new s.i. -- gary smith on agassi

people should know their limits. nothing wrong with that. 8) 8) 8)

 

Does Smith have the dream job? Of course...

But there's a reason for that... He's quite simply the best...

 

i worked with gary the year he spent at the n.y. daily news in 1980. he was the best then, too. had lupy totally freaked. lupy thanked his lucky stars when gary went to "inside sports" to begin his awesome mag-writing career. some of those pieces are oft-forgotten, too.

 

That makes two spectacular stories on Agassi in SI in a period of only a few years.

They did a nice one on his upbringing a few years ago that focused a lot on his father and his father's anger at Pancho Gonzalez (for marrying Agassi's sister).

And of course, the swimsuit issue with Steffi is one of my all-time favorites. :-*

 

Are you talking about the Pancho Gonzalez feature by S.L. Price? ("The Lone Wolf," June 24, 2002; and yes, I had to look up the date.) As I recall, that was an excellent story but it didn't discuss Andre much, if at all. It did, however, delve into Gonzalez's relationship with Andre's sister and Mike Agassi's dislike for Gonzalez. Can't find an active link to that story.

 

Anyone got a link. For whatever reason none of the local stores has the current SI.

 

You're right, it was more of a Pancho story than an Andre story.

But until reading it I had no idea the families were connected. It was one of those stories about famous people where it seemed like every paragraph you learned something new. Don't get much of that these days.

 

Come on, tell us more. Don't dangle this out there, and just leave us with this nugget.

 

Agreed on all counts. And if anyone in our business deserves some extra letters, it would be Gary Freaking Smith.

rb

 

Just read it. I enjoyed it. Got dewy dust in my eye toward the end.

Only one thing: I would've somehow led with the steak dinner. That was the first time I felt the article grabbed my attention. But who am I to offer any type of critique? The emerging love story between Andre and Steffi is one for the ages.

 

I thought the story was very well done, though a lot of that stuff I knew already because I first met Agassi when he was 14.

The part about chasing Steffi was the most revealing part to me, if only because you would figure the two of them would have at least met a few times over the years.

 

The question begs: Who's more nuts, Mike Agassi or Richard Williams?