Pathological Losers: My Vic Braden Interview

[JeffMac]

White Hats, Black Hats, Valhalla and Ragnor

budge...for you to continually imply that human nature and/or the "system" is corrupt, evil, conflicted and mercenary is hardly front page news. It is redundant redux ad infinitum. As a fledgling, probing and accidental existentialist you might consider another "path." What about tennis instruction?

As a devout student of the Bible and a former traveling junior evangelist with the Billy Graham crusade in my youth, I say verily, verily unto you that yes, indeed, that evil must be driven out of the hearts and minds of Man, by the Son of Man. But, as this is quite obviously impossible--according to no less an authority on the matter as C. Darwin--for you to continually beat this drum of incessant perpetrative alarmism, and an implicit reactionary redemption through forgivable deviance is becoming a bit tiresome.

Indeed, you must eventually acknowledge that it is dangerous and subversive. What if everyone flipped out like the guys who get top billing in life's various psychodramas? It would result in nothing less than that infamous Hobbesian "war of all against all." Anarchy is the natural outcome. Do you really want that? I'm really not sure that you wouldn't prefer it.

That said, McEnroe is a prime example of someone who needs to have a "come to Jesus moment." It would be appropriate for him to fall on his microphone on a national tennis broadcast. Don't you think? He must repent for his outrageous tennis court sins, just as Montano must do a long overdue life review from the crypt to which he has been righteously consigned.

As an anti-hero Tony is compelling in an ordinary sort of way. But, so is the Uber guy. What exactly caused him to snap? "Bad guys" who succumb to the pressures of the human condition are a dime an efen dozen. This is the life's blood of satirists and novelist.

Hurrah!!

These are all just guys who wear the black hats and become natural foils for the guys in the white hats. Spiritual leaders are all in agreement that life is merely an eternal Western movie with no beginning and no ending precipitated by the Big Bang. It is the age old story of good versus evil, isn't it? Billy the Kid--RIP. The Lone Ranger too.

But the real mystery is why you need to continually deify these malefactors. They are your kindred spirits, I suspect. You feel and understand their pain like Bill Clinton. O.K...I suppose...but...? Would you be willing to try affirmative cognitive therapy under my guidance for a few months? We can communicate telepathically like I often do with Rod Laver and Vic Braden

That book about the tennis anti-Christ does sound interesting. I will read it. Now let me ask you: Have you ever read that book penned by Texan Bill Scanlon about McEnroe? He takes it upon himself to voice the consensual opinion of the ATP community circa the 80's about the most objectionable and narcissistic player ever minted by the big fella upstairs.

This masterpiece is lost to the annals of tennis history and deprived of validational critical analysis because the author is ordinary, well-behaved and law abiding. With a largely forgettable record. (Although I saw him beat McEnroe in the 1983 U.S. Open. And the crowd was for Scanlon). Crazed people are far more interesting, and marketable aren't they?

But I'll take Scanlon over McEnroe everyday of the week. The Texan had a very simple, clean, efficient game. It was orthodoxy vs. the unorthodox, quirky game of McEnroe.

I'm currently in touch with Borg's people regarding interviewing the Swedish genius on his home turf. Turns out he is a fan of Hunter Thompson and "gonzo." He liked the Laver article. When I come to town I want to interview you as well budge, incorporating elements of your interview into the Borg piece, especially with respect to the changing racquet technology in the 70's and 80's. Does he really think it was critically important? Or was it insignificant? We must have the truth once and for all--so that the great Sphinx can get a day off.

I'm looking forward to meeting you face to face. I picture you as tall and thin with short dark hair. Would that be accurate?

When I arrive can you please come to the airport with Lennert Bergelin and Stefan Edberg, and hold up a card board sign that says JEFFMAC? Welcome to the land of Ragnor and Valhalla?

Probably the only solution to your inability to make heads or tails of what I am trying to get across in solving the sphinx like riddle of John McEnroe. It has nothing to do with wayward Uber drivers but Tony Montana may have just had some invaluable insight into the workings of the system…but of course dead men don't talk.

Being in the lower third may not have been an accurate assessment come to think of it. I reread you article and it gets better with a reread. Much like Dostoyevsky. But anyways…considering the rather high quality of articles even the bottom third has considerable merit.

I don't suppose you took a look at that match with Connors and McEnroe with Vic Braden commentating did you? See post #160. In spite of your doubts…I have no doubts. Not about my sanity or my path. I am where I should be when I should be…it has been this way all of my life. At any given time my glass is relatively full and relatively empty. It fluctuates…I won't lie. But all in all…it's brimming.

Thanks to you though I have come a long way in my assessment of John McEnroe. As much or as irritating as you have endeavored to be with me…you have provoked me…to write and to write provocatively.

Please try and read "Being John McEnroe" by Tim Adams. I promise you it will be worth your while and it must may change your attitude with regards to John McEnroe and possible Tony Montano. I read that Al Pacino watched a clip of McEnroe outbursts to get into character for that role. Or was that Tom Hulce getting into character for "Amadeus"?

We will have to have some kind of agreement going into an interview situation…some ground rules. Imagine that…coming from me. The Student.

I am what you might call…available at all times.

[klacr]

because I meant to say Politically Incorrect--not "Politically Correct." You probably knew that--I suspect--but nevertheless drooled over the opportunity to smack me down--again. As is your wont. As it is also Watchers wonton way. As it is also Stotty's slightly more subtle way--as he operates with a classic British reserve and decorum--much to his credit, I may say. And, of course, there is the spiritual leader of your hyper-critical cabal--that maestro of philosophic mayhem and unorthodoxy...you know to whom I refer I suspect...yes...it is non-other than the arch McEnroe-phile, Nastase-phile, Montano--phile and Manson-phile (that's Bruce Manson of USC fame, by the way, the lesser known of the brothers Manson) who lives to be different, contrary, and iconoclastic as budge travels his "Road Less Travelled" which leads to God only knows where.

I know none of you foreign born, Central American gentlemen knows anything about American politics and never watch Fox news--the high cannon of political science. If you did you would be familiar with the "Bridge To Nowhere." There is a theory being bandied about that budge's road actually connects inexorably to this very bridge.

And the maven of wood has turned you all against me!!budge loves his wood racquets every bit as much as the Pople loves his morning wood. Only Phil likes me and reads my posts. The rest of you are known to delete my posts--but only after you have savaged me again and again with vicious key stroke after vicious keystroke.

I now sense that you are also trying to turn that former high school middle line-backer turned tennis coach Kyle L.C. against me as well. You know Kyle. The French guy who says he co-starred in Driving Vic Braden but can't even give us one witty, entertaining anecdote of his tenure because--apparently--everything my best friend, mentor, secret pen pal, and confidante--VB--said must have gone zooming over his young head at about three hundred miles per hour! But Kyle, forget the movie and buy the book. Books actually. Many of them. Borrow them from budge because he doesn't want them; believing, of course, that they have little value--save as perhaps toilet paper.

Now back to you bottle...I am not yet finished with you. Not by a long shot. You are a contemporary master of the art of the masterful and artistic micro-aggressive arts masterfully and artistically rendered. Like that Donald Trump guy that you love to denigrate, you love to make fun of disabled persons such as myself. Just so that you can go on a week long guilt trip, I want you to know that I have been diagnosed with three neurological diseases--and there may be more coming along in the pipeline. And when they are discovered I will certainly let you know.

But that's O.K. I'm undaunted by your gratuitous assault on my nervous system, psyche, character and typing skills. But I was good in high school!

As an Emily Post acolyte I am sure that you are familiar with that old quip? She said, "Living well is the best revenge."

And when the current Republican front-runner is coronated as King of the World that will be the song that we can all sing together as we stand on the steps of the capital building together. Say Halleleujah!!

Interesting.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[JeffMac]

Huh?

Right! Of course you don't get it. That's why you're a chiropractor and I'm a satirist. Carry on bone crusher!

Huh?!

[tennis_chiro]

Wtf?

because I meant to say Politically Incorrect--not "Politically Correct." You probably knew that--I suspect--but nevertheless drooled over the opportunity to smack me down--again. As is your wont. As it is also Watchers wonton way. As it is also Stotty's slightly more subtle way--as he operates with a classic British reserve and decorum--much to his credit, I may say. And, of course, there is the spiritual leader of your hyper-critical cabal--that maestro of philosophic mayhem and unorthodoxy...you know to whom I refer I suspect...yes...it is non-other than the arch McEnroe-phile, Nastase-phile, Montano--phile and Manson-phile (that's Bruce Manson of USC fame, by the way, the lesser known of the brothers Manson) who lives to be different, contrary, and iconoclastic as budge travels his "Road Less Travelled" which leads to God only knows where.

I know none of you foreign born, Central American gentlemen knows anything about American politics and never watch Fox news--the high cannon of political science. If you did you would be familiar with the "Bridge To Nowhere." There is a theory being bandied about that budge's road actually connects inexorably to this very bridge.

And the maven of wood has turned you all against me!!budge loves his wood racquets every bit as much as the Pople loves his morning wood. Only Phil likes me and reads my posts. The rest of you are known to delete my posts--but only after you have savaged me again and again with vicious key stroke after vicious keystroke.

I now sense that you are also trying to turn that former high school middle line-backer turned tennis coach Kyle L.C. against me as well. You know Kyle. The French guy who says he co-starred in Driving Vic Braden but can't even give us one witty, entertaining anecdote of his tenure because--apparently--everything my best friend, mentor, secret pen pal, and confidante--VB--said must have gone zooming over his young head at about three hundred miles per hour! But Kyle, forget the movie and buy the book. Books actually. Many of them. Borrow them from budge because he doesn't want them; believing, of course, that they have little value--save as perhaps toilet paper.

Now back to you bottle...I am not yet finished with you. Not by a long shot. You are a contemporary master of the art of the masterful and artistic micro-aggressive arts masterfully and artistically rendered. Like that Donald Trump guy that you love to denigrate, you love to make fun of disabled persons such as myself. Just so that you can go on a week long guilt trip, I want you to know that I have been diagnosed with three neurological diseases--and there may be more coming along in the pipeline. And when they are discovered I will certainly let you know.

But that's O.K. I'm undaunted by your gratuitous assault on my nervous system, psyche, character and typing skills. But I was good in high school!

As an Emily Post acolyte I am sure that you are familiar with that old quip? She said, "Living well is the best revenge."

And when the current Republican front-runner is coronated as King of the World that will be the song that we can all sing together as we stand on the steps of the capital building together. Say Halleleujah!!

Huh?!

[JeffMac]

I Mis-Spoke (Mis-Typed) bottle...

because I meant to say Politically Incorrect--not "Politically Correct." You probably knew that--I suspect--but nevertheless drooled over the opportunity to smack me down--again. As is your wont. As it is also Watchers wonton way. As it is also Stotty's slightly more subtle way--as he operates with a classic British reserve and decorum--much to his credit, I may say. And, of course, there is the spiritual leader of your hyper-critical cabal--that maestro of philosophic mayhem and unorthodoxy...you know to whom I refer I suspect...yes...it is non-other than the arch McEnroe-phile, Nastase-phile, Montano--phile and Manson-phile (that's Bruce Manson of USC fame, by the way, the lesser known of the brothers Manson) who lives to be different, contrary, and iconoclastic as budge travels his "Road Less Travelled" which leads to God only knows where.

I know none of you foreign born, Central American gentlemen knows anything about American politics and never watch Fox news--the high cannon of political science. If you did you would be familiar with the "Bridge To Nowhere." There is a theory being bandied about that budge's road actually connects inexorably to this very bridge.

And the maven of wood has turned you all against me!!budge loves his wood racquets every bit as much as the Pople loves his morning wood. Only Phil likes me and reads my posts. The rest of you are known to delete my posts--but only after you have savaged me again and again with vicious key stroke after vicious keystroke.

I now sense that you are also trying to turn that former high school middle line-backer turned tennis coach Kyle L.C. against me as well. You know Kyle. The French guy who says he co-starred in Driving Vic Braden but can't even give us one witty, entertaining anecdote of his tenure because--apparently--everything my best friend, mentor, secret pen pal, and confidante--VB--said must have gone zooming over his young head at about three hundred miles per hour! But Kyle, forget the movie and buy the book. Books actually. Many of them. Borrow them from budge because he doesn't want them; believing, of course, that they have little value--save as perhaps toilet paper.

Now back to you bottle...I am not yet finished with you. Not by a long shot. You are a contemporary master of the art of the masterful and artistic micro-aggressive arts masterfully and artistically rendered. Like that Donald Trump guy that you love to denigrate, you love to make fun of disabled persons such as myself. Just so that you can go on a week long guilt trip, I want you to know that I have been diagnosed with three neurological diseases--and there may be more coming along in the pipeline. And when they are discovered I will certainly let you know.

But that's O.K. I'm undaunted by your gratuitous assault on my nervous system, psyche, character and typing skills. But I was good in high school!

As an Emily Post acolyte I am sure that you are familiar with that old quip? She said, "Living well is the best revenge."

And when the current Republican front-runner is coronated as King of the World that will be the song that we can all sing together as we stand on the steps of the capital building together. Say Halleleujah!!

True, you are too politically correct, just like Donald Trump, you guys with your angry etiquette speeches, Emily Post if not a pursed mouth Miss Manners in drag.

[JeffMac]

budge...Your Strange and Winding Road...

...yes budge, you may have taken some "Road Less Traveled." As that is such a noble thing in and of itself? lol I can just imagine you saying those three words with piety and breathless reverence. Oh...you're so delightfully naïve; and patently idealistic in some fantasy land that your road has led you to...

...But back to the exact nature of this proverbial "road" that you worship so ardently. Has it value? Well...maybe so, and maybe not so much my good friend and colleague in epistemological undertakings.

Take for example this Uber driver guy in Kalamazoo Michigan that just shot a sh*t load of innocent sheep over the weekend just for kicks, I suppose...I think it's fair to say that he has also taken a fairly infrequently traveled road. Quite different than yours, of course, but the same insofar as it is highly idiosyncratic.

What does that say about "roads less travelled" per se?

A question: Is the Uber guy also one of those misunderstood and unappreciated "bad guys" that you love to exonerate, and venerate, and celebrate? Like McEnroe, Nastase and Tony Montano? You clearly seem to like people whose roads have taken them over to the dark side--that the rest of humanity has a hard time comprehending.

Is that a fair assessment? I think so. What say you? I'm very interested in learning more about your very curious "road."..as I am a student of the social--psychological--philosophical--athletic arts. I am even seriously considering coming to Sweden to conduct a gonzo interview of one budge. I will try to make sure that it is not in the "lowest third of all gonzo interviews" ever conducted. lol When might you be available my friend?

Sorry JeffMac…you don't have that kind of power. In the MOVIE…Scarface, aka Tony Montano, is covered by a hail of automatic weapon fire from the Columbian drug cartel. This was his fate that he sealed with his karma. He wasn't set free…he got what was coming to him. The original Scarface was Al Capone don't forget. He, too was hobnobbing with the system and it was difficult to draw the line where his turf began and where the law ended. Its fixed alright. Right down to the last Manchurian Candidate. Just ask Justice Scalia. Remember that election that was decided by the Supreme Court? The separation of powers. Obama conveniently will try to name the next judge to tip the scales once again. Maybe he will name himself. What a nightmare! What a BAD movie…so many bad guys. We'd kill for a good guy…wouldn't we?

In the MOVIE starring Al Pacino…the character in the scene is merely telling the truth about how the whole thing works. He was entwined with the law, the government and the banks and a host of "bad" guys. The MOVIE was about the drug world, where again the lines of demarcation are not what they might appear to be to the casual observer. Its a strange conglomeration of government, military, police, the legal system and some bad guys. Some useful idiots out of work and too much time on their hands. With the careful science of labelling the bad guys are just that…they are bad guys, but some of the good guys are really not all that good. In fact…they are just as bad and worse. You see...Tony Montano was just a pawn. The Kings and Queens could very well have been sitting in that very same restaurant that he was imploding at…most probably they were as he suggests…hiding.

So absolutely nothing has been summed up…phooey to your 99%…you've been watching too many polls. But I know you liked that line about playing psychologist or was it psychiatrist. Talk about a flawed world…let's talk about the world of mental health. But he doesn't have the time he laments…not to mention the qualification. If I am existing in the 1% that you imply…that's ok with me.

During this pleasant exchange that you and I have been having I finished three books that have given me an immense sense of "self-help". They were a couple of novels by Somerset Maughm and one by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. "The Razor's Edge" and "Of Human Bondage", along with "The Adolescent". Reading these great works of literature gives me some clarity about the human beast, condition and the nature of it. It isn't always that simple to say this is the good guy and this is the bad guy. Well it isn't simple if you aren't really truly simple. I guess the simpler you are the simpler it is. 99% don't have such a hard time…they just nod and go along with the status quo and head for the edge of the cliff with the rest of the herd.

The world is a dangerous place JeffMac. Its a very dangerous place and its not because the likes of me are in charge…its because far too many people take the same road that you and The Church Lady do. A man sees what he wants to see and disregards the rest. Some people that I converse with have suggested that I should be in politics. I would have the real bad guys and traitors locked up…or better. But I treasure my life and my love of life. Its true…I have taken the road less traveled. But that's ok…and please do remember…I am only the messenger. Regarding my moral compass…I would have to say that is between the Lord and myself. Just like it is with you…and The Church Lady.

But anyways…back to John McEnroe.

[bottle]

Both he-- Vic Braden and his scrawny brother, the head of a Washington, D.C. agency-- seemed to know a lot about psychology, and Vic about the psychology of learning.

[don_budge]

Vic Braden speaks...

"Both of these guys are pretty volatile guys and they put their heart and soul into everything…it's the little things that go wrong that effect them more than normal people.

But you gotta learn how to manage anger…the prisons are full of people who cannot."

At 36.00 in the video…it is a bizarre match between the two American psychopaths. Vic Braden makes the above comment. As it turns out…if you follow the match just a bit longer…a spectator got involved somehow with the players and somehow that provoked the controversy. He was escorted from the scene by police officers.

It was little things that bothered them that got blown up out of proportion. But look here…its the 1980 U. S. Open semifinal between the same two players. Plenty of attitude but over five sets minimal controversy. Both playing with standard sized racquets still.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcDF08fg21A

[gzhpcu]

Unfortunately was never lucky enough to personally meet Vic, so you are lucky Kyle. He came off in his videos as a very positive motivator and nice guy.

[klacr]

Kyle-- To try to do what I preach and return if only for a moment this thread to its start, I prefer your own encounter with Vic Braden to that in the article as I do my own and that of Harry Constant in Grosse Pointe, who played for Hillsboro College against Kalamazoo when Vic was there (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFv_PoZ2iP0).

It was a wild and crazy trip. Never learned so much about so much in that span of time I was driving him. Agree or disagree with his thoughts and explanations, he gave his life to tennis and helped people discover their love for the sport.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Whisper…whisper. Psst…its Vic Braden commentatoe

I hear the whispers. Don't think that I am deaf…and dumb. Not for a moment. Old-fashioned? Not a bit. Discerning? Yes…admittedly so.

So here you go. Those that cannot phantom how John McEnroe figures in on a thread that is titled…"Pathological Losers: My Vic Braden Interview". You see it's all a matter of connecting the dots. It's not hijacking. If I can solve the reason or reasons for the "dysfunction" of John McEnroe's perceived dysfunction then I hold the key to coaching and teaching tennis to lesser dysfunctional students…if indeed this is the case. Catch my drift? No? Of course not. It's my own little "Private Idaho"…it's don_quixotic. The voice in the wilderness.

So I was watching the semifinal of the 1980 U. S. Open with John McEnroe defeating Jimmy Connors in five excellent sets of classic tennis. Two lefties. One a one handed backhand and the other two handed. Two completely different styles. Two guys with obvious attitudes…but different to the nth degree. Two guys who absolutely hated to lose. Two guys who really deep down inside don't like each other. More on that match later.

But lo and behold…this match came up next on youtube…it's McEnroe and Connors when they are all "grown up". McEnroe is 39 and Connors is 46. Grown up being a relative term. One fine poster referred to a video hit piece of McEnroe when he had "mellowed". Why the hell should anyone mellow? Connors said he is going to make old man time work for it. That he did. You can ride off into the sunset on the pony of your choice. There's the Marlon Brando steed that just gave it all back…growing fatter by the day and farting in front of Larry King during an interview. Who am I to judge? It was Marlon Brando for gosh sake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vAZkTLOkKs

But perhaps you wonder about my reference to staying on thread…did I mention that? Maybe I didn't. But the three little dots take you where they take you. People don't think in straight lines. At least I don't. I suppose there is evidence here that some actually do. But since I do not it is difficult for me to understand how some do. Ok…some do. I get it. Am I so impossible to get? No…not at all. It just took a while to get to know me.

This match has none other than good old jolly Vic Braden. This was a great find and hopefully it will make good old JeffMac feel a bit more at ease. He took quite a lot of verbiage and logic which sort of upset his applecart of "Gonzo" think. It won't hold up…over time. At first it is funny…or at the most a bit funny. But in the end if you want to support your belief you have "got to be serious" which is of course one of John McEnroe first rules of thumb. Nonsense won't cut it.

Watch and listen to the older boys playing a game that seemingly doesn't matter to anybody on the face of the planet yet here they are straining and grunting for every ball on every point. Arguing over line calls. But don't get upset…it's only part of the schtick. Show business.

McEnroe and Connors? They are just guys who happen to have played tennis at the very highest level of the game. Here they are exposing themselves in their decline…unashamedly. They have nothing to be embarrassed about…nothing to hide. Like some others. Like all of us…Pathetic Losers.

[bottle]

Traverse City, The Cherry Festival.
Petoskey and Charlevoix. All Gorgeous places.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Kyle-- To try to do what I preach and return if only for a moment this thread to its start, I prefer your own encounter with Vic Braden to that in the article as I do my own and that of Harry Constant in Grosse Pointe, who played for Hillsboro College against Kalamazoo when Vic was there (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFv_PoZ2iP0).

[klacr]

But I thought you knew! Actually I have three…all of them nurses. Or rather formerly nurses. My eldest…and favorite…has spent a lot of time in mental health. When I was home over Christmas she took me to an absolutely amazing, incredible former asylum for the insane. It was being converted to condos, restaurants and shops. This is in Traverse City, Michigan…a gorgeous spot on earth.

Traverse City, The Cherry Festival.
Petoskey and Charlevoix. All Gorgeous places.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

The Sisters…The Insane Asylum

I didn't know you have a sister. What is she like?

But I thought you knew! Actually I have three…all of them nurses. Or rather formerly nurses. My eldest…and favorite…has spent a lot of time in mental health. When I was home over Christmas she took me to an absolutely amazing, incredible former asylum for the insane. It was being converted to condos, restaurants and shops. This is in Traverse City, Michigan…a gorgeous spot on earth.

But when we went to the former asylum we met this rather strange individual. It was Christmas Eve and my sister, her husband who teaches cello at Interlochen, and I met this fellow who insisted that he was there to meet with his yoga instructor. He then proceeded to offer to show us around the place and act as a tour guide. As we meandered around this guys presence became a bit spooky. He was carrying a backpack and wearing camouflage.

We came to a room that was locked. The place reminded me eerily of that hotel in "The Shining". I looked through the crack of the doors and had this very strange sensation…I can't describe it. My whole trip back to the States had been one of deja vu, past life reincarnation, jet lag and culture shock. But what I said as I looked through the crack in the doorway is…"I would desperately like to paint this room from the vantage point of this crack." The strange fellow made some kind of remark as if he had done such a painting. It struck me as highly unusual…as he left us he said, "see you around". My sister said that it might not be altogether impossible that ghosts still inhabit the place. This particular meeting left an indelible impression on my psyche. What the hell was that character doing there on Christmas Eve. We were there purchasing a gift certificate at a restaurant for my sister's husband's daughter.

But the other sister that I was referring to in the post where she taped that day at the 1984 U. S. Open is another story altogether. You can well suspect that in our family nothing is "business as usual". She's left-handed, piercing blue eyes and temperamental. She was a stunning looker when she was young and still is for her age. She likes John McEnroe. She was married to a real character…who's name is John.

PS…love the McEnroe story at Wembly Stotty!

[bottle]

My sister taped "Super Saturday" at the U. S. Open in 1984 and gave it to me as a Christmas gift.

I didn't know you have a sister. What is she like?