Average Joes do get angry and throw things. Especially in individual sports (as opposed to team sports) where there is more tension. When playing a sport like singles tennis, if you lose, then you have only yourself to blame. With team sports you can rationalize a loss by saying that you yourself played well, but some other person on your team played terribly. A young athlete can rationalize a loss by saying that they will keep getting better. A Senior athlete has the additional pressure that he/she will be losing skill as they age. A person in the Villages could be one of the best at say 55 years old and then just average at 60. Fortunately, in some Village sports, like softball which has 5 skill levels, a player can start out at a top level and as they age, they can end up in level 5. After that it's just card games, bowling, and golf.

Yes, mental pressure is MUCH greater in Tennis.

I'm sick of all this BS celebrating in the end zone, etc. Back in the day when I had dolphin tickets in the 70s, when someone scored a touchdown, they just threw the ball on the ground or to the ref, and there was no dancing no high-fiving no nothing. Too many Prima'Donna's ow

Yeah, if they're mental midgets. That old cliche comes to mind, "it's not brain surgery..".

not ok, none of the behaviors, because we hold them to a higher standard of sportsmanship than we do ourselves as amateurs. . . however, you pay for sports entertainment, as that is what sports are, entertainment. . . and what defines acceptable entertainment will always be up for debate, especially between social classes. .

in your professional career, at a desk job, do you throw chairs? turn over desks? break glass? maybe if you were mob, or mafia. . .

I will say, the best display of anger i experience by a boss, was my second year on the job as a third mate, deck officer on an old oil tanker. We were cleaning the tanks, and I approached the chief mate, first officer, and gave him a message. . . He didn't like the message, didn't say anything, and took his half full old porcelain coffee mug and threw it onto the steel deck gracefully, shattering it at my feet . . .

There is a perceived difference between inside jobs and outside jobs, like inside voices and outside voices. . . between blue collar and white collar, etc. . and there will always be premadonna azzholes. . .

Correct... I remember the Redskins veterans telling the rookies (wjen they scored a touchdown) to "act like you've been there before"...

Riggins used to simply drop the football after scoring a touchdown and then head back to the sidelines... A true professional (but a bit crazy off the field...) :jester:

I see. So it's okay to display emotion, when it involves victory or smashing an opponent, but not when disappointed in one's own performace?

& how is that?

In Tennis, your opponent is across the net from you. All you have to do, is beat that person.

In golf, your opponents are harder to identify. The golf course. The weather. The wind. Oneself.

Tennis is a reactive sport, as are most sports other than golf. Golf is like gymnastics, diving or other sports where the impetus for action, is one's own brain. Exponentially more difficult.