Tennis player Serena Williams made more headlines with the tirade that caused her elimination from the recent U.S. Open than she would have if she had simply won the tournament. I’d post the video of the incident if it were more illuminating; unfortunately, what Serena said to the judge is not audible over the crowd noise.
It was a bad call—or at the very least, an inappropriately persnickety call at that critical point in the match. Williams stalked toward the offending judge, pointing at her with the hand in which she was gripping the ball for her next serve. An anecdotal consensus has formed that she declared her intention to “shove this ball down your fucking throat.”
Not cool, to be sure. However, considered against the broader history of sports tirades it was small-fry stuff. The following are but two examples of what I mean.


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A Lethe
Konradical
Life 2.0
Lucrezia's Delight
The Moving Target







