Mary Carillo on MSNBC: Serena was wrong, umpire was right

[stopbush]

Carillo was just on Stephanie Ruhle’s show on MSNBC. She made a very good case that this incident had nothing to do with women’s rights, minority rights or anything outside of the fact that Serena violated the rules and then turned to bullying the ump. She made excellent points. Said that everyone on the circuit knows this ump is a stickler on the rules, that he is well respected. She also said that she and Lindsey Davenport - who were handling the bcast commentary for the Tennis Channel - were very clear in real time that Serena was heading toward losing a point and then a game per the rules.

I imagine that parts of the segment will be reaired throughout the day.

[janterry]

1. Serena still needs to apologize to the ump

Her team was cheating. She was wrong. She should apologize for what she did.

[brush]

12. Tennis legend Billie Jean King says just the opposite. Read her comments at this link.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/billie-jean-king-op-ed-serena-williams_us_5b9595b1e4b0162f472e68ef

Also broadcasters Pam Shriver and Chris Everett indicated that the umpire overreacted.

[janterry]

13. I think she needs to

apologize. I suppose you could believe her (and she didn't lie). That is hard for me to accept - . Her coach said he coached every point. It's his general practice.

But, let's give her the benefit of the doubt. It's not a lie. She has no idea that, every match, her coach is coaching from the sidelines.

If that were you or I - and our coach said that - we'd have the requisite humility to address what he did and what we said in the heat of the moment. We'd have to say, well, I really had no idea that my team was trying to cheat. I'm embarrassed. I will make sure it never happens again.

I should not have berated the ump the way I did. He saw correctly.

I read the comments when they were posted yesterday, btw .

[brush]

14. Andrea Mitchell has a guest on right now saying that the ref went way out of the norm...

with his penalties. "To a chair umpire asserting himself to that degree in a match is very unfair and unprecedented."

The guest, a tennis writer for USA Today whose story ran above the fold today on the match just said that on MSNBC.

I agree with her. Taking away a point because of something a coach did is one thing, but accessing a full game penalty just killed the match just when Serena, a known slow starter, was just starting to come back.

The chair umpire effectively decided the match with that game penalty. The score went from 4-3 in the second to 5-3. The official decided the match and tennis governing body is taking up changing rules on coaching and penalty accessments as we speak now because of the ref's heavy-handed handling of the high pressure match. It was for the US Open Championship for God's sake. The ref should not be the deciding factor.

And did you read Billie Jean King's take on what happened? She sided with Serena.

[janterry]

15. Serena's team cheated

You can argue that she didn't know. But it's still cheating (the rules say so). Her coach said so. He just tried to hide in 'whataboutism'.

The ump gave her a warning. All she had to do at that point was knock it off. Instead, she couldn't.

She chose to escalate it. Her choice. Once she broke the racket, she knew where she was headed. The violations are progressive.

I didn't support abusive behavior back in the day (think Connor and McEnroe). I see no reason to support it now.

If the rules about coaching need to be changed, well, you and I know how to do it the right way. She does, too. I await a respectful appeal about that.

[brush]

19. Billie Jean King's feels the opposite. I stand with her, and with Serena for that matter.

She said she rather lose than cheat, besides her coach was too far away for her to even see him. And btw, all the coaches try to do the same. The hypocrisy of that being against the rules but it being allowed with a wink-wink then only selectively enforced (this time against an AA player with penalties accessed is bullshit).

[janterry]

20. If she could not see her coach,

and had no idea what he was doing....
She was cheating. That's what the rules say. She's in charge of her crew. That's not an arguable point.

You might not like the rule, but that's a different argument.

[brush]

21. Your first sentence makes no sense. Focusing on the match and not seeing the coach means she...

cheating? Ridiculous.

[Sneederbunk]

2. Time to move on.

[stopbush]

5. Not really. This was a big deal. The governing bodies are going to

evaluate what happened. That could lead to things like rule chamges, sanctions, fines and who knows what else. Or maybe nothing will change.

We are at the beginning of the fallout from this incident, not the end.

[madaboutharry]

3. Sometimes two people can be wrong.

The umpire may have overreacted. And Serena may need to learn how to bettter check her temper.

I just feel bad for Naomi Osaka. She deserved better from both of them.

[True Dough]

6. This can't be the first time that such sentiment has been expressed

but it is the first time I've read it and I agree wholeheartedly. There is enough fault (forgive the tennis expression) to go around on both sides in this unfortunate spectacle.

[stopbush]

7. Overreacted? Is an umpire overreacting when they toss a player or manager from a baseball game?

Did MLB overreact when Yankees manager Aaron Boone was suspended for a game last week for touching an ump during an argument?

I would say no.

Sports cannot operate if anarchy reigns. All sports put a premium on players and coaches respecting the people charged with interpreting and enforcing the rules of the game. To do otherwise is to invite anarchy, disrespect for the game and the eventual loss of the integrity of the game.

All sports have lines that cannot be crossed. That applies doubly at the professional level. Otherwise, sports devolve into the faux reality of professional wrestling.

BTW - for the ump to make an exception for Serena’s behavior, he would have had to rule in an unfair way against Osaka, who was forced to deal with Serena’s behavior, behavior that incited the crowd against the ump and for Serena. The ump was rightly cognizant of Serena’s behavior negatively impacting her opponent and enforced the rules without bias.

[Botany]

4. Serena was classless

No doubt she is the G.O.A.T. of women's tennis but Serena went on the attack
after it was pretty clear she was going to lose.

[stopbush]

8. As Carillo pointed out, it is telling that these kind of incidents never seem to happen

at the beginning of a match, but near the end when the pressure is at a maximum.

[Botany]

11. Serena lost the first set 0 - 6 and she had just broken Osaka's serve in the 2nd set but ...

... Osaka broke Serena's right back and at that point it was pretty clear she was going
to get beat and then Serena had her melt down and for her to try to make this about
women and or civil rights is pure garbage.

[Polly Hennessey]

9. Serena was in trouble and

becoming frustrated. What bothers me are the over zealous Serena fans who booed and acted boorish towards Ms. Osaka. She is only twenty years old and won fairly. Diva comes to mind when I think of Ms. Williams.

[janterry]

17. Serena has a history of boorish behavior

when she is losing.

[stopbush]

10. BTW - how dare Serena's coach accuse Osaka's coach of "coaching on every point."

“whataboutism” at its worst.

[erpowers]

16. Video Here

[janterry]

18. Yes!

Listening to Mary - the woman on the left.

YES, YES, YES.

[JonLP24]

22. You call someone a thief you get $10,000 taken from you

Last edited Mon Sep 10, 2018, 06:39 PM - Edit history (1)

[janterry]

23. You get warned for a violation

You break your racket (second violation)
And then you verbally abuse the judge (she didn't just call him a thief).

If you really support what she did, why water it down? I suppose - call her diatribe an extended challenge to the judge. Or that her yelling was all in the service of her position.

[JonLP24]

24. I meant cost her $10,000

I'll edit