HURDLING
August 31, 2003 - The great American hurdler EDWIN MOSES won 122 races in a row which was more than enough to render him legendary. Now at age 48, last week he announced his intention to compete again. I cannot fault anyone who may express doubt concerning the seriousness or even the sanity of the desired come-back.
Interesting enough, in addition to his hurdling prowess, I remember Moses for another incident. Kobe Bryant is currently facing accusations of rape and it is unclear what the outcome of his trial shall be.
But Edwin Moses was actually "set up" and then arrested by the agents of law and order for "soliciting." Moses put in a vigorous and convincing defense, good enough to be acquitted in the Courts: He thought the woman paid to entrap him was in fact one of his fans. I do not know to what extent African-Americans remember such episodes and learn from them.
Meanwhile, in the 100 meters hurdles final, world championships in Paris, August 30, 2003, African-Americans came first, second, fourth and fifth. Third was Xiang Liu of China. Liu seemed more ecstatic (with his bronze medal) than the summation of Johnson, Trammel, Wade and Phillips combined.
TENNIS
If Edwin is threatening to return at 48, Martina Navratilova will be 47 in a couple of months but has never "quit" competitive tennis. She too is a legend in her sport and is an inspiration to many.
The current 2003 U.S. Open is in process without the male or female defending champions. Pete Sampras has announced his retirement. Serena Williams has had knee surgery and cannot compete. Her elder sister Venus is nursing stomach muscle and other injuries.
Martina is reported to have said that the number of times the sisters have been unable to compete already exceeds the number of times Martina was unable to compete in her whole career. What precisely this is intended to prove is unclear.
But Paula Zhan (CNN, 25/08/03) in an interview with Serena Williams said that after both Williams sisters lost at the French Open in 2003, Television Ratings dropped down 40%. Not only does their presence or absence have the potential to touch the pocket of big media, where it hurts. They are good at interviews.
So that, when Paula Zhan told Serena that Martina suggested she could defeat the sisters in doubles, Serena responded with controlled confidence: "It takes a brave person indeed to challenge the Williams Sisters in doubles." My own advice to Martina would be a bit biblical: "Man know thyself, and do thyself no harm."
Meanwhile, local cable company MARPIN could not show the tribute to Pete Sampras thanks to technical difficulties. It was left to Alistair Cook of B.B.C. (heard via DBS Radio) to give me some idea of what took place at Arthur Ashe Stadium (25/08/03), Flushing Meadows, New York.
Cook related an interesting history of the sport, including the four-letter furies of John McEnroe and the theatrics of Jimmy Connors. He reminded us that the terribly bad manners of those Americans so intimidated the match officials that they became afraid of applying the rules. Cook noted that throughout the period, the Australians and Swedes by contrast, were impeccable in their manners. The Australians and the Swedes were snobbed. They were not invited to the Sampras farewell ceremony. Cook did not indicate whether this says anything concerning our powerful neighbours to the north.
Nothing Cook said implicated Sampras. I saw a lot of his performances. Coming in fresh from the Connors-McEnroe epoch, some people found Sampras "boring". In my opinion he was a great U.S.A. ambassador.
Andre Agassi almost fell prey to the same heavy manners described; but he recovered in time to become one of the world's most charismatic athletes. At 33, he has in collaboration with American Express raised millions of U.S. dollars for the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation. He has already opened a preparatory school in Las Vegas, Nevada to provide opportunities, counseling and proper education for problem children. The aim is to have 12 such schools by the year 2010.
Meanwhile, Michael Chang (31) also retired that week, without the glory or fanfare accorded Pete Sampras. But he was also a great ambassador. It was his 17th straight year competing in the U. S. Open. Paradon Srichaphan of Thailand, first Asian to reach the top ten among men players, recalls watching Chang (when the Thai was a boy) and saying to himself, that once a face like his own could make it, he Paradon could also make it.
GOLF
While all that tennis was going on, on 29/08/03, the first Deutsche Bank Golf Championship was being played near Boston, for the benefit of the Tiger Woods Foundation. It strikes me that those individuals can raise millions, while by contrast the big multi-national corporations that prosper here refer to themselves as good corporate citizens when they "sponsor" a little cricket, or even a less significant carnival queen.
BASKETBALL
Eighteen-year old James le Bron graduated from high school on June 7, 2003. By that time he had already signed a US$100 million contract with NIKE. For 2003 he was the top pick in the NBA draft. I wish him better commonsense and better luck than Kobe Bryant. It is not enough to be a multi-millionaire before you have shot a basketball in the NBA. You too, must know yourself and do yourself no harm.
BASEBALL
Barry Bonds hit his 73rd Home Run in 2001 not knowing the ball would cause so much controversy and conflict. A couple of male fans claimed to own the ball. In December 2002, a court handed down a Solomon-like judgment: why not sell the ball and divide the proceeds?
At an auction in New York on June 25, 2003, on TODD MC FARLANE paid a measly US$450,000 for that ball. Todd already owned three Sammy Sosa Home Run balls. Above all, some time before, he had paid US$3 million for Mark McGuire's 70th Home Run ball!!!
OTHER…TRACK AND FIELD
On August 22, 2003, B.B.C. interviewed Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, two-time Olympic 10,000 meters gold medalist and four times World Champion in that event. Not only did he live 9,000 feet above sea level; he ran six miles daily to primary school as a child.
One week later in Paris he placed second in the 2003 World Championship to another Ethiopian.
An Ethiopian teenager, Tirumesh DIBABA, took the gold medal in the Women 5,000 meter race, offsetting the favourite runner from Spain.
On 30/08/03 I was very impressed with a gold medal long jump of 6.99 meters by black-girl Eunice Barber of France. French women also captured the 4 x 100m relay gold, ahead of USA and Russia. Not for the first time during those championships, I noticed the bronze medalists seemingly more ecstatic than the gold medalists.
I am very happy to conclude that we Caribbean people found places among the great: In the men 100 meters, St. Kitts won gold and Trinidad/Tobago won silver.