Bobby Bowden and George O Leary spend a minute after a hard fought game in the middle of the field talking about the competition like old friends. Pete Sampras says Marat Safin can be the greatest player in the world after running the former champion off the court in straight sets. I m not saying that overnight things are now wonderful. And Pollyanna hasn t moved in next door. But it seems some of the players are beginning to understand the tolerance level of the fans and the corporations who pay the bills.
People don t want to see temper tantrums.
They don t want to see felonious acts committed on the field and washed away as competition. They want to see effort. They want to see Todd Martin laying it all out in a five-set match at the US Open. They want to see Tiger try that 6-iron out of the fairway bunker over water going for the win. That s what people want, and for the first time in a while, they re getting a healthy dose of it.