I was in jail for a while.
Mainly, you know, because of tennis.
It's true. I was teaching a tennis clinic
in the Fort Madison Jail
as a kind of nice guy, donation thing
I don't know, I guess teaching tennis in jail is kind of like
coaching boxing in a monastery
you might not think it fits
Still, one guy said he'd been serving for 50 years
that kind of impressed me
It's funny, you wouldn't think tennis would take out their
aggressions
still, you've got two guys with sticks in their hands
it's kind of primitive
Maybe it would've worked better
If I'd let them wear animal skins
and call each other Thagor and Blast
I don't know, they really did appreciate it.
They didn't get a lot of tennis pros in-house
You usually don't get arrested for wearing
too much white in a tanning zone
It was kind of nice. A feeling of power in a way
Kind of a captive audience.
The funny thing is, those guys were all singles players.
I guess with them doubles had something to do with gambling
Not exactly team players...
Of course, when I described doubles as a kind of a heist
it seemed to make more sense
as long as I referred to the net man as riding shotgun
I was okay
Actually, I'm the official tennis pro for those guys
I'm doing a series of lessons
The first one was three years ago
& I might do the second one someday
They're not going anywhere
I thought I'd let them serve for a few years
and get back to em
Practice makes perfect.