September 15, 2006
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The Selling of the Game Doug King
I am finally settling back down to Earth after the last couple of weeks of tennis competition, commemoration, coronation, canonization, and celebration called the U.S. Open. You got to hand it to the U.S.T.A. - do they know how to throw a party or what?
Each Slam has it’s distinct flavor. The Australian Open feels like a great big beach party, abundant sunshine and a celebration of Australia’s sporting culture. The French, elegant and refined, a bit aristocratic and cultured. Wimbledon of course, celebrates the grand traditions of the sport, the gentility of the game’s origins. But the U.S. Open is all about “Star Power.” After all, this is the land of “American Idol.” It's New York City, The Big Apple, The City that Never Sleeps, where the players are the play and the spotlight burns the brightest. No wonder the players talk so much about playing “under the lights at the U.S. Open.” It is their chance to shine on the daily ESPN highlight film, to get their precious 15 minutes allotted to them by the immortal New York King of Hype and Pop Culture, that pasty guy with the funny hairdo, you know - the other Andy (Warhol).
But it’s not just the highlight films, it’s the pre-match locker room interviews, the post-match courtside inter-reviews (aside from John McEnroe‘s exceptional work with Andre), and the player profiles, with more spin on them than a Roger Federer forehand. It’s information overload, a kind of over-the-top psycho drama. It's a place where “bigger is better” and eye-popping, tongue wagging sensationalism is the norm. It’s Black Hat versus White Hat “winner take all” and “win at all costs” journalistic jingoism. The Talking Heads tell us the sport needs “personality” to survive and, by God it will create them if need be. It all makes for good television but what is the trade-off and what kind of message is being sent to our youth, nay to all of us, as to what sport means today?
Indeed tennis has been adopted by Big Business like an orphaned waif desperately foraging for it‘s next meal. And nowhere is the banquet table set more abundantly than at the U.S Open. Sumptuous product endorsements, juicy appearance fees and mouth watering contract bonuses are served up by a wait staff of nattily tailored personal agents and corporate Svengalis. Big Business operates by its own set of ethics. If some sports have remained “pure” it is only because the sport/product doesn‘t pencil out on the bean counter‘s spread sheet. We look to the stewards of our sport to navigate this world, to direct the sport. Is the decision to extend the changeover time limit to cram in more TV ads so they can sell us the latest anti-depressant medication to ease the anxiety caused by the sobering side effects of my erectile dysfunction prescription a good thing for tennis? Thank God for Tivo!! (Technology saving us from technology - you gotta love the irony.) Truly the big winners at the U.S. Open were the corporate honchos that view tennis in terms of market share, viewer ratings, and profit margins and bureaucrats who measure the sport in terms of gate receipts and bottom line revenue figures. But what about the parent of the preteen kid who is hitting the dog saliva soaked ball on the garage door?
In this era of sports doping scandals, it’s becoming harder to distinguish between sports felons and sports heroes. And it is not just on the professional sport scene where money and ego mix to dangerous levels. College athletics have fallen prey to the student/athlete turned entitled “Campus Superstar.” In tennis we have our own issues of doping and cheating, stalling with bathroom breaks and injury timeout abuses, sideline coaching, intimidating behavior, taunting and jeering, spitting at umpires and opponents, shrieking-at-the- top-of-your-lungs, and an in-your-face attitude. Sometimes boxing looks dignified by comparison. This behavior gets “tolerated” (or worse) because it adds “personality” and sells the sport. The “integrity” and “virtues” of sport, the Code of Sportsmanship, personal responsibility, grace under pressure, fair play, respect for your opponent, humility (now regarded as a “weakness” rather than a virtue) seem in dangerous short supply or perhaps dangerous under exposure. That script doesn’t have quite the sizzle that sells the sport.
The truth is, the media can “package” the sport but it can’t change the “nature” of the sport. The media can bludgeon us with its skewed take on tennis but when we put hand to racquet and foot to court the game itself will send us it’s own subtle, more personally resonating message. It will teach us that as much as we’d like to, we can’t hit the serve like Roddick or whip a passing shot like Federer or look like Sharapova. Simply by playing the game, we will learn that winning isn’t close to “being everything” and that in playing for something beyond 15 minutes of fame we’ve inadvertently struck up a love affair that lasts a lifetime. And like any relationship that we hope to endure we must learn the rules, learn to give and take, show respect and consideration, compassion and yes, even humility. With these lessons learned, although our serves may never clock in at mach speed, we may share something even more powerful with some of the true greats of the game. By the way, wasn't that Joltin' Joe I saw in the crowd doing the Wave? As always, we would love to hear from you! Questions, comments, personal experiences all create helpful dialogue for everyone! Please click here to send us your email.
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