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opinionMet officials inconsistentBy JOHN WOOLARD of the Journal staffOne might think, or hope, that a city tennis tournament like the Metropolitan tournament currently being played at Lunken Playfield would be free of controversy.After all, when Greater Cincinnati's top male and female tennis players get together to play for no prize money in a tournament sponsored by the Cincinnati Recreation Commission, the least we can expect is a smooth operation and consistent behavior by those involved with it.Unfortunately, we haven’t been so lucky,RECENTLY, JOHN M1RLISENA, the Met’s fifth-seeded mens singles player, quit the tournament in protest when Met officials allowed third-seeded Steve Brown back in the tournament after Brown forfeited a match for not showing up on time. Brown’s match was rescheduled and he defeated his opponent to advance to the next round. The rationale of the officials was that Brown’s opponent agreed to reschedule the match. But this was not an acceptable explanation for Mirlisena.“The tournament has always been run in an inconsistent manner,” said Mirlisena, who claims his main complaint is against head tournament referee Tom Price and tournament chairman Jim Housel.This is not an isolated incident. The rules are bent for some people and aren’t bent for others. This leads me to believe there are biased people running the tournament.“Every year players complain about the way the tournament is run, but nobody does anything about it,” Mirlisena added. “I just felt I had to stand up and do something.Mirlisena backed up his comments by pointing out that another seeded player from the western side of Cincinnati was forced to forfeit his first-round match in the Met when he couldn’t get his match changed to another day. Apparently, the wrong date for the Met's opening was mistakenly placed on the tournament’s registration form and the player made other commitments he couldn’t break during the time he was to play in the first-round. Despite this, he said, tournament officials would not reschedule his match.MIRLISENA THINKS this iswrong, and 1 agree with him. The Met has become a respected tournament and is popular Cincinnati summer entertainment, especially in a summer with a baseball strike. The Met’s rules should be enforced equitably, not selectively, one way or the other. Met officials need to catch up with their own tournament.Others competing in the Met won’t say it publicly, but several players concur with Mirlisena privately. In addition to questions about Brown being reinstated, a number of players question the way the tournament’s top seeds were handed out.The most unfortunate person in all of this is Steve Brown himself. As the tournament’s third-seed, he is obviously a very good tennis player capable of winning the tournament without help from its officials. However, if he happens to win tho singles title this year, there will always be those who will place an asterisk next to his name, saying he got preferential treatment.Mirlisena would not have dropped out. He was in Brown’s bracket and they more than likely would have played. It could have been -one of the Met’s most exciting matches but the fans were deprived of it when Mirlisena defaulted.In this way; the Met has been no different than baseball. As in other sports controversies, it is the innocent fan that suffers the most.But no matter how inconsistent and haphazard the Met tournamenthas been run, I wish Johnroger Am
Newspaper Details
Forest Hills Journal
Newtown, California, US
Fri, Jul 24, 1981
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
John M.
USA 20 Apr 2025
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Forest Hills Journal
