Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
UPDATE: The Associated Press has further details on Agassi's admission that he used crystal meth.Without the full excerpt, it's difficult to give the revelation much context, but another SI article made mention -- without any specifics -- that we should expect big things from the upcoming autobiography. The tease from Random House - Knopf doesn't tell us much either:
"No one ever asked me if I wanted to play tennis," Agassi writes, "let alone make it my life." In OPEN, he recalls for the first time a childhood without choices. Forced to embrace tennis, banished to a brutal tennis camp while still in grade school, catapulted to fame while still in his teens, Agassi grew up feeling isolated, alienated, detached. In OPEN he tells how he reconnected, how he overcame his fears, fought through his loneliness, found strength and purpose in the decision to devote his life to others -- and in the love of one extraordinary woman.Agassi writes with uncommon candor about his father, his family, his best friends and first loves. He recounts the intimate details of his doomed marriage to Brooke Shields. He describes the grind of championship tennis, the physical toll and greater mental toll. He recalls his most painful moments in the arena -- humiliating defeats, career-threatening injuries, ridicule from fans and media -- but celebrates the maturity to which they all led. He also puts his fellow players, including legendary greats, under the microscope of his astounding memory. With precision and grace he recalls their quirks, gifts, foibles, and the demons with which they often struggled.
Agassi is already set to get the 60 Minutes treatment and the book drops on Nov. 9. With this latest leak/tease, people are looking for this book much more than they were just a day ago.
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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I just lost all respect for this guy. Meth heads are losers
by Bullbag1 on Oct 27, 2009 1:09 PM EDT reply actions
And we care why? So he used meth in his life, big whoop. I suppose he didn’t get hooked or anything, and it didn’t prevent him from doing his job, so what’s the diff?
As for Bullbag1, I suppose in your youth you never did anything wrong. Never drank underage, tried weed, or any other drug. Hell, I’ve lived a pretty clean life…and even I tried weed when I was a kid. Trying a drug or using a drug doesn’t make you a "loser"; wasting your talent, ruining your family, and throwing away your career does. And since Aggassi has done none of this, he isn’t a loser at all. He’s a guy telling his story honestly, warts and all.
by 89falcon on Oct 27, 2009 1:38 PM EDT reply actions
Good call 89Falcon…….
by Zigzag420 on Oct 27, 2009 1:46 PM EDT reply actions
bullbag post’s with a new name…nuff said. you judge other’s as you judge yourself…
by 1984OlympicGamer on Oct 27, 2009 2:47 PM EDT reply actions
Perfectly called 89 flacon. On one hand, I commend the recent trend of athletes coming out with tell all books providing insight into what it really is to be a professional athlete, the fact that athlete’s who we have put up on a pedestal do have flaws. Agassi’s book looks to be quite a profound look at what it takes to play "championship tennis" for those of us who simply watch from the stands; oblivious to the sacrifices and hardships made.
But at the same time it is aweful to see such a potentially great book promoted the most sleaziest of ways. A ‘twitter leak’ of a tiny portion of the book that is designed to drum up business, in this case, drug use. As 89falcon said, big deal. But the problem is that Bullbag1 is not alone, it will elicit reactions of that nature from the general public with great media buzz and will sell books, but at what cost? The first impression bias sets in an all of a sudden Andre is some ‘meth head’ and without the book available to read, there is no context.
I understand the machine behind such a leak in order to sell copies and create pre-release buzz, but it just saddens me I guess to see it used continually going forward.
by ivegotbeef on Oct 27, 2009 3:06 PM EDT reply actions
Was the meth abuse the reason he lost his hair?
by buckeyenut on Oct 27, 2009 3:09 PM EDT reply actions
Maybe he didn’t like his teeth buckeyenut. Maybe thats why he smoked the homemade chemical.
by jeevies on Oct 27, 2009 9:14 PM EDT reply actions
Doing meth is no different than taking prescription pill. Drugs are drugs. I prefer meth instead of coffee.
by jaws4141 on Oct 28, 2009 8:45 AM EDT reply actions
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