September 12, 2021

Naomi Osaka Part 2: Don't You Know the Future's Coming?*

*This is a very inside joke for a friend. Maybe I'll give it more context someday.

I said I was going to write more about Naomi Osaka about a month ago so here it is. I'm didn't feel 100% up to writing something originally - Sunday Morning being dark this week is an excellent excuse to slack off - but sometimes, you just gotta do it to do it. One cannot always wait for the spirit to move oneself. Also, I did sort of skip the September 12 episode, and being a completionist, I am morally obligate to swing back and check that one off my list.

First a quick check in tennis in general:

The last meaningful tournament of the year finished (Indian Wells) this past weekend. I did not watch it. But I somehow managed to write a recap, which I then excised from the post due to editorial restraint.

If you really want to read it...

The only thing I actually wanted to say about Indian Wells is that I have this weird habit of checking the weather there regularly. You'd be right to ask why - Indian Wells is a desert and the daily forecast is nigh immutable. People really shouldn't, you know, live there. It was inhospitable to life long before climate change starting contributing to an ever worsening water crisis on the left coast.

So, why do I check the weather in Indian Wells? Because I love TV shows written by Aaron Sorkin and Sports Night might be my favorite of them all. Every time it rains in Indian Wells, I have to tell someone about it. I live about 2,000 miles from Indian Wells.

Regarding Naomi Osaka, my previous thesis was that Naomi Osaka, for all the Strum and Drang associated with her this past year, is not a special case. She is one of many tennis players who decided, at their peak or even prior to their peak, that they could not give themselves fully to the sport. If she chooses to step away she owes us nothing. But then where does she and where do we go from here.

Personally, I hope she returns triumphantly and at the next tournament she decides to play, she puts out  a shot for shot remake of LeBron's infamous (and amazing) "What should I do?" ad:

There are so many great things about that ad, I could do solid post just on it. But the point is that I sort of hope Naomi can embrace not living up to people's expectations.

If I were asked to describe Naomi Osaka (I hope none of the following comes across as disparaging because I'm just armchairing this whole analysis.), I would say shy, quirky, self-described child of the internet. Also one of the hardest ball strikers women's tennis has ever scene. On a hard court, with a true bounce, there's not really anyone that she can't hit off the court if she just has a B-level game going. People want to conflate the serene on court persona with real life. Those who say "If she can win a grand slam, why can't she do a press conference?" are basically saying, "I don't think social anxiety is a real thing," which is unhelpful and further stigmatizes mental health concerns. Except this year, real life bled into the on court persona for Naomi.

After the US Open she said she was taking a break, because she doesn't enjoy winning and losing hurts to much.

To which I say, welcome the world of professional sports. Rare is the person that takes equal measures joy from winning as they do pain from losing. In tennis, most weeks end with only one winner.

I think I'd throw one more word out there to describe Naomi Osaka - obligated. She feels obligated to people she doesn't even know. She felt obligated to represent Japan at the Olympics when she probably wasn't ready to return to tennis. She feels obligated to answer the press truthfully and honestly instead of demurring and only providing non answer sound bites. She reveals more of herself than she is probably comfortable with as a shy, private person. She doesn't want to be misunderstood or thought of poorly by anyone. But she's active on social media you say, how is that any different from dealing with the press. Social media is nothing but reality distortion field. Don't confuse it for reality.

It's at this point my home city got wrapped up Naomi Osaka's life. The Cincinnati Enquirer Paul Daugherty asked Naomi Osaka about her struggles in dealing with the press when she played in Cincinnati (Mason). Which, unsurprisingly, she struggled to answer. After giving a thoughtful answer, she broke down and left the press conference crying. Well, first WTA insider Courtney Ngyuen asked her about a recent earthquake in Haiti and then she left the press conference. The narrative put forth by stalwart tennis reporter Ben Rothenberg in the immediate aftermath was that a grumpy reporter screwed up Naomi's first press conference since the French Open. Ben is a treasure of tennis writer, but it was the wrong take then and now.

First, it reinforces an insular culture hostile to outsiders. If you want to take an interest in tennis, you have to play by the rules of the self appointed guardians of the sport. Second, it was the obvious question and I don't think Daugherty would have asked it if one of the "guardians" had gotten to it earlier. Third, a lot has been made about "bad tennis journalism" - that somehow Naomi Osaka would be fine of it weren't for the "bad apples", the ones that don't really follow the sport, the ones that ask redundant, unenlightening, or even insulting or inflammatory questions. I don't usually watch the press conferences and I'm sure that these jackals are out there, but someone point out the invalidity of Daugherty's question without citing some vague notion of his tone when asking it. Also, I'm going to pull the old man card and point out that Daugherty has been covering the event for local media maybe longer than Ben Rothenberg has been alive.

The subsequent tweets and statements from Osaka's agent accusing him of bullying were beyond the pale.

I'm don't fully buy Daugherty's push back that Osaka got upset because of the Haiti question and not his, although it's clear that she was affected by it as she is Haitian through the spear side of her family. I can see it being a contributing factor though. Straws and camels and all that.

The simple fact is that if I had to guess, at least 95% of the tour is not supportive of Osaka on the press conference thing. It is an obligation of a playing in a tournament. Allowing Osaka to just skip them entirely has a whole Animal Farm some people are more equal than others vibe to it. At the same time Osaka does have legitimate mental health concerns, so I'm not sure what the solution is other than her finding ways to cope with an aspect of her job she doesn't like. The wrong way to handle things, on both sides, to release a series of escalating statements without Osaka and the powers that be have an actual conversation about it.

Speaking of actual conversations, the one Osaka had with Billie Jean King, Mardy Fish, and Nick Kyrgios (saving Kyrgios's recent drama for later) was illuminating because it definitely seems like the concept of Naomi unburdening herself of some or all of her obligations has just never occurred to her. The fact that Naomi and Nick tell Billie Jean King that things are different for their generation is kind of astounding. It is different. Billie Jean King started a tour from scratch, fought for equal prize money, and got outed in era when being gay was not accepted. But that's actually probably a decent model for how Naomi Osaka snaps out of this. She's at her best when she has a cause - see the 2020 US Open for example 1A. (Not having fans and limited press interaction probably helped too...)

If you've read Andre Agassi's memoir Open (And why haven't you? It's amazing.) you're aware about his love/hate relationship with tennis. For the first half of his career he was basically driven by spite. Against his dad. Against Nick Bollettieri. Against whoever. And he burned out. And then he worked his way back up. Maybe at first to prove something to himself - that he wasn't finished. But he kept going far longer than anyone anticipated because he found something more to play for, something beyond himself - his school and foundation.

I'm hoping Naomi can find something like that. A reason to love the sport that seems to cause her pain at the this point in time. A way to love it in a way that her sister did not. (Which is fine, hopefully Mari's art career is long and fulfilling.)

Maybe it'll take a year or more away from the game. (Hopefully less...) I will find reasons to enjoy tennis even if Naomi never comes back, but count me among the many that hope for a triumphant Osaka return whenever she feels she is in a better place.

The CBS SUNDAY MORNING POWER RANKINGS

1) Martha Teichner

Martha joins a group of ornithologist who are attempting to catch and tag some birds on an island off the coast of South Carolina. The birds are whimbrel and about 20,000 of them take a break on what amounts to a sandbar as they fly from the north coast of South America to the arctic. This represents half the known population of these birds. If you've read the blog before and have noticed the recurring bird thing, I know someone who works as a marine biologist for Audubon Florida whose job it is to track bird populations in the Everglades. That's awfully specific so if you did a little online detective work and cross referenced a few things, you can probably figure out who I am.

Much like the ornithologists in the segment, he's losing his birds. Rising sea levels are taking away the small islands these birds been instinctively flocking to for generations. So finding 20,000 in one spot is a big deal. The story is teed up to make it seem like it was a surprise discovery and that the known population essentially doubled overnight. However that's not entirely true. Finding the island filled with whimbrel was a surprise, but it doesn't necessarily makes us feel better about the birds. First, we sort of already knew the numbers that were left. The astounding part was simply finding them all together on one island. And it is a precarious existence when one little sandbar represents the main real estate held by one half of an entire species.

But watching Martha attempt to catch birds in a net is worth the price of admission. Sunday Morning is free of charge you say? Oh, it has to cost more than that...

2) Rita Braver

Met a girl at a party, and I gave her my card
Man, you know that it said Napoleon Bonaparte
Peepin' out the colors, I be buggin' on Cezanne
They call me Mike D, Joe Blow, the Lover Man

- Mike D, Lay It On Me, B-Boy Bouillabaisse

Art! Here at the Power Rankings committee, we love it!

Growing up, my mom helped run this program at my grade school "Art Lady". Come to think of it, I'm not sure if this was an actual program or if she just convinced the principle to let her show and talk about Art a few times a year. Like myself, she's not a visual artist. (An English major turned math teacher.) She's more of an art reveler - appreciator is not a strong enough word. Anyway, her favorite era of art is without a doubt French Impressionism, in which Cezanne factors heavily into the later stages. I could invite her to do a French Impressionist power rankings, but then she might start reading this and things would get weird. I know her well enough to hazard what I think her list might be:

1. Vincent Van Gogh
2. Claude Monet
3. Georges Seurat
4. Edgar Degas
5. Paul Cézanne
6. Paul Gaugain
7. Georges Pissarro (I'm not sure she'd put him on this list, but this one's for me.)
   

I know that Marc Chagall is another favorite, but he's really mostly post Impressionism. Picasso too... plus he's sort of been "Me Too"-ed as an historical figure.

I'm sure she'd also want to shout out to Frank Duveneck who is probably the greatest painter to come out of the Cincinnati, although I'm not sure what other is for that title. Look up works by all these artists using Google or Wikipedia. Or if you have access to a museum where you could see an of their works, I'd encourage you to see them in person. It really is a different experience.

3) Luke Burbank, Lee Cowan, Steve Hartman, John Dickerson, Dan Barry (tie)

Yes I'm totally cheating by lumping all the 9/11 remembrances into one. But I'm really not sure how much I can write about 9/11 especially considering the amount I wrote for the September 5, 2021 episode, which also included 9/11 remembrances. Also it makes it a lot easier not to leave someone off the list. If I was going to be a monster and rank stories about a solemn remembrance of the defining national tragedy of my lifetime, they're listen in order.

Before the briefest of words on each segment, I would like to say a couple of things that were not previously covered. First, the September 5 segments focused a bit more on the pain and the tragedy of that day. So that's what I focused on when I wrote that entry. It was, perhaps, a little over the top. But you start writing and feelings come flooding and I'm inhabiting the mind of an angsty, helpless teenager once again.

The first thing is that when you focus on the pain and the tragedy to the point of wallowing in it, you forget to acknowledge the heroism of that. Not just the obvious people that lost their lives running towards the collapsing building, or the passengers of Flight 93 that fought the hijackers for control of the plane, but of also of all the goodness and kindness that flowed out of people because they saw other people hurting. Would that we could all put ourselves in that frame of mind even when there are massive disasters playing out on television. Because you don't have to look too hard to find someone who needs help. In the words of the great Mr. Fred Rogers, "Look for the helpers." It was generally with that more optimistic spirit that the stories from September 12, 2001 remembered 9/11.

The second thing is just how jarring it is to see the twin towers in shots of the New York skyline pre- 9/11. Kids born in the mid-90's and later really have no reference for it. I know a few, which means remembering 9/11 also makes me feel kind of old. They don't understand immediate internal gasp upon seeing a picture or video with the towers still there, because the first thing you notice is that they are there and you wonder if a plane is about to hit them. Maybe inappropriate to bring up, but one of my favorite episodes of The Simpsons is the "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson". The World Trade Center is practically a character in the episode. I still enjoy watching the episode, but 9/11 is always there in the back of your mind. There's no right way to come to terms with that day. I don't see why an episode of The Simpsons can't be the way I remember. I mean I wouldn't put it in the memorial, but teasing can be a sign of affection:

Luke Burbank continued his run of appearance with a story about training search and rescue dogs to find survivors at disaster sites. Some very good people and also some very good boys, and I'm not even a dog person.

Lee Cowan reported on the memorial at ground zero and how the area has changed in the last 20 years. The memorial was also the ersatz moment of nature this week, so check out the usual moment of nature slot for more thoughts.

Steve Hartman's story was about a woman who wore her wedding dress to the memorial. Her husband died in the attack after they were only married for 11 years. She's moved on and remarried and has kids, but never forgets him. I seriously struggle to find that balance. I'm bad at moving on. I should let her be my inspiration.

John Dickerson interviewed fellow newsman Chris Wallace who recently put out a book about the 10 year hunt for Osama bin Laden. Given recent events, an infuriating hypothetical is what if we hadn't let bin Laden sneak out of country in the immediate aftermath of our invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Chris Wallace gets held up as a paragon of journalism simply for not saying crazy stuff while working at Fox News. I think he's probably an alright guy, but also thinks maybe he gets a bit too much credit for clearing a low bar. Also, he seems to fall into a trap that a lot right leaning people did about Obama - assuming that he was too academic to make tough decisions. And for a certain kind of person, tough is coded language meant to mean military. On might argue this is where Obama came up short. He was against the Iraq War, but he could be seen weak elsewhere, so he double downed on Afghanistan. But he was the guy who ultimately made the call to get bin Laden after CIA finally tracked him down a decade later. Sorry, that was way more than a few words.

The final 9/11 piece was a commentary by New York Times reporter Dan Barry remembering the all encompassing dust that day. It covered everything and everyone and people used it write messages like kids in a sandbox. Some were sad, but many were hopeful.

4) Tracy Smith

True story:

In 2005, I visited Chicago on a weekend trip with a group of friends. We each sort of split up to do our own things and then met up at Chicago's House of Blues to eat before heading back Sunday night. (True story aside: I ate a whole rack of ribs while sitting next to a vegetarian and almost made her throw up. I am less proud of this now than I was at the time.)

On Saturday I went to White Sox ballgame. I think they played the A's? They ended up winning the World Series that year for which I take full credit. (I also take credit for the Red Sox winning in 2004, but that's a story for another time.) I honestly don't remember where I stayed on Saturday night. Maybe it was a hotel, but it also could have been someone's house. A few of us went to Sunday Mass the next morning where the priest may not have actually breathed in once. I think it was just one continuous exhale as he banged out a full Sunday service in one breath over the course of 25 minutes.

Next, a group splintered off to go put our names in for the ticket lottery for the Sunday matinee of Wicked at The Chicago Theater. I was the only male in a group of four or five. The lottery was held a nearby bookstore - a Barnes and Noble, I think. Anyway, we all put our names in and my name was the only one picked. So I got to see Wicked from like the tenth row with my girlfriend for like $20 a ticket. Ana Gasteyer played Elphaba. As someone who's probably not going to have seats that nice for anything that popular ever again in my life, it was maybe a top 10 life experience. It goes without saying that the show was great. Looking back on it, I guess the show was only a year or two old at that point, surprising because it feels like it's been around forever. 

I hope those in the group that didn't make it into the show don't read this. In the extremely unlikely even they would, please know there is no intent make you feel like you missed out. (But you did. Sorrry.) I'm pretty sure they hoped I would surrender mine and they would go with my girlfriend while I did other, manlier things - after all I was a dude and most of my free time was spent watching or talking about sports, specifically baseball and tennis. They probably assumed I was being dragged along to the theater to increase the odds. Little did they know I had my high school play/speech and drama club bona fides. I am down for live theater at almost any time.

I should make more of an effort to take in a show or two now that the live spaces are starting up again. It doesn't have to be Broadway to have that little bit of magic you can't get from watching something on TV.

5) Water

When it comes to NYC, I cannot claim to be anything but a tourist. And everybody hates a tourist. The last time I would have been there is Labor Day weekend 2011 to attend the US Open fourth round. (What else? Caroline Wozniacki beat Sventlana Kuznetsova in a match that was far less entertaining than this headline would have you believe.) Anyway that would been about week before the 10th anniversary of 9/11 when the memorial first opened. I don't have any specific connection to 9/11. I don't know anyone personally who directly affected by the events of that day. I'm not sure if I every make it back to New York that I'd make a point of visiting the memorial. I probably should. Much like I should go to the Holocaust Museum in D.C., which I actually unknowingly walked by earlier this Summer as I made a made dash around the National Mall in about 2 hours. The point is not to revel in the suffering, but I do think it's important to confront the bad things that happened and acknowledge those affect even if there is nothing I personally can offer. Lest history repeat itself and all that.

Anyway, this episode's closing meditation is not a moment of nature, but the white noise of the flowing water feels natural. New York is a city where I think you might never feel alone. Maybe not alone alone in the sense of loneliness - that can happen anywhere regardless of population, but in sense of carving out a space just for you and your thoughts. The sound of the water is way to capture that feeling in a busy city. You can think your thoughts about what you experience at the memorial without feeling intruded upon.

At least that's what I get from a few shots of it on TV. Like I said, I've never been.

6) Jane Pauley

No comments about Jane's outfit or the seasonality of Jane's outfit for the week of September 12. (It was a stately blue suit.) As host, Jane had to do the heavy lifting for what was essentially a split episode. The first half was the fun Arts and Entertainment half of the episode - the pink pie in the parlance of Trivial Pursuit. The second half was another half episode dedicated to remembering 9/11. Somebody has to delicately balance the two halves. Jane did it. She does it every week.

7) Ben Mankiewicz

Don't think of Ben and/or Cedric the Entertainer as taking the low rank this week. 7 is good. 7 is a lucky number. 7 is the mostly likely number to come up when rolling 2 dice - that's combinatorics. 7 is where the celebrity interview would normally fall. I can't say I'm a big Cedric the Entertainer fan, but I'm generally aware of his work. If there were a power ranking for The Original Kings of Comedy, it goes Bernie Mac (RIP), Cedric, D.L. Hughley, and Steve Harvey. In case you need more evidence of my whiteness, part of the reason I put Bernie Mac at the top of the list is because he steals every scene in which he is involved in the Ocean's 11-13 movies. I know he's done quality work elsewhere, but I love those movies warts and all. Cedric is probably the best actor of the group. If I recall, there was something of an outsider push to get him an Oscar nomination for Barbershop. I think he also could have maybe gotten some award consideration for his understated role in First Reformed, but maybe the role was not big enough for people to take notice.

Not to take take attention away from Cedric, but the fact that Ethan Hawke did not get nominated for that film is insane to me. But awards are just meaningless shiny objects, right? The lack of award consideration might just come down to the fact that it is a rough movie to get through. If you are someone that has climate change related anxiety, as I do, be forewarned that this movie is not going to make you feel any better about things.

8) Jim Axelrod

I haven't watched an episode of The Sopranos. As the progenitor of "Prestige TV", I probably should watch it if for no other reason than to have access to a cultural touchstone, but despite a promotional blitz across all late night and morning infotainment, The Many Saints of Newark is not going to be the impetus for that.

Anyway, it first aired when I was in high school. I didn't have cable much less HBO. At the time, most of the hormonal teenagers who did have HBO were only concerned with the amount of nudity involved in what HBO decided to air. I understand the show involved a strip club, but the amount of nudity was disappointing for males aged 15-18 who deigned not to judge the show based on artistic merit.