Getting Caught in No Man's Land: Between Serena and Richard Williams

It was late last night when I posted that piece on Richard William's obnoxious mouth in an interview with The Deccan Herold while there for the Bangalore Open. So, I didn't put together the two halves of this story.

When you put things in chronological order, it's easy to see what happened.

First, R Satya of the Deccan Herold interviewed Richard Williams in this article:

Just like his daughters Venus and Serena, Richard Williams is a familiar figure at most tennis centres across the world.

While his daughters make headlines with their brand of tennis, father Williams does so with his statements. Unafraid to speak his mind, Williams, who was in the Garden City last week for the Bangalore Open, spoke to Deccan Herald on Venus and Serena's early years and about a life beyond the baseline.

In the excerpts that follow, note what Williams says in this one:

Tennis is a prejudice game. Well, I'm Black and I'm prejudiced, very prejudiced. I'll be always prejudiced as the White man. The White man hated me all my life and I hate him. That's no secret. I'm not even an American, it just so happens that I was born in America. People are prejudiced in tennis. I don't think Venus or Serena was ever accepted by tennis. They never will be. But if you get some little White no good trasher in America like Tracy Austin or Chris Evert who cannot hit the ball, they will claim this is great.

(Note the god-awful English, which Serena then tries to scrape off Richard and onto the author of the article.) Embarrassing, eh? Plus, Daddy has just upstaged you again, stealing your headlines with that attention-grabbing mouth of his.

So, whom does Serena get mad at? Not Daddy, the one to blame. She makes something out of nothing by blowing a gasket over this OTHER article in the Deccan Herold by the same writer. She trumps up her complaint by mischaracterizing the article and failing to include a link to it so readers can see if she's telling the truth about it:

Serena reigns supreme

By R Satya, DH News Service, Bangalore:

Former world number one Serena Williams hit a ball into to the crowd in celebration, but the ball flew out of the stadium. I'm sorry, she said. Well, that mishit summed up the finale in a nutshell.

Coming into the final with fine victories in the semifinals the previous day, the huge crowd turnout expected another great fare from Serena and Patty Schnyder. Sadly, the error-filled 75-minute title clash never rose above the mediocre. The third-seeded Serena did play the big points well to fall across the line.

The American made her maiden trip to India a memorable one. The out of sorts Serena overcame an equally out of sorts Schnyder 7-5, 6-3 to emerge triumphant in the $600,000 Bangalore Open at the KSLTA stadium courts on Sunday.

Yes, you read right. That's is the actual text of the newspaper article that Serena is somehow mad about.

Then, in an obviously ironic reference to this gushing headline at the Official Bangalore Open website - SERENA WILLIAMS TO ENTHRALL SPECTATORS AT BANGALORE - the article shows that something had quelled all that enthusiasm for a chance to see the great Serena:

...Barring a couple of points, there was very little that caught the interest of the spectators. The arrival of Indian cricketer S Sreesanth was a welcome relief from the poor show on court.

Indeed, since not just Richard's disgusting mouth, but also the tennis itself sucked (on both ends of the court) what was there for the crowd to be enthralled about? Do you think her father's hate comes across any less putridly among Hindus in India than it does among Hispanics and whites here? In fact, the most offended are blacks with a white parent and white grandparents. Can you think of any? Like in pro tennis and politics?

Duh, people don't like to be hated for just existing = not being the right color for you.

Read the rest of the article on the final entitled Serena Reigns Supreme. It deals with her fairly, going on to tell that Serena cut down on her errors near the end and played the big points well enough to win.

So what is there for her to be so mad about?

Here's her rant, on her website.

See, I link to to it. So the reader can check it out to see whether what I say about it is true. How come Serena doesn't do that with the Deccan Herold article she whines about?

Honest people link to an article they're criticizing, because otherwise Serena, you have zero credibility. People are not as stupid as you think: they smell a straw man in your account of an article you don't let your readers see. Indeed, that is so suspicious that it was my sole reason for searching the Internet till I found it.

Now here is my post on Serena's rant, where I expose everything false, ironic and absurd about it, including the THREAT she uttered at the author.

Guess what? That threat already seems to be materializing, because the WTA is moving to degrade the Bangalore Open to a Tier 3 tournament. You read right, India. No WTA Tier II tournament in India! Heads will roll in Bangalore over that.

See Bangalore Open's status up for debate in WTA's plans at ESPN.

Why? All because Serena's father upstaged and embarrassed her again. So she must vent her fury on SOMEONE, right? Look out, innocent bystanders.

Instead of humoring and appeasing her, the WTA should be disciplining her for abusing her influence like that and should be making rules to penalize players for remote hate talk through the irresponsible mouths of their parents. A parent like Richard Williams should be banned from the grounds of all tournaments.

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Just when you thought it couldn't get worse

UPDATE

Richard Williams in an interview with R Satya of the Deccan Herold in Bangladore:

Well, I'm Black and I'm prejudiced, very prejudiced. I'll be always prejudiced as the White man. The White man hated me all my life and I hate him. That's no secret. I'm not even an American, it just so happens that I was born in America. People are prejudiced in tennis. I don't think Venus or Serena was ever accepted by tennis. They never will be. But if you get some little White no good trasher in America like Tracy Austin or Chris Evert who cannot hit the ball, they will claim this is great.

OMG.

See also Serena Williams Attacks Criticism of Poor Play in which she attacks the Deccan Herold.

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Serena Williams Attacks Criticism of Poor Play

As everyone knows, Serena Williams won her first title of the year at Banglador, defeating Patty Schnyder in the finals and her sister Venus in the semis. In a blog on her website, Serena wrote this breezy rant about a newspaper account:

Ok so this morning I read the paper...

But we thought that you don't read articles about yourself in the press.

Ok so this morning I read the paper (this is the very reason why I don’t read articles about myself) about the match yesterday.

Huh? So, which is it? Oh, never mind.

It was a local paper and a local article talking about the match. And can you believe what they said?

Shouldn't you tell us what they said before asking us if we believe it?

I could believe what you say they said if you linked to the article to verify your claims about it. But you don't. You don't even name the paper or the author. Why?

But don't worry. I found it. Just Google her quote "75-minute title clash never rose above the mediocre" and there it is.

Here is this hick "local" newspaper Serena is trashing - the Deccan Herald - and the top of the article she is throwing a fit about:

Serena reigns supreme

By R Satya, DH News Service, Bangalore:

Former world number one Serena Williams hit a ball into to the crowd in celebration, but the ball flew out of the stadium. I'm sorry, she said. Well, that mishit summed up the finale in a nutshell.

Coming into the final with fine victories in the semifinals the previous day, the huge crowd turnout expected another great fare from Serena and Patty Schnyder. Sadly, the error-filled 75-minute title clash never rose above the mediocre. The third-seeded Serena did play the big points well to fall across the line.

The American made her maiden trip to India a memorable one. The out of sorts Serena overcame an equally out of sorts Schnyder 7-5, 6-3 to emerge triumphant in the $600,000 Bangalore Open at the KSLTA stadium courts on Sunday...

Read the rest. Nothing in it for Serena to be upset about. In fact the criticism was of both players and Serena's ability to play the big points well was noted. So was the fine play of both players in the semis. So, apparantly, Serena just can't take ANY - even the slightest - criticism.

Note what she's mad about: being told the crowd wasn't enthralled with the Great Serena just being there, no matter how bad a performance she put on. Hmmm.

And she misses the whole stadium with a celebratory shot? I'd say the article was pretty kind to her, in the light of that.

Now back to Serena's account of that article.

I’ll tell you, they said the match was boring and listless, and I quote 'The 75 min title clash never rose above the mediocre.' Then they went on to say that the crowd was not interested in the match and they were bored. Ok so I have two issues with this. First of all they did not even use the word mediocre in the sentence correctly!!! Go back and look!!! I mean if you are going to dog someone and in English nonetheless please use the correct language!!!

Just how would you prefer that they have used the word mediocre? "Mediocrely" perhaps? Please, I find myself at a loss to know what you think is wrong with that sentence. It's an elliptical expression, by the way, for "mediocre level."

And, by the way, YOU are criticizing anyone else's English!!! What a hoot! Just look at the very piece you're saying this in: it's riddled with errors, bad punctuation, cliches, and poor style. Shall I sound smart by correcting them all for you? No, then I'd be doing what you did, except that I'd know what I'm talking about.

And what has the language of the article got to do with anything? And how is this "dogging you"? And what's so bad about "dogging you" in English?

Haven't you heard? Indians speak English so well it hardly qualifies as a second language there. It doesn't sound like you know that or why.

What a JERK who ever wrote that!! I dare them to say that to my face! I don’t see their career going much farther than…well the local paper in…. I’ll stop I’m being mean!!"

Is that a threat?

It must be a threat, because you can't be so far gone that you think yourself a judge of a journalist's talent and prognosticator of his future career in the business.

And you keep beating that word local like a tom-tom. So R Satya isn't famous and rich like you. Therefore, you can hit on him all you want.

You are 26 years old. Grow up.

By the way, the "jerk" who "ever" wrote that has a name. You find it at the top of the article.

Ok so now that I got that off my chest I had a weird experience in Bangalore. One night I was in my room and my doorbell started ringing. I was sleep but I woke up to get the door. I got there just in time. There were three guys there at my door. Frankly, they looked like thugs and one of them covered the peep hole as I was looking through it and the other started putting a key in the door! I was terrified, I quickly put the top lock on and then I bolted it. I was like wow! So weird! I guess they were some of the fans that were bored to tears with the match! Hahahah Anyways I did survive to tell the tale. I could not shake the feeling that I was going to be kidnapped. So far I have not!! If I do I hope that I have my blackberry!!

"I hope I have my blackberry!!" Do you get the distinct impression that you're listening to a five-year-old?

Just what made them look like thugs? How did "thugs" even get into such a swanky place? If one of them tried a key, don't you think that means they were just at the wrong door? Give us a break. Many idiots (especially when they've been tipping a few) cover the peephole to be funny.

Little paranoid, maybe?

I think you need a little more reason than that to decide that it was all about you. What a vivid imagination you have.

UPDATE: Revealing the rest of the story of what is going on here.

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Federation Cup

Despite Lindsay Davenport's surprising loss in the first rubber of the Federation Cup tie with Germany last weekend, the United States came back to defeat Germany 4-1.

It was Davenport's first loss in Federation Cup play since 1994. But she came back to win her rain-delayed Monday match, and Ashley Hackleroad surprised everyone by winning her first two Federation Cup matches in straight sets.

Here are the results:

Rubber 1
Sabine Lisicki (Germany) defeated Lindsay Davenport (United States) 6-1, 7-5

Rubber 2
Ashley Harkleroad (United States) defeated Tatjana Malek (Germany) 6-1, 6-3

Rubber 3
Lindsay Davenport (United States) defeated Julia Goerges (Germany) 6-1, 6-2

Rubber 4
Ashley Harkleroad (United States) defeated Sabine Lisicki (Germany) 6-4, 7-5

Rubber 5
Lisa Raymond / Lindsay Davenport (United States) defeated Anna-Lena Groenefeld / Tatjana Malek (Germany) 6-2, 6-0

Final Score: United States 4, Germany 1

In April the US Federation Cup team goes to Moscow to play Russia, a much tougher task. That Russian team could field great players like Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova, and Anna Chakvetadze, to name a few. The tie will be played on a slow clay court, which European players are much more used to than Americans are.

Zina Garrison, the captain of the American team is asking Venus and Serena Williams to play this tie for the United States, in hopes of fielding the best possible team for the event.

Russia has captured the Federation Cup three of the last four years, but the United States is the overall winningest nation (winning the cup 17 times) and holds an overall record of 4-2 against Russia.

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Roger Federer: "I have created a monster."

Via the BBC:

World number one Roger Federer believes he is a victim of his own success after his shock 7-5 6-3 7-6 (7-5) defeat to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open.

Hold the phone. "Shock" defeat? It's a "shock" that Roger Federer ever loses a tennis match? A TENNIS match? One might as well be shocked that a major league pitcher ever loses a baseball game. But Roger Federer ever losing a tennis match, even to a top-ranked player like Djokovic, is a "shock"?

No it ain't a shock. Calling it one is sexing up the "story."

In fact, any sportswriter who says such an ignorant thing has no business being a sportswriter. He or she should be writing sell copy for an ad company.

Federer, 26, lost at the tournament for the first time since 2005, ending a 19-match unbeaten run in the process.

Notice how the writer is all ho-hum about that 19-match winning streak. He plays that down. Instead he hypes up the one loss.

He said: "I've created a monster that I need to win every tournament - still, the semi-finals is not bad.

No, Roger, you didn't create the monster. The press is the monster, and you didn't create it.

Tennis isn't the big gig. To get noticed for assignments on the big gigs, you've gotta get the editors' attention. "60 Minutes" let the genie out of the bottle back in the 1970's by adopting fiction-writing techniques in journalism.

So, it's no longer "who, what, why, where, when, and how." Now it's all "conflict (controversy) and suspense."

You create suspense with story questions like "Oh my! Is Indiana Jones about to be emasculated by that raging rhinoceros?"

Suspense, guaranteed to tantalize the audience so they tune-in again tomorrow to buy more of what you're selling, in hopes of find out the answer to this excruciating question. It's called "hooking" your audience.

Kind of like the weather forecast does. The "news" is like that today: it's no longer about today, it's a big fat "what if" about tomorrow.

Nothing wrong with manipulating the audience that way in fiction, because fiction is supposed to be fiction solely for entertainment. But the news supposed to be fact solely for information.

To make it exciting entertainment instead, you just leave everything out of a news report except whatever can be trumped up into some kind or controversy or suspense hook. What does this warping and cherry-picking of the news do to it?

As in politics. The press couldn't be less interested in the candidates' stands on the issues. Their "story" is all about the race. "Oh my! Is So-and-So about to crash and burn? What if he/she doesn't win this primary?" If that worthless junk sells, fine, but don't try to pass it off as legitimate news.

And the candidates know that the only way to get any air time is to make some outrageous accusation against a political opponent. Nothing else is "newsworthy."

Similarly, in press briefings, reporters show no interest in getting information. Instead they spend the whole time arguing policy with government officials and trying to wrestle from them some statement that can be trumped up into some "controversy" or dramatic admission of failure or guilt or a story question that amounts to the headline: "Is Doomsday at Hand?" Tune-in tomorrow in hopes of finding out.

Translation to sports, where the story question is "Oh my! Is the great Roger Federer about to crash and burn?"

Subliminal message: "Tune-in again tomorrow in hopes of finding out, so we can make more money selling ad space."

That's why they aren't interested in the match itself - only in whatever suspense and controversy they can manufacture from selected facts in it.

In other words, they are deliberately making something out of nothing.

They do the same thing to Venus and Serena Williams all the time. Don't listen to them. Don't let them make you think you should feel terrible about losing a tennis match. That's ridiculous, and everyone but them knows it.

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Tennis Confidence - A Kind of Magic - Not

All tennis players know that confidence is everything. When you play with confidence, you play well, and most of your shots go in. The opposite of confidence is diffidence. When you play with diffidence, you play poorly, and most of your shots go out – simply because you fear that they will.

It is no wonder then that players get superstitious about confidence. They view it as a kind of magic.

Success builds confidence, and failure erodes it. So, how do you gain confidence when playing badly?

In other words, how do you make yourself believe in yourself when reality seems to contradict that belief? Stating the question in these terms shows how akin belief in yourself is to a religious belief, which often likewise seems contradicted by observable reality.

The problem then becomes a question of how to maintain this belief in the face of facts that constantly challenge it.

Many people resort to manufacturing an artificial confidence, convincing themselves that they have this mysterious magical power despite all evidence to the contrary. It's a kind of self-delusion, a psyche job. Though it negates reality, they call it "positive thinking," which it ain't.

Since tennis is head-to-head competition, they forget that this "magic" is simple confidence and view it instead as some kind of inherent superiority to their opponents.

Delusions are powerful. They can work. As Bill Tilden said, you can impress belief of your inherent superiority on your opponent = make him or her feel inferior and psychologically dominated.

But the problem with delusions is that they are constantly assailed by reality. Therefore, it's a struggle to maintain them. You must keep brainwashing yourself and repressing self-doubt as it threatens to surface to consciousness and break the spell.

Sooner or later, it will. Then it's like you lost your mojo, and your game falls apart.

Venus and Serena Williams are not the only pro players afflicted with this superstitiousness. So are Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin. In fact, many players are. It can make you a flash in the pan, but it will desert you someday so that you don't build a career like Pete Sampras did or Roger Federer is doing.

What's more, when your mojo is gone, your opponents come out from under the spell of inferiority, as Brad Gilbert did when John McEnroe tried to make sure he got the message in their 1984 match: "Gilbert, you are the worst! The f***** worst! You don't belong on the same court with me!" Gilbert smelled blood and went on to win. McEnroe immediately took a sabbatical from tennis and never won another major tournament after he returned to the tour.

Unbelievable. John McEnroe, the guy who gets mad at himself for every error. Never won another major tournament. That is gross underachievement for a player of his caliber. It happened because he became dependent on his mojo and didn't think he could win without it = that he couldn't beat an opponent who thought he could win. Baloney.

So, you see this artificial confidence is no substitute for the real thing – a realistic level of true confidence in your ability, true confidence that isn't undermined by every error or sent skyrocketing by every great shot. A stable, tranquil self-confidence that nothing can shake. One based on an accurate perception of the facts. One that disregards whatever your ego is yakking at you.

During the early part of the decade Venus and Serena dominated women's tennis, largely through psychological warfare that upset the other women, most of which was waged off court – in the locker room, on the practice courts, and on the tournament grounds.

Over time though, the other women caught on. They recognized the contemptuous haughtiness as a mind game and stopped letting it get to them. Venus and Serena have not dominated since.

I bet they never will again. But that is no reason to think that they aren't good enough players to still win their share of tournaments. Serena, especially, just needs to lose the superstitiousness and replace it with Andre-Agassi style modesty and hard work.

In the midst of all the gobbledygook and conflicting messages she sent during her presser yesterday, Venus said this in answer to the shark who asked "If people start talking about the Williams era being over, what would you have to say to them?":

I've been a champion. I have full expectations and aspirations to continue to play high-quality tennis and to continue to be a champion.

And she should have. Her track record proves that to be a realistic appraisal of her ability. She needs no self psyche job to achieve it.

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Wimbledon Day 7

Rain again delayed play today.

Jonas Bjorkman, Marcos Baghdatis, Tomas Berdych, Mikhail Youzny all won third round matches. Justine Henin and Serena Williams won their fourth round matches. Venus Williams, Tamira Paszek, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ana Ivanovic, Michelle Krajicek, nicole Vaidisova, and Nadia Petrova all won their third round matches.

Seven second round mens doubles matches were played. Winners were:

• Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (1)
• Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra 10)
• Jaroslav Levinsky and David Skoch (13)
• Richard Bloomfield and Jonathan Marray
• Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov
• Scott Lipsky and David Martin
• Harel Levy and Rajeev Ram
• Wesley Moodie and Todd Perry

Four second round women's doubles matches were played. The winners are:

• Cara Black and Liezel Huber (2)
• Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama (4)
• Alicia Molik and Mara Santangelo (6)
• Elena Likhovtseva and Tiantian Sun (10)

In mixed doubles, the 13th seeds, Rogier Wassen and Yung-Jan Chan advanced to the third round.

Serena seems to have had a fire lit under her. She really was injured today, but gutsed it out (with a little help from some timely rain). I love it, she said she'd rather die than lose. (I said that once :)

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Wimbledon Day 1

They got more matches in today at Wimbledon. Since the last report Tomas Zib, Michael Berrer, Janko Tipsarevicz, Danai Udomchoke, David Ferrer, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Serena Williams, Alicia Molik, Patty Schnyder, Marion Bartoli, and Vera Dushevina have also advanced to the second round of the singles.

Richard Williams got attention by announcing that Serena has a pulled hamstring. Asked about it in the presser after her match, Serena said it was just a little tight but getting better.

Throw the dogs a bone!

But the press hounds weren't satisfied with it. So she had to reiterate that another 16 times in answer to the 17 times they questioned her about it.

Boy, when they reject an answer, they reject an answer. You'd better give them the kind they want, or they'll never stop.

How many things that we really would like to have learned, did they pay no attention to and NOT ask about in order to squabble over that bone instead? Trying 16 times to extort a different answer from her. One more exciting than the plain old truth?

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Snapshot of Richard Williams

It's been long since I did a player profile. Frankly, no idea for one has grabbed me ... till I got the idea to do one on Richard Williams.

But, as I went back through all that stuff, I quickly lost interest. That isn't what I see as the most significant thing about him. In fact, all the noise about him is a distraction from the most significant thing about him.

Here is a man from a slum area who learned all he could from library books and other publications about tennis and coached his two kids to the top of the game!

Oooooh! So much for needing experts at $40 to $65 an hour.

I bet no one ever overheard Venus and Serena's parents going around saying that "That is a $50,0000 backhand."

Another cherished myth bites the dust.

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Serena Williams on her Loss at the French Open

Quite a few years ago, I took advantage of a moment to talk to the last kid out of my classroom, to mention that he was going to need better test scores in short order if he wanted a decent grade.

I was completely bowled over by his reply. He looked down at his foot and moved it around like a baseball pitcher rearranging some dirt on the mound while the manager talks to him, and said, "Yeah, Biology isn't working."

"BIOLOGY isn't working?" I asked. "Do you mean that YOU aren't doing well in Biology?"

Well, yeah, sort of.

He was 15; Serena Williams is 26.

Below are some of her remarks in an interview after her loss to Justine Henin today. Note that they are taken out of context to illustrate something that has nothing to do with the context. For the context, read the transcript here.

Yeah, nothing worked today. Some days you just have days like that.

...I just think it was -- I don't know what it was. I don't know. There's really no explanation for it.

... I don't know. Just everything was going wrong. Usually, I don't hit in the net, like I think I hit so many errors today. I hit in the net a lot. And it was very frustrating. ...And I was just making all the errors and just playing like a maniac.

... My routine was off. I'm very superstitious, and things weren't right, so...

Superstitious? I'll say. Why not quit being superstitious? Try reason and realism instead of all that positive delusional thinking that leaves you high and dry on a day like today?

Newsflash: believing a thing doesn't make it so.

But, you know, nothing really went right for me this morning, and it just continued on through the match.

Do you mean that YOU didn't do anything right during the match?

No, it sure sounds like she means that we shouldn't bother to watch her play a match: that we should just check her horoscope for that day.

It gets to the point that she even starts distancing herself from her performance by referring to herself in the third person:

Serena kept hitting balls in the net and Serena kept making errors. And it wasn't that. It was just that I couldn't hit my shots the way, you know, I was hitting them earlier or whatever.

Evidently then, Serena has no control over how she hits her shots. She does not even know how she hits her shots, because she cannot even tell us whether she was hitting too early or too late.

In fact, she was so somewhere else (presumably because her play is the doing of the Fates) that she didn't even know how many errors she was making...

No, at that point I hadn't even realized how many errors I was making. At that point -- I mean, I was still fighting. I mean, I was fighting until the end.

Good thing you slipped that little correction in there so fast. People might not like hearing that you just gave up.

But I just, I don't think I've ever played so bad in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam. And it's not, you know, here I am always saying I want to peak at the right times, but I didn't have any peaks today.

You just didn't HAVE any peaks today? Do you mean that YOU didn't peak today?

And I just -- I don't -- I've never played so hideous and horrendous, and all those other words I can use to describe my play today.

Well, I guess that's OK, because by now you've made it clear that you are not the one responsible for that.

I never play like that.

Well, then who the hail impersonated you today and did?

At this point the reporter pointedly asks, "Is it like you can't believe it, sort of?"

Sometimes, yeah.

Sometimes? Yeah, when you play badly, but not when you play well, right?

Not even your opponent has anything to do with it...

I think all she had to do was show up.

Would it kill you to give credit to her? What? Are Justine Henin's shots so insignificant that they couldn't possibly have anything to do with your play? Kinda like if I play tennis with God and he loses, it's all because of his play, not because I'm capable of pressing The Great Him?

Would it cost you anything to pay credit where credit is due? In tennis, you are to RETURN your opponent's shots. You failed to return, or to return well, Justine Henin's shots today. Justine Henin's shots won the match.

Not the tennis gods.

You are nothing special. At your level everyone has great talent. You are only as good as your hard work and effort make you.

Serena isn't the only pro tennis player showing the ill-effects of what is called "positive thinking." It's just the antithesis of the negative thinking that can delude us during play. But delusion is delusion, whether it's positive or negative. And delusions must be constantly maintained.

Unfortunately, reality won't cooperate and do that. Sooner or later reality assaults our delusions. And when reality assaults your delusions, and your psych job rests on it like a house of cards, look out.

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