In my third summer spent away from Madison, the college experience can easily forgotten. Quickly, I was reminded: sitting in front of the two big screens at Brats, watching the youthful Jonathan Casillas and P.J. Hill take over Cleveland Browns Stadium, and listening to Badger fans cheer every broken tackle and jeer every botched call, the summer away from Madison exuberance swiftly becomes a distant memory.
This is an old story. I've been in Madison bars cheering on the football team for years. I've been there when Devin Harris and Clayton Hanson scorched Michigan State in overtime on the hardwood. I've even been there when A-Rod tried to bitch slap the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's glove in the 2004 American League Championship Series. But this past Thursday was a little different.
Walking into a bar that night, ordering a Blue Moon, I looked around to see everyone's eyes transfixed on the surrounding televisions. With the Badger football season still two days away, playoff baseball not even on the horizon and the Degrassi marathon in the distant past, what could possibly mesmerize an entire bar?
Across the street from the beautiful Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens, Andre Agassi was on his farewell tour at the U.S. Open and in the fifth set, tied 4-4 with Marcos Baghdatis. Now, I wouldn't call myself a huge tennis fan, a huge tennis fan would have been watching the match from the very beginning and a huge tennis fan would know who Baghdatis, the eighth seeded player in the tournament, is. But whether you're a huge tennis fan or pseudo semi-bandwagon tennis fan, it doesn't matter.
Agassi is one of the few non-major sport athletes that could transfix a bar crowd. Sure, LeBron James, Peyton Manning and Roger Clemens can do it, but how many tennis players can rivet an entire drinking establishment? Sampras didn't have the outward flair, I'm too young for Jimmy Connors and I'm pretty sure the abrasive John McEnroe wasn't an American media darling.
Agassi's soft-spoken demeanor, vastly changing hairstyles, hot wife (I don't care what you say, look through the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue with Tyra Banks on the cover. Stefi Graf is a 10) and un-Sampras-like pizazz makes him a hit.
When Badgdatis went down with an ankle injury in the fifth set, the Wisconsin crowd reverted to their section O and P mentality, shouting ""Shoot him like a horse!"" The politically incorrect headline of ""Bombs over Baghdatis"" was being prepared on tabloids nationwide and when the Cyprus native finally hit a return shot into the net, Agassi, along with the entire nation, could celebrate.
While the celebration could only last a couple days, as his farewell tour would end at the hands of Benjamin ""unrelated to Boris"" Becker, he remains one of our generation's great athletes. Though he might not compare to the level Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods are at in their respective sports, Agassi emitted that same crowd-friendly excitement.
Woods' youth, energy and background in a historically white game won over the country back in 1997. Lance Armstrong overcame cancer to take over a sport never dominated by Americans. Agassi, without a back story, without any mythical tale of emergence, captured the hearts of a country and for that night, the eyes of alcohol- drinking Madisonians.
Furthermore, my friend brought up a good question for debate: Would you rather marry Sampras' beautiful wife Bridgette Wilson-Sampras or marry Graf and be guaranteed your kid be amazing at tennis? We'll let the masses decide that one, although I'm putting money on Graf and Agassi's kid to win one or two Grand Slams.
If you think Bridgette Wilson-Sampras' performance in Billy Madison tops anything Steffi Graf ever did, contact Sam at sepepper@wisc.edu.
