Marriage is the kiss of death for any great male athlete.....

You guys gotta fix this bug!! I tried to go back, but am now in the limelight. I guess I gotta put my best foot forward...

smithala, you post an interesting topic. I’m as single as they come... still running amok in the land of the most beautiful women in the world, Australia (I invite smackers to debate me on that topic), so I’m as FAR from supporting the married life as possible! But, smithala, I don’t see the meat in your smack-sandwich.

When Agassi was married to Brooke (lucky man!), he maintained a very good run in the Top 10. Admittedly, he took a hiatus from the game, but by the time he re-emerged married to Steffi (unlucky man!), he was every bit the player and ambassador as he ever was. He cleaned up his act (thank Christ- I think we’d all seen enough of those pink undergarments), regained a solid Top 10 ranking, won Majors, became one of the most renowned philanthropists in the country, and became adored by the public worldwide before gracefully bowing out from the game after playing well beyond his years. Marriage was anything but the kiss of death.

McEnroe. Well, Tatem didn’t doom Mac. Her drug addiction probably didn’t exactly help him, but he was certainly no slouch whilst being married and he retired, like Agassi, only after the years caught up to him.

You’re way off with Sampras. Like the aforementioned Agassi and Mac, the guy ended up on top of his game, his last tournament being a winning formula at the US Open. He had only been married a short time, but retirement was always in the cards for him given his age.

Iverson has bigger problems to deal with than marriage- hating his coaches, hating his teammates, hating everything and everyone except his mother. As great a player as he is, he has allowed himself to get caught up in his own euphoria. Marriage hasn’t doomed him- he’s doomed himself.

When Kobe isn’t committing adultery in motels in CO, he’s still a scoring machine. The fact that the Lakers aren’t a championship team might have something to do with the fact that Diesel is now pimping it up in South Beach instead of Rodeo Dr.

Grant Hill was once great, when he played for Detroit, that is. As soon as my beloved Orlando Magic got their hands on him, he fell apart. He hasn’t been the same player since (nor will he ever be), marriage or not.

Most athletes in any code of sport are happily married- the list is simply too long to mention. The best of any code- Shaq, Manning, Bonds, Woods, Federer are all married and it hasn’t negatively affected their game. The few examples you cite are of male athletes with factors (age, injury, or other external circumstances) working against them who only happened to be married.

Correlation does not imply causation. I vote SmackDaddy.

I can't get past the whole Brooke Shields vs. Steffi Graf thing. Pointing to Andre Agassi as evidence for why marriage ruins athletes is a branch you don't want to find yourself on. What American male who was a teenager in the early 80's doesn't remember this image of Brooke Shields???



You gonna give that up for this?

Couldn't agree with you more, Trigginator! Your comments earned you a "star".

I think this--just like the "always foul when up by 3" threads--is just another example of someone taking a few specific instances and creating a falacious generality out of it.

Are there cases when you would not want someone to take a 3 at the end of a game, like Steve Nash? Yes.

Are there cases where marriage has been the key event to spark a 180 in a professional athletes career? Yes.

Is Brooke Shields hotter than Steffi Graf? Absolutely--though I must say, that Steffi suffers from classic butterface. But bag on her head, and she has quite a bod her--you know I'm right people.

I've gotta say though, Pete was already on the way out even before Bridgitte came into the frame.

First, let's put this one to bed. Tiger Woods. Jack Nicklaus. Dan Marino. Emmitt Smith. Joe Montana. Jeff Gordon (his declines come during each divorce where his net worth is cut in half in one brief court ruling). Beckham. Ripken.

Second - the fact that most of the argument here is made using Tennis players might be slightly misdirected. Is it the decline of the individual due to marriage or the overall decline of what was once a great sport? You know my thoughts here (see previous "Tennis is Dead" smackdown.