This is about as ridiculous as the Wilt Chamberlin stuff that came out the other day. 
ATP to investigate Bobby Riggs' gambling
NEW YORK -- OK, cool down. It's a joke headline, designed to (a) draw you into this blog and (b) have a bit of a laugh over a serious subject.
I suppose I'll have to issue an immediate disclaimer here. Ready? OK.
THE WRITER DOES NOT CONDONE GAMBLING AMONG ATHLETES, ESPECIALLY TENNIS PLAYERS, AND TAKES THE CURRENT INVESTIGATION INTO THE VASSALLO-ARGUELLO VS. DAVYDENKO MATCH VERY SERIOUSLY.
Whew. Now, let's move on by asking if there would ever have been a Bobby Riggs, one of the great characters in tennis history, if players were under severe threat of suspension or lifetime banishment by either gambling or consorting with known gamblers.
Riggs was one of the great gamblers in the history of sport and, in 1939, made $105,000 by betting he would win the Wimbledon singles, doubles and mixed. Which he did.
Jimmy Evert, one of the icons in Notre Dame tennis history and father, of course, to the great Chris Evert, recalls the day after that Wimbledon that Riggs came through Chicago, trying to set up a winner-take-all match against the best player in town. That was Jimmy.
Riggs threw the first two sets of the best-of-five match, then had his handlers walk around the crowd doubling the bets. He won the last three one, two and one.
Cut to 1973, when Riggs was long out of professional tennis at age 55, but Billie Jean King was among the best players in a women's game that was desperate for publicity.
We all know that Battle of the Sexes, won by King, did for women's tennis what Alan Ameche and the Baltimore Colts did for the NFL. Was King "consorting" with a known gambler? Do you have any idea how much money was bet on that match? That match was all about gambling and if it hadn't happened, how much longer would it have taken for women's tennis to hit the radar screens?
Oh, and by the way, Riggs is in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
ATP to investigate Bobby Riggs' gambling
NEW YORK -- OK, cool down. It's a joke headline, designed to (a) draw you into this blog and (b) have a bit of a laugh over a serious subject.
I suppose I'll have to issue an immediate disclaimer here. Ready? OK.
THE WRITER DOES NOT CONDONE GAMBLING AMONG ATHLETES, ESPECIALLY TENNIS PLAYERS, AND TAKES THE CURRENT INVESTIGATION INTO THE VASSALLO-ARGUELLO VS. DAVYDENKO MATCH VERY SERIOUSLY.
Whew. Now, let's move on by asking if there would ever have been a Bobby Riggs, one of the great characters in tennis history, if players were under severe threat of suspension or lifetime banishment by either gambling or consorting with known gamblers.
Riggs was one of the great gamblers in the history of sport and, in 1939, made $105,000 by betting he would win the Wimbledon singles, doubles and mixed. Which he did.
Jimmy Evert, one of the icons in Notre Dame tennis history and father, of course, to the great Chris Evert, recalls the day after that Wimbledon that Riggs came through Chicago, trying to set up a winner-take-all match against the best player in town. That was Jimmy.
Riggs threw the first two sets of the best-of-five match, then had his handlers walk around the crowd doubling the bets. He won the last three one, two and one.
Cut to 1973, when Riggs was long out of professional tennis at age 55, but Billie Jean King was among the best players in a women's game that was desperate for publicity.
We all know that Battle of the Sexes, won by King, did for women's tennis what Alan Ameche and the Baltimore Colts did for the NFL. Was King "consorting" with a known gambler? Do you have any idea how much money was bet on that match? That match was all about gambling and if it hadn't happened, how much longer would it have taken for women's tennis to hit the radar screens?
Oh, and by the way, Riggs is in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.