And finally, my favorite all-time athlete is...
#1: John McEnroe
John McEnroe will always be remembered as the guy who shouted at chair umpires and linesmen too much. Everybody who is a tennis fan, and many who are not, remember his trademark, "You cannot be serious! That ball landed right on the line. Chalk dust flew everywhere!" speech he gave to an official.
Temper aside, he was one of the greatest tennis players who ever lived. He won 77 singles titles, 78 doubles titles, and one mixed doubles title. He won 849 matches in his career. He won seven Grand Slams. And he spent 170 weeks as the number one singles player in the world over the course of his career.
By his own admission, his temper got the best of him way too often. Here's a few rather honest and insightful paragraphs from his book, "You Cannot be Serious" that was published in 2002:
"The way I was brought up, you were supposed to be very serious, totally concentrated. To put humor into a big tennis match felt like being a phoney, I guess. It would mean I wasn't a true competitor, a real athlete. It smacked of professional wrestling.
"Meanwhile, the irony is that you can joke in tight competitive situations (not to mention the fact that pro wrestling is huge--those guys are laughing all the way to the bank).
"I'm deeply envious of that. In fact, my biggest regret, by far--even more than losing the '84 French Open--is never having been able to turn the other cheek, throw a one-liner, to keep things loose. I should have had more fun doing what I was doing..."
He was so caught up in the competition that he never learned to enjoy himself, and that's a shame. But at the same time, his competitiveness was attractive to me--especially as a young budding tennis player. I remember watching the Wimbledon final between Bjorn Borg and McEnroe in 1980 at my best friend's house. It's one of the best matches I've ever seen. And I remember watching the 1981 Wimbledon final when McEnroe beat Borg. That was a great day. And I remember the 1990 U.S. Open, when he was at the end of his career. He made it all the way to the semifinals before losing to eventual winner Pete Sampras. (I never liked Pete Sampras after that.)
I loved many things about John McEnroe, the tennis player. I loved his willingness to show his insecurities, and to say what was on his mind, and to challenge people when he thought it was appropriate. I loved to see him battle. I loved knowing that I wasn't investing my time watching his matches for a guy who didn't care.
After he retired in 1992, I became an even bigger fan. He became the voice of the U.S. Open on the USA Network each September. His love for the game was infectious. And since my days of playing in local tournaments was coming to an end, I felt like he kept me close to the game that I've loved since the first day I picked up a racket. In fact, I initially picked up that racket after seeing him play on television.
In recent years, McEnroe has exhibited all of the same qualities that I've always loved about him. He's unafraid to try anything. He tried to be a talk show host on television, and failed miserably. (I might have been the only person to watch it.) He tried to be a game show host for a show called "The Chair," and it too failed. I, of course, watched it. He played his guitar (a hobby he picked up during his playing days) and he didn't seem to care a bit what people thought about his playing ability.
When Hurricane Katrina hit during the 2005 U.S. Open, he was the first celebrity I saw who came forward with a cash donation. I think it was $25,000.00. Then he challenged one of the other commentators to match his gift. When the crowd in the upper deck at Arthur Ashe Stadium was in a frenzy and started doing the wave during the 2006 U.S. Open during the Andre Agassi vs. Marcos Baghdatis match, the chair umpire wanted the crowd to stop so play could continue. McEnroe said something like this on the air, "C'mon. Let them go. It's 1:00 in the morning and these people are still here. And the people in the upper deck are blue collar people. They've given up a lot to be here."
I'm on the opposite side of the spectrum politically from McEnroe, but that doesn't matter a bit to me. He was the type of competitor that I always admired. He is the perfect advocate for the game I've always loved. And now he's the type of humanitarian that I admire.