Ol' Sport
Or Not?
Most of my friends know that I am wedded to my schedule. Six days a week, I am on the squash court, no matter what. Underlying this, however, is a sense of fair play and sportsmanship that belies all club sports. Club sports breed good sportsmanship, not the lack of it.
This week, I bring to you troubling news from the recently-concluded Windy City Open at the University Club of Chicago. Professional squash is now breeding a cohort of players who are severely wanting in sportsmanship, though, to be sure, there are bright spots—USA’s Timmy Brownell and UK’s Jonah Bryant among them. A forced injury to compel a break is a bridge too far for us to countenance.
The majority of our dispatches, like the poor sportsmanship on display at the Professional Squash Tour, reveal infamy, through Epstein and PPP fraud at the Harvard Club of Boston. The only bright spot there is New York’s Metropolitan Club, which is now sizeably endowed for the future. — IJ
Is it Worth the Win?
I’ve long held that club sports are summed up by winning and losing to the same person, time and time again, oftentimes for decades at a stretch. There’s a certain respect for fair play and for doing the right thing, even when it results in you losing something pivotal, whether it is bragging rights or your dignity.
The Professional Squash tour has had its fair share of run-ins with poor sportsmanship, in our opinion. A new breed of players, such as Mohamed Zakaria have taken after the self-titled Raging Bull, Mostafa Asal, currently world #1, blocking, faking injuries, and manipulating the rules of the game.
At the Windy City Open at the University Club of Chicago’s regal Cathedral Hall, Asal took manipulation of the rules to another extreme. After a tedious set of rallies with World #2, Kiwi Paul Coll, who is perhaps the most meticulous of the classically-trained players, Asal was wiped, and even the commentators knew it, remarking that Asal was perhaps too exhausted to continue to put up a fight.
Moments later, Asal dived into Coll, in what appeared to be a deliberate act of sabotage, resulting in a dangerous slide that sent both tumbling across the floor. The rules warrant a 15-minute break for injuries, but haven’t caught up with Asal’s antics, and after the quarter-hour-long break, Asal looked chippy and refreshed, going on to beat Coll in 83 minutes—quite a lengthy time—and 3 games in a best of 5.
In a post-match interview, Asal gloated, “I am really happy … I am really proud of this performance”. Proud of what, one may ask? Causing a deliberate injury to get time to rest in order to beat his opponent? Is the win worth it?
Metropolitan Infusions: The Metropolitan Club New York in New York City sold their air rights—the potential right to develop upwards in New York City—to their neighbours to build a “74-story, 764,698 square-foot mixed use tower”, for the princely sum of $40 million. Hard times may befall clubland, but the Metropolitan Club will remain sufficiently well-endowed for the trials and tribulations to come.
To PPP or Not: The Harvard Club of Boston paid $2.4 million in fines and compensation for a Paycheck Protection Program loan it took out on May 4, 2021, at the height of the COVID pandemic. Criteria for the forgiven loan explicitly prohibited private members clubs with restrictive membership criteria from receiving government pandemic loan relief. The whistleblower, Daniel Foster, received a ~$250k payout.
“Club” Controversy: The disgraced financier and convicted pedophile Jeffery Epstein was, according to the Wall Street Journal, deeply intertwined with the Core Club, a new “private” for-profit club. As one of 150 founding members, he paid significantly for the privilege, and used its facilities extensively. Initiation at the Core Club, with clubhouses in New York City and Milan, can be up to $100,000, with dues to match.
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