December 8, 2020

"Although golf — the game of choice of most presidents, especially Donald Trump — is obviously the great signifier of wealthy indolence, tennis is not far behind."

"Until comparatively recently, and sometimes still today, it has been among the whitest of sports, a game of country clubs with restrictive admissions policies. And, weirdly enough, this is not the first time it has caused a presidential public-relations headache. In 1978, James Fallows — then a White House aide, now a longtime Atlantic contributor — described Jimmy Carter’s poor management skills with an anecdote about the president’s signing off on every appointment booked at the White House tennis court. (Carter denied it on-camera, but there’s a paper trail.) It became a memorable encapsulation of Carter’s flawed presidency: focused on trivia while the big sweeping visions and crises over the Middle East and the economy went unaddressed."



I see the pavilion was privately funded, but there's a pandemic, so it's supposed to be an outrage. That is, there's a pandemic, and Trump is President. If the pavilion went up during the Biden presidency, the stories would be about Joe's impressive physical fitness that inspires us all to keep in shape, which is so especially important in Covid times. And if Obama were President, the pavilion would inspire people of all colors to take up the ancient sport, heretofore associated with white people. But it's Trump, so it's reprehensible — unempathetic and... racist, because who can think of any black tennis players

How ancient is tennis anyway? There was something like tennis in the 12th century and the use of a racket and playing within lines evolves by the 15th century.
The word tennis came into use in English in the mid-14th century from Old French, via the Anglo-Norman term Tenez, which can be translated as "hold!", "receive!" or "take!", a call from the server to his opponent indicating that he is about to serve. 
The first known appearance of the word in English literature is by poet John Gower in his poem titled 'In Praise of Peace' dedicated to King Henry IV and composed in 1400; "Of the tenetz to winne or lese a chase, Mai no lif wite er that the bal be ronne". (Whether a chase is won or lost at tennis, Nobody can know until the ball is run)....
 In The Second Shepherds' Play (c. 1500) shepherds gave three gifts, including a tennis ball, to the newborn Christ. Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's round table, plays tennis against a group of 17 giants in The Turke and Gowin (c. 1500).... 

105 comments:

Quayle said...

The passions fed by pride - by seeing everything in the world as a competition between you and others - drives strange behavior indeed. Pride is a drug that can’t be easily laid aside. To a prideful person, every activity of the day is motivated by that struggle to ascend above others, and all principal and balance gets sacrificed - gets thrown into the battle. Lot of that on display these days.

FunkyPhD said...

More famously, in Shakespeare’s Henry V, the French Dauphin’s insulting gift of tennis balls to King Henry serves as partial pretext for his invasion of France. “When we have match’d our rackets to these balls,/We will, in France, by God’s grace, play a set/Shall strike his father’s crown into the hazard.” I,ii,267-269

mezzrow said...

I seem to have a memory of a Black tennis player, a heroic and stoic one at that, but I suppose all that has dissolved into Ashe.

I say he was too good to be forgotten like this. The memory hole has many uses. It's a multitasker.

rehajm said...

Pickleball is now the thing. Biden could convert the new court to pickleball and all would whee at how with it he is...

Phil 314 said...

As many have said already, I’m all out of GAS (“Give a shit”)

Bob Boyd said...

Why not a breakdancing pavilion?

stevew said...

Isn't it amusing that presidents are expected to have a game of choice, a religion, and a pet. Trump has been golfing for a very long time. He didn't make a big deal out of his religion (if he has one) by conspicuously attending services during his term. And he doesn't have a pet(s). Thus, he plays an old white man's game (racist!) and isn't a real president. Meanwhile, Melania, the most beautiful first lady ever, and among the most well educated, must be ignored and hated.

Oh the contortions they put themselves through to express their hate. Will it end when he leaves office? The Biden boot licking and bum kissing is well underway. When do we get pics of shirtless Joe at the beach?

rehajm said...

...the especially Donald Trump is a nice touch. Obama played more in office but he swings like a girl forced to play in gym class. He sank one putt on camera and was Tiger Woods to the media...

Despite the on demeanor Trump is a decent player- very good for his age.

320Busdriver said...

He lives in their heads rent free.

And will continue to do so until the day he dies.

It’s a special power.

mockturtle said...

'...especially Donald Trump...'

Because history just began last week.

320Busdriver said...

Do you remember the pic of Obama on the bicycle?

You’d swear it was Urkel. Hard to believe slojo can still ride.

Temujin said...

Yes, can you imagine the swooning if it had been Michelle standing in front of the new Tennis Pavilion instead of standing in front of her home on Martha's Vineyard, or her home in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington DC, or in front of their new Estate being built (with a special environmental pass) in Hawaii?

Balfegor said...

Is Tennis really a "rich person" sport? Unlike golf, which requires a large plot of land for the course, often attached to a club with high membership dues, tennis courts are literally everywhere, on practically every suburban high school across the country. There's free tennis courts in the public park about a five minute walk from where I am sitting right now. Maybe it seems posh if you're imagining Edwardian period dramas of young toffs playing lawn tennis, attended by differently dressed servants with tiny rooms in huge houses, but in the postwar period tennis seems pretty democratic to me.

The real other "rich person" sports are polo, rowing, and maybe squash, just because squash seems like such a stereotypical investment banker kind of sport.

mockturtle said...

Polo for sure.

William said...

I always thought curling was the whitest of all possible sports... All the major sports are from people of Anglo-Saxon or Scottish heritage. They're good at inventing games and rules.....I looked up basketball. It was invented at a particular time and place by a Canadian of Scottish ancestry in Kansas. You can't get whiter than that....It breaks my heart to see African Americans struggling to master a game that is so distant from their background and culture.

steve uhr said...

I hear Biden plans on using it as a crackhouse for DC residents. Part of his destroy the country strategy.

Political Junkie said...

Thank you for your analysis on this one, AA.I agree completely.
While there are many elements of Trump's presidential behavior I have not liked, I have always thought that if he was a D the media would talk about our "loveable, crazy, Uncle Trump".

rehajm said...

...fencing, sailing, skeet...

Lucille Ballers said...

Hard to argue that the timing isnt a bit insensitive. Can you imagine if Hillary played golf while 2300 Americans died each day?

Howard said...

Tennis and golf are both very middle class sports nowadays. It would be nice to see Trump in a posh tennis outfit huffing and puffing in an attempt to chase balls lugging his lard bucket over the court.

Comedy Gold.

Jeff Brokaw said...

All I hear is “Trump did something and so it’s necessarily bad and here’s why, blah blah blah”.

This is ankle-biter reporting that will disappear on Inauguration Day for the guy who stole the election ... but hey, tennis, that shit is bad news ...

Sebastian said...

"the stories would be about Joe's impressive physical fitness that inspires us all to keep in shape"

Or about how he broke his wrist when he slammed his racket in a rare display of anger at a rare missed shot.

wendybar said...

Lucille Ballers said...
Hard to argue that the timing isnt a bit insensitive. Can you imagine if Hillary played golf while 2300 Americans died each day?

12/8/20, 7:48 AM Or if Trump played golf RIGHT after announcing James Foley got his head cut off by that JV team ISIS??

Darrell said...

Arthur Ashe--Black tennis player.
And--no--I didn't have to look it up.

traditionalguy said...

Tennis is a sport. Golf is a social skill.

Rob C said...

About the timing:

Planning for the project began in early 2018, followed by approval in June 2019 by the commission of fine arts and the national capital planning commission. Construction was in partnership with the trust for the National Mall and the National Park Service.

Trump helped break ground for the project in October 2019

Seems like this was a little while in the making. Should they have simply stopped the project half-way through? Yeah, yeah Orange Man Woman's Bad

rcocean said...

The NYT criticizes EVERYTHING Trump does. 100-1 If Biden puts in a squash court or an expensive swimming pool that will be a good thing.

The only interesting thing about tennis is how boring the Pro Game has become. 4 men have dominated the majors for the last ten years, none of them American. As for the woman, its just a bunch of hulk-hogans powering the ball over the net. On the plus side, the amount shrieking and grunting has declined.

mockturtle said...

Long before Ashe there was Althea Gibson.

Tom Porter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Big Mike said...

I seem to have a memory of a Black tennis player, a heroic and stoic one at that, but I suppose all that has dissolved into Ashe.

@mezzrow, I think I know the guy you have in mind. They erected a statue of him in Richmond, Virginia, of all places. Unless, of course, it’s been torn down for promoting white supremacy or something.

Sally327 said...

Will Smith is coming out with a movie "King Richard", which is about Serena and Venus Williams' Dad, Richard Williams. He's a fascinating guy, Richard Williams, that is, not Will Smith although he might be as well.

It's interesting, we've heard so little about Melania during this presidency, a few things here and there, I think she had some program called "Be Best", which I don't even know what it was for. Certainly she's had a much lower profile than most First Ladies and now we know why. She was busy "destroying" the Rose Garden and building a tennis pavilion. Well, the new First Lady can spend her time putting it all back the way it was. When she isn't otherwise busy providing joy and inspiration to us all. Just by being Dr. Jill.

pacwest said...

Public courts everywhere. The Williams sisters. Some things are racist. Some things are elitist. Some things are not.

Howard, some things, such as Trump in tennis shorts, are too disturbing to think about, but I'll give you 2/1 Trump beats Obama in a set. The guy's pretty athletic for an overweight 75 year old. Obama trying to show an athletic side of himself was the real pathos.

GeoffNewbury said...

"If Hilary played golf while 2300Americans died each day"
I'd like to see Hilary *walk* that far!
And the average daily death rate in 2017 was 7708 per day (CDC). There are no 'excess' deaths from Covid at present.

Enlighten-NewJersey said...

Apparently, Venus and Serena Williams have slipped the mind. Serena Williams is only the best female U.S. tennis player of all time and with her sister the greatest doubles player. She's been the greatest or one of the top woman tennis players in the world since 1995 to the present, if not of all time.

Howard said...

Obama did look dorky throwing out the first pitch, I'll give you that.

Big Mike said...

Golf is an easy sport. You randomly pick a long stick with a hunk of wood or metal on the end out of a heavy leather bag. You swing the stick at a defenseless little white ball on the ground. You look up and yell “Aw, shit!” Repeat a hundred times or so. Easy peasy.

Leland said...

If a Democrat had built the court; the media would have paid the Williams sisters to be there for the unveiling and explained how tennis crosses all races and social levels as they watched the women play on the courts.

Meade said...

“Why not a breakdancing pavilion?”

Lol x2

Jeff Weimer said...

@temujin:

They tore down the original "Robin Masters estate" from Magnum:PI to build this, too.

JAORE said...

"...basketball. It was invented at a particular time and place by a Canadian of Scottish ancestry in Kansas."

The place was a YMCA in Massachusetts.

Doctor Naismith did become the first basketball coach at the University of Kansas.

Humperdink said...

Pickleball is where it's at, fastest growing sport in the US. You can get 2 pickleball courts (44'x 20') on each tennis court. Played in two divisions in a pickleball tournament this past weekend.

You can also get 2 badminton courts on a tennis court, but who plays badminton?

Howard said...

Springfield, MA where the NBA HOF is located. Peach baskets. It took some time to figure out to cut the bottom out to avoid climbing up a ladder to retrieve a made basket.

Jokah Macpherson said...

Weird fact: Calvin Coolidge’s son died of an infection from an injury sustained on the White House tennis court. So presidential tennis is dangerous!

Browndog said...

Quayle said...

The passions fed by pride - by seeing everything in the world as a competition between you and others - drives strange behavior indeed. Pride is a drug that can’t be easily laid aside. To a prideful person, every activity of the day is motivated by that struggle to ascend above others, and all principal and balance gets sacrificed - gets thrown into the battle. Lot of that on display these days.


You've identified a problem. Surely you've thought long and hard on viable solutions.

Don't leave us hanging....

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Teddy Roosevelt had a rifle range on the White House grounds. Maybe it's time to put one in again!

Howard said...

Humperdinck: thanks. Pickleball look perfect for the grand kids.

Michael K said...

Balfegor said... [hush]​[hide comment]
Is Tennis really a "rich person" sport? Unlike golf, which requires a large plot of land for the course, often attached to a club with high membership dues, tennis courts are literally everywhere, on practically every suburban high school across the country.


I guess you don't know how many public golf courses there are. In Chicago, when I lived there in the 50s, there were about 176 public courses. Back when it was still safe for a white teen to be on the South Side, most of the guys I played with at Jackson Park course were black. Golf is very popular with black players, perhaps more than tennis.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

The real other "rich person" sports are polo, rowing, and maybe squash, just because squash seems like such a stereotypical investment banker kind of sport.

Is rowing even a sport? I can't think of anywhere it's regularly done except a few elite universities.

Wilbur said...

ASHE is a frequent crossword puzzle answer, so he'll remain in our memories for the foreseeable future.

I've seen Obama play basketball - he couldn't have made my small high school's JV or freshman team. He would've been picked close to last in PE class.

Was it here or elsewhere that I read he was a member of the team that won a high school championship in Hawaii? Truly a coffee spit-out moment.

MacMacConnell said...

There are 105 tennis courts in the Kansas City parks system, most parks in Kansas City are in the inner city. Almost all KC high schools have tennis courts.

The Williams girls learned to hone there tennis skills on public courts coached by their father.

Every club I have ever played at golf or tennis has youth outreach where kids play free or are sponsored.

All sports have a cultural or exposure component. I hunt because my family hunts, many of my friends who never hunted before hunt because I turned them on to it. The same with golf and tennis. I golf because my father was a scratch golfer. My father learned to play golf in occupation Japan after the war, he grew up dirt poor. FYI, you could get a caddy for two American cigarettes. I play tennis because I got a part time job at a tennis club in college.

I rode a bull twice at a rodeo on a bet, but not for long.

Polo? Tried it once, it's harder than it looks. If you ever have the opportunity to see a high goal ranked players play do it. It's exciting and more violent than you think, take a camera. It's definitely a rich man's game. Although almost all Army bases had polo teams prior to WWII.

Wilbur said...

I'd like to see the ignoramus who wrote this mierda for the NY Mag to tell Gary Player that golf is the signifier of wealthy indolence.

Dust Bunny Queen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dust Bunny Queen said...

rejam ..fencing, sailing, skeet....

Skeet is just a fancy way of what we Deplorables call moving target practice. Also Trap Shooting and Sporting Clays. Try it..they are FUN. Don't have to be rich...all you need is a gun and something to throw in the air. Beer cans even..but drink the beer first.

Cross over from the Olympics post...my favorite Winter Olympic event is the Biathlon. Cross country skiing and shooting.

Finland should excel in that. They were lethal during WWII with their Ski and Sniper troops. Ski Warfare

Look up the Finnish Soldier known to the Russians as The White Death

Jaylat said...

The first person in recorded history known to play tennis was King Louis X of France, known as Louis the Quarrelsome. King Louis died in 1316 “after a particularly exhausting game of tennis,” making him also the first person in recorded history to have died from playing the game.

Bob Smith said...

Slowly, slowly, slowly the US is devolving into makers and takers. We better hope we can have more makers but the issue is in real doubt.

tcrosse said...

Is rowing even a sport? I can't think of anywhere it's regularly done except a few elite universities.

Elite universities like the University of Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota, i.e. ones that are situated on suitable bodies of water.

mockturtle said...

The University of Washington has had the best women's rowing team for years.

Drago said...

steve uhr: "I hear Biden plans on using it as a crackhouse for DC residents. Part of his destroy the country strategy."

Nonsense.

Biden wont be allowed to completely destroy the nation because the ChiComs will want something of value to control here to ensure an adequate ROI for their buying of Biden, most of DC, the media, academia, their Big Tech allies, even the NBA.

The ChiComs play the long game and now they've got their team in leadership positions across the US.

The dems arent even in the White House yet....well, sone of them have been for 4 years, and the ChiComs are already confident enough to openly threaten Australia and other Asia/Pacific nations because the plan has always been the ChiComs get to dominate Asia/Pac as a sphere of influence while Iran is handed nukes and control of the Middle East with a diminished Israel and Arab State leaders deposed.

Thats why we now see Israel and the Arab states scrambling to further cement their alliance against an emboldened Pro-Iran Biden/EU team. They know perfectly well whats coming.

And Putin is dancing a jig because the russkis really do seem to believe the democraticals are going after fracking and oil production while completely killing off coal at the same time.

Russias energy revenues will probably increase by 35% by 2024.

Yes indeed, there is great joy in Beijing, Tehran, Brussels and Moscow these days...

....because they won.

mockturtle said...

Yeah, the media are always trying to make a class issue out of everything. While some sports are more expensive than others, none is out of the range of anyone who wants to play. Except maybe polo and I suspect that is changing, too.

mockturtle said...

I think we should bring back jousting.

Humperdink said...

Howard said: "Humperdinck: thanks. Pickleball look perfect for the grand kids."

My partner and I finished third in the men's division in Saturday's tournament. Got beat by the eventual champs, a dad and his 12 year old son. Actually got pounded. The kid will be the next Tiger Woods of pickleball. He has medaled in his last 7 tournaments. Dad said he has had a paddle in his hands since he was two.

Drago said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Drago said...

By the way, is anyone else following the Obama/Harris-ites heavy handed use of the Biden win to try and destroy Britains Brexit negotiating position?

Team Globalist cant allow a nation to walk away from "the plan" (basically a united states of Europe according to the pro-Brussels crew) and they certainly cant allow another disruptor like Trump to win anywhere in the western world again.

Look at what they are trying to do with the current leaders of Poland and Hungary.

Its a "Brave New World" already.

Cant wait for Covid lockdowns to stretch all the way to about....November....of 2022...and nationwide mail in balloting...you know, for everyone's "safety"...

But yeah, tennis courts are evil.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Who played more golf?

Obama or Trump.

John henry said...


 320Busdriver said...

Do you remember the pic of Obama on the bicycle?

Do you mean the one with flat tire and the (mostly) cropped out kiddie trailer?

John Henry

JK Brown said...

The passage below discusses the Statute of Richard II in 1388, which was a modification of the 1349 Statute of Laborers enacted in the wake of the Black Death to cap wages and inhibit labor movement due to the shortages in workers after the pandemic. The letter of recommendation is still a thing today, yet waning. Except in Silicon Valley where Apple and a few others were caught in an agreement not to accept the servants of each other for employment unless approved by the current master a few years a go.


"(1388) The Statute of Richard II restricts laborers to their hundred and makes it compulsory for them to follow the same trade as their father after the age of twelve. The wages of both industrial and agricultural laborers are again fixed — shepherds, ten shillings a year; ploughmen, seven; women laborers, six shillings, and so on. Servants are permitted to carry bows and arrows, but not swords, and they may not play tennis or foot-ball. And here is the historical origin of the important custom of exacting recommendations: servants leaving employment are required to carry a testimonial, and none are to receive servants without such letter — the original of the blacklist."
--Popular Law-making: A Study of the Origin, History, and Present Tendencies of Law-making by Statute, Frederic Jesup Stimson (1910)

John henry said...

Brown dog,

Some commenters here have said they'd like to see pdjt's son die.

So perhaps a killer tennis court would be a feature, not a bug.

Some = one

John Henry

Howard said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Howard said...

I rowed crew at UCSB. It was a student run club sport with minimal financial help from the school and rich alumnae. I got to row in old school cedar boats built by George Pocock.

Read the Boys in the Boat for the story of PNW working class kids who defeated the Nazi crew in Germany in front of Hitler. Elitist my ass.

Brian McKim and/or Traci Skene said...

NY Mag thinks one can play tennis and be "indolent."

MayBee said...

Bob Boyd- LOL x a million

MayBee said...

I think Malia Obama went off to tennis camp every summer, no?

Recently, we were supposed to "wow" at Obama make a three pointer in an enclosed high school gym on the campaign trail. And he took off his mask and yelled "That's what I do!"
And that is ssssooooo very cool, he's on the cover of a magazine (I think InStyle) this month wearing that very same jacket! And "that's what I do!" is right there on the cover.

And because it's Obama during a pandemic, nobody is talking about how he took his mask off indoors to yell.

But yeah, building an outdoor tennis Pavillion in a pandemic. So gross, right. Trump.

Roughcoat said...

I think we should bring back jousting.

It is back. There are organizations that promote and conduct jousting tournaments -- Google to find one, there's probably one near you. I've attended. Very exciting!

I think jousts are conducted at Medieval Times restaurants. Not sure about that, though.

John in Indy said...

Polo is the elitist sport, as playing requires a LOT of land, gear, training, and HORSES.
Tennis requires physical capability, and to play at a competition level, a very young start, which does take money.
All sports require work, which may affect the popularity of video games.
John in Indy

mccullough said...

The greatest golfer ever is part black and Asian.

Lee Trevino is Hispanic.

These guys weren’t country club kids.

Neither were Hogan, Nelson, Snead, and Palmer.

New York media is wealthy and white.

sadness said...

""Although golf — the game of choice of most presidents, especially Donald Trump — is obviously the great signifier of wealthy indolence, tennis is not far behind.""

The pitchforks and being sharpened and the torches are being lit.

Balfegor said...

Re: Michael K:

I guess you don't know how many public golf courses there are. In Chicago, when I lived there in the 50s, there were about 176 public courses.

I didn't, no. There are a couple public courses here in the DC area, but they're all quite a ways away. Of course, other than the private Army-Navy Country Club course, all the courses in the DC area are a ways out into the country, as far as I know, so that's not surprising. Distance seems like a barrier to me, but I suppose for people who enjoy country sports like hunting and fishing, the distance involved is comparatively trivial.

stlcdr said...

Blogger Lucille Ballers said...
Hard to argue that the timing isnt a bit insensitive. Can you imagine if Hillary played golf while 2300 Americans died each day?

12/8/20, 7:48 AM


And millions of people out of work, running up debt, and living below the bread line.

Pavilions don't build themselves. I'm sure you have stopped working because '2300 Americans are dying each day'. It would be insensitive to build that thing.

Michael K said...

The location and number of courses varies. Maybe Chicago was unusual at the time. I went to Los Angeles, to college, in 1956 and found the whole LA area had only 12 courses. Like a fool, I never thought of trying out for the USC Golf Team. They practiced most days at LA Country Club. My golf game atrophied.

It is still very popular with black men, though. I never thought of it as elitest as I never belonged to a country club and played since I was 9. I finally quit with an index of 9 at age 75.

Joe Smith said...

First, fuck liberals.

Second, idiots who write for trashy newspapers and magazines are the scum of the earth.

"Although golf — the game of choice of most presidents, especially Donald Trump — is obviously the great signifier of wealthy indolence, tennis is not far behind."

"Especially Donald Trump..."

What a bunch of drivel. I would put Trump as number three or four behind Eisenhower, Obama, and maybe Kennedy as golf aficionados.

Just because he is smart enough to own the courses that he plays on does not change that fact.

And what the hell is it with the media's hatred of Melania?

Oh, that's right, she's not black, a radical, or ugly.

Lastly, fuck liberals.

Butkus51 said...

im shocked

PM said...

Dressage fuming.

Christy said...

Mockturtle, jousting is the official sport of Maryland.

Am I correct in thinking lacrosse is an elite sport?

ALP said...

Hold on a minute! We've been told by feminists that a lot of networking and business deals take place on the golf course. Their point being that wimmens were cut out of smashing that 'glass ceiling' because most don't golf and were thus left out.

So how is an activity crucial to getting ahead 'indolent'?

Michael said...

I row a single scull on the Chattahoochee River, a skill I learned at 74. Real Tennis is the name of the ancient sport which predates lawn tennis. Played indoors on a walled court with bent racquets. There is no more elite sport in the English speaking world, nothing with more complex rules, lingo and scoring. Less than a dozen courts n the USA.

Jim at said...

Can you imagine if Hillary played golf while 2300 Americans died each day?

Approximately 8,000 American die each day whether there's a new tennis pavilion or not.

But you can't politicize those deaths, can you?

Rusty said...

"But you can't politicize those deaths, can you?"
For some reason the dead always work for democrats. They hold their SJW posturing. They vote.....etc.

Lurker21 said...

Trump is in the golf course business, but he spends less playing than other presidents: Eisenhower, Kennedy, Clinton, Obama. So that "wealthy indolence" line is a cheap shot. The typical golf-playing president is apparently a Democrat, not a rich White Republican.

It would be a nice legacy if future presidents weren't expected to have a favorite sport or a dog. I'm not sure about not having a religion.

The reason why "working class boys win crew championship" is a headline is because it's not a regular occurrence.

chuck said...

How about painting as a presidential sport? Eisenhower took it up while in office, Bush in retirement.

Lurker21 said...

Some sports are rich people sports because the equipment is so expensive. Yachting is a good example. Polo and dressage, too. Others are sports that people at elite schools play, but not necessarily out of reach to others, like squash. Still, elites play squash. Those in the next class down call it racquetball. Rugby is a rich kids' schools' sport in the US, but not in other countries. Lacrosse is what well-off kids who can't make other teams play, but not really an elite sport. Still, there are always exceptions, like football/lacrosse hall of famer Jim Brown.

Howard said...

When I was 13, my buddy and me would lug our clubs onto a municipal bus to play the Sepulveda municipal golf courses. To save money, we collected range balls and put whiteout over the red stripe.

Howard said...

Blogger Michael said...

I row a single scull on the Chattahoochee River, a skill I learned at 74.


That's a huge accomplishment at any age. I used to single skull on Lake Allatoona back in the day. Nothing like black water morning glass, dead quiet except the oars and seat.

readering said...

Looks attractive and in keeping with the White House (says a former mediocre tennis player). Since built with private funds, but government supervision, my only issue would be transparency on donations.

readering said...

In keeping with obscure temporary Olympic sports, perhaps the money should have been spent on Court Tennis.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Balfegor said...
Is Tennis really a "rich person" sport? Unlike golf, which requires a large plot of land for the course, often attached to a club with high membership dues, tennis courts are literally everywhere

Yep. All you need to practice is a wall, a ball, and a racket. The people claiming that tennis is a "rich person's sport" are morons

ALP said...

Come to think of it, one of the most frugal, penny-pinching person I know is heavily into tennis. Weath not required.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

Is rowing even a sport? I can't think of anywhere it's regularly done except a few elite universities.

The Sammamish Rowing Association has it's location at the outlet of Lake Sammamish in Redmond, WA. They practice on the Sammamish River, which is a calm river and empties into Lake Washington. The University of Washington has a good rowing team that is located about 12 miles away from Sammamish Rowing Association.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

My wife complains about all of the golf outings Trump has, but never mentioned Obama's outings. Probably because the DNC media outlets never mentioned them.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Skiing, especially cross-country. (John Kerry cutting in line saying "Do you know who I am?") Hockey is pretty white. Ice skating. Fencing. Squash. Biathlon. Lots of sports are pretty white. There are only a few that aren't, when you look at it.

ccscientist said...

Calling tennis "white" and racist is such bs. It is a sport that is almost free to play. Every park has tennis courts where you do not need to pay to play. The equipment is a racket and balls. You only need you and one other (or 3 other) people to play.

MacMacConnell said...

Technically tennis once was all white, then colored clothing was permitted. :-)

MacMacConnell said...

Dust Bunny Queen

My pledge "father" in my frat was a campion skeet shooter. The amazing thing was he did it from a wheel chair. He was older than me and had polio as a child, went on to law school.

DeepRunner said...

Ann Althouse observed:

"I see the pavilion was privately funded, but there's a pandemic, so it's supposed to be an outrage."

Here's a number for David Corn: $1.8 trillion. I'm sure his ilk in "journalism" will show the same outrage at San Fran Nan for holding off on providing aid to those who need it until Muttering Joe "won" the election. Nah, they'd rather worship the Dried-Up Ice Cream Salon Gal.

Rusty said...

readering said...
"Looks attractive and in keeping with the White House (says a former mediocre tennis player). Since built with private funds, but government supervision, my only issue would be transparency on donations."
Too bad you don't have the same standards when it comes to the democrat party. We wouldn't be in the mess we are today. Eh. Look who I'm talking to.

Readering said...

Address me about my party and get name wrong? So 2020.