Tennis, like golf, is to be treated with the utmost respect. Its audience knows when it's appropriate to stand up & cheer. That being said, you'd never see a fight break out on the court. In the bleachers, though, is another story.
According to today's New York Daily News, Joey Pedevill, a drunken fan, picked a fight with a woman nearly twice his age, Tracy Falco, who was attending the tournament with her father, Lawrence Burnett, 75. Pedevill egged Falco on with a steady stream of f-bombs, but when the Police finally arrived, Pedevill did a 180 and began crying like a baby. Go figure!
Pedevill, Burnett, & Falco have all been banned from attending the tournament until 2013, but in Pedevill's case, inasmuch as he wants to put this sordid incident behind him, it's out there for everyone to see at the moment, posted to YouTube. It was reported that Pedevill was hiding out at his girlfriend's apartment in Manhattan yesterday. He doesn't want the publicity, and wants this incident to just go away. Apologizing to Falco & Burnett, as well as everyone else at Arthur Ashe Stadium, would be a good place to start. Until then, he's got a pair of weasel ears for his fool's folly.
Are we watching the same video? I can't believe this "blog" is perpetuating the BS surrounding this event. The woman and the old man are very clearly at fault for what happened. It doesn't matter how rude, loud or obnoxious the young man was, the woman had NO RIGHT to slap him in the face. If anything, you should be COMMENDING him for his lack of violent response, which most people would have done. Not only, but then her father assaults him and when the young man gets back up the crazy old lady tries to strangle him. The young man NEVER HITS ANY OF THEM. Instead he is assaulted physically and gets thrown out. Whoever wrote this is the real weasel.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E19D_-h9MIo
ReplyDeleteyou're an idiot. the young guy got slapped, choked, and then jumped by the crowd after the old man fell. joey isnt at fault, he is the victim.
ReplyDeletethis guy is a real jersey shore loserrrrrrrrrrrrr hahaha beating up women and old men. he got what he deserved for being drunk!
ReplyDeleteI will admit I have not seen the video, nor do I have an interest in it, but the way I see it, Pedevill was in the wrong for provoking the incident in the first place. That's what makes him a weasel. As it is, I only caught wind of the story yesterday. Very rarely do we hear or read of drunken behavior at a tennis tournament. You won't see this kind of incident again in this lifetime, if we're lucky.
ReplyDeleteAs for Tracy Falco and her father, my take is that she slapped Pedevill to try to knock some sense into him. He was clearly bothering her and her dad, Mr. Burnett, and she had to defend herself. What else do you want her to do? A drunk is not going to accept being ignored.
The sad fact is, this country is infested with alcoholics. Most Americans can't even imagine a "good time" without being able to drown themselves in alcohol. This country has gone completely downhill because of it and what needs to happen is drunks like Pedevill need to start getting 1 year maxsec jail time. Maybe spending 12 months getting sober while getting beaten daily will straighten them out.
ReplyDeleteNew Jersey should simply be plowed and paved over and used as auxilliary parking for NYC. Nothing good has ever come out of New Jersey.
ReplyDeletehobbyfan, if you didn't see the video nor intend to, then you can't make the assumptions you have.
ReplyDeleteYes, Joey Pedevill was loud, and obnoxious, but that hardly calls for physical retaliation. Falco and her dad should have complained to security if they were having a problem with Pedevill. The older pair were clearly at fault.