get this, but if you're getting evicted every few fricking months...it kind of makes it harder to concentrate on the "finer," more "important" things in life...like academics.
You know what the problem with most politicians is? They look at the masses like chips on a game board to play with. Of actually, walking in the mud themselves, instead of just talking the talk themselves (a product of years of blah-blah-blah, "debate" training at their pansy-azz "prep" schools)...they know *nothing*. And while they say otherwise, they have no TRUE desire to actually KNOW and FEEL what it is, to live how the "other half" lives.
He may be despicable, but Osama's appeal to his followers that here was a rich man who did not need to get his hands dirty...but did.
Comebine Osama with good morals, a conscience, and now you got something...because the truth is, the reality is, money, pedigree, and connections are without a great deal of luck AND perserverance..."necessary" to maneuver yourself into a position of "power," of *influence." But, how many at the snooty-prep schools are like that? Most of them know one world, one track, and they stay on that track...until their children pick up the baton, and continue on that same track. Looking outside the box of your burbs is not engrained into the American conscience. Neither for the rich, nor the poor. And this is why the poor, gladly beat on the rich preppies, when the opportunity presents itself...and not think twice about it. And, conversely, why the rich preppies never stop to *linger* in the shoes of the unfortunate. It's not that they don't hold within themselves the potential, capacity, and determination to "care;" but rather, when you're life is one continuous string of forward-moving momentum...it's hard to become *aware* enough to put the brakes on. When you've got money, pedigree, influence, and haven't been severely rocked by life one too many times to get up for the count anymore...let's just say, the point where the will to
exist has been irreparably broken...there's no time to stop. There is ALWAYS something newer and more exciting to *achieve*...be it a promotion, a "master" of whatever else degree to tack on at the end of your name, a vacation mansion to add to your regular mansion, and so on and so forth. Life becomes one big chase, and when you've got momentum...you've got momentum, and there is no real apparent reason to stop...not unless, until, the pebbles start flying upstream from behind...ouch, darn, angry villagers...why don't they just have a "clear head" like me, think, study, and edumacate themselves and stop complaining? They must be lazy, not scarred. And this is what escapes those in the penthouse suites...the capacity to be scarred by life, seared by it, until the rage bubbles up and boils over...time to EXPLODE! Fists raining in on the poor unfortunate spoiled soul who gets in their way, in the right place, at the right time.
John McEnroe has a capacity to bs just like the rest of them, lawyers, and some suches, study, study, study...the vast majority are capable of achieving academic success. It boils down to opportunity, and having a "clear" enough head to do it.
On average, it is for this reason alone, that most high-class players are also from higher-than-average class families. A good education is engrained, the "genes" AND expectations are certainly in place, they're capable of holding their own academically...they're in the ballpark at the very least, unlike say a baller from the streets, who perhaps was not afforded the same opportunies to study AND train. Indeed, for most high class tennis players, the biggest obstacle is in balancing their desire to party-hardy (hey, it's college), train, AND study. Some "types" are better at organizing their lives than others, others more naturally gifted athletically than others, others more logically gifted, others more artsy-fartsy, and so on and so forth. But all, in all, if you're a college admissions officer, you shouldn't EVER pass up on the chance of a once in a lifetime. Study-hardy students from "good" families, are a DIME-A-DOZEN...but say a Rockefeller, who can build bangin' new facilities for you, or an all-time great caliber athlete, or famous child actor/actress or whatever, you do NOT pass up on.
Colleges are a business at the end of the day. Should a "big name" come their way, like a SURE THING big, FAMOUS, name, either one day or now...they should *snatch* him her/up no matter what. Tutors are a dime-a-dozen, the LEGACY that a "big name" leaves on an institution is BIG business for them. A college's "legacy," their pocket books, are based not on a slew of "professional" whatevers. They're built on the BIG NAMES...the Monica Seles' and Andre Agassi's of the world that don't come along everyday. And that's why Nick Bolletieri was willing to bend every rule in the book for Agassi, when he otherwise should have been kicked out for disciplinary/academic reasons almost from the get-go...he says he should have done something looking back, but we all know he doesn't *really* feel that way. He saw his one of a kind, charisma-cha-ching, meal ticket in Agassi from a very early age...dad's a waiter? No problemo, we can make exceptions for the CHANCE at greatness. The chance at achieviecing true "greatness" is very, very...VERY rare. If someone's even somewhat unique enough to possibly have a chance, that is a chance you HAVE TO take. You MUST take that chance. Agassi was a crummy student, and like many ESTPs not too interested in school growing up...too impulsive, rebelious, etc. But Nick's investment in him, has ultimately paved the way for a PLETHORA of students who are NOT once-in-a-generation gifted like him, to have a chance to succeed the only other "sure" way there is...academically. So, in retrospect, Nick, no, you really shouldn't have held Agassi to the firm letter of the land. His most relevant, useful, "education," was in "greatness," not relative...I won't say, mediocrity; but rather, *obscurity*. The amount of people who've passed through the "name" schools is too long to list, the list of names on the buildings in those universities? Far, far, less. Potential *legacy* first, and all the rest second. That is the logic in college la la land.
at the very least a middle-class background...and if they do have a middle-class background and still want to p