Misrepresenting Serena: Jason Whitlock at His Worst
July 8, 2009 by dwil
If I was one of those English Euro cats who was one of the old guard, powers that be, overseers, master of all he surveys, I would say something like this…
“Tsk tsk, Jason Whitlock. What aaaarrre we go-ing to do with you. You have once again chosen to take one our shining beacons of the sports and entertainment world – a golden woman I might say, and attempt to thoroughly trash her being. Jason —- what on Earrrrr-th were you thinking when you sat your corpulent self down at wherever it is you sat to write this ridiculous piece of drivel about Ms. Serena Williams?
“Dear Jason you knooow Se-re-na is the best lawn court player on the planet. You knoooow she and her sister Venus were raised by their faaaa-ther, Richard, to be well-rounded women of the world instead of some boring, robotic Eastern European, gypsy descendant genetic freak with bad teeth and an IQ that screams idiot, as well as savant.
“Jason if you followed anything other than that stupid American football – and I hesitate to call what amounts to a 14th-century military exercise without swords and hatchets a ————— sport – you would knoooow, or at least sense, that both Veeee-nus and Se-re-na are feted servants of the Crown and looked upon with the utmost approval by all of us who act in concert behind the veils of your everyday life to control the world.
“When I read your column I called Sir Rupert Murdoch and asked him howww on Earrrrr-th did you get hired at FOX Sports?
He informed me that you were brought on at FOX to provide, as he put it, “a different spin” on the world’s sporting events. He also related to me that at one time you penned thoughtful and relevant commentaries about sport. How-e-va you, apparently, had an utterly traumatic experience at that blasphemous corporate sports arm of the crassly conservative and – sadly – overtly racist world of the American, Walt Disney, called the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. What do you call it? ‘Ess-pin‘ or something like that? Ruuuu-pert informed me that Ess-pin is a mostly a collective of pompous, money-driven, fame-chasing bloviators who, if they once had a grasp of whatever sport or sport they are charged with knowing, have traded the pursuit of more knowledge and the dissemination of insights for pap-filled, sound bite pieces that act only to…. oh well, the rest is neither her nor there.
“The effect it had on you, though Jaaaa-son, is all that matters here.
“Now, you write as if you re suffering from some sort of post-traumatic stress syndrome. And you’ve devolved into the very thing once you so hated”…
And Jason Whitlock, you take out whatever it is that so ails you on every Black athlete you possibly can.
This time, though, you messed with the wrong person in Serena Williams. Serena, who is 27 and actually has a life, Jason. Yes, Serena williams has a life outside of tennis, unlike other tennis players – you know, the ones you love so damn much; the women who are little more than automatons off the court because they have known nothing other than tennis since they were somewhere between seven and nine years old. You know, the women whose very identities are tied to a wooden or composite stick with strings and a white – at one time – and now yellow, felted ball.
But let’s get to your “commentary” (and I use the term loosely). This is how you began your cheap critique of Serena:
With a reduction in glut, a little less butt and a smidgen more guts, Serena Williams would easily be as big as Michael Jackson, dwarf Tiger Woods and take a run at Rosa Parks.
You can call me unfair. You can even scream that I’m sexist.
But there’s an inescapable truth about Serena Williams: She’s an underachiever.
“An underachiever,” Jason? Really?
Did you know that Serena Williams plays in the deepest group of women’s tennis players in the history of the game? Did you know that never in the annals of women’s tennis has the number 27 player in the world – in this case Daniela Hantuchova – possessed the talent to, on any given day, defeat the number one player in the world?
No Jason, you didn’t know this. You could not have know this and called Serena Williams an underachiever.
But you, as usual, were not through. With your next statement, you attempted to demean any person who would defend Williams:
And all the people making excuses for Serena and rationalizing her failure to totally dominate women’s tennis are the very people uninterested in seeing women rise to a level of equality with men.
At this point, since you took the gloves off, it’s my turn. And who am I , Jason Whitlock? I am not Dan LeBatard or J.A. Adande, both of whom let you off the hook for your statements about Serena Williams this afternoon on the ESPN show, Pardon the Interruption. I did play the game and love it more than you ever could Jason Whitlock, I also know more about the game of tennis than you will ever learn – And as a result, you should never, ever comment on anything having to do with the game other than to make superficial observations on your way to discussing something you know - like food.
Truth be told Jason, both sides of the professional game are lacking. But not because the players are no good. In fact the players in the top 50 of both the men’s and women’s games are more talented than at any other point in history. However, because of the drastic changes in playing surface speed, racket and string technology, and most importantly, coaching methods, professional tennis players, in general, are able to win with fewer shots in their arsenals than ever before.
It is what makes Roger Federer’s dominance of the game so stark and unbelievable. Federer bucked the odds and learned how to proficiently serve and volley , how to transition from the baseline to the net, as well as simply pound the ball for indeterminate periods of time from the baseline. These skills are what made Justine Henin such a dominant player on the women’s side, though she was allegedly too small and too slight to compete with Maria Sharapova or the Williams sisters.
No Jason Whitlock, Serena Williams is not an underachiever. The underachievers were and are Rick Macci and Nick Bolletieri. It is Macci who laid the foundation for Serena’s game, who allowed her to get away with failing to hit technically proficient groundstrokes, and it is Bolletieri who later allowed her to get away with failing to learn how to transition to the net and volley with an automatic confidence.
But you would not dare criticize these men. Hell, you might not have known they coached Serena and her sister, Venus. And if you did, you wouldn’t call them out. It would be against your ‘money-making through controversy’ principles to criticize the White people who are behind the Black athletes you so love to excoriate.
You also know it was a calculated, albeit, real bullshit move, to think you could get away with attempting to elevate yourself above people who actually care about tennis by making overtures like, ‘if you defend Serena you’re sexist’ at least, or, as you put it, “the very people uninterested in seeing women rise to a level of equality with men.”
And yet.
You later claim genetics are at the root of Dinara Safina’s build and looks but not Serena’s.
During this year’s Wimbledon, Serena and Safina played Court 2 while hot, lesser stars battled on Centre Court. Safina can blame genetics for her fate. Serena only has herself to blame. God gave Serena everything, including drop-dead looks.
What was done to Serena Williams was racist – period. R-A-C-I-S-T. Oh and since you now have the spelling of the word at your disposal, Jason, perhaps one day you’ll use it and use the word in its proper context.
And to your potential defenders, no, I do not give a snot if Whitlock said the same thing about Serena to you privately. If you fell for that ruse, you’re a fool because Jason Whitlock set you up as someone who would later defend this asinine rant of his.
But I do want to thank you for something.
Thank you for divulging that you have no knowledge of tennis:
And you probably think I don’t like Serena. You’re wrong. I love her. She’s the main reason I watch tennis.
The statement speaks for itself.
To further show how little you know about the game or Serena Williams for that matter you also tell us:
She’s fascinating. Her power and skill are breathtaking. And when she’s in shape, she’s every bit as sexy as Beyonce.
Serena Wiliams’ body has never been confused with that of Beyonce Knowles. And truth be told, Serena is in the best shape of her life; the match against a fitter “looking” Elena Dementieva proved it. By the end of their tense, nearly three hour match it was not Serena but Dementieva who sucked air during long points and failed to execute the following point, a sure sign of becoming tired on a tennis court. It was not Serena but Dementieva who grew mentally tired because her body began to fail her just as the pressure of winning ate at her body.
Perhaps, Jason, you forgot that it was Serena who defeated Dementieva 8-6 in the third and not the other way around.
Williams has said repeatedly that after the better part of four years of injuries, the divorce of her parents, and a family death, Serena Williams is once again able to concentrate solely on tennis. She and every woman who knows the game says Williams is in great shape and does not possess an “unsightly layer of thick, muscled blubber,” as you so claim from your easy chair spot in front of your television.
And as far as why Serena Williams plays the game, how do you know? I know with certainty that you’ve never asked her why she plays the game. But what I do know is that with this gross mischaracterization of Williams, you’ve most certainly blown the opportunity to ever do so.
Finally, to compare Serena Williams with Paris Hilton? Many people I know were angered by that statement. I’m not. It is the second calculated statementof this rant of yours written solely to create controversy rather attempt to explain the essence of Serena Williams.
You know, Jason Whitlock, I bet if I rhythmically waved a nice, juicy pork rib in front of your eyes for a few seconds I could hypnotize you and find that you despise of yourself and your Blackness; that in your heart of hearts you wish you were Jeff George.
And I am so very happy I’m not that ‘English Euro cat’ because if I was I couldn’t lay the wood to your stupid ass, you slob ——— of a writer.
As usual, good insight!
I tried my best to make sense of Whitlock’s piece when I read it yesterday. I can’t do it! The Williams sisters have too many grand slam trophies to argue otherwise. Playing each other in multiple finals should also speak volumes…has that ever happened?!
smh!
Thanks CDF…. and please excuse the formatting. A weird piece of code somehow ended up in the article…. The code is now gone and the formatting has been corrected.
Thank you for your defense of Serena. I don’t understand how anyone could be so critical of one so superior in her sport. If Serena is an underachiever, what does that say about the rest of the players?
Sign me, Confused in Florida.
Dwil,
Here’s one thing about Bolliterri and Macci: The Williams family PAID good goddamn money and a LOT of it to train Venus and Serena. Yuri Sharapov shows up with Maria at Nick’s and she gets a fuckin’ schollie and pays NOTHING. That just shows how money-hungry these guys are. Now, they’re great coaches and the Sisters are doing well as professionals, but if I brought you an 11 year old Venus and 9 year old Serena, with their requisite skills that they brought to the table, why WOULDN’T they get a scholarship? The USTA didn’t source these girls and can’t replicate them. So the country club set have thrown shade on these girls from giddy-up.
When Ted Koppel questioned Richard Williams (before Venus went pro) about taking endorsements in order to fund their training, Ted conveniently forgot to mention that the great tennis coaches don’t coach black kids for free. This is why people that bitch about AAU programs in basketball are clueless: for the ultra-talented kids, they don’t pay full freight. I submit that if Nick Bolliterri went to an ultra-talented black tennis player and said that the training was free, more kids would try the sport if their background didn’t allow all of their training needs to be met (court-time, travel, lodging, registration fees, equipment, apparel, hitting partners, sports medicine, etc.)
If people like Whitlock weren’t such monumental assholes, maybe they’d go back and remember the bitching that went on in the media and on message boards when Venus and Serena came on the scene. First it was the hair style and the hair beads. Then it was “they hit too hard.” Then it was Venus’ serve wasn’t good enoug. Then it was “too many unforced errors.” Then it was the tennis dresses they designed. When they grew up a bit and got rid of the hair beads, then folks complained about the hair weaves they had. Or Serena’s boobs were too big. The matches were fixed. Then when they started to dominate the Sisters were considered “bad” for the game of tennis. When when they went away for a time, they weren’t considered dedicated enough. Now that they are back, there’s even more complaints. Come on, now.
One of the only tennis experts that have been on these girls’ side from the very beginning was Bud Collins. When Venus had her pro exhibition with Serena as hitting partner, only Bud walked away seeing Slams. And everyone laughed at him. Who’s laughing now, 18 Grand Slam Singles titles later?
Excellent work D-Wil. Although, as the nephew of one of those old British guys, believe me when i tell you that they could lay the wood when they wanted to. they just did it in these clipped patrician accents.
Okori-
Ha! Very true, very true….
Phil-
You are so correct abut the williams’ situation versus “other” parents and children who have been raised at tennis academies.
Patricia-
Thank you very much… and it’s nice to hear from someone who does not normally comment.
Yo
YOU KILLED THIS.
I’m saying, this was nasty homie.
Nasty like Whitlock. It’s so sad. I was a fan of dude when he first started blowing up. Meh, such is life.
Big Man-
Double Ha! Is it safe yet to say, “I’m baaaack!” (Maybe after you read the Manny piece I just posted?)
I just commented on that one homie.
Whitlock keeps digging himself deeper — he followed that up with his McNair bullshit.
Thank you for this. People who don’t see the inequity in the Williams sisters treatment versus white players are living in the f*ckin’ matrix. Take the blue pill for crying out loud.
Oh, I forgot to mention Sh*tlock. Is there anyone who takes this cat seriously? I haven’t read his stuff in 4 years now because if there were any insightful observations they have long since given way to self serving, shallow, self hating, misogynist crap. Cat needs a moment of clarity.
Awb,
The girls from Eastern Europe that are on the tour that come to the U.S. to earn millions of dollars either get scholarships from Nick’s or free coaching from a coach that wants to handle the next great tennis player/spokesmodel/internet pin-up gir OR they get sponsors the old-fashioned way OR their national federation brings them up.
One of the most embarrassing things for the USTA is that they had no hand in the Williams sisters success and it stings. Because as these ladies reach their thirties nearing 20 singles titles in the Slams, there is not one single American-born women’s player that can win a major title. If that makes the USTA feel inadequate in that regard, screw ‘em. Big ass country we got: go find some players, then.
My question is if it’s OK for Jankovic or Safina or Azarwenka to make millions playing tennis, why do people BEGRUDGE the Williams sisters for building a better mousetrap and beating folks’ at their own game?
The Williams sisters have a tennis foundation here in DC and they are doing good work. The goal isn’t to make Slam champs, but, like Agassi’s school, the goal is to prepare kids for better academic achievement and hopefully college after that.
Whitlock — ewwww. Just, ewww. He is damn unpleasant to look at. And don’t you get the feeling that his breath stinks and that he breaths through his mouth? Sorry — digressing. Serena is the baddest tennis player on the planet right now. She’s chasing history. None of the girls on tour have technically great strokes. Serena is an offensive-whiz, as one sports writer termed her. I love the way she plays. Venus is my favorite. But the fact that Serena doesn’t have a volley, is not an issue for me at all. And, I guess, not for her either: since she’s the defending champ in 2010 for three of the slams now. And guts? That’s her middle name. BJ King said that there is no one who displays her will power on court more that Princess Serena. Her “fight” is legendary. Absolutely, love this chick.
Oh and one more thing. People who are “out of shape” don’t have flat stomachs. This girl just rubs her fortune in your face — big ass, big titties and a flat stomach. See, I don’t think that’s right. Why does she have it all?
For Jason Whitlock, who probably doesn’t even know a GUY named Jim, to tell Serena Williams that she’s fat is ridiculous.
Full Disclosure: I was once 4 bills. I am now 2 and 3 quarters. I fell in love with lifting, learned how to eat right, and took supplements to keep my body’s metabolism humming. And I don’t look at Serena and see fat. I see someone who is as devoted to the iron as i am. It’s comforting.
Okori
You weight 275? How long did it take you to drop your weight?
grace, I tend to think Shitlock emits a foul odor because surely up under one of the many folds of flesh, something has surely rotted…and typically, rotten organisms dont smell good.
about a year and a half.
Man, I gotta get a grip. Just thinking about the guy gets my blood boiling. The thing is that he is so typical of some brother who formed his worldview based on the number of times he was rejected by fine-ass black women. You can just see it in the way he writes. The only black women he interacts with on any kind of intimate level are probably strippers and we know they wouldn’t have any thing to do with him outside of the job.
http://www.andthevalleyshook.com/2009/7/8/941689/because-the-steve-mcnair-chatter
It’s the Whitlock piece on McNair, but the title says it all.
Wow I just read the article in the link you sent des….. I just posted a final update – the McNair case has been ruled a murder-suicide.
But I’m receiving some additional info about McNair and someone else – and I’ll weave in Whitlock’s sad, sad piece, too.
AWB says
“The thing is that he is so typical of some brother who formed his worldview based on the number of times he was rejected by fine-ass black women.”
Yeap thats how I always felt about Whitlock. I think he was the lil black kid that was always picked on because he was fat. So as he got older he always hated black folks because how they treated him when he was young.
Honestly, folks, if Serena Williams is underachieving then what did Kim Clijsters do? What is Venus Williams doing with “only” 7 Slams, five of them on one surface at Wimbledon? You win 5 Slams on one surface and you are BALLING, I don’t care if you like the way their booty looks or not or if they are butt-ugly.
If Serena Williams woke up today with Maria Sharapova’s looks but with the Slams she’s got, she’d freak out. Because, make no mistake, Serena likes to win. You don’t fight off match points in Slams like this woman has and come back to win if you are an underachiever. I’m sure Maria looks great in a slinky dress and all, but 11 Slams, son? Are you kidding me.
You don’t show up “overweight” by Euro standards and win the Aussie Open out of nowhere and then take the latest tennis faking sportsmodel over your knee and treat her like she was an insolent child. Ask Maria Sharapova about that ass-whipping she took in the finals of the Aussie a coupla years ago.
Ask Miss Smirky Face aka Martina Hingis how many Slams she won after Serena won her first at the U.S. Open? Try 1 Grand Slam title. After she and Venus had the epic three-setter at the U.S. Open, my enduring image of that was Serena with the hood up on her sweatsuit going to get in a quick evening hit. The next day? Straight sets (second set tie-break) to win her first Grand Slam singles title. And then Venus stepped up almost immediately after that and started winning her Slams almost on queue.
And some pretty nasty white folks had some vicious things to say after that and they’ve continued ever since. It was never this bad until these girls started winning. And I’m embarrassed for tennis fans, the GOOD tennis fans out here, that recognize talent, hard work, perserverance and excellence.
Now onto Fat Mack 8ball’s article………………………
I know this planet eating unicron micky ficky didn’t say that she needs to push away from the table and lose her butt.
So what else does she need to do fat bastard…….bleach her skin so she can be lighter and more appealing to mainstream america????
I can’t believe this coon had the nerve to write this type of crap. This is some of the biggest bunch of self hate I have ever seen.
And Phil thanks for pointing out USTA and the history lesson of the hate that these sistas have had to deal with.
Also lets not forget the hate the Serena had gotten for wearing that cat suit. For months all you heard was she was fat and her butt was too big.
Yet kim kardashian plastic ass is worshipped. And don’t even get me started on the Jlo lusting………….yet Serena’s behind was fat and disgusting….please.
These the same mfers whos great grand papi was lusting over Saartjie Baartman ass as they were pranching her around europe.
MFering simps like whitlock are the kind that swear sistas don’t do nothing for them. But will go up in Magic city or Strockers and buy every piece of p$ssy in there.
Fu^K that fat whale……………his momma should have swallowed him.
True on all point Phil.
I think the hate was bad when they started then it got worse and worse. As they began beating these white girls all the lil bigots could do is comment on their looks and fashion. Just because they didn’t fit the white standard of beauty.
And on top of that them sistas proud of who they were, proud to be black and out spoken.
Man I love them girls and they daddy. I use to smile every time I saw that old man dancing around with that umbrella…….haha them white folks couldn’ take it.
I will never forget when that blod bi&^h Anna Kournikova called those girls ugly men.
Hateful BBBBBB……………thats way your ass never won anything.
Dwil – great piece as usual.
You know, I have always wrestled with whether Whitlock was better engaged or ignored and I have mostly ignored over the last year or so.
Now, I finally (yeah, way late to the party on this one) see how bad him having this particular national gig is and its been staring me in the face the entire freaking time.
He works for Fox.
Basically, there will be absolutely no editing or reigning in his articles. He could truly write whatever he wants and the more it attacks black people the better.
And that’s pretty much what he has done.
But there is hope. Whitlock truly believes in his own crap and I think he believes he is one of the “boys.” Its only a matter of time before he steps in the wrong pile of shit and they leave his ass out to dry.
Here’s hoping its sooner rather than later.
Guys,
I honestly think the other problem the establishment has with the Sisters is that they are a combined front. Oracene and Richard might not be married anymore. Yetunde might be dead. But the girls are STILL winning Slams, they sit together in the family box during the matches, and it just irks the hell out of people.
“We Are Family” was a song that AMERICA embraced with that Pittsburgh Pirates club with Willie Stargell as its leader. That’s the same song the Williams girls sing today. Proud. Unabashed. Powerful. A beauty they’ve grown into and weren’t necessarily born with: forged through determination and the willingness to stare the haters in the face and keep on stepping.
People like to talk about how Jennifer Capriati came back from her early career meltdown and won some Slams? Big fuckin’ deal: she NEVER beat Venus Williams. Not once. Even when she was rejuvanated and scratched the surface of what Venus and Serena were able to do without the USTA.
whitlock is a symptom of the BSpn/skipbayless culture that has taken over sports. writers now purposely make outrageous statements looking for attention and national recognition.
Firstly, great article DWil. Very nice opening touch… Yeah, you’re back…
Whitlock’s column was disgusting on many levels — even by his standards.
awb, related to the “rejected by black women theory”… I remember reading Dennis Rodman’s first book when it came out and he explained that he only dated white women as an adult because black women had continually rejected his advances while growing up as a somewhat dorky kid in Dallas. Of course the first thing I thought was “well, Dennis, when you were growing up, were white women throwing themselves at you?” He never did expound on the matter.
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MODI,
You know what’s odd about Rodman and guys like him? Other black guys actually listen to that crap about being rejected by black women and then do the exact same thing just because. Look, if you meet a white lady and you love her and she loves you, then, by all means MARRY HER and have a family. Treat her like a queen.
But if the only reason you marry a white woman is because she’s got straight hair or fine features or something like that unrelated to what type of person she is? That’s not cool. If you’re marrying a white lady because, in general, you find white women “more” attractive than black women, you could be guilty of a fetish. And that door swings the other way, too, by the way. There’s white women out here that will date and even marry a black man because of perceived sexual prowess and virility. That same sexual prowess and virility if perceived incorrectly by a woman at your office being directed at her? THAT shit can get you fired or even put in jail. Rodman is playing with some dangerous sexual taboos with that stuff.
Whitlock… sorry Shitlock should be the last person on earth to comment on another’s shape. How in the world can he criticize her body because playing competitive tennis on Serena’s level takes a lot more strength than it appears. I’ve tried to play half-assed tennis for an hour or two and find myself feeling broken down the next day. If anything, the other players on the tour should try to be more like Serena if they want to be successful.
Guys like Whitlock are probably the biggest problem with breaking stereotypes and racist attitudes. It just gives the racist and prejudiced people something to fall back on and say “hey you’re wrong because one of your kind agrees with us”.
BTW off topic but did anyone catch PTI yesterday when Adande and Lebatard talked about whether or not the Pacers are ‘too white’. Unfortunately instead of saying anything meaningful, Adande decided to bring up the troubles of Artest, Jackson, and Tinsley. Also he added how it was a better business-wise to have more white players. It may in fact put more asses in seats, but why doesn’t anyone discuss why white players put more asses in seats. Probably because they are too afraid to point how racist this society still is.