I guess I'm in a very small minority: Serena Williams

[honugirl]

I'm not arguing about bad calls--they do happen and, yes, officials are human. And...officials when you see the replays are overwhelmingly correct in their calls. That is extremely impressive. My issue is with officials who try to interject themselves into the game and become part of the game (and then won't be accountable for doing so). I have officiated and I know it is a difficult and thankless job. I have been screamed at, too. But, I was accountable for my calls, too. The best officials will admit to blowing a call and they do that when appropriate. In addition, there are officials who do such a good job that you accept it when they make a bad call because of how good they are on a regular basis (e.g., Tim McClelland behind the plate in MLB). On the other hand, in an active sport it is absolutely unacceptable for an official to not hustle and therefore end up out of position to make a correct call. Most coaches will tell you that they will accept a call they disagree with if the umpire or referee has hustled and put themselves in an excellent position to see the play.

I totally agree. Officials need to earn their money out there and that includes hustling to be in proper position, etc. Nothing gets me more hot under the collar than working with someone who doesn't. I am accountable for my calls and in most cases, I'll say I screwed up, sorry. Depending on the coach, team though, I may not say anything at all. I treat all my players, coaches and fans with respect and give them the BEST job I can do, I expect the same out of them.

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

When I said the line judge should be punished, I meant a small fine or maybe not allowed to officiate in the semi-finals of the next major tournament not be told she could never officiate again (just so no one misunderstands.)

 

[lillygator]

how can you possibly have any way of knowing that this person was "looking to interject herself into the match"?

 

[maxiesmom]

I think you need to watch another replay. Seriously. you can't walk menacingly towards a linesperson (or anyone for that matter) saying "I swear to G-d, I feel like taking this (*&( ball and shoving it down your (*&(& throat. I swear to G-d." and then continue to walk towards them pointing your racquet at them. Even a man in the stands behind the linesperson was too afraid to take a picture of her! Bad calls happen all the time. She still had a chance to win. It was gross.

It was gross. There is NO EXCUSE for what Serena said. She is pro athlete. I'm positive there have been bad calls made against here before (if the call was bad, which I am not conviced of) and she needs to deal with it like an adult, not have a hissy fit and threaten violence. Truly shameful, disgusting behavior.

 

[lillygator]

That one's easy. She should be banned from officiating in any sport. Then she should have a judgement placed against her for one half of the difference in the prize money from finishing tied for third and finishing second in the U.S. Open. In sum, there is no cure for stupid.

this is ridiculous....

and now you are equating one bad call making someone stupid? Serena is the one who is stupid. She should have kept her mouth shut and played the game...not in turn lay the blame elsewhere.

 

[denisenh]

Regardless of whether the call was wrong or right Serena should have kept her emotions in check. She is a professional athlete, and one of the best Americans tennis players out there and she needs to remember that people look up to her. Also, she had foot faults called on her in other matches this tournament as well (it was not a first time occurrence). I agree the timing was horrible, but rules are rules.

The umpires at these tournaments are human and make errors, but they also go through a lot of training. They are certified and are chosen based on experience and recommendations for these kinds of events.

I played junior tennis and college tennis and had to deal with a lot of horrible calls and decisions made by officials, but it comes with the game. If you choose to play a sport that has officials there will be errors and there will be calls that you do not agree with. However, for every "bad" call there are several good ones and many that go your way. If a junior tennis player did that or a college player did that they would be suspended, no questions about that.

Also, when players crack/throw their racquets or swear they are always fined. You might not hear about it but they are fined.

serena lost because she triggered a penalty. thats the bottom line.
a lot of us could lose so much more by giving in to impulsive behavior. its a horrible way to lose and she must feel very angry with herself.

 

[denisenh]

meant to add that i agree with the above...... "rules are rules"

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

John McEnroe built a whole career on his behavior, and it was always laughed about it.

John McEnroe is a phenomenal tennis player; that's what he built his career on. His bad temper made for good media, not good tennis. He admits it himself.

My issue is with officials who try to interject themselves into the game and become part of the game (and then won't be accountable for doing so). I have officiated and I know it is a difficult and thankless job. I have been screamed at, too. But, I was accountable for my calls, too. The best officials will admit to blowing a call and they do that when appropriate.
In the case of the Serena Williams incident, the linesperson had no business making a call that can't be upheld by replay at that point in a match. That is, if the foul was not clear enough to see on replay it wasn't clear enough to call from the sidelines. That indicates that the linesperson was looking to interject herself into the match, IMHO, and then run away and hide when she got called on it. Just look at the linesperson's reaction and you will see the sneer, etc. Deplorable.

ITA. Serena had had foot faults called on her all week, she was really trying to be careful about it, she mentioned foot faults in interviews earlier in the week-the high winds were causing some of them and she was paying extra attention to placement because of the earlier penalties. I'd be interested to see if it was the SAME judge calling those excessive faults on her all week-more than at any time in her career up until this point.

Think that judge had an axe to grind? I do...

 

[SNylund]

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!!!! THAT WAS THE MOST INCOMPETENT THING I HAVE EVERY SEEN!!!! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE JOKING!!!! John McEnroe (Take your pick which tournament)

But seriously, I wouldn't lose any sleep on poor Serena losing out on her winnings $$$, her and her sister have more money than just about any other athletes especially in tennis, they are multi multi millionaires, I wouldn't lose any sleep on her not making a million this week, she makes them without even having to show up, (shoe endorsements, product endorsements, Miami Dolphins etc., etc.)

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

I disagree completely. I expect kids to be civil, but I would never tell them that the official is beyond question and I would never let them play in a league where those are the rules.

I expect them to think critically and to advocate for themselves when necessary, not just swallow whatever some "authority" tells them even if they believe it's wrong. We're not raising drones.

Questioning a call can be done politely and respectfully and that's how I expect it to be done. I also expect the offical to respond politely and respectfully to a legitimate question.

I saw an interesting statistic while watching an NFL game last night--I guess in 2008 the league average for successful coaches challenges was around 38%. So 38% of the time, highly skilled, trained referees with the ability to watch a replay and confer with each other STILL get the call wrong.

And officialls shoudn't be questioned? No way.

As for Ms. Williams, I'm somewhat sympathetic. While she shouldn't have gone off the way she did, she had plenty of understandable reasons for doing so. Was it her finest moment? No. Do I think she's a terrible person? No.

I disagree with you about how to teach kids to deal with refs. I've told my kids that the ref is the ref, we don't have instant replay, that it all evens out (bad calls against us, bad calls in our favor), the coach can take something up with a ref if necessary, how many times have you seen a call changed (NEVER, or close to it, in 17 years of my 3 kids playing, at various times, soccer, softball, Little League, football, basketball), etc.

Do your kids play sports? How many kids think they lost a game because of "bad reffing"? And in how many of those games, with all those kids involved, is the ref supposed to stop to answer to those kids about their decisions, asked politely or otherwise? And who's to decide that some kid's question is legitimate...the kid and the kid's parents?

We've had a wide range of refs over the years. Sometimes we've had spectacular refs (just last May at a soccer tournament in Maryland ) who explained calls (and even then...did they explain them ALL, to the satisfaction of the kid and the kid's parents and coach?), and gave out warnings/explanations instead of yellow/red cards. But more often, they make the call, and the game moves on. And it INFURIATES me when our team gets a yellow or red card over some snot arguing with the ref, when the ONLY outcome is going to be that card...not an "oh ok, I'll change the call" coming from a ref. In HS, there's a limit to the number of cards allowed in the season...one per game average. We're ahead of our average because of arguing with the ref. These kids need to learn to shut up out there (as our normally mild mannered coach was trying to tell the last kid before he got carded). It's not fair to the team. And it's just really obnoxious.

 

[SkyGirl]

Yeah, she did...she said she'd stuff the ball down her throat. I believe that's threatening physical violence which may very well kill her. Men these days would be punished the same way.
However, I do agree that the line judge made a big mistake and should be punished in some way as well.

No, the lineperson said that Serena used the words "I will kill you" and she never said them.

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

No, the lineperson said that Serena used the words "I will kill you" and she never said them.

I didn't hear that she said that Serena used those exact words. IF she lied and said that, then I agree that she should never be allowed to officiate again.

 

[SkyGirl]

I didn't hear that she said that Serena used those exact words. IF she lied and said that, then I agree that she should never be allowed to officiate again.

Here's a link

http://www.celebritysmackblog.com/2009/09/14/serena-williams-outburst-video/

Also:

NEW YORK (AP) -The Associated Press has withdrawn its story about the Serena Williams-Kim Clijsters semifinal at the U.S. Open.
It cannot be confirmed that Williams used the word kill while speaking to the line judge.

 

[eliza61]

For me the issue is not whether or not the line judge was right or wrong, the issue is you don't go around threatening to "shove you rachet up some ones ______" or carrying on a profanity laced tirade.

Any sport with officials is going to have a bad call once in a while.

Let me ask you this question, if your boss makes a mistake even if it cost you, what do you think would happen if you threaten to "shove a stapler down his/her throat"?

How long do you think you'd be employeed?

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

Here's a link

http://www.celebritysmackblog.com/2009/09/14/serena-williams-outburst-video/

Also:

NEW YORK (AP) -The Associated Press has withdrawn its story about the Serena Williams-Kim Clijsters semifinal at the U.S. Open.
It cannot be confirmed that Williams used the word kill while speaking to the line judge.

What I'm reading does NOT say that the judge said she actually said the exact words "I will kill you." If she said what she said to that judge to me, I might feel like she threatened my life as well and that may have been exactly what the line judge said, "She threatened to kill me."

 

[Squirlz]

The call was correct. It is on tape.

 

[pearlieq]

What I'm reading does NOT say that the judge said she actually said the exact words "I will kill you." If she said what she said to that judge to me, I might feel like she threatened my life as well and that may have been exactly what the line judge said, "She threatened to kill me."

That's the part of this that mystifies me about some people's reaction.

Would anyone actually take this as a serious threat to their personal safety? I don't understand why or how someone would.

It's an expression. She was yelling in anger. It's highly unlikely she would have actually tried to shove that ball anywhere into the line judge, and if she did physically attack her, someone would have been able to intervene long before any harm was done.

My cat has been acting up this afternoon and I told him if he didn't settle down I'd pack him up and ship him FedEx to DH at work. No one needs to call the SPCA on me. It's just the kind of thing people say when they're irritated.

The line judge was never in any real danger and was never legitimately threatened. Her trying to trump it up makes her sound even more petty and ridiculous than she did before.

 

[pearlieq]

Sometimes we've had spectacular refs (just last May at a soccer tournament in Maryland ) who explained calls (and even then...did they explain them ALL, to the satisfaction of the kid and the kid's parents and coach?), and gave out warnings/explanations instead of yellow/red cards. But more often, they make the call, and the game moves on. And it INFURIATES me when our team gets a yellow or red card over some snot arguing with the ref, when the ONLY outcome is going to be that card...not an "oh ok, I'll change the call" coming from a ref.

I would think the first rep you described would be the standard. Otherwise my player and my money would be going elsewhere. If there is a ref out there that not only won't explain a call, but penalizes a player or coach for asking for clarification, why is it being tolerated?

Note that I'm not advocating arguing and certainly not advocating throwing a tantrum with the ref. And I think everything should be handled with the player and/or coach--no parents in the discussion. But if a player or coach calmly asks "Could you please clarify call X? This is what we believe happened..." and the ref does anything but offer a polite and clear explanation, that's a no-go for me.

 

[disney1990]

Serena was incredibly rude! I would have been so embarrassed if that had been one of my daughters -- no matter what the judge called.

Her outburst was wrong!

 

[denisenh]

That's the part of this that mystifies me about some people's reaction.

Would anyone actually take this as a serious threat to their personal safety? I don't understand why or how someone would.

It's an expression. She was yelling in anger. It's highly unlikely she would have actually tried to shove that ball anywhere into the line judge, and if she did physically attack her, someone would have been able to intervene long before any harm was done.

My cat has been acting up this afternoon and I told him if he didn't settle down I'd pack him up and ship him FedEx to DH at work. No one needs to call the SPCA on me. It's just the kind of thing people say when they're irritated.

The line judge was never in any real danger and was never legitimately threatened. Her trying to trump it up makes her sound even more petty and ridiculous than she did before.

you're kidding right? if someone were to threaten you angrily you would presume that it was in jest?
there is a clear difference between threatening to kill someone and threatening to ship the cat to dh at work.