Monday, September 07, 2009

The Evolution of Andre Agassi

Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi and their kids at Dodger Stadium before Saturday's game.

No other public figure has changed more in my estimation than Andre Agassi. At the beginning of his career he was exactly the type of athlete I find annoying, and now he is exactly the type of public figure I admire. To say he has put his money where his mouth is would be an understatement.

Don't know his story? Here's some recommended reading:
Andre Agassi's second act as compelling as the first (Bill Dwyre, LA Times)
Coming Into Focus (Gary Smith, SI.com)

photo by Jon SooHoo/Dodgers

7 comments:

Eric Karros said...

I agree, Agassi seems to have become a very different and better person. I also disliked him when he first became famous. But in retrospect, he was never really that bad back then - he was only a teenager.

I hereby give Andre a pass on his teenage years.

Kyle Baker said...

Props for pointing this out. It's weird because I had a similar arc of thinking about Agassi. I used not to like him because of his "image is everything" image. But then I had the opportunity to collaborate with some of the foundation and political work that Agassi was doing as he wound down his career, and I grew to respect him a lot.

Kyle Baker said...

EK-

Can you give me a pass on my teenage years?

Also my 20s?

Eric Karros said...

Sorry DB...Agassi only got the pass because he redeemed himself in his 30's.

Kyle Baker said...

Fair enough. I'm a long way from redemption.

Eric Karros said...

"No other public figure has changed more in my estimation than Andre Agassi."

I agree, now that Michael Jackson's dead.

NicJ said...

Agassi is starting to look like skinny, less frightening Bas Rutten.