BEFORE: This was a last-minute addition to the Doc Block, something to increase the total number from 43 all the way up to 50. At first it didn't look like it would fit in anywhere, at least not without tearing the whole structure down and rebuilding it, which, again, I did not want to do. But then I kept looking and I saw exactly where it could fit in - it means jumping from music to sports and then back to music, but if that's what I have to do, it's fine. And this year's Wimbledon tournament is going on RIGHT NOW, so how perfect is this scheduling? The finals will be this weekend, in addition to all the other sports stuff going on this month.
I've watched other docs about tennis stars like Arthur Ashe, McEnroe, Venus & Serena Williams, and Billie Jean King, even though it's not something I'm into. So let's knock it out. Dinah Shore carries over from "Paul Anka: His Way". Jimmy Connors too.
I thought I might be in trouble here, finding a state to profile with this one, like Martina Navritalova comes from the Czech Republic, but then I learned she lives in Miami, and Chris Evert lives in Fort Lauderdale, so that really made things easy. That means tonight's "Get to Know a State" subject is FLORIDA. I was trying to hold it for a certain rock star's concert film, but I'll work out something else.
Date admitted to the U.S.: March 3, 1845 (27th state)
Claim to fame: Just Disney World, right? I mean, what other reason would anyone have to go there? I guess for retired people it's like heaven's waiting room, only too damn hot.
Nickname: Sunshine State - oh, like the other Southern states don't get any sunshine? You don't get a monopoly on THE SUN if everyone there is against solar power for political reasons.
Prevalent language: Crazy
State Motto: In God We Trust (Yeah, that tracks)
State Flower: Orange blossom
State Reptile: (Please be a turtle, please be a turtle...) Nope, it's an alligator.
State Bird: Northern mockingbird. (again, totally tracks)
State Insect: All of them, I'm guessing.
State Mammal: Florida panther
State Fish: Florida largemouth bass (freshwater) or Atlantic sailfish (saltwater)
State Beverage: Orange juice. duh.
Notable Sports Teams: Are the Miami Dolphins still a thing? Marlins, Rays, Tampa Bay Bucs, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, and Lightning AND Panthers in the NHL? Damn, they got all the sports teams down in Florida. If you're old and enjoy watching sports, it's probably the place to be. Still too damn hot though.
Fun Fact: Florida is the only state other than Hawaii to have a tropical climate. Also every animal down there wants to kill you, starting with gators and those Florida panthers, right on down to the flamingos and manatees. Yes, I'm sticking by that. Florida experiences more lightning strikes then any other state, and if you're religious and conservative, maybe God's trying to tell you something? It's also the most hurricane-prone state, just saying. Earthquakes there are rare but I think that's very little consolation, all things considered.
I've been to Florida four times, once as a kid my family drove down there from Massachusetts to visit Disney World and Busch Gardens. We had a great time but then it was a long drive back, which we didn't really think about at the start. The other two times I was just down there to board cruise ships to the Caribbean. My wife and I were planning to go back for Disney World's 49th Anniversary in March 2021, but then COVID happened and nobody was flying anywhere for a while. I think we cashed in those tickets and took a trip to Chicago in June of that same year. But we did go back and stop there on a cruise last December, just to visit the Kennedy Space Center - which was cool. OK, so two things of value in that state. Anyway, out of nine U.S. states profiled, I've visited 7 and avoided 2.
THE PLOT: Tennis icons Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova discuss their paths to stardom, their rivalry and friendship, and how they support each other through cancer treatment.
AFTER: Honestly, I wasn't that enthralled with the tennis footage here - I know some of it was important, because it came from the Wimbledon Finals or the U.S. Open Finals, and that was kind of a big deal. But I wasn't as excited about it as I would get watching footage of a boxing match, or even a baseball game. Plus we the audience were often watching Chris & Martina watching the footage, and that was all a bit weird. What's weirder is they were rooting for themselves, but this was footage of games they played already, like rooting for themselves isn't going to change the outcome. It's fine if they enjoyed watching themselves win, but cheering for themselves seemed very strange.
The case is made here that their rivalry wasn't just the biggest one in tennis, but the biggest one in ANY sport, and it's hard to disagree. But comparing them to Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson or Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning seems weird, too, because basketball and football are team sports, and Brady and Manning were probably never on a football field at the same time, because you wouldn't have both quarterbacks out, the defensive players for one team would be on the field at any given time. I'm sure they played each other a lot, but comparing tennis and football is like apples and oranges, two very different thing. Now, boxing, that's another story, you might have to call the Ali-Frazier rivalry a tie for intensity with Evert-Navratilova. (Hmm, I know chess boxing is a combo sport, has anyone suggest tennis boxing? Like whenever both players are at the net, they can punch each other. I'll workshop it.)
They also take us through several decades of the friendship that developed over time between these two tennis players, they did play as a doubles team, however then they had to go back to playing against each other in the singles matches, and, well, one of them was unable to do both. Evert decided at one point that she couldn't both be friends with Martina and then also play against her, it kind of had to be all or nothing. But then after cutting her friend Martina out of her life she went through bouts of depression, so what does that tell you? Even your frenemy is your friend, half of the time, anyway.
There's also the question, since my Doc Block this year seems to be all about American stuff (except for a Swedish band and a few Canadians), of who is more American, among these two tennis players? Evert was born in Florida and that image of the all-American girl, pretty and straight (for a tennis player, anyway) and signing endorsement deals here and there, wearing a short skirt - while Martina seemed at times like her polar opposite, a citizen from a Communist country who defected, not as concerned about her looks, definitely giving off a different vibe, and since middle America wasn't comfortable with the whole lesbian thing yet, well she just hit different. BUT Martina liked fast cars and junk food and working out and also making money. And a whole lot of Americans are immigrants - so who was more American? Trick question, because they're both Americans. Americans are gay and straight, born here and born somewhere else, people who work out obsessively and others who don't, people who were born into money and also people who had to go and earn it.
The argument is also made here that they could be friends only because they were equally as successful - one may have one more Wimbledons, but the other then maybe won more French opens. They pushed themselves to be better and in so doing, each pushed the other one to be better. Chris Evert had three husbands over time, and Martina had a bunch of different girlfriends, that can be someone's motivation or it can be someone's downfall, only time will tell. Both tennis stars battled cancer, too, and in the end that united them once again. Doesn't matter what kind, cancer is cancer and you do whatever it takes, chemo or radiation or surgery, and you hope for an early diagnosis so you have more ways and more time to fight back. Sure, they relied on their spouses but they also stayed in contact with each other and celebrated each other's victories, and you know, that says a lot.
Evert and Navratilova faced each other in 80 matches between 1973 and 1988, and they faced each other in the final matches SIXTY times. Could you imagine if each one won thirty finals against each other, and it was some kind of endless tie? It wasn't, one beat the other 36 to 24, but I won't say who's on top, you can look it up. The endless question over who had the number 1 ranking for all that time, and it seems like it kept switching hands, but for nearly 12 years straight, it was always one of them or the other. Evert won more times on clay courts and Navratilova won more on grass, while on harder courts, they were dead even. Look, I have no idea what all this means, I'm not a tennis guy.
This is also the tricky bit about sports - if somebody beats you, are you going to HATE them, or are you going to respect them for it and use that as fuel to train harder and maybe be better next time? On the team sports, I don't know how they deal with the fact that the guy you're playing against today could be traded to the same team as you next season, or even tomorrow. So I imagine they have to maintain some emotional distance and not hate their opponents, because that just causes awkwardness and maybe trouble down the line. Tennis is an individual sport (umm, unless it's a doubles match) so I suppose then it's much more likely to get personal, which it did. It's great that Chris & Martina get along now, maybe it was a long, complicated road getting there, but it's great that they got there.
Directed by Rebecca Gitlitz
Also starring Chris Evert (last seen in "Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer"), Martina Navratilova (ditto), Mary Carillo, John Evert, Steve Flink, Zina Garrison, Sally Jenkins, Bob Kain, Billie Jean King (last seen in "Martha"), John McEnroe (last seen in "Jack and Jill"), Andy Mill, Jana Navratilova, Pam Shriver,
with archive footage of Muhammad Ali (last seen in "Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything"), Larry Bird (last seen in "Fyre"), Tom Brady (last seen in "80 for Brady"), Jimmy Connors (also carrying over from "Paul Anka: His Way"), Nora Dunn (last seen in "Drop Dead Gorgeous") Joe Frazier (last seen in "Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes"), David Hartman (last seen in "Dear Ms.: A Revolution in Print"), Peter Jennings (last seen in "Big Miracle"), Magic Johnson (last seen in "Pee-Wee as Himself"), Nancy Lieberman, John Lloyd, Peyton Manning (last seen in "You're Cordially Invited"), Harry Reasoner (last seen in "Rather"), Burt Reynolds (also last seen in "Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything")
RATING: 5 out of 10 women who have completed a Career Grand Slam.
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