Coffee Break # 18 - Cooling down

Coming from here:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1032131/

Daylight is fading, but it's my kind of weather! Looking forward to fall colors. Definitely starting early around here.

More great Hubble pics.

http://www.hubblesite.org/gallery/album/solar_system

yup...days are getting shorter. Took the dogs out last night, had to come back for a flashlight. WHEN did it start getting dark at 8pm????
Funny how it sneaks up on you...

Yes it does. Driving home from our family picnic, it was already noticeably dark at 7:15, due to the clouds!

Thanks, everybody. I saw pics of her. She is a beauty ( considering she was just born LOL)

Wha, I consider a 'corker' to be a character or in his case - a brat. :) I was being polite and didn't just say he is a pain.

I love fall.

Have you seen the profanity-laced tirade by Serena Williams? Disgusting. Sports is so full of this garbage now and the kids copy it. Then she 'justifies' it by saying others have said much worse. I would love to see all sports crack down on all of this. Screaming, cursing, hot-dogging, etc. It has to go. You can't watch a pro game without seeing all the dancing and taunting - and for an ordinary play that they are expected to make! Ugh.

yup...that is why I can not stand to watch Tiger Woods!! His temper tantrums are disgusting....and I don't care how nice and decent they say he is.

I never liked any of it. Connors, McEnroe, all the showing up of the pitchers after a home run. That's why the classy people really stand out - like Michael Jordan, Walter Payton, etc.

Especially when you consider the money they make...I mean, sheesh! Tigers worth how many zillions of dollars? and he has to have a hissy fit when he misses a put? Get over it already...forget it, go home to your mansion with the thousands you'll make anyways and quit being such a baby!

Yeah, really!

Yeah, why can't they just all behave themselves? It gives sports a bad name.

Karen

The same with Serena...she got over $300,000 just for BEING in the semi-finals...win or lose...that tirade was just as uncalled for. She should have just graciously accepted the foul and got on with it.

very bad call by the line judge - very important point - close match - i might have gone off a bit myself - not to that extent though - although i guarrentee i would have thought the same thing.

not sure about mj victor that push off against the jazz was blatant and should have been called - and his off court gambling and womanizing - great bball player - not a role model.

No excuse. She was going to lose anyway.

On MJ, I was referring to his on-court demeanor and how he handles adversity and victory.

Just another reason to love derek Jeter. Not an once of hot dog in him. (Calm down Sox fans!I know, there are some classy Sox players too)
As a matter of fact, its hard to find anything negative about that whole group that came up together through the Yankee farm system :Jeter, Posada, Riviera, Bernie Williams. (I would still add Andy Pettitte-even thoughhe made one very big , public mistake)

Has Serena ever done anything like this before?

True aout that group, Dave. Serena has yelled and slammed her racquet (did that earlier in the same match), but never anything like this, that I know of. Felt sorry for that official - I would be running if she came after me too!

Even beyond lack of self-control, I always thought John Mc Enroe did the most to belittle the umpire/line judge

Yes - he was one of the worst. Nastase was another.

Those of us who are older remember the gentlemanly tennis player, the late great Arthur Ashe.

And let's remember also the hostility Jackie Robinson had to tolerate; what a class act.

Yes he was.

Bernie Williams will always be a favorite of mine, even though I'm not a Yankee fan---Jeter, too. Real gentlemen---tennis is supposed to be a quiet, dignified sport---not any more! Any kind of antics like Serena's is just plain bad for the sport---

I agree with wha. It was a bad call at a critical moment in the game. I would have went off too. She ans her sister have had to put up with lots of BS just breaking into the game and they have always been professional and even forgiving of on and off court unjust criticism.

Like she said she is human and lost it and of course if they are not "perfect" they are vilified. It was a really bad call.

thx jadajoy - and i do not agree that she was going to lose anyway - in my opinion she is the best female tennis player in the world right now and was down a 5-4 in the second set - she could have come back - horrible call - still she went over the line threatening the line judge, should have argued the call not the person

and as for jeter being calssy - he simply walks like a cocky $*^%#&$* people do not do that "naturally" but then i hate anything pinstripes :)

Yes - I think we've heard that before, Bill. We can't all be role models like Manny and Big Floppy. ^_^

The bar for sportsmanship has been lowered so much. Now it seems to be okay if we are simply not as bad as the other guy (or lady). Breaking the racquet, screaming, etc., is now accepted. it's horrible. Every athlete goes through hard times - on and off the field. Ones with class and grace deal with it.

God didn't give sports talents only to gentlemen and "ladies". I don't know why we expect normal people, with an ability to play, to be role models or above human. They are just people reacting to situations. And sometimes they do it badly. Thats just human nature. I'm not saying what she did was right, but dam, just fine her and forget it. The media acts like she killed somebody!!!

Me, I would have hit him with my racket upside his f--ing head!!! Ha. Yea, I said it :-)

I go by, if I'm gonna get in trouble anyway, might as well make it for a good reason. Sometimes you just have to express it. You can't always go home and kick the dog :-)

wouldn't want to be your dog :) wow :) the line judge was a woman as well?

victor manny is long gone - big floppy has hit more homers than anyone else in baseball since june 21st and i really wonder if he was guilty of a banded substance - however if you or i grew up in the conditions a lot of these players did we would do almost anything to get out.

as for sportsmanship - do you remember the pine tar incident with George Brett in yankee stadium? He did not get hung out to dry because of that - in fact it is a classic baseball clip - we all make to much of this stuff and come off holier than thou.

I certainly don't expect superhuman behavior from athletes, or anyone. And athletes, or musicians, or actors, should not be looked to as role models.

Go back to the 'old days' and athletes, with some exceptions, in the same exact situations - bad calls, slumps, bad days, problems at home - whatever - just did not act the way they do today. And the worst part is the kids emulate it. And the parents are even worse.

I don't see any difference with the coverage of Serena compared to other similar acts. Do you remember when George Brett went nuts over the pine tar play? The media was all over him for weeks and weeks. Or when Roberto Alomar spit at the umpire? Same thing - and rightfully so.

Ha ha - we used the same incident, Bill! The point was the media coverage.

Granted, it was a bad call.
In these days of recession and hard times...no jobs and people losing everything they have, I have to question a society that is willing to pay extravagant amounts of money to people that play a game for crying out loud. It's a game!! How does a man or woman, playing a game of football, or hockey or baseball or, yes, tennis even warrant $100 million dollars when people in this country are starving? and how can we allow this to happen?

True - I did not even touch upon that aspect. They made no money in the old days but knew what sportsmanship was.

I am not familiar with the George Brett incident. Enlighten me please.

I guess the media has to have someone to vilify.

Wha..going home to kick the dog is just an expression we used a lot in the Navy.. don't call PETA , I love my pouchie :-)

Here, Joyce:

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=3588931&categoryid=null

3 garderners,
Thats a good point. People are really touchy these days. Always happens in a recession (depression). Crime goes up, moral goes down. I think the money athletes make is in indirect proportion to "our" interest in the games. Tells you a lot about where 'we" focus our attention. WHy can't school teachers make this kind of money?

Victor, I think in the old days the players didnt have any more sportsman like behaviour than today. Its just with all the new media and technology its more noticeable today.. A 60 inch TV will show every scratch of the balls.lol

Here's another class act. Don't know what his punishment was, but I would throw him out for at least a year. Worse thing is - the fans cheer this crap.

I was, and still am, very competitive and intense. I am a reformed a**hole when it comes to behavior during sports.I am beyond embarrassed when I think back at how I would sometimes act. Sore loser would be an understatement. I see this in my older son and I'm doing all I can to modify it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf9E1zhnFec&feature=related

No - I absolutely disagree, Joyce. They were much better on the whole.

i knew you did :)

Brett hit a game winning home run that was overturned because the pine tar on the bat went to far up the handle - when the call was made he went berserk running out of the dugout, waving his arms as he ran (looked like he was trying to fly), and screaming at the ump

i do not remember him being attacked like serena and the difference was brett argued the call and did not get personal like serena.

ok another old incident - forget the world series it was, maybe the brooklyn dodgers, their pitcher showed up drunk for the game, still pitched, and when he lost the game his own team jumped him right on the mound. Find it hard to believe that would happen now.

these things have always happened and always will. i actually think they happen less often and it is only when an incident occurs the media blows it out of proportion.

i will stop now:)

wow three posts while i was away.

i am a sort of reformed a-hole as well - never could get out of a hockey game without a fight:) Never started one. God help the guy that hit me with a stick or cheap shot. bang fight.

Nope. They always happened, but they were exceptions back then. Are you serious - can you imagine anyone hot-dogging back in the day like they do now. No way, Jose. Try swaggering after hitting a hr off Bob Gibson. Next time up you're going down!

Funny - I titled this thread Cooling Down! Hee hee.

Thanks Victor and wha for the info.

I get you Victor. Bad behavior in sports is regretable and thus the fines. I still think Serena will suffer much more than fines for this little incident. Like wha said, it will be blown out of proportion.

wha..you are right, it should not have been personal but directed at the call.

Sorry, but I loved that second video. It was classic!!!! and I wish I had been there:-)

Victor, you sound like a wonderful father!