This story caught my attention as it seems extreme even for tennis parents. Mary Pierce's dad seems like a lamb compared to this guy and graf's dad only drained her bank account. Then again, maybe if my dad had loved me more, he would have tried to help my own tennis career in this way. Rather than seeing me get thumped by a top seed, he could have "whacked" my opponents. Then again, with my talent level, that would be a long trail of dead bodies.
Tennis dad jailed for drugging opponents
Water bottle spiking caused unintended death
The Associated Press
Friday, March 10, 2006
CREDIT: Bob Edme, Associated Press
Catherine Fauviau and her son Maxime talk to reporters outside court in Mont-de-Marsan, France, after her husband was convicted on Thursday.
A father who drugged his children's tennis opponents, leading to a player's death, was sentenced to eight years in prison after being convicted Thursday.
Christophe Fauviau had confessed to the crime during his trial in Mont-de-Marsan in southwestern France.
The former military pilot was accused of spiking the water bottles of his children's opponents 27 times in tournaments across France from 2000 to 2003, using the anti-anxiety drug Temesta, which can cause drowsiness.
Prosecutor Serge Mackowiack had asked for a sentence of eight to 10 years in prison, below the 20-year maximum for the charge of unintentionally causing death by administering toxic substances.
Fauviau's 16-year-old daughter, Valentine, is a rising star in French tennis.
Opponents of Fauviau's daughter and son, Maxime, complained to investigators of suffering weakness, dizziness, nausea or fainting. Several were hospitalized.
In tearful earlier testimony, Fauviau asked the parents of the victim, 25-year-old Alexandre Lagardere, for forgiveness.
In July 2003, Maxime Fauviau defeated Lagardere, who complained of fatigue after the match and slept for two hours.
While driving home, Lagardere crashed his car and died, and police believe he fell asleep at the wheel.
Toxicology tests showed traces of Temesta in his system.
© The Calgary Herald 2006
Friday, March 10, 2006
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Wednesday TV Blog - Media Whores and Napoleon Syndrome
Did Jerry Rice not save his money? Or is he a just an attention grabber gone horribly wrong?
I will admit that I watched Pros vs Joes on Spike TV with a bit of vicarious delight. On the one hand I suffer from the usual male delusional problems regarding my skill level in EVERYTHING and my value to the world. On the other hand, I have competed in tennis, swimming, track, and football against national level athletes and future pros. They were comically better than my best efforts, and I didn't suck all that much (except for swimming, which is a ridiculous sport geared to people with no social skills: I mean, come on, you spend hours face down in the water! Only dead people spend more time in that position than swimmers!). Suffice to say, I knew the Joes were going to look bad against aging, but elite athletes.
So with schadenfreude in hand, I sat my now fat ass down to watch some mooks get pummeled. I wasn't disappointed. Well, I was. The skill tests were great - going head to head with Rice in pass catching, trying to match Jim McMahon in passsing accuracy; these are worthwhile tests.
Pitting the 5'9" Joes agains the 6'9" Dennis Rodman in a test of rebounding is silly and invokes images of American Gladiators. Of course Rodman is going to win. Back in high school basketball days, I spent hours going against much taller guys, and unless you have big "ups" (which I didn't and neither did the Joes), you are going to lose unless it becomes a wrestling match.
Speaking of wrestling, having the tiny Joes try to wrestle the smaller-than-he-was-but-still-huge Bill Goldberg was equally silly. Wrestle your nine-year old nephew for an example of how it went. And we will ignore the fact that Goldberg was an also-ran in the NFL, and a terrible worker in wrestling.
I would love to see a much bigger, much stronger Joe go against the pros, just to make it interesting. Mighty Joe might end up taking the pros down a peg or two; and don't you think that would be more fun than watching some nobody get his ass handed to him?
In the end, they are all on tv, and therefore lower than circus people.
I will admit that I watched Pros vs Joes on Spike TV with a bit of vicarious delight. On the one hand I suffer from the usual male delusional problems regarding my skill level in EVERYTHING and my value to the world. On the other hand, I have competed in tennis, swimming, track, and football against national level athletes and future pros. They were comically better than my best efforts, and I didn't suck all that much (except for swimming, which is a ridiculous sport geared to people with no social skills: I mean, come on, you spend hours face down in the water! Only dead people spend more time in that position than swimmers!). Suffice to say, I knew the Joes were going to look bad against aging, but elite athletes.
So with schadenfreude in hand, I sat my now fat ass down to watch some mooks get pummeled. I wasn't disappointed. Well, I was. The skill tests were great - going head to head with Rice in pass catching, trying to match Jim McMahon in passsing accuracy; these are worthwhile tests.
Pitting the 5'9" Joes agains the 6'9" Dennis Rodman in a test of rebounding is silly and invokes images of American Gladiators. Of course Rodman is going to win. Back in high school basketball days, I spent hours going against much taller guys, and unless you have big "ups" (which I didn't and neither did the Joes), you are going to lose unless it becomes a wrestling match.
Speaking of wrestling, having the tiny Joes try to wrestle the smaller-than-he-was-but-still-huge Bill Goldberg was equally silly. Wrestle your nine-year old nephew for an example of how it went. And we will ignore the fact that Goldberg was an also-ran in the NFL, and a terrible worker in wrestling.
I would love to see a much bigger, much stronger Joe go against the pros, just to make it interesting. Mighty Joe might end up taking the pros down a peg or two; and don't you think that would be more fun than watching some nobody get his ass handed to him?
In the end, they are all on tv, and therefore lower than circus people.
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