2001 US Open Men's Pro Final - Swain vs Ellis: end of Game 3

[Tweeter5004]

HOW ABOUT SOME COOKIES!?



[3691mau]

Talk about cocky !!!!!!!!

[MrDCskater]

does anyone actually have ANY idea of how the fuck to play raquet ball?!

[Jakepod34]

@MrDCskater Yeah me and my friends play it quite a bit. Its like playing tennis on a small court, with no, and a back wall. The rules are almost the same except for the out of bounds

[FourthOsprey]

"How many people wanna...Hell. HOW 'BOUT SOME COOKIES?!"

[Fernandez218]

i'm glad he failed at tennis.

[mom23tx]

@Fernandez218 cliff is the best ever at racquetball. he did not "fail" at tennis. he was the number one racquetball player , crossed over to tennis, made some money and actually was good enough afterwards to come back and reclaim the number one spot in racquetball again. the rest of the folks in the history book of racquetball are glad that he took some time off. if not, NO ONE would have a shot at his records. present company included.

[Fernandez218]

@mom23tx from what i read, he did too "fail" at tennis. he can be quoted as saying that he didn't have the 'tennis instincts'. of course, he wasn't an absolute failure, but there's no way he would be competitive enough to be able to crack top 100 for a spot at prestigious venues like wimbledon or roland garros, australia, etc..

the fact that he left racquetball to play tennis and then came back to racquetball doesn't equate success in tennis. 

[Fernandez218]

yeah, Swain is such a douche.

[ClickThisUser]

@Fernandez218 Yeah, the arrogance coming off of him is ridiculous. I'd like to see Kane play Cliff in his prime, he'd destroy him. Cliff would be lucky to get 7 points in total, but he'd get a nice tour of the court.

[Fernandez218]

@ClickThisUser i really don't believe it's arrogance. to be honest, i think he over does it all to compensate for his game (i don't know why). he's just too intense for his own good sometimes and he doesn't seem amiable AT ALL on court so he comes off as this annoying, mean guy when, off-court, i've heard he's actually nice.

[ClickThisUser]

@Fernandez218 yeah, arrogance wasn't quite the word I was looking for, you're definitely right in saying his intensity makes him seem very unfriendly on the court. I do respect his will to win though, and as long as he's a nice guy off-court, it's easier to accept his attitude when he plays.

[cvc1290]

@ClickThisUser Disagree, in the way of, Kane is a cocky punk too, way cockier than Cliff. Agree in the way that, yes he can beat every one in his prime time, no doubt about it.

[racquetballtim]

Wow, no avoidable call at 1:35. Elli is lined up and Cliff barely lifts a leg blocking his straight in shot.

Oh wait a minute. They're IRT refs...they don't call anything properly. My bad.

[steve51865]

racquetballtim - if Cliff would have held up I'm sure the ref would have called a penalty hinder. Cliff hit a winner so an avoidable call would be moot. It is difficult to ref an IRT match, especially with 1 ref viewing from a bad angle. I'm sure your ref comment and my previous comment would rub people the wrong way if you and I weren't the only 2 people to watch this vid recently. Certainly more people would be/have been offended by Cliff's behavior. Maybe a technical warning for Cliff? ha ha

[racquetballtim]

Steve I think you're referring to a different rally, the one where Elli was lying on the ground and Cliff nearly took his head off. That should have been an avoidable (penalty hinder) as well.

I was referring to 1:35, when Cliff's serve comes right to Elli. Cliff doesn't clear out of the way and an avoidable should have been called. It doesn't matter if the player holds up or not, the ref can stop the rally and call an avoidable. It's the players job to play, and the ref's job to ref.

[steve51865]

My bad for not looking at the 1:35 incident. Maybe at a lower level it could be an avoidable, but not at the pro level. Elli had room, he didn't hit Cliff or raise his hand. Neither player blinked. It seemed to be a non-incident. Personally I don't think it was a hinder. The ref was probably another iRT player who knows what a penalty hinder is. Something needs to be done about the ref situation, but having linesman has its disadvantages. It could work if they are certified or other IRT players.

[racquetballtim]

I guess we'll agree to disagree. 8-D

And yeah, there's just no perfect solution for properly officiating a sport where ball speeds exceed 150 mph's. Maybe robots? LOL.

[racquetballtim]

I agree that reffing racquetball is incredibly difficult. Linesman are badlly needed on a consistent basis. I don't blame a ref one bit for missing skips that are 40 feet away from his position.

I was being slightly facetious about the IRT refs not calling anything, and was referring to penalty hinders in particular. They have very little training and even less courage to make those calls. Elli's head could have been crushed, as well as Cliff's leg.

[RballerTrey]

racquetballtim was refering to a shot where cliff blocked john's shot. i agree with rballtim actually. it should have been an avoidable. but ellis took the shot anyways so there's no avoidable there

[steve51865]

RballerTrey - I assume you mean you agree with racquetballtim conditionally, if the point would have turned out differently. If John holds, then maybe it's an avoidable but that's debatable. In the IRT he probably wouldn't get that call. If he takes the shot and hits Cliff then obviously that is an avoidable. The way I see it...Cliff wasn't in the way. John took the shot and didn't hit Cliff. As it happened, I don't see what "should" have been an avoidable. Obviously, these aren't club players.

[steve51865]

Who is Cliff Swain?

One of the best players ever? Yes

Got beat by #10 IRT pro last week? Yes

Too old & fat for the IRT in 2009? Yes

As much of a dick off the court? Hopefully not

[racquetballtim]

LOL. Cliff was a competitor that's for sure, and definitely rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

I bet your post rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, too. LOL.

[aso313131]

It's first time to Ellis's game. Thanks and want to see his game more!!

[Clintonm03]

John Ellis: "Uh Oh, UH OH!"

[Fernandez218]

WHYYY SOOO SERIOUSSSS

[splatman123]

Great players, great clip, but Swain...unnecessarily and recklessly competitive. Could have seriously injured John. It's nice to see Kane just dominate him!

[behmer11]

I am so scared of Cliff Swain right now, no smile, no help after the shot, probably would have been fine with hitting Ellis

[tbdoughty]

that rally was just insane! Ellis almost got his head taken off. Swain was so intense that he didn't even hold up on the final swing.

crazy!

[saiyankenny]

wow...hate to be there haha