ANOTHER TWITTER TRAGEDY
I was scrolling through The Twitter the other night, and came across this exchange. Young American tennis player Coco Vandeweghe lost a match to even younger Kazakhstanian tennis player Yulia Putintseva in an early round match in Brussels..Three sets, last two not close at all, both players ranked about the same in their go everywhere, go nowhere careers
But
Yulia and CoCo were not done with each other when the final ball was
hit .Apparently there was some tension during the match leading to the
players not shaking hands in the post tennis match tradition Back in the
day, disputes like this would
spill over in to the locker room and be settled like the
immature coddled young adults we once were. Today, the kids take it to
The Twitter. Unsure as to who drew first tweet, the two had a somewhat
uncomfortable public exchange on The social network grid. Not sure what
they call it over there in the former Russian territory, but over here,
we call it trash talking
The
demise of American tennis is not an illusion. So many things are
lacking, this is not an essay to address said topics right here. But
with Sloane Stephens recent public meltdown a couple weeks ago
over Serena no longer following her on the Twitter and CoCo having a
moment here trying to
deal with this apparent public slap around she just got, its becoming
apparent the
American kids need to grow some thicker skin and get a whole lot
tougher
Vandeweghe's response here is somewhat disturbing. Her 'how dare she she call me out for sucking. you're a bad sport, and I'm a victim rap' is seriously weak sauce. Venting, crying and whining is just so not attractive or effective as a means of evening the score. Just makes me want to call you a WAAAAAAAmbulance!!!
Or
better yet, it makes me want to call your uncle, former famous NBA
hoopster and star KiKi Vandeweghe. One would think having grown up and
around the NBA environment, CoCo would be well versed in the
world of talking smack; that she would have been a little better
prepared for such indignities. Apparently not. But KiKi knows people,
and a phone call or two later,
and none other than Sir Charles Barkley was in the house, answering
KiKi's request to help school his niece in the fine art of sticking up
and defending oneself via the spoken word.
We were not present at this meeting, but our sources in the field were within ear shot and were able to over hear some of what might have been said. To the best of their recollection this might have been how it went down..
"Sir Charles!!!"
"Coco Chanel...Look at you. You're all grown up!"
"Well, physically at least. My uncle still thinks I'm a bratty little kid with no sense of perspective as to how the real world works"
"Hmmm..seems to be a pattern with you young tennis phenoms. Kiki called though, said some girl was giving you a hard time after one of your losses and you might need some help?"
"Yeah Sir Charles. She was saying all these mean things to me in our match. Like I've never heard anything like it in all my life"
"Christ, you need to get out more. What did she say to you?"
"She said like I sucked and was not a great player. That I was all serve and no rally."
"Wow. Devastating. Could be fatal. What did you do when she said this to you?"
"I got really upset Sir Charles. Totally through me off my game, I couldn't even try anymore, so I tanked and walked off the court and didn't shake her hand or nothing"
"Nice CoCo. Nice. So the message your sending is that all someone has to do is look at you funny and that's all she wrote; you're done, packing your bags and you're out of there?"
"Well yeah, that's just so not sportsmanshiplike. I don't want to be on the court with someone who acts like that. It's the worst ever!!!"
"Good God. Ok Coco, slow down. Now tell me one more time what you did when she dissed you like that. What did you say back to her?"
"Umm, well nothing Sir Charles. I just tanked, didn't shake her hand and went to The Twitter and tweeted what a bad sport she was. That's how kids my age do everything. We don't confront people face to face about anything. We just tweet it out with each other".
"How's that working out for you CoCo?"
"Not very well Sir Charles. Cause everyone is on The Twitter and they retweet right back on top of your tweet and then it goes all viral and stuff and if someone like really popular gets involved, then we might start trending and before you know it we're picking up all kinds of new followers and it's really cool and really fun to be super popular on The Twitter"
'What in the fuck are you talking about CoCo!!??" This girl talks down to your face and you run away, don't confront her, don't stick up for yourself, don't say a single word to her, and then go type something to whoever and that somehow is supposed to resolve anything???!!! Seriously girl, sit down. Sir Charles here is going to offer up another solution that I think might be more effective ok? We need to learn how to communicate better."
"But I have 6500 followers and over 2000 tweets Sir Charles"
"Twitter is not communicating!!!"
"Calm down Sir Charles..hashtag meltdown"
"I'll show you a meltdown if you keep talking like this"
"Can't be any better than all the ones they have of you on YouTube"
Ok Listen..First things first. Your side of the street needs to be clean ok? We don't start shit here, but we do finish it, ok? CoCo, here's a couple things I want to help you get out of this..First off, we are going to send a message...actually, a very loud and clear message to Ms Putintseva that she is never going to do something like this to you again....To take it step further, nobody is ever going to do this to you again..ever..And if we do this right, I doubt quite seriously Ms Putintseva will ever do this again to anyone else either
"Ok"
Listen, there's a whole bunch of well meaning Pacifists and Christians out there who are going to tell you to ignore her, or to turn the other cheek, or don't stoop to her level, that sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can never hurt you kinda stuff. You have two choices with them. You can tell them you really appreciate the advice and that they are more than welcome to use those tactics in their own battles, or you can just tell them to all go bug off, this is your fight and you're going to handle it the best way you see fit. I'm kinda partial to the latter myself...You see CoCo, here's the deal. You don't have a mean bone in your body and you have no desire to hurt anybody, but at the same time, you'll be God damned if you're going to let anybody speak poorly of you publicly or try to do harm to you or your career in any way, ok?
"Right on Sir Charles..Like how this is trending.. Hanging with #Chuckster #heisarolemodelafterall"
"Stop that...Don't do that. I got enough problems. I'm fifty, I'm fat and I got this ugly bald head, I don't need you hashtagging me on everything ok?"
"Listen, you could spend a lot of time and money having people explain to you why what she said to you felt bad. Some would call it bullying, some would call it abusive, some might chalk it up to poor sportsmanship. In my opinion, the little snatch got over on you good and she needs to be taught a lesson right here and now so next time she thinks about doing something like this to you, she thinks twice, ok?"
"But everyone is going to think I'm a B-yatch if I get in her face and stuff"
"And that's worse than being thought of as a doormat that anyone can step on and someone who has so little self-respect that anybody can say any damn thing they want about you and they can all just sit around laughing their asses off at you having a tizzy fit about the whole thing over on the twitter because you're incapable of speaking up to defend yourself..Is that better girl???!!
"No"
"No..no its not. So we're going to come out swinging here ok? She got over on you good here and we need to get her back. This is your turf CoCo, this is where you are going to make your living. You are going to be seeing this little twat 25 weeks a year for the next ten years. You have to live with yourself and again, you don't want to hurt anybody but God damn, ain't nobody gonna hurt you..anytime, anywhere, anyhow...and you may just want to apologize in advance to those who are going to witness you sticking up for yourself here, because you're not used to having your boundaries so badly violated by someone so unprovoked, and you're real sorry if you sticking up for yourself comes off a little aggressive and threatening and stuff, but the fact is you didn't start this and anything short of a full public apology from her means this little spat isn't over, and you've never gone through something like this before and you're not going to go through this again and there are absolutely no style points when it comes to writing a wrong and what we really want here is for you to take your power back from this little bitch to the point that next time you walk in a room that she is in, she gets extremely uncomfortable that you just walked in and when you do see her you put one finger up, not your middle finger, but your index finger, which means she has exactly one minute to pick up her shit and get the fuck out of your site or its about to get a lot more uncomfortable in that room, we straight?
"But I don't want to be like a Mean Girl or a Bad Girl. I want people to like me"
"No Coco. I don't care about other people liking you. I care about you liking you. I care about you having one thing and one thing only and that thing is self-respect. Other people are gonna come and go and do their things to you but only if you let them. You let this girl get over on you. That's not Ok with me. I don't let me friends get mistreated Coco. This girl said some harsh stuff to you. You need to put her in her place to make sure this don't happen again. It's called taking your power back. Somehow this young woman thinks she can do and say anything she wants to you and there are no consequences for doing so"
"What am I supposed to do Sir Charles? Throw her out a window like you used to do?"
"No. My methods were a little over the top. But one thing we are not doing is going on the Twitter and talking about what we're going to do. I want you to call her at the next tournament and arrange a meeting with you two. She can bring her coach and parents if she wants, even a WTA official, whatever she's comfortable with. But make it very clear you need to straighten a few things out with her now before this escalates in to something that gets very uncomfortable for her, for you make it clear you ain't going away until you get a moment with her to clean this up so sooner is better. If that doesn't work, next time you see her you need to walk right up to her face and demand an apology from her. Not on Twitter. But Face to face. Young Woman to Young woman. Take the high road. Explain to her you don't have a problem with her but you're going to have one with her if she doesn't clean her act up with you and apologize"
"What if she doesn't apologize Sir Charles?"
"Well well well...This is where it doesn't hurt to have a guy like me in your life. If you take the high road and ask for an apology and she declines, you let Sir Charles know. I've been known to be able to turn some pretty colorful phrases in my time. As a matter of fact, I take great pleasure in the process and I'm getting a little soft sitting in the studio booth all these years.
The girl's from Kazhakstan??? Is that not Borat country??? Oh boy, all I have to say is she better apologize, for if this comes down to a war of words, there won't be much of her left by the time I get through with her. But high road first ok? No twitter, confront her face to face, and re-assert your self-respect and personal dignity, and my best guess is it will all work out for the best that way without any further escalations ok?"
"Thanks Sir Charles. You're the best!!!"
We were not present at this meeting, but our sources in the field were within ear shot and were able to over hear some of what might have been said. To the best of their recollection this might have been how it went down..
"Sir Charles!!!"
"Coco Chanel...Look at you. You're all grown up!"
"Well, physically at least. My uncle still thinks I'm a bratty little kid with no sense of perspective as to how the real world works"
"Hmmm..seems to be a pattern with you young tennis phenoms. Kiki called though, said some girl was giving you a hard time after one of your losses and you might need some help?"
"Yeah Sir Charles. She was saying all these mean things to me in our match. Like I've never heard anything like it in all my life"
"Christ, you need to get out more. What did she say to you?"
"She said like I sucked and was not a great player. That I was all serve and no rally."
"Wow. Devastating. Could be fatal. What did you do when she said this to you?"
"I got really upset Sir Charles. Totally through me off my game, I couldn't even try anymore, so I tanked and walked off the court and didn't shake her hand or nothing"
"Nice CoCo. Nice. So the message your sending is that all someone has to do is look at you funny and that's all she wrote; you're done, packing your bags and you're out of there?"
"Well yeah, that's just so not sportsmanshiplike. I don't want to be on the court with someone who acts like that. It's the worst ever!!!"
"Good God. Ok Coco, slow down. Now tell me one more time what you did when she dissed you like that. What did you say back to her?"
"Umm, well nothing Sir Charles. I just tanked, didn't shake her hand and went to The Twitter and tweeted what a bad sport she was. That's how kids my age do everything. We don't confront people face to face about anything. We just tweet it out with each other".
"How's that working out for you CoCo?"
"Not very well Sir Charles. Cause everyone is on The Twitter and they retweet right back on top of your tweet and then it goes all viral and stuff and if someone like really popular gets involved, then we might start trending and before you know it we're picking up all kinds of new followers and it's really cool and really fun to be super popular on The Twitter"
'What in the fuck are you talking about CoCo!!??" This girl talks down to your face and you run away, don't confront her, don't stick up for yourself, don't say a single word to her, and then go type something to whoever and that somehow is supposed to resolve anything???!!! Seriously girl, sit down. Sir Charles here is going to offer up another solution that I think might be more effective ok? We need to learn how to communicate better."
"But I have 6500 followers and over 2000 tweets Sir Charles"
"Twitter is not communicating!!!"
"Calm down Sir Charles..hashtag meltdown"
"I'll show you a meltdown if you keep talking like this"
"Can't be any better than all the ones they have of you on YouTube"
Ok Listen..First things first. Your side of the street needs to be clean ok? We don't start shit here, but we do finish it, ok? CoCo, here's a couple things I want to help you get out of this..First off, we are going to send a message...actually, a very loud and clear message to Ms Putintseva that she is never going to do something like this to you again....To take it step further, nobody is ever going to do this to you again..ever..And if we do this right, I doubt quite seriously Ms Putintseva will ever do this again to anyone else either
"Ok"
Listen, there's a whole bunch of well meaning Pacifists and Christians out there who are going to tell you to ignore her, or to turn the other cheek, or don't stoop to her level, that sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can never hurt you kinda stuff. You have two choices with them. You can tell them you really appreciate the advice and that they are more than welcome to use those tactics in their own battles, or you can just tell them to all go bug off, this is your fight and you're going to handle it the best way you see fit. I'm kinda partial to the latter myself...You see CoCo, here's the deal. You don't have a mean bone in your body and you have no desire to hurt anybody, but at the same time, you'll be God damned if you're going to let anybody speak poorly of you publicly or try to do harm to you or your career in any way, ok?
"Right on Sir Charles..Like how this is trending.. Hanging with #Chuckster #heisarolemodelafterall"
"Stop that...Don't do that. I got enough problems. I'm fifty, I'm fat and I got this ugly bald head, I don't need you hashtagging me on everything ok?"
"Listen, you could spend a lot of time and money having people explain to you why what she said to you felt bad. Some would call it bullying, some would call it abusive, some might chalk it up to poor sportsmanship. In my opinion, the little snatch got over on you good and she needs to be taught a lesson right here and now so next time she thinks about doing something like this to you, she thinks twice, ok?"
"But everyone is going to think I'm a B-yatch if I get in her face and stuff"
"And that's worse than being thought of as a doormat that anyone can step on and someone who has so little self-respect that anybody can say any damn thing they want about you and they can all just sit around laughing their asses off at you having a tizzy fit about the whole thing over on the twitter because you're incapable of speaking up to defend yourself..Is that better girl???!!
"No"
"No..no its not. So we're going to come out swinging here ok? She got over on you good here and we need to get her back. This is your turf CoCo, this is where you are going to make your living. You are going to be seeing this little twat 25 weeks a year for the next ten years. You have to live with yourself and again, you don't want to hurt anybody but God damn, ain't nobody gonna hurt you..anytime, anywhere, anyhow...and you may just want to apologize in advance to those who are going to witness you sticking up for yourself here, because you're not used to having your boundaries so badly violated by someone so unprovoked, and you're real sorry if you sticking up for yourself comes off a little aggressive and threatening and stuff, but the fact is you didn't start this and anything short of a full public apology from her means this little spat isn't over, and you've never gone through something like this before and you're not going to go through this again and there are absolutely no style points when it comes to writing a wrong and what we really want here is for you to take your power back from this little bitch to the point that next time you walk in a room that she is in, she gets extremely uncomfortable that you just walked in and when you do see her you put one finger up, not your middle finger, but your index finger, which means she has exactly one minute to pick up her shit and get the fuck out of your site or its about to get a lot more uncomfortable in that room, we straight?
"But I don't want to be like a Mean Girl or a Bad Girl. I want people to like me"
"No Coco. I don't care about other people liking you. I care about you liking you. I care about you having one thing and one thing only and that thing is self-respect. Other people are gonna come and go and do their things to you but only if you let them. You let this girl get over on you. That's not Ok with me. I don't let me friends get mistreated Coco. This girl said some harsh stuff to you. You need to put her in her place to make sure this don't happen again. It's called taking your power back. Somehow this young woman thinks she can do and say anything she wants to you and there are no consequences for doing so"
"What am I supposed to do Sir Charles? Throw her out a window like you used to do?"
"No. My methods were a little over the top. But one thing we are not doing is going on the Twitter and talking about what we're going to do. I want you to call her at the next tournament and arrange a meeting with you two. She can bring her coach and parents if she wants, even a WTA official, whatever she's comfortable with. But make it very clear you need to straighten a few things out with her now before this escalates in to something that gets very uncomfortable for her, for you make it clear you ain't going away until you get a moment with her to clean this up so sooner is better. If that doesn't work, next time you see her you need to walk right up to her face and demand an apology from her. Not on Twitter. But Face to face. Young Woman to Young woman. Take the high road. Explain to her you don't have a problem with her but you're going to have one with her if she doesn't clean her act up with you and apologize"
"What if she doesn't apologize Sir Charles?"
"Well well well...This is where it doesn't hurt to have a guy like me in your life. If you take the high road and ask for an apology and she declines, you let Sir Charles know. I've been known to be able to turn some pretty colorful phrases in my time. As a matter of fact, I take great pleasure in the process and I'm getting a little soft sitting in the studio booth all these years.
The girl's from Kazhakstan??? Is that not Borat country??? Oh boy, all I have to say is she better apologize, for if this comes down to a war of words, there won't be much of her left by the time I get through with her. But high road first ok? No twitter, confront her face to face, and re-assert your self-respect and personal dignity, and my best guess is it will all work out for the best that way without any further escalations ok?"
"Thanks Sir Charles. You're the best!!!"
No comments:
Post a Comment