Zootennis


Schedule a training visit to the prestigious Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, MD by clicking on the banner above

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Mmoh Beats World No. 1 Rublev to Advance to Grade A Final; Giron v Nguyen for Mexico Futures Title; Jenkins Wins Again in Australia; Indiana Dismisses Men's Tennis Coach


Michael Mmoh has been on a tear this fall. After saving match points in the quarterfinals of the Pan American Closed against Tommy Paul, the 16-year-old went on to win that tournament, reach the semifinals of the $15,000 Futures in Mansfield, Texas and win a $15,000 Futures in Brownsville. In his first tournament since his title in Brownsville, Mmoh has reached the final of the ITF Grade A Abierto Juvenil Mexicano, defeating world No. 1 Andrey Rublev of Russia in today's semifinals 7-6(1), 6-4.

Mmoh, seeded third, has not dropped a set all week, winning three tiebreakers, all in first sets.  Against Rublev, Mmoh had three set points in the opening set with Rublev serving at 5-6, but he failed to convert, even when given the opportunity to feast on a second serve.  Rather than mope however, Mmoh stayed positive, and in the tiebreaker he ran out to a 5-1 lead, with Rublev spraying balls all over the court.

Rublev was broken at love to open the second set, but Mmoh couldn't capitalize, getting broken himself to make it 1-1. Mmoh broke again and consolidated, but again the 17-year-old Russian came back, gettting it to 3-all when Mmoh chipped in three double faults in losing his serve. With Rublev serving at 5-4, he again went down 15-40, a theme throughout the match, but after saving one break point, he hit a backhand long to get broken, allowing Mmoh to serve for the match.

An ace got Mmoh to 40-15, but a great pass from Rublev and a netted forehand by Mmoh made it deuce. Mmoh earned his third match point with a forehand winner, and this time he shut the door, getting in a good first serve that Rublev returned long.

Mmoh will play Seong Chan Hong of Korea in the final Sunday. Hong, the No. 4 seed, beat No. 5 seed Mikael Ymer of Sweden 6-0, 6-2. Hong and Mmoh have played twice, with Mmoh winning both, including on clay at the Grade 1 in Belgium this spring, but both matches went to three sets. Live streaming of the finals, starting at 11 a.m. Eastern time can be seen here.

Rublev and Taylor Fritz have reached the doubles final, beating Sora Fukuda of Japan and Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia 6-7(7), 6-4, 10-4. The top seeds will meet unseeded Fabian Fallert and Tim Sandkaulen of Germany in Sunday's final, after Fallert and Sandkaulen beat No. 6 seeds Ulises Blanch and Ymer 6-3, 6-0.

The girls singles championship match will feature No. 6 seed Natalia Vikhlyantseva of Russia and No. 10 seed Dalma Galfi of Hungary, who each assured the other wouldn't face a compatriot in the final. Vikhlyantseva defeated No. 3 seed Fanni Stollar of Hungary 7-6(4), 6-1 and Galfi took out No. 9 seed Anna Blinkova of Russia 6-1, 6-3.

American Ingrid Neel has reached the girls doubles final with Great Britain's Maia Lumsden.  The unseeded pair defeated No. 3 seeds Galfi and Katie Swan of Great Britain 7-5, 6-1 in today's semifinal and will face No. 2 seeds Blinkova and Stollar in Sunday's final.

Both Americans lost in the semifinals of the $10,000 Pensacola Futures today, with Justin Shane falling to Ben McLachlan of New Zealand 6-3, 6-4 and Michael Shabaz going out to No. 6 seed Theo Fournerie of France 6-3, 7-6(6).

US fortunes were reversed at the $15,000 Futures in Mexico, with Marcos Giron defeating No. 4 seed Darian King of Barbados 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 and No. 3 seed Daniel Nguyen beating Tigre Hank of Mexico 6-2, 6-4. Nguyen is seeking his third Futures title of the year, Giron his second. Andre Dome and Oscar Fabian Matthews lost in the doubles final, with the unseeded Californians falling to No. 3 seeds Christopher Diaz-Figueroa of Guatemala and Luis Patino of Mexico 7-5, 6-3.

Jarmere Jenkins won his fifth Futures title of the year and third since October, with the top seed defeating unseeded Jose Statham of New Zealand 6-4, 7-5 in the final of the $15,000 Futures in Australia.

In college news, Indiana University has dismissed men's head coach Randy Bloemendaal and assistant coach Sander Koning as a result of the aftermath of an investigation into secondary NCAA violations. In the interim, associate athletic director Jeremy Gray will take over the program and will lead the search for replacements.

43 comments:

Ryan B. said...

The Indiana situation sounds like a bunch of entitled kids that didn't want to fully commit to the program. Complaining that they practiced too much? That they couldn't ride out their scholarships on the bench in perpetuity? Coach Bloemendaal and his staff are good people who are better off with people that appreciate them. The problem lies with lilly-spined administrators unwilling to back their coaches when junior and parents complain.

Scanlon said...

I doubt that it’s “a bunch of entitled kids” that caused the problem. It sounds like 10 out of 11 members of the team and 1 former member were involved in the complaints. Too many coaches hold these so-called “voluntary” summer practices which carry the risk of the player riding the bench for months if he doesn’t comply. But even the AD said that the coach wasn’t fired because of these violations. He was fired because he tried to prevent the complaints from being heard, and he didn’t listen to medical staff over player injuries.

All things considered, it sounds like Bloemendaal tried to bully his way to better team performance. Good for the student-athletes to fight democratically for their free-time and for their health and safety. Hopefully it sends a message to other coaches out there who employ strong-arm tactics in the pursuit of "winning" (i.e. padding their resumes).

go irish said...

"spoken like a true.."Domer…"

Go IU...Fight,Fight,Fight!! said...

Excuse me, Fred G..... You have a telephone call.... Bruce Berque on line One.....:)

Chuck Kreise said...

Randy Bloemendaal – ‘A Great Coach; A Great Teacher; Found guilty of pursuing excellence!

“A coach’s primary job is to make players do the things that they don’t want to do in order to have the things that they would like to have” --Coach Tom Landry (legendary Dallas Cowboys coach)

Tennis Coach Randy Bloemendaal, one of the best in the land, has been let go by Indiana University. This is very disheartening and a sad day for the entire tennis community. He is a great coach, an honorable man and a teacher who has helped hundreds of young people grow to become hard working and dependable adults. His work is well-respected throughout the country. His dismissal is another example of a society that does not see the need for discipline and toughness for youngsters to learn through sport. Things are truly different than they once were.

While there are many forms of participation trophies and awards in today’s sports world, real excellence is rare. Coaches and teachers that can bring the God-given talent out in an athlete should be revered. Every athlete secretly yearns for the hard work that is required for success. In one’s heart of hearts, the best players desire nothing less than to be pushed to his or her limits. However, very few athletes can find enough strength and discipline on their own to go to those deep levels and unknown territories. Most need someone special to push them through the pain of new levels of physical, mental and emotional growth.

Very few teachers and coaches know how, nor in some PC environments are they allowed, to take students to and beyond new pain thresholds. This may be because teachers of tennis are paid today to keep things smooth and to pump positive sunshine of fun and happy feelings. Complaining children and problems that need solving just do not fit the mold for smooth lessons that pay the bills. This model of comfort, however, does not make champions.

This has unfortunately become the model of tennis coaching in America today. The tough-love training that makes individual champions is not written in a ‘How-to-do’ Book. Our results on the world stage are proof that the intangible of the ‘X’ factor has been missing in our players.

Part 1

Chuck Kreise said...

Part 2

Societal lack of respect for hard work and the search for easy answers dilute, pollute and prostitute the depth and the beauty of tennis. This is very disappointing, and it is discouraging. We seem to have over-sold the ‘Fluff’ of our sport and have not properly promoted the real substance of our game which is multi-layered in intrigue and complexity. Shallow words and phrases to express our game such as: ‘fun, excitement, entertainment’ have replaced those much deeper experiences of the heart such as: ‘passion, drama and education.’

Some of the game’s most basic principles like our wonderful scoring system have been carelessly dumbed-down. Our youngsters have not been coaxed to get past simplistic levels of thinking about the game. They seldom fall into love with our games multiple dimensions. This is tragic, and it is part of the modern trend to appease instead of to challenge our youth.

We need a deeper and a renewed reverence for the game of tennis as well as the coaches and teachers that teach those lessons that are hardest to learn. Good coaches understand unequivocally that ‘Comfort bears no fruit’ and that it is their sacred duty to bring out the best in their youngsters each and every day.

We should understand that it is necessary to daily ‘speak to the King and to the Queen’ in our young people. This is the only real way to achieve excellence.

Coach Randy Bloemendaal has done this over and over again throughout his long and heralded coaching career.

Randy Bloemendaal’s Hall-of-Fame credentials and his nation-wide respect speak for themselves. If he is guilty of anything, he should rightfully be charged with A Very-Skilled “Pursuit of Excellence” and the great love for the players and the coaching profession. He has never allowed a player to be less-than-they-could-be. This shows the greatest love a teacher or coach could give to his or her students. To be less-than-one-can-be would have to be a player’s personal and individual decision while under Coach Randy Bloemendaal’s tutelage. He should be revered for his skillful work and love of the game. Wow!!!……….what the heck were those guys thinking?

Wild Turkey said...

"You want me on that wall…You need me on that wall…" Sounds like Colonel Jessup is reading script to "A Few Good Men 2". It's not the Holidays without a C.K.Tirade… Coach R.B..a "HOF'er"? Please…You make it sound like R.B. walks on water and was "over qualified" for IU…. perhaps you should hire him as your asst. at the Citadel… There is Honor in Following the Rules… Indiana University Knew Exactly what they were doing.

Scanlon said...

That’s a well-stated coaching philosophy by CK (with a lot of dust on it), but there were specific complaints brought against Bloemendaal. A coach does not have a right to disrespect the free time of student-athletes and turn a voluntary practice into a mandatory one, as if tennis and winning were the only things that matter to very busy students, many with goals that go far beyond the practice court. When a player has a legitimate beef with a coach, it’s not ok to try to prevent that player from using his right to file a grievance. It’s especially not alright for a coach to disregard the advice given by medical personnel regarding a player’s fitness and health.

The fact is, rules were broken – rules that have been put in place to protect student-athletes from overzealous coaches. Was Bloemendaal overzealous? There were 11 student-athletes who thought so, and at the end of the day, it’s the rights of those student-athletes that need to be respected above all else. Any coach that believes he’s above the rules that are set up to protect those players’ rights, needs to rethink his coaching philosophy. This isn’t the Tom Landry 1970s. Thankfully. Break the rules in 2014 and there’s a much greater chance that you’ll be held to account for it, as Bloemendaal has discovered.

People can call that politically correct or lily-spined or whatever. I choose to call that progress. Far too often in the “good old days”, coaches walked all over players in the name of “pursuing excellence”. You certainly don’t need to trample on a student-athlete’s rights to free time and personal safety to be considered a great coach, and I find it a shame that many people seem to think it’s still ok to tread those waters.

Progressive(I think not) said...

Scanlon.. You sound like a typical modern day progressive leftist. I wanna be successful without being too dedicated. I wanna be a part of something special but my time is my time. I wanna be told I'm really good so I feel better about myself but please don't make me deal with the reality of my results..I wanna be really good just please don't ask me to sacrifice too much.. If other teams or people are more successful than me I must have an excuse to fall back on..I'm over worked, I'm overcriticized, coach doesn't know how to relate to me, coach doesn't know what he's doing.. Show me someone whose content to just do what everyone else does and I'll show you an avg player with average results..show me a successful player or coach and you'll find someone who goes above and beyond all the time of what was expected of them.. With dedication comes confidence, with sacrifice comes reward and results. With far too many of today's athletes there is far too little accountability. Why work hard when I can complain to someone who won't make me. Why sacrifice when I can surround myself with many others who dont and feel good about it. Why have people around me that wanna tell me the truth and push me to be better when I can have people around me who think my averageness is great. And soon I start to believe it, even as I get used to losing and learn to rationalize it and accept it.. How's all this modern day hope and change going for us these days. A lot of these kids better wake up and realize that change for the sake of change isn't good and certainly not for the better and being progressive when it's progressing backwards sure isn't good.. Applies far too often to our modern day spoon fed American tennis players and our society as a whole period..

bystander said...

@progressive It is absolutely maddening when people try and bring political views into every argument. Stop! Why is it so hard for people to understand that Randy broke both NCAA (although minor ones) and IU departmental ones. The AD himself said the actual breaking of NCAA rules weren't a fireable offense but everything put together (asking his players to lie, going over the heads of medical staff recommendations and making players practice when they weren't fit, etc.) This has nothing to do with lack of hard work and more about adhering to rules! And please don't start with this "everyone breaks rules" nonsense. Sure rules are broken everyday but let me remind you if player truly love and respect a coach you would NEVER have basically the whole team (10 guys) as well as an ex player go in and report him. This was something that was obviously brewing for a while and systemic within the program to begin with. I'm sure Randy is a nice guy like many on here have stated but the simple fact is he broke rules and that was the reason he was dismissed.

Brian said...

What an incredible amount of bs posted here
( sorry Colette for the language), but some of the comments here are bordering on bizarre.

Ryan - "entitled kids" , "practiced too much"
1) When did summer practices become MANDATORY?
What about the kid who had a summer internship
( you know that thing that all future employers expect of all future employees unless you are a top earning tennis pro that doesn't need a job when you graduate college)

Chuck Kreiss - "Very few teachers and coaches know how, nor in some PC environments are they allowed, to take students to and beyond new pain thresholds"

Yes, I would agree that a new pain threshold would be the correct terminology for making an injured player play tennis as it appears he was doing.
.

The name is student-athletes, and that means students before athletics. As 99.9% of these college tennis players will never even BREAK EVEN playing tennis first, it is only fair that they actually get an education so they can get a job to support themselves .

Dan said...

Bizarre, is correct for CK's comment on taking a player to a new pain threshold. Does anyone even bother to read why the guy was fired? For making injured players play. So, yeah, Chuck is correct about that, a guy with a shoulder injury having to serve could probably rise to a new pain threshold and permanently injure his shoulder.

Real Progressive said...

@Progressive not only did you make the obvious mistake of deciding to pick the side of a coach who was caught forcing his players to play when they're injured, but you made the second mistake of bringing politics into this.

Two can play at that game. Your feeble attempt to demonize progressives purely by name calling is not persuasive when you have nothing to back it up with. If it weren’t for progressives this country would still allow corporations to use child labor, women would still not be allowed to vote and slavery would still be legal. You say that “change isn’t good” so I’m sure that you wish this country was like the “good old days” before the Civil War and where football players were “real men” who weren’t allowed to play with those “mamby pamby” helmets. I’m also sure that you’re a big fan of “free enterprise” where the government stays “off the back” of company owners who should be completely free to produce dangerous products that kill people. I’m sure you’re against all those pesky safety regulations that save lives and I’m sure you’re a big sympathizer of that “poor” owner of the West Virginia mine who is now being prosecuted for violating safety regulations that recently resulted in the death of 29 coal miners in 2010. If it were up to you, there wouldn’t be any pesky government safety regulations or pesky NCAA regulations that protect the health of college tennis or football players.

You’re obviously a Republican so I’m sure you’re a big supporter of some of the leaders of your party who are paragons of that “hard work” and “discipline” that you’re so fond of just like George W. Bush (laziest President in history with more vacation days than any President and who destroyed our economy and will go down in history as one of our country’s worst Presidents), the obese Chris Christie and the chronic and admitted multiple-plagiarist Rand Paul.

Hello? said...

I'm also shocked at the idiocy of those who have posted here, including Coach Kriese, Ryan, and "progressive." I'm a collegiate player who had a couple friend-of-a-friends who were either players or former players for the IU program. By all reports, those kids were miserable, got no sleep, had no time for schoolwork/class, etc. Their ensuing reaction is what happens when a person who is supposed to be in a leadership role (Coach Bloemendaal) fails those he has been charged to lead.

This is not some "PC, leftist, society-no-longer-values-hard-work" movement to get tennis players to sit around all day and watch TV. He was making injured players play, practicing obscene hours, and actively preventing them from reporting him to Indiana's compliance officials. Those who defend these actions and/or blame the player (!) for being too entitled are endemic of the poor athletic culture found in the United States. If we're making political analogies, that would be like blaming the poor for the banking crisis.

Let's have some sense of priority here. A coach should certainly push his players--if he isn't, he isn't doing his job right--but (and this is forgotten so much by coaches) he also has to know when NOT to. Everything in life requires balance, and a coach that operates under a "push, push, push" mantra will only get so far.

Bush man said...

Real progressive.. That's the most over the top post yet.. By far..Relax and get a little perspective.. Non stop talk of politics after condemning it.. Not too bright or progressive..would dearly love to debate you on that on another site..by George

History Repeats Itself said...

This issue at IU Men's Tennis has been going on for awhile . Greenspan, the previous A.D. Was too busy with the Kelvin Sampson Basketball debacle, to put any resources toward it. IU...please do a "Real" National search this time( the national search after Ken H left was a joke ) .Go IU... Fight, Fight, Fight

Real Progressive said...

@Bush man, that's all you got?! "Would love to debate you but I'm silent now?"

Also, the most transparent sign that you've got nothing substantive to say is when you resort to telling someone to "relax" which is one of the most criticized and most lame tactics used by posters on this site. When people have no good response, they criticize the poster for not being "relaxed" enough.

First of all, what makes you think I'm not relaxed? I was very relaxed when I wrote my post, and even if I weren't, that wouldn't make me any less right or you any less wrong (assuming you are as relaxed as you pretend to be). Second of all, you demonstrate your hypocrisy by telling me to relax only because you didn't like my point of view, but everyone can see that you remained totally silent when Progressive and Chuck Kreise starting this whole thing by posting much more aggressive rants than mine was. Finally, my post was merely a response to theirs. I wouldn't have even written a word had they not written such inappropriate political nonsense.

Another Bush coming said...

Real progressive. Going back to slavery and all that worn out dribble like a typical leftist is beyond rational thought..like So many on that side. Sounds educated, sounds articulate, is well spoken but as we see with our direction of this country for the last 6 years being articulate and well spoken doesn't make you smart.. Common sense, hard work, respect for authority, athletes that don't mind the demands of academics and sports. I'm sure these are all things people on the left and right think are good things. Right up until the time they're asked to push a little more than what they're used to. Then true colors show. I'm sure that's extremely racist though. Given that over 90% of all public schools from elementary through college are indoctrinated with Liberal ideas, who do you think made these rules you're talking about being broken. People all for government assistance, more vacation days, less work hours. As I said, would love to debate you on the well educated, good sounding manipulative dribble but I simply won't waste it on here another minute..

Politics aside said...

I don't think any player going to Indiana to play tennis believe tennis is supposed to be his first priority. For the top teams, tennis is first. But for a team like this, it is more recreational in demands compared to others, I think the expectations were unrealistic for the program. Sounds like the coach had a top team mentality at a school where tennis is and never will be top ranked or a top priority. Simple mismatch.

Go Hoosiers said...

"coach had a top team mentality…" ha…you give him too much credit. it wasn't the school that couldn't attract top players ….it was the coach that couldn't attract top players…but there is NO EXCUSE for any coach to think he's bigger than the rules…..first priority is the student-athlete and the program….this includes following the rules….compliance is crucial… Indiana University did the Right Thing in Firing R.B.

Mistreat the players... said...

Any college coach that makes summer practice mandatory, makes injured players play and has practice 7 days a week, gets fired. Everyone needs to stop with this politics. You break the rules, you lose your job.

No More Bushes said...

@Another Bush, it is you and your allies on this board who are “beyond rational thought” who brought up politics in the first place and who somehow think that the firing of an out of control coach who is endangering his players is at all related to politics and part of some Left Wing conspiracy. You and your friends have some very irrational conspiracy theories that “leftists” are to blame for everything negative that happens and that they have “indoctrinated our schools with Liberal ideas.” I haven’t heard such terminology and paranoia s since the 1950’s and Joe McCarthy.

What Real Progressive wrote about wasn’t merely “good sounding” and “manipulative,” he was using something called “facts,” a term that you and your buddies seem to be unfamiliar with. Here are some facts that you’ve conveniently forgotten: you blame the Democrats for the current economy, but did you forget that George W. Bush’s was the one who crashed our economy right before “the last 6 years” and that through the past 6 years the deficit has been substantially reduced and so has unemployment under the current administration? Did you forget that when Clinton was in office the US had the best economy since the 1920’s? Did you forget that under Clinton we had a surplus when he left office that George W. Bush turned into a huge deficit and then crashed the economy to make it the worst recession since the Great Depression? These are something called facts. Please try to look at reality for once.

Delusional said...

No more Bushes. False facts don't make them reality..you sound like an IRS tax man. Make numbers say whatever you want regardless of the real truth. We can all do that if we choose. Common sense and reality.. Try it..

Reality said...

@Delusional, you are the delusional one. All of the facts that No More Bushes mentioned are “true facts,” easily verifiable by anyone with a college education. Also, facts are by definition true. For example, the earth is round. You cannot make the earth square by simply labeling that a “false fact.” It’s still round.

And your comment that No More Bushes “sound like an IRS tax man” simply makes no sense. Get an education or some help soon.

D Wilson said...

Reality, simply untrue. As I said, you're spitting out FALSE facts. Just as you're saying it's taken this this guy 6 years to fix stuff from the Bush administration which by the way is complete and utter non sense. The things you're blaming Bush for are actually policies from the Clinton years.. I simply won't waste time on a tennis blog going into full detail. As I said, people with common sense see thru the articulate dribble. Immigration, racial divide( how bout Ferguson) Keystone pipeline. And the list goes on and on too numerous to count. Complete and utter disaster.. Get a clue. There's a reason people came to their senses in the mid terms and are getting rid of this government knows best entitlement society y'all have tried to move toward. I simply won't redpond again. That indoctrinated liberal bologna simply isn't worth it. It is your opinion just as this is mine.. History and reality speaks for itself..

Confederate said...

@D Wilson, you just listed random current events, even local matters such as Ferguson with no causal connection to the present Administration. And, you can’t compare that to Bush’s non response to Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq War (4000 American soldiers needlessly killed), the worst economy since the Great Depression, etc.

Your statement: “...entitlement society y’all have tried to move forward” speaks volumes as to where in the Deep South you’re coming from.

Thanks for pledging not to post another juvenile post, even with a different name. I hope you can keep your word. In the meantime, I also hope you learn to spell.

Logic? said...

That last post by D Wilson really illustrates amazing internal inconsistency and bias. He says that we shouldn’t blame the Great Recession on George W. Bush even though it happened during Bush’s 8th year in office (he says Clinton is to blame for that even though Clinton produced our best economy in 80 years and that was 8 years prior to Bush). But in the same post he turns around and claims that Bush shouldn’t be blamed for any problems we’re having now because that was “six years ago.”

love-tennis said...

Colette, are you too busy? This is a tennis website. Why are you approving these political comments? Take it outside boys, no disrespect intended.

Marty Collins said...

Colette - I love it! I also pay to read it. No censorship! But I'll make an exception if someone donates to take the comment thread down. Put up or rant on!

Tennis5 said...

Colette, I don't understand how a Division 1 coach breaking NCAA regulations has anything to do with politics. Please ban the political comments, they do not belong on a tennis site, and detract from what you are doing here.

Go with it said...

At least these comments illicits a response, when Colette goes into this long stretch of nothing but junior coverage it is dullsville on the postings (and site for that matter, it is just next junior o' the day who then moves on to who knows where, rinse-wash-repeat) I enjoy coming to the site and seeing new posts regardless of content. Eventually it makes its way back to tennis, everything does here.

If she starts screening beyond something vulgar, there goes freedom of speech - ha, back to politics!

john lear said...

I think the politics of the real world are fine in this forum............keep in mind that it was a "conservative" who first tried to attack progressives/liberals......also bear in mind that thanks to libs, americans have the disabilities act which placed ramps and wheelchair access to all who need it, medicare for all our seniors ,beginning at 65 years old, medicaid for the very, very poor for healthcare, and now "obamacare" which is not perfect but a valid attempt to bring fairly priced healthcare to all americans while not handicapping them for "pre-existing conditions" of for just being a woman......thankyou collette for allowing a free press here for commenters...!

5.0 Player said...

John Lear makes some excellent points. Thank you for your post, John.

I want to add that I have been on this site for many years and EVERY time the subject of politics has come up on this site it has started by a Right Winger taking a cheap shot at "liberals." Once that sort of thing happens, progressives should be allowed to fight back. After all, this isn't Fox News.

love-tennis said...

If anything goes, hey let's talk about Kim Kardashian, whether Tori Spelling's husband really cheated, and how good that new Chris Rock movie is going to be. Much more interesting!!!

john lear said...

actually , love-tennis, i find real world politics and associated ideas much more stimulating than the pitiful lives of half witted celebs who have no clue as to the real goings on of the world........there's a saying which says something to the degree of , "great minds speak of ideas, mediocre minds speak of things, and shallow minds speak of other people".....

Pay attention said...

5.0 player... Reread the comments. Scanlon started it with statements about political correctness and progress.. You people trying to defend leftist statements and thoughts need to do a better job of paying attention to what's said and it's meaning and if you read EACH comment and the responses they'll make sense to you..simply saying things don't make sense because someone doesn't pay attention or comprehend properly doesn't make it so..

love-tennis said...

I am delighted that there are so many great minds here who can't quite understand that a tennis website might be for TENNIS. Thank you for clarifying that for me.

At the very least, listen to each other and stop trying to be superior. This is as exasperating as tennis matches where there are endless rain delays, no ad scoring, jerky opponents whose parents think they are perfect, and then your kid plays terrible against the most annoying one.

Scanlon said...

Actually, I responded to the first post, Ryan B’s observation that a “bunch of entitled kids” were at the root of the problem. I’d say that was the start of it. He also mentioned “lily-spined administrators”. Chuck Kreise brought up the idea of political correctness with, “Very few teachers and coaches know how, nor in some PC environments are they allowed, to take students to and beyond new pain thresholds.” That comment drew a lot of fire.

I did bring up the notion of progress, however. When an environment finally exists where student-athletes are no longer afraid to defend their free time and safety against coaches who believe it’s ok to abuse those things, I have a hard time seeing that as anything but progress.

So “Pay attention”, what are your views on the paragraph above? Do you think that an entire team should just shut-up and put their complete trust in a coach, because the coach always knows best? At what point is a coach over-stepping his bounds? Does a coach have any bounds?

If you don’t think anyone is paying attention to what’s said, then state your views on that particular subject and we’ll read them carefully. After all, that’s the belief that started the entire discussion, the idea that athletes must always “commit” to a coach’s program.

What is your viewpoint? Try to put politics aside for a moment and defend Bloemendaal’s actions.

john lear said...

Well stated Scanlon..!

5.0 Player said...

Pay Attention- It is you who needs to Pay Attention and re-read the posts. Chuck Kreise started this whole thing by bringing up the idea of “political correctness” and “PC environments.” Then Scanlon responded to that.

But it is Progressive (Not) who really took this thing nuclear and really inflamed the discussion with his outrageous Joe McCarthy rant where he personally attacked Scanlon calling him “a typical modern day progressive leftist.” Then he attacked President Obama by demeaning his campaign slogan with: “How's all this modern day hope and change going for us these days….change for the sake of change isn't good and certainly not for the better and being progressive when it's progressing backwards sure isn't good.”

john lear said...

well played 5.0 player..! and thanks for the nice words above.....keep in mind as i'm sure you noticed, the other perspective on the "reich" such as love-tennis, is not so much interested in a stimulating back and forth, but in shutting down debate.........that approach is consistent with limiting poll hours at voting precincts and the other myriad ways in which they seek to limit the free expression of fellow americans, particularly those of color.....i monitor their shenanigan headquarters, FAUX NOISE, as i am now by watching their afternoon propaganda show, THE FIVE...!

Herman W said...

Jeremy Wurtzman …Indiana University Mens Tennis Coach…Great Hire, Fred…:) Go Hoosiers!!

KOZ said...

"That's a Major League Hire Fred Glass….a Major League Hire….ref: Jeremy Wurtzman hired as Indiana University's Men's Head Tennis Coach