- Publish date:
UNDER REVIEW
•TENNIS DADS don't have a reputation for tranquillity, and Mike Agassi's new book won't change that. In The Agassi Story (ECW Press) the former Olympic boxer, who describes himself as "the crazy Iranian from Las Vegas who browbeat his kids into mastering tennis," spews venom at will. Among his targets: Andre's first mentor, Nick Bollettieri (initial impression: a "slick," "phony" coach who "didn't know jack about tennis"); Andre's first wife, Brooke Shields (Mike left their wedding reception early, saying that seeing his son marry a movie star made him feel like he had eaten "bad fish"); and even Andre's sister Rita (a "pain in the ass"). Most of Mike's kind words are for Steffi Graf--the daughter-in-law he credits with bringing his family closer together after his youngest daughter, Tami, and wife, Betty, were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000. (Both are now cancer-free.) As he sits in the house that Andre bought him, Mike, who works as a greeter at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, says he can only hope that "Andre's life and the lives of all of my children are good, at least in part, because of me." --Kristin Green Morse
•A RECENT campaign ad for President George W. Bush is causing controversy in the sports world. In the spots, the flags of Iraq and Afghanistan appear as a narrator says, "At this Olympics there will be two more free nations--and two fewer terrorist regimes." The USOC, which controls the branding rights to the word Olympics, has contacted the Bush campaign to get a copy of the ad and will decide if the use of the word is appropriate. Meanwhile the Iraqi soccer team, which unexpectedly advanced to the semifinals, criticized the commercial. "Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign," midfielder Salih Sadir told SI.com through a translator.
