Different standard?: pro sports penalties for cussing, unsportsman-like behaviour

[tulip]

It's not the Frenchness that makes tennis refined...it's the royalty. Tennis was a sport played only by royal folks--you know, kings and dauphins and such.

TdF is not royal.

I don't think you can compare sports cultures like this. You gotta compare apples to apples. And tennis and hockey (or cycling or rugby or stock car racing) are not apples to apples.

Golf has strong traditions, but not royal roots.

Aw, who cares anyways? Serena screwed up. Plain and simple. She should know better.

[smilingcat]

prhaps shootingstar is talking about gender in-equality in sports.

Serena cusses and acts up and she gets fined $175,000 several years of pay for lot of people....

What about someone like the bad boy of Andre Agassi (sp)... wasn't he a bad boy on the court, throwing temper tantrums, throwing rackets, breaking rackets... didn't he also get fined? and was it comparable to Serena??

And one thing people dance around is the race issue. It's STILL AROUND whether you like it or not. Example: Wasn't Augusta golf club or whatever its official name. didn't they have a bit of problem with Tiger Woods playing there because he IS PART BLACK and part Asian? I don't think they allow "colored" people into their "all white boys club".

TdF and gentleman-ly behavior... LOL There is a certain amount of civility and sportsman conduct to be sure. If you don't follow the tradition, peloton will "kill" you at the next stage.

[wackyjacky1]

I'm a big tennis fan and follow the sport pretty closely. What Serena did, IMO, went beyond the bounds of acceptable behavior for any sport. Not only did she spew some pretty foul language for all to hear, she also threatened a linesperson with physical violence. I don't know much about hockey, but I know that in the NFL (a sport I am truly passionate about) language like that directed at an official will more than likely get you fined. A threat of violence will get you tossed out of the game (which I think should have happened to Serena).

For the record, I love Serena. She is amazingly talented and a fierce competitor. I root for her every time she steps out onto a tennis court, and will continue to do so. I totally get that she was caught up in the heat of battle and lost her head. But IMO a mere fine is actually letting her off easy. A suspension would not have been out of order.

[MartianDestiny]

And one thing people dance around is the race issue. It's STILL AROUND whether you like it or not. Example: Wasn't Augusta golf club or whatever its official name. didn't they have a bit of problem with Tiger Woods playing there because he IS PART BLACK and part Asian? I don't think they allow "colored" people into their "all white boys club".

Wrong.

There was a legal fight over their exclusion of WOMEN from their men's club and the PGA's exclusion of women. These are actually (in my mind) two separate issues and muddling them together did absolutely no good for her case.

Right, wrong, or indifferent on the subject of exclusion of women (which really came down to a "why can't women have their cake and eat it too" argument by having a pro level LPGA AND be allowed to participate in the pro level PGA, which is probably primarily why she lost); the Augusta National, to the best of my knowledge, never attempted to exclude Tiger (and I lived in Ga).

I'm sure some people got their panties in a wad about it because there are still racist people out there, but there was not an attempt at exclusion by the golf club itself.

[Tuckervill]

They never attempted to exclude Tiger, but Augusta National still didn't admit their first black (male) member until 1990. There have been other black golfers besides Tiger Woods.

Karen

[smilingcat]

oh forgot about John McEnroe.

Well Serena should have been tossed out if she had made physical threats. You don't go around threatening people.