Stanford’s John McEnroe and his Chances for Sainthood By James Rodrigues
McEnroe was a Stanford student long enough to win everything in, NCAA tennis, sight. Then popped up the inevitable question. “Let’s see, should I kill myself trying to do the nearly impossible and get a Stanford degree or should I go dominate professional tennis for several years and make millions of dollars? Gee, that was an easy decision!" Tennis pro John McEnroe wasn’t swimming in money yet, when a million dollar offer came from then “apart-hate” South Africa. He went to his father with a “what do you think I should do” type of question. His father solemnly replied, “You must decide this one for yourself, John.” South Africa wanted to host John in an exhibition match in an effort to legitimize their nation’s blatantly racist operation. John weighed the, at that time, extraordinary money against his own personal ethics. His ethics won and he quickly rejected the white/South African offer. Not that we're considering sainthood for Mr. McEnroe. Not today. My mom, who "liked everybody," didn't like "little Johnny.” Something about, “he’s way too noisy for what he’s worth as a human being.” Watching and listening to McEnroe as he screamed at a referee that he was “the pits of the earth” settled Mom’s “little Johnny personality contest,” post haste. I assume McEnroe took an oblique pride in his freshman and only year at Stanford. To tell you the truth it’s actually hard to tell what John thought of his one-year Stanford sojourn. His Cardinal one-liners are history makers in the vast category of “down on the farm humor.” My favorite was his answer to the question, why do you stop playing all the time to tie your shoes? In “profound deadpan” the ex-Cardinal replied, “At Stanford, the educational program doesn’t get around to teaching you shoe tying until your sophomore year.” Tennis’ ultimate “bad boy” also has any number of “how many Stanford girls does it take to redesign a light bulb” jokes. The most memorable moments of McEnroe’s tennis career came against Bjorn Borg at Wimbledon. Those early eighties McEnroe/Borg confrontations are still the best rolls of videotape in tennis history. The kid from New York was as great a Davis Cup
player as America ever had. He would go into primitive Central and South American
arenas with death threats hanging over his head. The crowds would scream
for his blood. In appropriate response, McEnroe would consistently
defeat his opponents in both singles and doubles. I believe John McEnroe to be the greatest all-around tennis player, ever. McEnroe not only held “top single’s player in the world status” for many years, but he is clearly the best doubles player I have ever seen. It was those doubles’ skills that keyed Davis Cup championships for America. McEnroe is now the top tennis T.V. main-event “color man.” He had a big mouth “back in the day” and he’s still got it. But now, his insightfully brilliant observations are the “noises” that make tennis considerably more entertaining for the average T.V. viewer. The last time I saw McEnroe play, he was “firing it at” his younger brother Patrick in a championship match. Patrick McEnroe was trying to win his first professional title. You’d think aging John might give his sibling opponent a break. No such luck! John finally put him away in a close match. Toward the end, John and Patrick McEnroe were amusingly yakking at each other while the crowd roared with laughter. As the match ended, the brothers were yelling up to their mother who was sitting in the stands. The last words I remember came from one of the McEnroe boys. “Hey, Mom! You like me more than Patrick, don’t you? Well, don’t you?!”
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