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Remembering the Battle of the
Sexes
Posted: Wed September 16,
1998
As we close out the century, there is one extraordinary
game that stands alone at the top—even though it'll
probably be unfathomable for history to understand. But who
could argue? The single most unusual sports event of the
1900s happened when Billie
Jean met Bobby in The Battle of the Sexes, exactly 25 years
ago this
Sunday.
The significance of that event was often masked by the
silliness, by Bobby Riggs's outlandish behavior that
displayed such madness it was hard to see the method to
it—which was to make money. But in the end, that
foolish showdown at the Astrodome was
something that really
mattered.
Oh, Title IX had already become law—would, in time,
guarantee women athletic equality—and even in a few
sports, like tennis, the women's movement was moving at
full speed. Still, by playing Bobby and thrashing him,
Billie Jean King didn't just
raise consciousness, which was the feminist mantra then. No, she
absolutely
changed
consciousness.
King's victory changed the public's view of female athletes.
(Jerry Cooke) | |
Despite his bluster, Riggs and King had much in common.
(Jerry Cooke)
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She did it not only by winning, but by surviving under
pressure—which was supposed to be the
manly attribute—and by doing it with as much humor as
earnestness. But then, sometimes we really do move forward
by dancing instead of marching. We can—as Mark McGwire
and Sammy Sosa have shown us—advance with a grin
instead of a grimace. That was how The
Battle of the Sexes contributed to changing the outlook of
society in ways that went far beyond the fun and the
games.
When Billie Jean and I were together at Wimbledon this
summer, we talked—and laughed—a lot, remembering
that match, that time. This may surprise you, but she
remains convinced that while her victory did so much to
encourage girls, it probably had even
more of an effect upon boys. She may have given girls pride,
but she made boys simply doubt—doubt all those
stereotypes that they'd heard about the, uh, weaker
sex.
Riggs played to the old pigs, but King won the hearts of
the putative pigs. Billie Jean is quick to point out that
recent female advancement in athletics is very much the
case because of men—fathers, especially—who grew
up to demand for their daughters
what they had been given as sons. And more than a little of
that attitude was born simply because of the comportment
and the victory that Billie Jean King showed the world on
that September night in Houston a quarter of a century
ago.
But then, here was the twist. Except for those who knew
Billie Jean well, the secret was that she was really quite
a bit like Bobby. It was just that she hustled for somewhat
more substantial causes. But she was never buffaloed by his
blustery act,
precisely because they were such kindred spirits. After all,
just as she was the chubby and myopic little girl the
tennis establishment wanted nothing to do with, Bobby had
been the fresh, scrawny scamp of a preacher's kid who had
had to fight just as hard
for his respect in that snooty environment. They both knew
the game and they both knew the
score.
In fact, despite what most people thought, Bobby Riggs and
Billie Jean King liked each other and stayed, warmly, in
touch through the rest of his life. When he began to
decline with cancer in l995, Billie Jean would call him to
chat. She told me that
the last time she spoke to him—when he knew it would be
the last time—Bobby said: "We really did it,
didn't we, Billie? We really made a
difference."
Billie Jean assured him that, yes, they had changed things,
together, the two of them, on that bizarre occasion 25
years
ago.
These commentaries, which appear each Wednesday on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, are posted weekly by CNN/SI.
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