P****S
发帖数: 2457 | 1 Once upon a time in Baltimore，there was a war.......ping-pong war, that is.
(By Tim Boggan):
”For the Danny Seemiller-coached U.S. team it's Barney Reed, David Zhuang,
and Mark Hazinski (in that playing order) and for the Laszlo Varga-coached
Defending Seattle Juic team it's Zoltan Varga, Fan Yi Yong, and Attila
Turbok (in that order). The U.S., being assured of $1,200 prize money for
reaching the semi's, is an underdog in this tie worth another $1200 to the
winner but probably not more, for the other finalist will certainly be
Blackwell's Chicago Killerspin, a heavy favorite to win the $6,000 top prize
. Still, the crowd, cheering for the U.S. but pretty much discounting their
chances of scoring an upset here in the semi's, looks forward to seeing how
the U.S. #1 Fan and the Hungarians will do later in the final against the
strong Killerspin opposition.
But first things first. And that was Barney Reed's opening 7-game win over
Zoltan Varga (former member of the Hungarian team who'd been coached by the
famous Zoltan Berczik). This encouraging start for the U.S. was highlighted
both by Barney's 19-17 4th-game victory to even the match, and his hands-up
triumphant thrust to the heavens at 11-9 in the 5th to...uh, Barney, your
semi's match is best 4 out of 7. In this 5th game, Barney's 9-4, 10-7 lead
had almost gone for naught after a sensational backhand by Varga but had
then been preserved with the help of a judicious Time Out from Coach
Seemiller. The final 11-8 7th game Barney also earned - and, aw shucks,
earned a kiss from his mother as well. I myself have never seen Barney,
bless him, play a better match. His "mind," as one fellow put it, "was
really into the game," and Barney himself felt he'd sharpened his focus by
recent practice with Atanda Musa and Eric Boggan.
Against Fan, however, David just couldn't get oriented - he'd either laugh
and shake his head to try and avoid embarrassment at his
uncharacteristically poor showing, or look bemused or puzzled by some of his
and Fan's shots. When in the 4th and final game he did challenge, he served
into the net both at 8-6 and at 11-all and his opportunity to rally - rally
his psyche - was lost.
Hazinski had his chances against Turbok. He won the 1st 11-9, then was at
deuce in the 2nd, but couldn't maintain the impetus. By the time Turbok, on
his way to victory in the 6th, had built up a 3-1 lead, Seemiller had
repeatedly protested the Hungarian's throw-back serves to the umpires, but
in vain. After Hazinski had taken the 5th game and was battling in the 6th,
Danny was still irritated that the umpires weren't stopping what he called
the "cyber-momentum" of Turbok's serves (Attila wasn't contacting the ball
as it came straight down but, taking the racket back, was swinging around
into the ball). "We could win this match - could win this tie," Danny had
said, his voice breaking, "if the umpires would just warn the players about
their serves. Every year it's the same problem - how hard can it be to warn
them? But it never happens. Do it just once, and they'd stop."
Zhuang and Varga both needed to recover from their earlier losses, but after
David won the 12-10 1st game, both father/coach and son/player began to
feel victimized. "David no fair play" said the father after a questionable
point, and young Varga finished the 4-0 match by deliberately smacking his
serve return into the net. The Hungarians were obviously disturbed - and,
though they'd been returning to this Team tournament for years, it wasn't
the first time they'd been upset.
So now the U.S. needed only one more win to reach the final. But would big
bucks be at stake here? I mean, was there anybody in the audience who'd bet
on Barney over Fan? Especially after he'd been destroyed 4 and 2 in the
first two games. "Who the hell's taking flash photos over there?" he'd (down
6-0) stopped play in the 1st to scream. "They've announced it a thousand
times - no flash photos!" Alan Williams heard and heeded Barney's objection
- ushered the offender out...."Chinese rubber" Barney (down 9-1) had
screamed in the 2nd - "spin it!"
Then, however, following Seemiller's advice, "Everything fast and out.
Nothing short," Reed began to find his attacking game. But up 7-4 and at 10-
all, he couldn't win the 3rd when Fan played well in the clutch. Though down
3-0 in games, Barney continued challenging in the 4th and at 8-8, as Alan
Williams was saying, "No dog in Barney," a ray of high-up light from above
illuminated...what?...something on Fan's racket - a wet spot? "You've a
bubble on your racket," Barney said, hand up, stopping play, and pointing
the umpires to the problem, "He's got a bubble on his racket." And, so
saying, he went over to his bench and put on his warm-up jacket.
Barney, I might add, knew exactly what to do, for, as he told me later, he'd
once been defaulted at an Open for having a bubble on his racket and
failing to have another racket at the ready. That, he indicated, wouldn't
happen to him again - yes, he said, he had a back-up racket. Some wondered
why Barney would point out the bubble in the first place - wasn't it more of
a disadvantage to Fan? But it seemed to me it was just instinctive, not
calculating, on Barney's part.
Play was stopped while umpire Dick Evans and scorekeeper Joe Lee, with me
peering over their shoulders, examined the racket. Since the umpire was
responsible for checking the acceptability of equipment, Dick and Joe
decided that had the bubble - described as "about the size of half the
fingernail [or, well, maybe the whole fingernail] on the little finger on
the right hand of the umpire" - been more to the periphery of the racket
they would have allowed Fan to continue playing with it, but as it was in
the middle of the racket they called in Referee Azmy Ibrahim who concurred
that change was necessary and so suspended play.
Fan was aghast - "I never hear anybody talk about a racket like this," he
fumed, striding about his side of the court. Meanwhile, seeing the time the
umpires have taken in making their decision and realizing it's a judgment
call, some in the audience are already disagreeing and are shouting, "Boo!..
.Boo!...Play!"
Referee Ibrahim now tells Fan he can reglue the same racket, but not in the
court, and so off they go - Fan with scissors, glue, and a rubber sheet.
This ruling astonishes the U.S. Team, including not only Barney, but Coach
Seemiller and President Sheri Pittman who has an ITTF Handbook in hand. The
Rules are clear:
ITTF Handbook, 2001-2002: 3.4.2.2 A racket shall not be replaced during an
individual match unless it is accidentally damaged so badly that it cannot
be used; if this happens the damaged racket shall be replaced immediately by
another which the player has brought with him to the playing area or one
which is handed to him in the playing area [handed to him because players
are not allowed to leave the court during their match].
So members of the U.S. Group are in accord that Fan, having left the court,
trying to re-glue the same racket he's been playing with, is technically "
toast."
The 2001-2002 version of the Rule does give one pause though. It's not been
immediately clear to the umpires, who were trying to put a finger on the
problem, that the racket has been "damaged so badly" that it's unplayable.
Perhaps other umpires would not have ruled so (and perhaps even these
umpires, had they known the brouhaha that was to follow, would have thought
that, considering there was the possibility of only a minute or two's play
left in the tie, the racket might be deemed at least momentarily playable).
Rule "2.4.7: Slight deviations from continuity of surface or uniformity of
color due to accidental damage or wear may be allowed provided that they do
not significantly change the characteristics of the surface."
One tries to recreate what's just happened there on court. Did the Referee
ask, as he says he did - what, with his years of experience, one would think
would be the first question out of his mouth - if Fan had a substitute
racket? It's hard to believe that Fan, if this question were asked, didn't
understand it, or, with his years of experience, didn't even anticipate it -
though he was upset. His answer, as both he and Azmy agree, was No, he didn
't have a substitute racket. (Perhaps Fan was under the misleading
impression that a player had to have an identical racket - a thought that
was being bandied about by people who might have been misinformed by an
erroneous passage in a past article or two by Ibrahim in the USATT magazine.
) No had to be the answer, for if Fan's answer to this question was "Yes, I
do have a back-up racket," the Referee surely wouldn't have made the mistake
of taking him out of the court.
Later, not someone named Henry James but an anonymous "Golden Bowl" writer,
addressing an e-mail message to the USATT in general entitled "U guys suck,"
had it right when he (she) said that the officials should have made sure
Fan understood his options. As it was, Alan Williams at the mike was
initially told that an official Time Out had been called for Fan to repair
his equipment.
Was taking Fan out in itself illegal? Rule 3.3.1.2.7 says that the Referee
shall be responsible for "deciding whether players may leave the playing
area during a match" [which by inference suggests that a player can't leave
the playing area without permission of the Referee]." But of course in this
case the Referee can't say, "Well, I accompanied this player to make sure he
got another racket - for all agree Fan didn't get another racket.
Actually the Referee would later say, quite shakily, something to the effect
that it was customary in international tournaments to give players a chance
to correct a problem - that he'd "extended a courtesy to him [Fan] to
change that sheet of rubber ONLY" - which, from some people's point of view,
may have been o.k. But from one of the professionals on the Killerspin team
it obviously wasn't o.k., for he said that even if he were told by an
official that he could leave the court, he wouldn't. Clearly it was against
the Rules.
When Fan came back and intended to play with a freshly glued racket, well,
understandably, that wasn't gonna be the least bit o.k. with his U.S.
opponents. Some or all of them may have felt a little guilty about it, but
they wanted a default - and got it. The message conveyed by the umpire to
Alan Williams at the mike was that Fan was defaulted for "improper procedure
in repairing his equipment." Of course this reason, this wording, was ill-
chosen, for there was no proper procedure for repairing his racket - he had
to have another one. And if ignorance of the law is no excuse, one would
have to censure both Fan and Azmy
This, however, was surely only part of the reason for the default, for on
being told he could not begin to play with that re-covered racket Fan went
to his bag that had remained in the court from the beginning and, with the
Referee and Seemiller looking on, said o.k., he'd play with this racket from
his bag, one that had earlier been given him by his teammate Varga and that
he didn't really want to play with. Perhaps he could thus say, in defense
of what Azmy considered an outright lie, "He didn't have an extra racket -
that one in the bag wasn't technically his. But with Seemiller standing
there asking, What gives?, the Referee, perhaps somewhat confused and
intimidated, and not knowing what else to do but that he had to act (when
consultation might have been helpful) took a hard-line position.
He would later explain he was disgusted with Fan:
"[He] deliberately delayed the game for no reason, because he has another
racket all this time, he was not concerned about the feeling of his opponent
, the umpires, the audience, the tournament, or the sport. He did not leave
me any other alternative but to disqualify him."
Really?
Because-oh, wow! - it was clear from the audience reaction that ITTF or no
ITTF tournament, formal Rules or no formal Rules, an alternative should have
been found. The letter of the law might have been served, but, boy, the
spirit of the law sure wasn't - not from the deafening roar that went up.
For - I've never seen anything like it - on hearing of Fan's
disqualification and the U.S.-urged win, there was a spontaneous eruption of
"BOOOOO! BOOOOO! CHEATERS! CHEATERS! BOOOO! BOOOO! BOOOO!"
A U.S. audience was railing against the U.S. Team and its supporters -
something unheard of, an historical oddity, one that swept not honor but a
wave of shame over the "winners."
The younger Varga hurled a can of soda bleacherwards, and the chunky
Hungarian Turbok picked up a barrier and threw it into another court, then
stalked off, giving the finger to the U.S. bench. "BOOOOO! BOOOOO! BOOOOO!..
.You thought it would never stop. Fan, opportunistically, grabbed the mike
from Williams, swore he'd been suckered and stated, "I never, never come
here again." The crowd applauded his independence, his heroism.
Danny Seemiller tried to address the crowd, tried to say how unfortunate the
situation was - but...BOOOO! BOOOO! LOSER! LOSER! LOSER! BOO! BOO! BOO!...
they wouldn't let him speak.
"You have to get the Referee up here to explain," Danny says. "You want to
get him lynched?" replies Alan." The Referee, however, knows what's good for
him - he's already left the building. President Pittman - who'll later
write a letter of apology to the Hungarian Association - takes some of the
brunt. Alan tries to restore calm, "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is not Jerry
Springer..." but gives it up - plays music from the movie "The Natural."
There's a happy ending to light up the final scoreboard?
Player-spectators, contrary to what some have predicted, do not leave as the
final comes on. Perhaps some stay only to BOOOO! BOOOO! BOOOOO! the badly
beaten U.S. Team - though Karakasevic did add some levity when, hands down
there at the table he exaggeratedly pressed his weight onto his newly glued
racket. That drew bubbling laughter.
It's been necessary (Cheer up, Richard, your tournament's still every bit
worth enjoying) for the dejected Tournament President to call in Special
Police...just in case the spectators might get wildly out of hand - maybe it
's the soda can thrown like a baseball that convinced him.
Says the uniformed Security Guard still on the alert next to me, "I used to
have fun playing ping-pong. I didn't think it was this intense." | s*********k
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