PrairieVoice
Banned
On September 20, 1973, 55 year old former tennis champ Bobby Riggs faced women's tennis champion Billie Jean King in "The Battle of the Sexes" tennis match. Riggs, used to being a showoff, played up the male chauvinist pig role to the max. King, playing solid tennis, quickly became a symbol for womens rights and a hero to millions of women.
They played in the Houston Astrodome. ABC sports carried the event live with Howard Cosell as the announcer.
Riggs was a former tennis champion back in the 1940's. But over time he had switched from being a serious sportsmen to being a sort of tennis hustler. He saw the match as more of a show than anything. He hardly trained for the match, instead spending his time partying, and on game day was overweight and even worse - overconfident. King, on the other hand, took the match very seriously and trained hard. She also carefully studied films of Riggs playing and learned his strengths and weaknesses.
King won the match 6–4, 6–3, 6–3. Thousands if not millions of women saw the match and it was their inspiration to break out of the mold that male paternalism had forced upon them.
But, what if it hadn't gone that way?
Lets say Riggs, instead of spending his time before the match drinking, partying, and carrying on had took the match seriously and trained hard for King. What if he did beat Billie Jean King that day back in 1973?
How would it have affected the women's rights movement?
Note - no woman has come close to beating a male in a sporting event since. In 1992 there was another "Battle of the Sexes" match between Jimmie Connors and Maria Navitolova. Conners, playing different rules (he only got one serve and gave Navitalova the doubles lanes) and he still beat her in 2 sets. Venus Williams has played a few men in off tournament games and hasnt beaten anyone near the top of the mens category. In 2003 a top female golfer entered a mens PGA tournament and finished around 16th.
What do you all think?
They played in the Houston Astrodome. ABC sports carried the event live with Howard Cosell as the announcer.
Riggs was a former tennis champion back in the 1940's. But over time he had switched from being a serious sportsmen to being a sort of tennis hustler. He saw the match as more of a show than anything. He hardly trained for the match, instead spending his time partying, and on game day was overweight and even worse - overconfident. King, on the other hand, took the match very seriously and trained hard. She also carefully studied films of Riggs playing and learned his strengths and weaknesses.
King won the match 6–4, 6–3, 6–3. Thousands if not millions of women saw the match and it was their inspiration to break out of the mold that male paternalism had forced upon them.
But, what if it hadn't gone that way?
Lets say Riggs, instead of spending his time before the match drinking, partying, and carrying on had took the match seriously and trained hard for King. What if he did beat Billie Jean King that day back in 1973?
How would it have affected the women's rights movement?
Note - no woman has come close to beating a male in a sporting event since. In 1992 there was another "Battle of the Sexes" match between Jimmie Connors and Maria Navitolova. Conners, playing different rules (he only got one serve and gave Navitalova the doubles lanes) and he still beat her in 2 sets. Venus Williams has played a few men in off tournament games and hasnt beaten anyone near the top of the mens category. In 2003 a top female golfer entered a mens PGA tournament and finished around 16th.
What do you all think?