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About Tiger, Beto, and Serena

Think of this single blog post as a three-part blog post about recent developments at the intersection of sports and politics.

First, golf legend Tiger Woods generated some controversy after he refused to either praise or condemn some of President Donald Trump's policies, but asked Americans to respect the office of the President of the United States:
The full exchange, with a New York Times reporter, was barely a minute long. Asked about his relationship with Trump, Woods reflected on their history playing together (including most recently last Thanksgiving weekend): "We've played golf together. We've had dinner together. I've known him pre-presidency and obviously during his presidency.”

Then Woods was asked about whether his relationship with Trump was an implicit endorsement of Trump’s policies toward immigrants and people of color? Treading cautiously, Woods said he felt compelled to respect the office. "He's the President of the United States. You have to respect the office,” he said. “No matter who is in the office, you may like, dislike personality or the politics, but we all must respect the office."
As someone who is a big fan of the sport of golf and someone who is very critical of Donald Trump, I strongly admire Tiger as an athlete, and it is very well known that Trump is strongly associated with the sport of golf, as the Trump family's company, the Trump Organization, owns a lot of golf courses (their names all bear the Trump surname). While political violence and threatening the President's life and well-being is always unacceptable and should be prosecuted to the fullest and fairest extent, when someone, whether it be Tiger or anyone else, asks people to respect the office of the presidency while its current occupant has turned the presidency into a three-ring soap opera that is a complete embarrassment to this country, asking the American people to respect the office of the presidency rings hollow. I hope that a future President, even if it is a future President who is not of the same political party affiliation as me and/or not ideologically similar to me, would restore the honor of the highest office in the executive branch of the federal government.

Second, in the U.S. Senate race in Texas, Democratic nominee Beto O'Rourke took a brave stand in defense of professional athletes kneeling during the playing of the national anthem in protest of racial inequality in America:
Beto's defense of protests during the national anthem (remember, they not protests against the national anthem) is something I view as honorable and even patriotic, although Republicans have criticized Beto, with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who is running for re-election against Beto, making a downright bizarre reference to actor Kevin Bacon in this tweet:
I will reiterate that many, but not all, professional athletes are protesting during the national anthem and against racial inequality, not protesting the national anthem or protesting against the national anthem, so Cruz's tweet contains a falsehood.

Third, the French Tennis Federation, organizers of the French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament that is held annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, banned the catsuit that tennis legend Serena Williams has worn in some tournaments, including the French Open earlier this year, since returning to tennis after nearly dying during childbirth. In a Vox piece about the French Tennis Federation's catsuit ban, Nadra Nittle noted that tennis has a very long history of players pushing the boundaries of dress codes for the sport:
The catsuit ban led to considerable backlash in the days since it was announced. Williams herself weighed in and said she was not upset by the decision.

But (French Tennis Federation president Bernard) Giuidicelli’s comments ignore the history of the game: Tennis has long been a sport where athletes’ fashion choices have been the source of conflict. Male and female players alike have toed the line when it comes to the dress codes imposed on them, and others have boycotted tournaments altogether because of the required attire. Throughout the history of professional tennis, the trends of the times have influenced player dress. This makes Serena Williams’s Wakanda-inspired catsuit no more disrespectful of the sport than what tennis stars have worn on the court for more than a century.
Unlike some other sports played on a court with a net in the middle of it, such as indoor volleyball, badminton, and table tennis, I'm not a fan of tennis. However, while a strict dress code (such as a uniform requirement for player safety and/or team identification purposes) is perfectly acceptable in most sports, a strict dress code for the sport of tennis makes no sense whatsoever, as players are competing either as individuals or in a pair of players on one side of a net at any given time, and there isn't a whole lot of player safety concerns to require that players wear any sort of safety gear.
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