"Who's Now"
ESPN is doing this "Who's Now" feature on SportsCenter which is some viewer voting thing where they pick the athlete who is the best both on and off the field of play.
They have four brackets and put different sports stars head-to-head. The brackets are named after four athletes who were "Now" in their own era: Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Muhammed Ali, and ... Billie Jean King.
WHAT?!
I follow some tennis. Not a huge fan, but I watch some of the majors and so on, and I know most of the big stars from over the years. I know about Billie Jean King and her accomplishments. But even though I probably know a little bit more about her than most sports fans, the first thing I think about when I think of her is that she played against Bobby Riggs in '73.
So why is she one of the four top "Now" athletes of all time? I can think of dozens more deserving off the top of my head. If we don't want duplicate sports, Wayne Gretzky is an obvious choice from the hockey world. Tell me Billie Jean King is more deserving than he is. Or Dan Marino. Or Walter Payton.
Obviously, they chose her because she's a woman. Pathetically sad.
The only good thing is that I don't care about this stupid feature; I have been fast-forwarding through it. I only stopped to watch it tonight because they were pitting David Ortiz against Tom Brady.
They have four brackets and put different sports stars head-to-head. The brackets are named after four athletes who were "Now" in their own era: Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Muhammed Ali, and ... Billie Jean King.
WHAT?!
I follow some tennis. Not a huge fan, but I watch some of the majors and so on, and I know most of the big stars from over the years. I know about Billie Jean King and her accomplishments. But even though I probably know a little bit more about her than most sports fans, the first thing I think about when I think of her is that she played against Bobby Riggs in '73.
So why is she one of the four top "Now" athletes of all time? I can think of dozens more deserving off the top of my head. If we don't want duplicate sports, Wayne Gretzky is an obvious choice from the hockey world. Tell me Billie Jean King is more deserving than he is. Or Dan Marino. Or Walter Payton.
Obviously, they chose her because she's a woman. Pathetically sad.
The only good thing is that I don't care about this stupid feature; I have been fast-forwarding through it. I only stopped to watch it tonight because they were pitting David Ortiz against Tom Brady.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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