Almost everything today has racial and gender overtones, including sports.  So how will the media spin what happened at the US Open this afternoon?

The facts are:  1) that Japanese player Naomi Osaka won against African-American Serena Williams, and in my opinion outplayed Serena and deserved to win; and 2) a white umpire (actually Hispanic) penalized Serena for her coach supposedly signaling her, and then penalized her again for throwing her racket on the court and later for calling the umpire a thief.  She was penalized a point and then a game.

The optics aren't good, especially for those who don't understand tennis.  A white guy treating a black woman unfairly, so that a Japanese won.  On top of that, the talking heads will undoubtedly say that a male player would never have been penalized for temper tantrums. 

I'll throw class into the volatile mix.  I was struck by the hoity-toity female executive from the deep-pocketed sponsor JP Morgan playing a major role in the award ceremony.  She was so Upper East Side.  Right out of central casting for a ruler of the universe, er, New York banker. 

Cheers,

Mencken's Ghost