At 49, McEnroe is still McEnroe -- or Donald Duck
John McEnroe reminds me of my all-time favorite Disney character. John McEnroe is Donald Duck.
Think about Donald going into one of his tirades, hopping up and down, fists balled, sputtering a string of unintelligible duck epithets. McEnroe, right?
Well, the 49-year-old McEnroe was at it again. Forget the self-effacing commercials and the elder statesman role as U.S. Davis Cup captain. McEnroe will apparently always be McEnroe.
Yesterday, he was tossed from an Outback Champions Series match (for players over 30) at the International Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, for a trifecta of bad behavior that was the result of arguing with a chair umpire, a McEnroe classic.
According to this account, it started with an "audible obscenity" by McEnroe in the midst of the debate with the chair umpire, then a heated continuation that escated into "abuse of official code violations," and then when fans started yelling at McEnroe to shut up and play, he "responded to the fans with a visible obscene gesture."
As a result, McEnroe was required to default his match to MaliVai Washington. McEnroe gets to continue in the round-robin tournament today against Karel Novacek.
The only time I saw McEnroe play live was right there in Newport in Davis Cup against Spain in 1991. At the time, McEnroe also was grousing but with good reason. He was being critical of top American players who skipped Davis Cup because it interfered with their more lucrative professional careers.
I've always admired McEnroe for his stance on Davis Cup. He considers it a patriotic gesture and as a result, has been one of the most active players in that international competition. And the outbursts? Well, I do appreciate the guy's competitiveness, even at age 49. But I've never liked the elements of bullying and intimidation in his harassment of officials. I think I've managed to overlook it by imaging that he's wearing a little sailor suit.
Comments
Haha, good stuff. Sailor suit or not, you gotta give it to McEnroe. He's certainly entertaining to watch.
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One of my all-time favorites.
-- Bill O.
Posted by: Guthrie4President | August 16, 2008 2:10 PM
I was right there in the audience. The next day I told John the next day after his victory he signed my tournament book and I told him Good Job. Some say John is a perfectionist, some call him colorful, some call him an (jerk), I don't know, he's 15 years older than me and could most likely kick my A** on the court, never mind winning Wimbledon at age 20 against Bjorg. I'm 34 and I still can barely get my game even going, I might want to watch my own tirades.
Posted by: Joshua Freeman | August 17, 2008 12:12 AM
I'm sick of John getting away with this
type of behavior!!! Is this what our country has become? The U.S.A. has
really fallen into the pit of slime if so!!!!
Posted by: yttta b | August 17, 2008 8:33 PM
This was just a stupid moment. Nothing more. It's more than just the temper tantrum. It's the fact that, after all that John has accomplished: 7 grand slam singles titles, a lot of Grand Slam doubles titles, becoming an incredible commentator and spokesman for the game...and he's going to let these little incidents bother him like this? I find it very sad. And also, the bullcrap that people go to watch John so they can see him get mad. That's unacceptable. Besides, he can appease those temper-loving fans plenty with his attitude, even by not crossing the line like he did today.
Posted by: ComeOnJohn | August 22, 2008 7:15 PM