Crime in Sports - #87 - Liar, Liar, Life On Fire - The Aristocraticness of Roscoe Tanner

Episode Date: October 3, 2017

This week, we look at a country club frequenting, high society mingling, high stakes gambling, cocktail sipping, cocaine snorting, womanizing kind of guy. A wanna be James Bond that had neith...er the resources, nor brains to pul off that kind of lifestyle. He lied to everyone that he ever met, swindled money from anyone that he possibly could, and ruined every relationship that he ever had. He started with the best circumstances, and went downhill from there. Bad for him, and everyone that he ever encountered, but hilarious for us!Set a world record, ruin several marriages, then lie, cheat, and steal your way to prison with Roscoe "The Rocket" Tanner!!Check us out, every Tuesday. We will continue to bring you the biggest idiots in sports history!Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie WhismanDonate at...patreon.com/crimeinsports or with paypal.com using our email: crimeinsports@gmail.comCheck out or site: truecrimecomedyteam.comAll web support by Web and Writerwebandwriter.com or Facebook.com/webandwriterContact us on...twitter.com/crimeinsportscrimeinsports@gmail.comfacebook.com/Crimeinsportsinstagram.com/crimeinsports   See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey Prime members, you can listen to Crime and Sports early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. Discover all the best in audiobooks, podcasts, and originals featuring authentic Canadian voices and celebrity talent, like Brendan Fraser and Luke Kirby's latest sci-fi adventure, The Downloaded. A first listen is waiting for you when you start your free trial at audible.ca. on the Mr. Ballin Podcast, now available wherever you get your podcasts, you'll hear strange, dark, and mysterious stories about inexplicable encounters, shocking disappearances, true crime cases, and everything in between. So go listen to Mr. Ballin Podcast,
Starting point is 00:00:54 strange, dark, and mysterious stories on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome to Crime and Sports. Yay! Bullseye again with the yay. My name is James Petrigallo. I'm here with my co-host. I am Jimmy Westman. We're pumped, guys.
Starting point is 00:01:30 As usual, Crime and Sports back again. As always, we're never going to leave you. No. We're here, well, at least until we run out of criminal athletes, but that's a couple years away, so don't worry about that for now. We'll all be dead by then, right? Yeah. Let's look at it that way.
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Starting point is 00:02:52 So if you guys want to do that, no more too appreciative guys on the planet. It's true. And so we'd be very, very happy with that. But if not. You're putting gas in cars. That's right. And if not, eh, don't worry about it. It's fine.
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Starting point is 00:03:18 A real doozy. But before we get to that, we have an exciting announcement. Yes. No details for you guys yet. Details next week. Right. Chicago. Yes. Chicago, Illinois.
Starting point is 00:03:28 We are coming for you. Coming to your town. We're coming. We're going to be inside of you. Yeah. All over your face. Everywhere. We're coming to Beantown.
Starting point is 00:03:35 That's not Beantown. That's not Beantown. We're coming to Chicago. We're coming to find your oil. We're going to get your oil. No, there's no oil. There's no oil in Chicago. No.
Starting point is 00:03:42 We have been, we're going to be in Chicago on December 14th where we are going to be doing a live Crime in Sports podcast. Also a live Small Town Murder podcast, which is our other podcast you should be listening to. Same night in an awesome venue. They're going to be back-to-back shows like 7 o'clock and 9 o'clock or
Starting point is 00:04:00 whatever the times are. It's going to be awesome. We're going to announce venues and where you can get tickets for something so awesome like that next week. But get ready. Get excited. This week, go see us at the Hollywood Improv at Saturday. That's this Saturday at 8 o'clock. We are with Dan Cummins, October 7th.
Starting point is 00:04:19 Definitely. And get tickets fast because it's almost sold out. Yeah, so go do that. Let's pack it with crime and sports fans and Time Suck fans because Dan Cummins is terrific. Yeah, it's a good show. He deserves a big audience, too. Definitely. So listen to Time Suck also.
Starting point is 00:04:34 But never mind all of that stuff, guys. Never mind. Forget that. Forget all of that. We have a crazy, crazy story. A sport we've never covered. What? A sport we've never covered and an athlete that's kind of unlike.
Starting point is 00:04:48 What are we covering? Checkers? Did Bobby Fischer become a dick? Oh, we'll see. He played chess, Jimmy. Imagine if he was that famous for playing checkers. Yeah. I probably should have bridged those two before I mentioned Bobby Fischer.
Starting point is 00:05:01 I would love to see the documentary on that. Then Bobby did a double jump and was kinged. That would have been an amazing documentary. And after the game when he was beaten, he beaten that man as well. After his game. To a pulp. After the game when he was beaten by his 11-year-old
Starting point is 00:05:18 cousin. Right. Because it's checkers and anything can happen. He bashed him with a mini bat. No, this guy is like, it's very hard to explain him because he's not, we don't get many blue bloods in our, we don't get many blue blood athletes. Royals? We really, well, not even royal, but just, we don't get any kind of, just that blue blood rich, rich, let's get into it.
Starting point is 00:05:39 Let's just get into it with. Is this a Yale graduate? With Leonard Roscoe Tanner III. What? The third, Jimmy. He's a junior's junior. Leonard Roscoe Tanner III. What? The third, Jimmy. He's a junior's junior. He's a junior's junior. He's a double junior.
Starting point is 00:05:50 Junior cubed. Watch the fuck out, Dwight. Junior cubed. Junior cubed, baby. Wow, that is a serious junior right there. Leonard, we have never had a the third, I don't think. Not yet. We've had guys name their kids the third when they were the second.
Starting point is 00:06:02 Right. Or we've had guys name. When they were the first. We've had a guy name his sons the third and the fourth. Right. Because that's not how that shit works. Doesn't make sense. But this, we've never had – we've never had it come from a non-ridiculous place of that.
Starting point is 00:06:16 Not just like these people, which are just a prominent family that needs to pass their name along. These blue blood twats. Oh, God. Jesus. I hate these people more than anybody we've covered so far. But he goes by Roscoe. He loses the Leonard. Oh, he tries to keep it simple.
Starting point is 00:06:31 He drops the Leonard. He wants to associate with the simple folks. Leonard's his grandparents. That's why. Leonard's his dad and his grandfather. He's going to go by Roscoe because, you know, he's a little cooler than that. So Roscoe Tanner III. Heads up, Leonard.
Starting point is 00:06:44 Roscoe's not a cool name. It's a little cooler than that guy. So Roscoe Tanner III. Heads up, Leonard. Roscoe's not a cool name. It's not any cooler. I don't know if it was back then when he was born, way back on October 15th, 1951. It might have been cool then, but it's not cool now. Pick Leo, motherfucker. That's a cool name. He has a cool nickname later on. They call him the Rocket.
Starting point is 00:06:57 That's a cool name. And not Owen Hart, this one. Owen Hart's nickname, too, was the Rocket. Ishmael was the coolest Rocket. Yeah, the Rocket there. It was Owen Hart before it was Rocket Ishmael, too. Owen Hart had it first, man. That was late 80s. He was a Rocket. Ishmael was the coolest Rocket. Yeah, the Rocket there. It was Owen Hart before it was Rocket Ishmael, too. Owen Hart had it first, man. That was late 80s.
Starting point is 00:07:08 He was a Rocket. Ishmael still made it coolest. He did. He did. He was made a most prominent. But yes, the Rocket. For like two seasons, and then it was over. How quick did he watch out?
Starting point is 00:07:16 Yeah, they were like, hey, he lost like two-tenths of a second off his 40 times, so we don't care about him anymore. Who gives a fuck? Don't give a shit about him. You're not much of a Rocket anymore, sir. No, you're not. You are going to be a fourth receiver now. That's what you are. You're just a sad fourth
Starting point is 00:07:29 receiver. He's from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Okay. He's a Tennessee fellow and these are they're so rich that he is, this is ridiculous, they're so rich that he's from Tennessee, grew up in Tennessee and has no fucking southern accent. Really? That's how rich he is's from tennessee grew up in tennessee and has no fucking southern
Starting point is 00:07:45 accent really that's how rich he is wow if you grew up in chattanooga and you have zero detectable accent you're wealthy probably he bought he bought a non-regional diction yeah he has diction lessons and everything else uh his parents are very well to do uh leonard and anne taylor leonard and anne tanner very well to do uh his grandparents this is how well-to-do they were. His grandfather obviously was named Leonard. His grandmother's name, Lady Emily. Oh, she got a lady. She had lady in her name.
Starting point is 00:08:14 Jesus. So they're rich as shit. Yeah. Leonard's father, Leonard II, is a lawyer. He's a big-time lawyer. Very, very prominent lawyer. Very powerful. Very wealthy kind of guy.
Starting point is 00:08:25 He played tennis at the University of Chattanooga. Oh, shit. And he passes his love of tennis on to Roscoe. All right. Okay. Now, Leonard II, his dad here, he originally got – he had a law firm that he established, which was Tanner, Thrasher & Morgan. And then he made another law firm, Tanner and John. And then in 1980—
Starting point is 00:08:48 I just figured out what white people are doing. They are taking last names of prominent people and giving their children those first names. Because those that you just mentioned, Morgan, Thrasher, and Tanner, those are all white people first names now. Those are kids at soccer practice. Absolutely. That's exactly who they are. That's what they've been doing forever. They're just mixing Braxton and Hicks. Hunter and this one. It's all the same shit. It's all last names and they're making them first names.
Starting point is 00:09:14 Jackson. Super white last names and they're like, we can make them even whiter first names. If he's Tanner Hunter, holy shit, he's the latest man available. So that's who he has here. In 1980, his dad becomes. And by the way, black people started this.
Starting point is 00:09:29 So stop it. Black people have the coolest names. Well, yeah. And then sometimes. You're not getting. And then you get to Bricashaw. So it's really a crap shoot. I mean, honestly.
Starting point is 00:09:38 It's a crap shoot on both sides. Black people had the cool names and white people got jealous. That's what happened. They're like, we'll make last names, first names. No race has the high ground on this one, I'm going to say. We're just all terrible. We name each other all awful things. Let's just say that. The Bricashaw's pretty brutal.
Starting point is 00:09:51 The Bricashaw's bad. With a fucking apostrophe. That's awful. That's awful. Somebody really fucked up on that one, man, I got to say. They made a mistake. So his dad, like I said, 1980, he becomes president and CEO of Mitco, which is a company specializing in the manufacturing and sale of industrial tires around the world.
Starting point is 00:10:09 This is what rich people do. They now buy companies where they don't do shit and they just get checks every week. They just move shit. In 1987, he purchased Notat International Tire and he operated the business until he retired, basically. Tire companies make so much money. He's making a fortune. He owns two tire companies and had his own law firm. He's very, very wealthy, very prominent.
Starting point is 00:10:28 How many times do you go through tires on a car? You know what I mean? That's the most replaced part on your vehicle. And this is industrial tires. So this is going on trucks. Big trucks. Yeah, things like that. They're getting replaced a lot because they have to be by safety standards.
Starting point is 00:10:40 So when asked how he started playing tennis, let's find out with an in their own words. I was bored as fuck. I was real bored. In their own words early on, let's do this. Let's get into it. In their own words, quote, well, when I was six years old, my dad wanted me to be able to learn how to play tennis just so that I could play if I became a lawyer or something like that to do after work. Like a social game. There was about four or five of us that started taking lessons in tennis.
Starting point is 00:11:04 We did little league baseball. We played football together and everything else and we were really competitive and started playing tennis uh tougher and really enjoyed it and played it all the time okay so it's true it's bored as fuck bored as fuck just in case blue this is blue blood shit this is i mean my parents never did shit like this my parents were never like hey i'm gonna teach you this so later on we didn't so later on. In case you meet somebody professional that plays this shit on their lunch breaks as like a business growing thing. Well, when you're a lawyer and you go to the country
Starting point is 00:11:31 club, you might want to be, you know, people might want to offer you a social game of tennis. You may want to know how to play that. That's why he was like, my parents never ever did any of that shit. They're like, here's some food so you're not dead when you're older. That's what I got. That's your future.. They're like, here's some food so you're not dead when you're older. That's what I got. That's your future. My parents were like, here's how you
Starting point is 00:11:48 mop the floor in case you wind up at a country club mopping floors. You're definitely not going to be mopping. You're not going to be playing tennis there. I read that and I went, wow, we grew up really different. And how different is this than every other athlete we've covered either? No one was like, my father, you know what?
Starting point is 00:12:03 I got out of an Ivy League school, he expected this out of me. And instead, you know, I decided to rape 12 people. That never happens in every other story. My dad beat the shit out of me. We went to an Ivy League school and stole books so I could learn how to read. It's shit like that. Yes, exactly. Roscoe is left-handed, which is a big deal in tennis and every sport really.
Starting point is 00:12:22 It's hard to play somebody that's lefty. It's hard to box a southpaw. Left-handed basketball players go the way you're not expecting. Lefties can't use my fucking golf club. Hard to pitch to a left-handed batter. Lefties cause a problem because there's less of them basically and you don't see it as much. So tennis, just like
Starting point is 00:12:37 baseball or like golf, your ball is a little slice on it. Even football, I've seen you watch a lefty throw a ball. It doesn't look like a righty throw a ball. It's fucking weird. It's weird. The tip is pointed in the air. It's fucked up. There's some weird physics thing that they can't. I saw a thing with Steve Young once where he was saying how a lefty throws. And he said, you don't throw normal.
Starting point is 00:12:54 He goes, I know how a righty throws. I've looked at the motion. He goes, you flip it as a lefty. That's how you do it. You have to flip it. It's a weird. I'm like, why? It's the same thing. But when they throw as a lefty, something's off. You see it happen and you're just like, nope, that's not right. Which is great for baseball because it puts weird spin on shit. But basically every other sport, not except for tennis.
Starting point is 00:13:12 It's not bad. Now, if we know anything about tennis, Jimmy, what do you know about tennis? I know how to score it and I know how to play it. However, I don't give a fuck about it. No, I don't give two shits about tennis whatsoever. I know who Roger Federer is. Yes, and erotic. And erotic because a fuck about it. No, I don't give two shits about tennis whatsoever. I know who Roger Federer is. Yes, and erotic. And erotic because they fuck famous girls.
Starting point is 00:13:29 And I know from being a kid in the 80s who just had ESPN on 24 hours a day, I know like Agassi and Bjorn Borg and Yvonne Lendl. And Pete Sanfors. And Pete Sanfors and John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors and all those guys. I know those names. You know all those from the 80s. And I know fucking Anna Kournikova because she's hot as shit. And Monica Seles because she gets stabbed while she plays and screams.
Starting point is 00:13:50 Who was the chick with the big nose? I don't remember. Marina Navratilova? That's where I'm at. No. No? I can't remember her name. Who cares?
Starting point is 00:13:58 It might be Seles. It might be Seles. If you don't know tennis, we're not going to talk. This isn't going to be like cricket where we try to figure it out for 20 minutes because i think everyone around the world has seen tennis cricket's one of those things in the u.s where people are like i don't know what the fuck they're doing so we had to explain it and this it's kind of like tennis is pretty easy to figure out it's kind of like basketball it's like okay they run it down there they get in the hoop they get two points this is like if you get it past the guy you get
Starting point is 00:14:21 okay i get it it's that sort of thing thing. Here's how fucking important this big nose is in tennis. When I write big nose 10, it fills it in. Tennis player. There you go. Tennis, just a quick overview of tennis here. Basically, it's games and sets and matches, as you've heard, like an old cliche, game, set, match. That's where it fucking comes from. I'll give you the definition of a game, and then you can figure it out from there,
Starting point is 00:14:46 and then we're going to move on to shit that happened to this guy. A game consists of a sequence of points played with the same player serving. So that's it. If you have served, that's the only way you can score. You can't score unless you have served. Exactly. It's very, very easy to figure out. But you score weird amounts of points, too.
Starting point is 00:15:01 It's fucking strange. You score weird amounts of points, yeah. It's fucking strange. You score weird amounts of points, yeah. It's super strange. Yeah, it'll be like, because it'll be 15-love, 30, 40, it goes to. You get 15 points for the first one, 15 points for the second one. Then you only get 10? What? If at least three points have been scored by each player, making the player's scores equal at 40 apiece,
Starting point is 00:15:20 the score isn't 40-40, but rather deuce. Right. Because they both have the same thing. You have to win by two. Yeah. If at least three points have been scored by each side and a player has one more point than his opponent, then the game is advantage because you're trying to win, basically. You have to win by two.
Starting point is 00:15:36 It's pretty simple. Steffi Graf. Steffi Graf. That's our nose. There you go. Steffi Graf. That was like Martina Hingis. She's got a great body, but she's got a hell of a nose.
Starting point is 00:15:47 Holy hell, does she have a nose. That's a classy way to look at it, Jimmy. It's not bad. No, it sounds terrible. I saw a picture of him from 1963 when he was 12, and he's just this little blonde kid. It's a photo featured in a promotional brochure for the National 12 and Under Championships held at his home club.
Starting point is 00:16:07 They call it in Chattanooga, his home country club in Chattanooga. So embarrassing. Yeah. This is just, there's a guy, you know, Dick Stockton. Have you heard of him? Yes. The announcer. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:16:15 Dick Stockton. He played tennis. I played juniors with Tanner. He was a tennis player. Two years earlier and stayed at his home for the event and everything. So he knows Dick Stockton and we'll get some. He's a great fucking commentator. We're going to get some thoughts on Tanner from Dick Stockton later.
Starting point is 00:16:32 Tanner goes to the Baylor School. Not Baylor College where crazy shit happens. Headless basketball players are found. It's not Texas. It's not total scandal. We'll put it that way. It's an upper crust boarding school for rich twats is what it is. You just said upper crust. That's enough. That's it right there. It's a total scandal. We'll put it that way. It's an upper crust boarding school for rich twats is what it is. You just said upper crust.
Starting point is 00:16:46 That's enough. That's it right there. It's a boarding school. That's what you need to know. For rich twats. For rich little shit bag twats. I fucking hate these people. They give their fucking kids everything.
Starting point is 00:16:56 They set them up. Even if they don't say, oh, I'm going to give you a shit load of money. It doesn't matter because you have all your dad's fucking connections. You have everything. It's like people in showbiz. It's like, hey, I didn't help my kid at all. You don't think it fucking helped him that everyone knew that's your goddamn kid? You have everything. It's like people in showbiz. It's like, hey, I didn't help my kid at all. You don't think it fucking helped him that everyone knew that your goddamn kid, you fucking asshole. Crystalia. Did I say that? I didn't say that. OK, moving on.
Starting point is 00:17:12 So the Baylor School is founded in 1893 by John Roy Baylor. As you would imagine, he's a University of Virginia graduate. He established it as a college preparatory school for, quote, the young men of the city, which nowadays sounds like homeless gay people wandering around. That's what that sounds like. Like 16-year-old gay kids that got kicked out of their house. And they're young men of the city now, and we have to care for them or some shit. But apparently back then they went here. So it's a private, it's obviously a private school outskirts of Chattanooga.
Starting point is 00:17:45 It has a 690 acre campus, includes enrolled students from 6th to 12th grade. So much land. Including boarding students from grades 9 to 12. So you can send your kid just outside of town to stay there and get the fuck away from you. Because rich people, that's the other thing, they don't want anything to do with their kids. No, they want to talk to their fucking kids. Well, they want them to be successful so they can brag about it to their friends, but they don't actually interact with them. They don't do the work.
Starting point is 00:18:10 That's a fucking pain in the ass at that point. They hire people from other countries for that shit. What are we talking about? Busy moving tires. I don't have time to talk to fucking juniors, Junior. I don't have time to talk to the third over here. They have 148 member faculty. Wow.
Starting point is 00:18:24 Yeah, It's pretty fucking funny. They won... A Baylor student has won the Siemens Award for Advanced Placement in Math and Science. Like every year they win there. What a terrible award. That's a terrible... The Siemens Award.
Starting point is 00:18:39 Give me that Siemens Award for Advanced Placement. They have that at the AVNs too. Yeah, they have the same award there. That's sad. Prep School or the Porn Awards. One of the two. They're an athletic powerhouse, too. They're the best high school sports program in Tennessee. Of what?
Starting point is 00:18:53 In everything. Really? They are a top 25 nationwide high school sports program, according to Sports Illustrated. Wow. So they're that prominent. Yeah, it's incredible. They've won in the past. This article was a few years ago, but from this 21-year period they're talking about,
Starting point is 00:19:09 they won 157 state championships. Wow. 16 consecutive championships in women's golf. Can you imagine the amount of sad children that come out of this shit? Oh, they're so sad. My parents don't like me, but they sent me here. My parents don't like me, but they sent me here. My childhood was robbed by my parents forcing me to this fucking angry regiment of horse fucking pills.
Starting point is 00:19:32 To get out of my parents' house? Wait, to get out of the fucking house and have structure? I don't know about this structure, though, man. To have structure and have people you could have hung out and gone, that's a lot of acreage. You could have gone out and been smoking weed behind the trees. I had a great fucking time there. Yeah, but these kids aren't smoking weed out there. Yeah, they are. You think so?
Starting point is 00:19:48 Yeah, they are. Yeah. Shit, yeah. Fuck yeah. You ever seen Outside Providence? Kids in private school are smoking weed. Absolutely, damn it. I always picture it like the movie Toy Soldiers with Sean Astin.
Starting point is 00:19:58 And I was like, I think I can get involved in that. If anybody comes in, we can arm ourselves and hold them off. I picture it more like sleepers. Like there's problems going on. That's much worse. Yeah, that's a way. They're also good at – they've been named – repeatedly named national champions for both men's and women's swimming by Swimming World magazine. They're very good at pansy sports.
Starting point is 00:20:19 Basically nothing that minorities play. They're like, what sport don't minorities play? We're going to be good at that. What ones can't they afford? Those are the ones we'll do. Otherwise, we're all half inbred. Our hamstrings are too short. We can't jump or anything like that. But you fucking throw us in a pool and our little weird inbred webbed fingers will pull
Starting point is 00:20:38 us through that shit no problem. We'll do that. They swim to survive and we swim for fun. Yeah, exactly. We're going to win. Absolutely. Not football or anything like that. do that they swim to survive and we swim for fun yeah exactly we're gonna win absolutely they're so yeah no football or anything like that they don't do any of that see that's where i was going like i'm picturing no no no no not very good at basketball oh this fucking chocolate no there's no way that these these chocolate eating fucks are beating jamal on the court. Definitely not. It's not going to happen. The 2017-2018 Baylor tuition is for day students, it's $25,000 a year. What?
Starting point is 00:21:12 And it's $50,000 for boarding students. For high school. For high school. Holy shit. $54,000 for international boarding students if you want to come in from the outside. Yeah, they also offer need-based financial aid, which I'm sure they give out generously. Yeah, I'm sure. Very sarcastic.
Starting point is 00:21:29 Yeah. Alumni from this high school include a bunch of lawyers and upper-crust people you've never heard of and just prominent business people. Twats, basically. And Hugh Beaumont, the dad on Leave it to Beaver. What? He also went here. Wow.
Starting point is 00:21:43 Hugh Beaumont went here with his pipe and everything. Yeah. So Roscoe, though, begins playing on the varsity tennis team in the eighth grade. By the time he's a junior and senior, he's captain of the team. He receives the Senior Tennis Award. Also an honor roll student. The golden racket. The golden racket.
Starting point is 00:22:01 Also an honor roll student. A member of the Gary Rifles and the Bradford Guard and the French Club and the Business Club, and was on the staff of the Berlin Notes. He has a friend whose first name is Bradford, too. Yeah, you know he's got a friend named Bradford. And he probably jammed a tennis racket up that kid's ass. Oh, I'm sure there was massive hazing in this. The hazing has to be insane.
Starting point is 00:22:23 Oh, God, you get rich white kids together in a room, they're going to stick things up each other's asses. That's what's going to happen. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. White kids enjoy a little bit of ass torture. Every dorm should have one black kid in there. You ain't sticking that shit up my ass. Get the fuck away from me.
Starting point is 00:22:38 You motherfuckers are crazy. Get the fuck away from me. This is stupid. So I hope they're doing that. Let's find out Dick Stockton has some shit to say about Roscoe. Dick Stockton says, quote, he was the all-American boy. He was from a great family, and people loved to be around him. He was kind of like the Pied Piper.
Starting point is 00:22:54 He just drew people to him. The Pied Piper, that's a terrible thing. Wasn't the Pied Piper a terrible person? I don't know. Didn't it kill people? I don't know. I just know that people swarmed to them. I feel like the Pied Piper, like people paid. It's like a siren song type of deal. I don't know. Didn't it kill people? I don't know. I just know that people swarmed to them. It's like a siren song type of deal.
Starting point is 00:23:08 I know that much, so I guess that's what he was going for. I thought he played up... Well, you know what? If Pied Piper's a bad guy, then Dick Stockton is more clairvoyant than anybody would have fucking known, because we're going to find out some bad shit about Roscoe here. Stockton played doubles with him when they were kind of semi-pros here.
Starting point is 00:23:24 Dick Stockton's wife Liz said quote he never lived in the real world that most of us lived in. Looking back I'd say entitlement has a lot to do with it. No. A little bit. Shit. They wanted him to go to like a local school to play tennis like maybe like where his dad went. He says I'm going
Starting point is 00:23:40 to Stanford. Wow. So I'm going to go get some West Coast Ivy League up my ass here. But Stanford was not a good tennis program when he went. They were all like, what are you doing? You're going to a shit tennis program. But he basically, 69. Okay. 1969.
Starting point is 00:23:54 So, I mean, he's going to Northern California in 1969, but he's not going to be like a hippie or have any fun. He's going to play tennis at Stanford. So it's a little bit different with the rest of the blue blood twats. So he's there. He turns the program into a contender. He's that good. He earned All-America status for three straight years.
Starting point is 00:24:14 They basically became a national powerhouse in tennis after that. They would produce 17 NCAA Division I men's title teams. Also would draw in guys like John McEnroe to come to Stanford after him. How about that? Because it was a prominent tennis program at that point.
Starting point is 00:24:28 The inception of Stanford is a really weird story. I've actually heard some shit about it. It's a fascinating story. I forget it, but it's fucking good. I promise you it's a good story. Bro, you totally had to be there. That is 100% the best. That is good podcasting right there, Jimmy.
Starting point is 00:24:47 That's what I would call good podcasting. I have a story. I don't remember it. I don't remember it. It's good, I swear. Amazing. That is awesome. But their fucking mascot is a tree.
Starting point is 00:24:57 That's the worst part about that school. That's your mascot, a fucking tree? And it's a redwood. Like, that's their... That is it, yeah. Fuck you and your tree. Stafford's a nice place, though. it's a redwood. Like, that's their, fuck you and your tree. Stafford's a nice place, though. It's a fascinating story. I'd like my daughter to go there one of these days.
Starting point is 00:25:11 It'd be good. So anyway, he's there, like I said, all of this. Now, his coach, Gould, just loves him. I just did that. It was fucking hilarious. I loved it. Gould said, quote, he started this whole damn program. Really?
Starting point is 00:25:26 He started this whole damn program. That's our boy. Yeah. He said, quote, he was an honorable, fun guy, one of the nicest guys who ever played for me. But he brought things on himself. And once the spiral began, it wouldn't stop. So let's get some foreshadowing on here. Now, before he came into Stanford, too, they hadn't won any NCAA team championships.
Starting point is 00:25:47 Nothing. So he came in and all of a sudden they were a powerhouse here. 1969, he plays in the U.S. Open because back then he could just play in the U.S. Open. He loses in the first round there. 1970, he's in the U.S. Amateur Tennis Championships organized by the U.S. Tennis Association. This was the third year of this tournament. In 68, Arthur Ashe won it. Oh.
Starting point is 00:26:08 So this was kind of becoming a cool tournament. And then Arthur Ashe went on from that to winning the US Open in the same year, which was a big deal to go from the amateur to that. He died of AIDS, yes? Yes. I was going to say, Arthur Ashe, what do you know about him? Before even tennis, AIDS comes up. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:26:25 Yeah. It's just one of those things. I just go, died of AIDS, and then what? Oh, he played tennis for a while. Oh, that too. Yeah, that's why we know he died of AIDS, because he played tennis. That's great. But we don't associate tennis until after AIDS.
Starting point is 00:26:39 That's embarrassing. That's correct. We're assholes. Well, we're just, that's what it is. I'm just saying, not just me and you fucking everybody, because anybody that just heard Arthur Ashe just went, died of AIDS. Yeah, well, more famous people I know
Starting point is 00:26:51 played tennis than died of AIDS, so that's what I think it is. Like, that's more of a sore thumb sticking out. No pun intended, I guess. A sore thumb would be a pun for that, but whatever. So, Roscoe in the USA. And then the third thing is Black Guy. Like, that whatever. So, Roscoe in the U.S.A. And then the third thing is black guy.
Starting point is 00:27:08 Like, that's, like, black guy and activist. People, like, he went out of his way for civil rights and stuff. But that's after AIDS. That's after AIDS, yeah. AIDS, tennis. But he happened to be an amazing person. AIDS, tennis,
Starting point is 00:27:23 activist. That's what you know. AIDS, tennis, black guy, amazing, amazing person. AIDS tennis activist. That's what you know. Right on, right away. AIDS tennis black guy activist amazing person is fifth. You know what? I'm going to say, wait a second. I'm going to fix this here. Black guy is second. Because you'd say AIDS.
Starting point is 00:27:36 Wasn't he the black guy who played tennis? So you'd say black guy first before you officially said tennis. That's how I think it would go. And then white people go, pain in the ass activist. And they'd be like, oh yeah, that guy there. Yeah, son of a bitch. I feel like that's what it is. I feel like it's
Starting point is 00:27:53 AIDS black tennis, I feel like is the thing. And then everything else after that. Poor Arthur. We are ruining his legacy. You're going to die worse than him over there. Oh, man. So he's in the U.S. Amateur Championships in 70. He goes all the way to the finals.
Starting point is 00:28:17 He faces a guy named Rahoon Rahim. He's a Pakistani guy who played at UCLA at the time with Jimmy Connors, who played there. Another famous champion. In July of 77, seven years later, Rahim would become the highest ranked Pakistani-born tennis player ever at number 44. Roscoe beats him in a tough match.
Starting point is 00:28:38 Between who? I don't know how many there are, really. His whole family was... God, I looked for an hour about this fucking guy. I don't sleep. I'm like, I gotta find whole family was into it. God, I looked for an hour about this fucking guy. Really? I mean, I don't sleep. I'm like, I got to find out all about him so I can say one line. I know all about his family.
Starting point is 00:28:51 Did you know his family for three generations were into nothing but tennis? Really? Even though his father wasn't a rich, prominent guy, he made all of his sons play tennis. He had like eight sons. They all had to play tennis. Wow. And this guy ended up at UCLA. That's pretty impressive.
Starting point is 00:29:03 Why not? Nobody ever heard of the rest of his fucking family. Not at all. Roscoe beats him. Tough match here. 3-6, 2-6, 6-1, 8-6, 10-8. Those are sets right there. Look at that.
Starting point is 00:29:15 That's how we're going to score this bitch right there. He plays in the U.S. Open that year, loses in the second round. So first year, first round, second year, second round. That's pretty incredible to be 19, 20 years old and playing in the U.S. Open. Yeah, I would say. That's incredible. Ballsy. Shit, Arthur Ashe won it.
Starting point is 00:29:29 Yeah. So 1971, he's a runner-up in two doubles tournaments, one in Cincinnati, one in Columbus. Ohio, by the way, so much tennis being played in Ohio in the 70s and 80s. Holy shit. Half the shit is in Ohio for some reason. That's amazing. Columbus, Cincinnati, all over the place. His partners there were his college teammate, Sandy Meyer, who pops up here and there.
Starting point is 00:29:52 And then he was a runner-up with Jimmy Connors as his double partner once, which is pretty interesting. 1972, he turns professional after his junior year. I don't think it mattered for college because it's not like he couldn't afford to go there. Anyway, he is a runner-up in two singles tournaments, one in Albany, New York, and one in L.A. He loses to Jimmy Connors and Stan Smith. Pretty damn good. Yeah, he's going to run into Stan Smith a lot.
Starting point is 00:30:18 Stan Smith, not the dad on South Park, the guy with the Adidas, the guy with the old-school Adidas. His and Rod Laver are the two. Those Lavers are so badass. Yeah, those are the two there. I love them. One of these is on a hard surface. One of them is on carpet. I guess they used to play on carpet.
Starting point is 00:30:34 Apparently so. Apparently they said his game really. That's indoors, right? On the carpet? I'm pretty sure, yeah, because they have tennis facilities where they have a whole bunch. You don't want to play outdoor on tennis? They have clay. I'm saying outdoor carpet tennis. I always think the clay looked crazy. I'm like, they yeah, because they have tennis facilities where they have a whole bunch. You don't want to play outdoor on tennis? They have clay. I'm saying outdoor carpet tennis.
Starting point is 00:30:46 I always think the clay looked crazy. I'm like, they're playing on clay? And you see them just slide? Sliding. Yeah, they plant their foot and slide. What are they doing out there? This is crazy. They got a tear of fucking Achilles.
Starting point is 00:30:56 It looks insane. I remember the French Open highlights when I was a kid. I'm like, what the fuck are they doing? It looks so dirty and gross, too. Yeah, it looks terrible. Anyway, they say his game translated well to the professional level. It's kind of like in basketball, sometimes their game doesn't translate from college to the pros. His does.
Starting point is 00:31:12 That happens. Yeah. This year, he's a 20-year-old junior, and he reaches the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open. He's a lefty, and that serve boy is nasty. We'll get into how nasty it is, but it is amazing, his serve. Uh, he's a lefty and that serve boy is nasty. He has the net. We'll get into how nasty it is, but it is amazing. His serve, uh, guy, the way when they translate, when they don't translate from college to pro, nothing is more funnier when it, when it happens in football, nothing's more fun. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:37 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:37 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's the most fun. Like that guy looks like he doesn't know what he's doing. Duck face or dick face from Florida. What was his name? The fucking religious guy. Tim Tebow.
Starting point is 00:31:48 Tim Tebow, Manziel. I can't get enough of that. There's five every year. Of course. But the biggest ones are the most fucking fun to watch. There's a guy named Steve Flink, who is a terrible name. He's a senior correspondent for Tennis Week. He said that about
Starting point is 00:32:04 Roscoe, he says, quote, at the time it was the biggest serve in the game. He's a senior correspondent for Tennis Week. He said that about Roscoe, he says, quote, at the time, it was the biggest serve in the game. He had a very low toss. He almost caught it on the way up. He was a good volleyer but never had great ground strokes. Still a very solid player. That's his professional analysis of him. He plays that year in
Starting point is 00:32:19 Wimbledon also for the first year and loses in the third round, but at least he made it a little bit. That's in England. That's in England. It's an English tournament. Yes, it is. He plays in the U.S. the first year and loses in the third round but at least he made it a little bit that's in england that's in england it's an english tournament yes it is he plays in the u.s open that year loses in the quarterfinal so he's stepping his way up there 1973 he meets a woman he meets his later to be his wife named nancy uh they meet at stanford and he would constantly cheat on her absolutely constantly constantly cheat on this poor woman. Of course. For a while until she gets sick of it.
Starting point is 00:32:48 Then he finds someone else to constantly, constantly cheat on. Patterns this guy has in his life. He graduates college in 1973 with a political science degree. Good for him. He's the runner-up in a singles tournament in Milan on carpet. So, Lovey's going to Milan. Look at that, Thurston. Lovey, you bet. Thurston Howell III carpet so lovey's going to milan look at that lovey you've got thurston howell the third over here he's going to milan wonderful uh he loses
Starting point is 00:33:12 in the third round of the u.s open and wins a doubles tournament in denver with arthur ash really uh so yeah look at that he played with arthur ash multiple times over the 70s tons of times uh they both went to stanford sounds like they wrong guy. No, they didn't go to Stanford. He went to UCLA. I'm sorry. Sounds like the wrong guy got AIDS. Yeah, I would prefer this guy got AIDS. We'll put it that way.
Starting point is 00:33:31 Raymond Moore, who's his former doubles partner, he said, quote, he was a clean cut, good looking, all American kid. He could charm the pants off of people. Sounds like he did that a few times. That's what he's doing. He's charming the pants off everybody. God, wait till you hear what he gets into. Jesus, he's such a fucking idiot.
Starting point is 00:33:46 I swear to God. This episode is one where I'm just shaking my head the whole time going, you have every opportunity. Because sometimes we get these guys where you're like, we know their upbringing. And we're like, well, fuck, yeah, he never had a chance. Like, it sucks. I feel bad for him. But hey, you know, he can't be a dick to everybody. This guy, you're like, you had to work hard to fuck up.
Starting point is 00:34:08 Like you, you had to work to the point where not even your family connections, nothing. I mean, you know how far out on the ledge you have to fucking go. You gotta burn all those bridges. Yeah. Oh my God. 74. He loses a singles tournament to Rod Laver. Okay.
Starting point is 00:34:23 He's in Palm Desert. He's the runner up there. Wins a singles tournament in Denver versus Arthur Ashe in straight sets, too. 6-2, 6-4. Yeah. He's runner-up in two more tournaments that year, one in Columbus and one in Maui. Very different environments there. He wins a singles tourney in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Starting point is 00:34:39 Wow. 6-4, 6-2. Plays in the French Open. Loses in the first round. Wimbledon loses in the fourth round. U.S. Open loses in the semis that year. And he wins five doubles tournaments all over the world that year. In his early fucking 20s.
Starting point is 00:34:52 Two with Arthur Ashe. Unbelievable. So he's building it. He's really doing it. His father does not support him playing pro tennis, by the way. Really? No, that's not a blue blood thing to do. You don't go out there and run around and get sweaty.
Starting point is 00:35:06 You watch other people do that. This is a gentleman's sport. You do this to build business relations. That's all. You do that. You watch other people do it, and then you clap lightly to not make them feel too good about themselves. You're very quiet when they hold up the sign.
Starting point is 00:35:19 He said that his dad didn't want his dad meddling in any of this shit, and he said, quote, Dad, leave me to figure out tennis for myself. If I don't get better, I'll quit. But if I win a national title, you have to buy me a car, he said to him. And he said his dad didn't get him four cars, though, because he won four. He said, never got me the four. He said, I got one, a used Pontiac, a used white Pontiac Tempest, which is, I believe, the car that the real murderer is used in My Cousin Vinny.
Starting point is 00:35:45 A Pontiac Tempest. I think it was a metallic mint green Pontiac Tempest, if I'm not mistaken. If you don't know when Crystal Pepsi was discontinued, what was in Al Capone's vault, or which famous meteorologist is Lenny Kravitz's second cousin, then you haven't spent enough time on Wikipedia. But that's okay.
Starting point is 00:36:03 I am here for you. I'm Darcy Carden, and I'm inviting you to listen to my new podcast, WikiHole from Smartless Media. Discover the craziest rabbit holes on Wikipedia with me and my funny friends as we bring the cyber frontier directly to your tympanic membrane. And if you listen to my podcast, you'd learn that that's the science-y term for eardrum. We embark on a hyperlink rollercoaster as we start out on a Wikipedia page and go from link to link to link to link, careening through trivia, oddities, and unexpected connections until we collectively shout,
Starting point is 00:36:37 How the hell did we get here? Follow WikiHole on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to WikiHole ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Taylor Swift is soaring high. Her every move captured in the news cycle and devoured by her devoted fans. She's broken billboard records and made Grammys history, not to mention becoming a billionaire in the process. history, not to mention becoming a billionaire in the process. But along the way, Taylor has had to wage war, first by taking on a very powerful, very famous manager, Scooter Braun, and then by going up against the biggest live events company, Ticketmaster. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of
Starting point is 00:37:17 Wondery Show Business Wars. We go deep into some of the biggest corporate rivalries of all time, and in our latest season, Taylor Swift will shake up not only the music business, but Hollywood and the NFL. Follow Business Wars wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. And now back to the show. 1975, he's runner-up in four singles tournaments, including one in L.A. that Arthur Ashe won. He lost to him.
Starting point is 00:37:48 Wins two tournaments, one on hard, one on carpet in Vegas and New York. Plays in the French Open. Loses in the third round. Loses in the semifinals in Wimbledon. Loses in the third round at the U.S. Open and wins a doubles tournament in Nottingham. Very nice. Very nice place to win a doubles tournament. It's wonderful there.
Starting point is 00:38:06 1976. He's tennising it up, baby. We're going to get to so much crime here. So much fuckery. The noodnickery here is thick like... I want tennis to go away fast. It's like cold butter. Oh, I'm buzzing through the tennis. The tennis is such a small
Starting point is 00:38:21 part of this story, it's not even funny here. 76, he is runner-up in four singles tournaments that year, two of them to Jimmy Connors. So he gets beat by Connors, whatever. He wins five, though, in Cincinnati, Columbus, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Beckenham, U.K. In the U.K., he beats Jimmy Connors. How about that?
Starting point is 00:38:41 So good for him. Gets some revenge. Loses at Wimbledon in the semifinals. Loses in the fourth round at the U.S. Open. And he wins five doubles tournaments. Wow. A couple of them with Dick Stockton. Look at this.
Starting point is 00:38:53 So look at him. He's doing well. He starts getting endorsements at this point. Sergio Ticini Sportswear. That sounds like such a 70s company. Sounds like they have zippers all over them or some goofy shit like that. PDP Rackets, which they make
Starting point is 00:39:07 his model racket, which you can still get, which is pretty fucking cool while you get an old version, but you can get it. With the broad-laver shoes. Yeah, and pony shoes. Ponies.
Starting point is 00:39:15 Ponies? Ponies. The worst shoe. Just under ruse, which are the other, the shoes with zippers all over. The most horrible shoe ever. Pony.
Starting point is 00:39:24 Unbelievable. It's so funny. In footage I've seen to him, he's fucking rocking those white high-top ponies like nobody's business. So, yeah, he's got endorsements. I mean, Jesus Christ, man. He's killing it right now. He's top of the world right here. This is good shit, and this isn't even grace by any means.
Starting point is 00:39:37 Really? Dick Stockton said, quote, that was a ton of money in those days. He had it all going for him, but he was always a little suspicious with that smile on his face he might tell you one thing and five minutes later it was a different story he told people what they wanted to hear yeah and here comes he's a con man yeah before anything yeah by the way through this whole time he loves his main loves are uh cheating on his pussy on his wife uh womanizing yep gambling yeah drinking yep. Yeah. Drinking. Yep. And oh, sweet cocaine. He loves it all. The five pack right there.
Starting point is 00:40:08 He's essentially a fucking rich white guy. That's what he loves. He is a rich white guy. Exactly. He's doing everything that rich white guys do. He loves to do all that. She thinks he's James Bond, this fucking guy. That's what it is.
Starting point is 00:40:19 Because you'll see, like, he thinks he's Mr. International. Plus cocaine. Plus cocaine. I don't know if Bond did cocaine. Mr. Bond. No, no, no, no. Although maybe, because he had a lot of energy, James Bond. He did a lot of shit.
Starting point is 00:40:27 When did he sleep? He never got shot either. When did he sleep? I never saw Bond sleeping that much anyway. He's always fucking women. He's fucking, he's not sleeping. Constantly fucking. He's gunfighting, he's running. The only way to fuck that much is with cocaine. That's what I'm saying. You can't finish. You just gotta
Starting point is 00:40:44 constantly be cocaine. Keep's what I'm saying. See, lots of cocaine. You can't finish. You just got to constantly be coked out. Keep it up. So 1977, this begins his big ascent into greatness here. January 1907 at the Australian Open. This is a major event, a grand slam. The grand slams are Australian Open, U.S. Open, French Open, and Wimbledon. Those are the four big ones. Where do they play that in Australia?
Starting point is 00:41:02 Is it Sydney? I think it's Sydney, yes. They might actually have matches in different places there because they're over the course of a little bit of time here. But it's on the east side of the country. I believe it is, yeah. I would imagine. It's not in Perth. You know what I mean? So they let the Australian open.
Starting point is 00:41:19 He goes all the way to the finals up here and beats Guillermo Villas of Argentina in three sets, three straight sets in the final 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. And he has a Grand Slam title. Now, that's immortalized. That's like, yeah, you win a Grand Slam title. That's your claim to fame forever. That's not some shitty tournament right there. I've never heard of this fuck. Never heard of Roscoe Tanner, huh?
Starting point is 00:41:43 You know, here's a fact for you. In 1988, there was a poll. I don't know who did the poll, but he was the number four, a poll for women, the number four most liked athlete by women in the United States. Is that right? Wayne Gretzky was number five. He was number four. In 1988?
Starting point is 00:42:00 1988. Who the fuck else was there out there? Joe Montana. I don't know, I guess. John Elway. Dan Marino. Dan Mar there? Joe Montana. I don't know, I guess. John Elway. Dan Marino. Dan Marino probably. Yeah, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:42:09 I can't think of anyone. Larry Bird? I don't think women like him. He was not a handsome man. No, he looks like a bowl of porridge. Yeah, he's pretty bleak in that face. And he had horrible hair. The worst hair.
Starting point is 00:42:23 It was bad stuff. That's the worst white man hair is that curly afro thing that he had. It was ugly. Is that even curly? I don't know what the hell it was. It's just a mess. It's just a fucking mop of awful. Yeah, it was a mop of awful, a blonde mop of awful.
Starting point is 00:42:37 So yeah, that's what I mean. People know of him and like him. He's basically lucky to be handsome in a time that nobody in sports was handsome. And yeah, he's not even that handsome, honestly. He's just kind of clean-cut looking. That's what it is. He looks clean-cut. That year, 77, after he wins the Australian Open, this is in January, he wins the Open.
Starting point is 00:42:55 He is runner-up in two tournaments in New Jersey and Las Vegas. One of them to Vias. Vias' revenge, I guess, and one to Jimmy Connors. He wins a singles tournament in Sydney and loses in Wimbledon in the first round, which, not to expect that after the guy just won the Australian Open.
Starting point is 00:43:12 August 23, 1977, he is ranked number 14 for doubles in the entire world. How about that? That's his highest career doubles ranking. Peter Bodo of Tennis Magazine said, and this is good about him, this is kind of really this really sums him up he said quote he wasn't a cheater on the court but there were a
Starting point is 00:43:30 number of people who weren't crazy about him he had that high giggle something off the mark roscoe wouldn't always say what he was actually thinking you would hear things though the rumor at the time was that he was a womanizer well that he that's an understatement yeah also to a gambler a drunk and a cokehead, you can add in there also. And kind of an asshole on top of that. He's probably just giggling maniacally about some girl in the front row
Starting point is 00:43:51 that's sitting with a dude that he's going to try and bang later. This is why I hate these blue blood fucks, because they're always giggling about something because the world is their fucking oyster. There's no consequences for it. Isn't this great? I don't have to worry about my bills
Starting point is 00:44:02 and there's no consequences. Hee, hee, hee, hee. I'd giggle fucking too. I'd giggle too. Wouldn't you? Jesus Christ. I'm the third. That's how rich I am.
Starting point is 00:44:11 Giggle, giggle, assholes. It's true. Whenever things good happen for the two of us, I giggle. Yeah. It's great. I go, how the fuck is this happening? This is crazy. It's his whole goddamn life.
Starting point is 00:44:19 It's every day for him. Every goddamn day. He wakes up and just goes, can you believe it? Can you believe I'm alive? I'm doing it again. I woke up. This is beautiful. Again. Wow. He wakes up and just goes, can you believe it? Can you believe I'm alive? I'm doing it again. I woke up. This is beautiful. Again.
Starting point is 00:44:27 Wow. Where's that cocaine? Fuck that. Where's the cocaine? That life sounds terrible. That year he also loses in the fourth round of the U.S. Open. In December of 77, they have another Australian Open for some goddamn reason. I don't know why they have it in January one year and December the next.
Starting point is 00:44:41 Who the fuck knows? Shit's backwards down there. I don't know what to tell you. They have another one here this time Roscoe and he comes back as the returning champion loses in the first round that's ugly after you just won the goddamn thing you're the guy you are the guy first round ko that's brutal yeah now 78 is when he now that got him famous the Australian Open thing because people just knew his name but 78 is when he really starts to be kind of pop culture famous yeah uh first of all he loses a singles tournament in philly's the runner-up to jimmy connor's and one tournament but that's not important because in february 78
Starting point is 00:45:14 that's when that this is his legend right here this cements it he serves in a tournament a 153 mile an hour serve 153 it's clocked at. It's the fastest serve in history. Still. Not still. Wasn't broken for over 25 years. Wow. That's how, man, we'll get into when it was broken. You know what I just thought of right now as you're talking about this, and you just
Starting point is 00:45:35 rattled off 1979? Yeah, 78 this is. 78. I mean, I was thinking about when you said in 69 he went to college right around, isn't that Vietnam time? Shouldn't he have gone to the fucking war? How many rich kids do you think went to... What the fuck? I hate this guy. Well, that's anyone who could afford
Starting point is 00:45:54 college. He just figured out He never even thought of that as a thing. I better go to college. Like, Vietnam? That's for fucking poor kids. That's for brown people who play those contact sports that I'm not interested in. That's for those people that play those contact sports that I'm not interested in. That's for those people that bang into each other and jump all around. So somehow he
Starting point is 00:46:09 figured out how to not have to go to the service. With their correct length hamstring muscles that allows them to jump. So they do a whole thing about how does his serve compare to other players? What does he do? And they basically said later on they do a thing
Starting point is 00:46:26 and they say his serve is a lot like Agassi's. It's the relationship. It's so weird. It's the relationship between the backswing and the drop, and it's all the scientific tennis shit that we don't care about at fucking all. They say an early release on the toss of the ball. The toss motion seems circular. The ball is thrown well ahead.
Starting point is 00:46:46 And he does a weird motion that shouldn't produce what it does, but it does basically. And he's a lefty, too. And he's a lefty. That's why it's funky, I think, too. It's like, who knows what's coming out of that goddamn thing. Now, he wins two more tournaments later that year in Palm Springs and New Orleans. Goes to the French Open and loses in the fourth round. So he gets a little further here.
Starting point is 00:47:05 Wimbledon loses in the fourth round. U. French Open and loses in the fourth round. So he gets a little further here. Wimbledon loses in the fourth round. U.S. Open loses in the fourth round. A lot of fourth round losses that year, but he set that record. So it didn't even goddamn matter. How many rounds are there in this shit? I believe there's six. I want to say. That's pretty decent.
Starting point is 00:47:17 Get to the fourth round of sixth round championship. I think there's six or it might be eight. I'm not sure. That's possible too. That seems like a lot of fucking tennis. That's so much. It goes on for days, Jimmy. I know. Just fucking days in the U.S. Open. It seems like a lot i didn't look at the tennis that's so much it goes on for days i know just fucking days i know it's open and it's so popular i know i've been in new york it's expensive it is i've been in the area i don't know how it
Starting point is 00:47:34 timed out but for some reason i was in the area of the u.s open yeah in like 2002 and it was a fucking nightmare there were so many people everywhere was like, why are you here to watch tennis? You all came to watch tennis? Really? Also around that time, in 2002, the tourism of New York was fucking enormous. People were like, oh, let's go see that Ground Zero. That's true, yeah. Like, that's a fucking bonding moment for people. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:47:57 So anyway, one more tournament that year. He wins a doubles tournament in Palm Springs with Raymond Moore of South Africa, which is probably the only whiter guy he could possibly fucking find. That's his last doubles tournament win. 1979. God, shit starts to get interesting for him here. He wins two tournaments here, both against a guy named Brian Gottfried, who doesn't sound like a professional athlete.
Starting point is 00:48:22 He's runner-up to John McEnroe in New Orleans in a tournament, runner-up to Peter Fleming in Cincinnati, and loses in the semifinals of the U.S. Open, but he goes to Wimbledon that year. Okay. And that's when shit gets crazy for him. Wimbledon that year, they first broadcast it the year before NBC did, and they were trying to figure out basically what to do with it.
Starting point is 00:48:42 What they would do is they would broadcast it before, but they would broadcast it, they do it in the morning. And then they would broadcast it late in the afternoon when people already knew what happened because the afternoon papers had come out back then. So they just knew. So Don Ulmeier, who I don't know if you've heard of, but he's a famous television executive, especially in sports. He comes in. NBC? NBC, yes.
Starting point is 00:49:02 Yeah, he comes in and his first year is in 78 and he says you know how long has this been going he didn't even know what it was he said how long has this been going on and someone told him oh only since 1877 don he was like oh shit my bad and he just bouncing that ball over that net and shit what's going on he just said well shit we got to show it live what are we doing here he's like this is ridiculous and they they kept telling him what that'll be on so early only the kids will be watching and no one will you know they'll watch cartoons you're not going to get anybody to watch this fucking thing so he said or they got an aid of his said they ended up coming up with breakfast at wimbledon which is what they ended up doing uh the only thing was they wanted a good finals match for
Starting point is 00:49:41 this they're like okay uh it's going to be bjorn borg he's a swedish guy and then they were was he yeah he was in case you were wondering in case you were wondering uh then they also had john mackinrow and so they were kind of maybe looking for a mackinrow borg you know type thing that sort of thing but instead they get roscoe tanner going all the way to the finals they're like all right fuck this isn't a prominent first you know guy name what do we do here they were were worried. They had five hours to fill. They were worried about literally the... because the
Starting point is 00:50:10 play is going on while they're doing their opening for the show. It all starts at the same time. So he was worried the match was... the first set was already going to be over. They were like, Jorg's going to kick this guy's ass in two fucking minutes and then what are we going to do? This is insane. We're going to go in halfway to a match and then we have to talk for four hours. We've got ratings and shit to worry about.
Starting point is 00:50:26 What do we do here? So what he does is he says, Ohlmeier goes to Donald Dell, who is a commentator and also Tanner's agent at the time, and this guy says he'll look into it, and what they do is they ask him if they could basically buy him an extra. They ask Dell and Tanner if they could buy him five minutes.
Starting point is 00:50:45 Will you buy him five minutes. Will you buy us five minutes? Will you stall? So what he says is, in their own words, quote, but I did it. I hid out in a toilet stall looking at my wristwatch while Peter Morgan searched the dressing room calling out, oh, Mr. Tanner, where are you, Mr. Tanner? We're ready for you.
Starting point is 00:50:59 Mr. Borg is ready. I told them I hadn't felt well. I'll never forget stepping onto that court. I had played on center, but this was the final. I was stepping into history. That doesn't matter. The important part is him sitting with his feet up on the toilet bowl, pretending like he wasn't fucking in there.
Starting point is 00:51:15 Did he say a portalette? No, a toilet bowl. A regular toilet. He's in the goddamn bathroom. All right. I pictured him in one of those blue herpy huts. No, no, no. He is absolutely 100% in the bathroom with the stall door closed with his feet up on the toilet.
Starting point is 00:51:28 Staring at his fucking watch counting five minutes. Well, they're going, Mr. Morgan. He's like trying to make fart noises like, I'm in here. It's not. Give me a minute. It's not going well. He's trying. Making stool in here.
Starting point is 00:51:40 Making stool. Oh, carry on, good fellow. Carry on, good chap. I'll go now. Having a movement. Having a movement. Are you all right then? So horrible.
Starting point is 00:51:52 Having my constitutional. So there's no delay of game for the stall stall. He literally stalled. He literally went into a stall. Maybe that's where the term came from. Maybe. Hiding in there. So there's an article about it.
Starting point is 00:52:09 It's like Tanner comes out of the closet. And I found this article halfway through. I'm like, he's fucking gay? Holy shit. Now the water closet. I was like, this story just got fucking amazing. You know what I mean? Like, fuck his whole life he was pretending into?
Starting point is 00:52:23 Fuck, this guy's crazy. This guy's got it. Man, I feel bad for him. He's out there just slanging dick trying to convince everybody he's straight. That's the thing. Shit. In the finals versus Borg, it's a really tough match that goes long. Borg actually said he had me scared.
Starting point is 00:52:42 And Tanner said, quote, my big chance came in the fifth. I had two break points. None of this makes sense. 15-40, and I hit a forehand down the line. Forehand passer down the line barely wide. Then I missed a volley. I may have played as well, beating Guillermo Villas for the
Starting point is 00:52:58 Australian title, but never better than this. And he lost. He loses to Borg. Best he ever played. Borg was nasty. I mean, Borg was a he ever played and he lost. Best he ever played. Borg was nasty. I mean, Borg was a top. You're playing with the top, top, top talent in the world. It's McEnroe or Connors or Borg or one of those guys. Did you say he had a break point?
Starting point is 00:53:12 Is that what it was? He said, yeah, he had two break points. Okay. I think that's when you are ahead 40-15. Yeah, 15-40. That's a game point. Like the next point you're going to win. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:53:22 And he blew it on two. Barely wide down the line and then he missed a volley. So he choked basically. He returns to the U.S. a well-known son of a bitch. That's awesome. He's a huge celebrity because Wimbledon was a big hit. And Donald Dell, his agent, said, quote, we did more deals for Roscoe than a lot of guys who won bigger. Everyone wanted him.
Starting point is 00:53:40 That was it. And this is when more rackets and clothing and endorsements and all this shit he did tv commercials he was on a fucking ivory soap commercial where he was talking about how 90 that's how white he is that's how white he is he's a he's a the third he went to boarding school and he literally was standing next to a bar of ivory soap going whiter than me amazing huh wow 99.44 pure how can it get whiter wow unbelievable it's white soap named after the color fucking white no shit he judged a missed usa contest yeah he was a judge there so and then fucked a few of them i'm sure not bad i'm sure it was uh july 7th 1977 there's a fluff piece on how now his dad believes in him.
Starting point is 00:54:25 Now his dad's on his side. His dad said, quote, It's difficult to express what this means to Mrs. Tanner and me because it's the culmination of efforts and desire that extends over a period approaching 20 years. In the early years, I never had any idea Roscoe would excel at a world level. I simply wanted him to be a good enough player to be known in the community and the South because I thought it would be a good thing for him as a lawyer to be known for something other than law. What a brilliant man.
Starting point is 00:54:50 He's so brilliant. He is. At the beginning of that quote, he calls his wife Mrs. Tanner first, and then he has the proper usage of Mrs. Tanner and me. That's not a Mrs. Tanner and I moment, and he fucking knew it. He knows his grammar. He went to the Baylor School. That's not a Mrs. Tanner and I moment. And he fucking knew it. He knows his grammar. He went to the Baylor School. That is incredible.
Starting point is 00:55:07 He said, quote, I wanted him to practice law with me. And I thought he would until he started to make his move internationally during his third year at Stanford. That's why he was saying before, like, quit this shit out. Go to law school and come fucking work in the office. Come hang with dad. Yeah, come on. I approve. Come with me.
Starting point is 00:55:22 Yeah, come with me. And he was like, no, I choose tennis over you. And he did it. July 27th, 1979. Roscoe appears on the goddamn Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. What? The pinnacle of American. He got on Johnny Carson?
Starting point is 00:55:36 The pinnacle of being accepted in America as a celebrity if you're on Johnny Carson. And he was guest number one on Johnny Carson. He was the first guy out on the chair, which is the most famous at the time. And then he was guest number one on Johnny Carson. He was the first guy out on the chair, which is the most famous at the time. And other guests on the show that night were Patty D'Arbenville, who's a TV actress. She's actually been in probably every show ever. I looked at her things. She was like, had a part in The Sopranos and a part on all the Law and Order and this and that.
Starting point is 00:55:58 She's been in, you've seen this woman a thousand times probably. And you don't even know it. And Richard fucking Pryor was on that show. Fucking Richard Pryor came out second. He came out second. I would pay anything to watch a conversation
Starting point is 00:56:11 between Roscoe and Richard Pryor. I would fucking pay for that. My father was a prominent attorney. My mom was a prostitute. I would fucking pay to see that shit, wouldn't you? How much would you pay to see that? I'd pay just to hear
Starting point is 00:56:24 the inner monologue of richard pryor what's going on yeah this motherfucker this motherfucker here wow unbelievable you hit out in the toilet you hit out in the toilet that's exactly that's the perfect richard pryor toilet by the way that was perfect i gotta give you a lot of credit on that shit. You told me you hid out and stalled in the toilet. Holy shit. Best part, in the toilet. Oh, man, that's beautiful, man. He sits down, Tanner, with Carson, and they talk about his commitment to staying focused during tennis games, the challenges of overly long games with good opponents, like these long battles. He's talked about how he was nervous at the 100th anniversary of Wimbledon in 1977.
Starting point is 00:57:05 He said how the queen was not impressed by the game, basically, in that. So he just basically talks about all this, his youth in Tennessee, blah, blah, blah, that sort of thing. And it's so funny because—and he also does a little demonstration of serving into the—he's serving on the studio floor. He did that on Carson? Yeah, like Letterman used to have Steve Young throw fucking footballs through a cab window. Jimmy Kimmel has a fucking scientist blow shit up. Yeah, it's kind of like that. He would have him demonstrate the serve in front of a poorly calibrated radar device,
Starting point is 00:57:35 but he still clocked in over 100, and Carson's attempts were below 60 miles an hour, even though Tanner was telling him what to do. My favorite was when Johnny Carson was throwing knives and shit with that. That was great. what to do. My favorite was when Johnny Carson was throwing knives and shit with that. That was great. That was amazing. And Richard Pryor came out and talked about how he's shitty at tennis and how he thinks it's weird that Hollywood actors, their egos make them think they're good athletes too.
Starting point is 00:57:55 And he's like, I ain't one of them. I know I suck at tennis. I'm not saying shit. That's hilarious. But he's smart. You told me your dad sold tires. My mom sold her pussy. Oh, God.
Starting point is 00:58:06 You know it, man. I want to be at that night so bad. I so want to be there. I just want to be in the green room. I want to be in between when they're on the couch and they lean over and whisper to each other. What the fuck do they have to say to each other? He said pussy the best way ever. He did.
Starting point is 00:58:19 He said it so fast. Pussy. Yeah. He took the U out and just meant PSSY. He was an innovator. He really was. Fucking amazing man. July 30th, 1979. This is a few days later. He is ranked number
Starting point is 00:58:33 four in the world. Wow. In the whole fucking world. Out of everybody. Number four. Highest career ranking. Let's say it now. Grace. Grace. This is Grace, everybody. The Tonight Show high ranking. Holy shit. Hanging with Pryor. Hanging with Pryor. This is Grace, everybody. The Tonight Show high ranking. Holy shit. Hanging with Pryor.
Starting point is 00:58:47 Hanging with Pryor. Not even as an equal, as a better than. Yeah, you come out after me. You're my second fiddle, Mr. Pryor. That's right. Take that. So early 80s here. I don't know exactly what this year was because I tried so hard, but I couldn't.
Starting point is 00:59:00 But I found this video. Was this the year that Pryor was in the toy? Was he promoting that maybe? I think that's 81. This is 79. He was Silver Streak maybe at that time. I just wish it was the toy because he was basically going as the toy to be this
Starting point is 00:59:17 fuck's son. Jackie Gleason played his dad. He was Leonard II. How awesome is it, the fucking ending of that kid that was in that movie's life. Because that kid is a porn star. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was in a shitload. He wasn't just in that.
Starting point is 00:59:31 He was in a ton in the mid-80s. And then started just fucking filming his cock. That's hysterical. I love it. Yeah, he should have definitely done that here. So, early 1980s, this TV show. I couldn't find shit about it, but it's a two-minute long clip. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:59:46 I don't know where the fuck it aired. I don't know who the guy hosting it was, but he looked like a pedophile. It was crazy. It was a TV show about how Roscoe has the fastest serve in the world. They put him in a lab-type environment. First, they sit him down on the tennis court, and he's in his white shorts, his pony sneakers. Frigging balls. And they ask him just some general tennis questions.
Starting point is 01:00:04 And he, oh, yes, well, you know, my father and blah, blah, blah. And then they bring him in a lab. And it's like a total 1981-looking lab. This shit looks like people have way better technology in their living rooms now than they had in this top high-tech lab. That whole lab is a giant computer. And that computer fits in your cell phone today. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:00:22 So they tell him to stand on this plate thing that measures force and service. I mean, this is old technology. What the fuck? They say they can measure precisely how much force is going out through this plate in the ground. What? Then there's the old man pedophile looking guy. He's also wearing, I don't know why, but he's wearing little tiny tennis shorts. Why are you wearing white tiny tennis shorts, you weird old pedophile?
Starting point is 01:00:44 You don't even have a racket, you weirdo. I get why Roscoe's wearing little tiny tennis shorts. Why are you wearing white tiny tennis shorts, you weird old pedophile? You don't even have a racket, you weirdo. I get why Roscoe's wearing them. He's a fucking tennis player. But this old creepy man doesn't need short shorts in the name of science. I don't think that's going to fucking help. I really don't. Just a thought, you know? I hope the cure for cancer is found by a man with his balls hanging out of his fucking bike shorts.
Starting point is 01:01:03 Of his fucking white shorts. Then he hits the ball. He does it. And then they cut to like a guy standing in front of a television screen, but it's like up high and he's like pointing at it. It's this weird, looks like an 80s computer screen monitor. And this guy excitedly sounds just like Borat. And he's giving the results and he goes,
Starting point is 01:01:24 the 349 pounds of the pressure. He's like hyper and you're like, giving the results and he goes, the 349 pounds of the pressure. He's like hyper and you're like, what the fuck is wrong with this guy? It was such... It's so much power. It's so much power. I don't know. My wife, she's about... So then the pedophile guy says,
Starting point is 01:01:39 of course you have to have the force coming from being planted on the ground because you can't shoot a cannon out of a canoe. And that's the end of the video. And I'm like, what the fuck did I just watch? Who did they film this for? Who are they showing that to? The ending line is something that doesn't make any fucking sense.
Starting point is 01:01:55 Literally, because you can't shoot a cannon out of a canoe. And he says that to Roscoe, and Roscoe just tilts his head and goes, yeah, I guess. I don't know. He's got a point. Fuck Dwight. I've got to go do some coke and cheat on my wife. I gotta get going now. Sorry, but I'm out. 1980, he's a runner
Starting point is 01:02:10 up to John McEnroe in a tournament. He beats Stan Smith in a tournament in Manchester. Loses in the quarterfinals of both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open that year. 1981, he's a runner up in three tournaments that year. Memphis, Tennessee, Bristol, UK, and Sydney, Australia.
Starting point is 01:02:26 Sydney, he lost to McEnroe. So that's honorable. That's fine. He wins a singles tournament in Philly. 1981 Davis Cup. You know what the Davis Cup is? It's like they do the same thing in golf. I think it's the Ryder Cup in golf where it's international teams.
Starting point is 01:02:39 It's that sort of thing. Everybody's playing against everybody, but it's like where you're from. Yeah, it's where you're from. It's very racist. Yeah, that's exactly it. Yeah, get those sons of bitches. Yeah, I don't like their ethnicity and their food sucks. You smell that shit they're cooking over there, it's gross. So the U.S. team is
Starting point is 01:02:53 Roscoe, John McEnroe, Arthur Ashe, Elliot Telcher, and Peter Fleming, who we talked about before. On December 11th in Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati was the finals. The U.S. defeats Argentina to become champions. So they won the Davis Cup.
Starting point is 01:03:12 They won. They won. The U.S. won the Davis Cup that year, so that was good. He is another trophy, I guess. Next, Grand Slams that year. Australian Open loses in the second round. Wimbledon also loses in the second round. U.S. Open, he loses in the quarterfinals.
Starting point is 01:03:27 So, you know, whatever. It's not going that great there. 1981, his wife, Nancy, gives birth to their daughter, Lauren, in Santa Barbara, California, where they are. This is, you know, things are going downhill in the career, but he's got a kid. But he's still living in Santa Barbara. He's killing it. He's still got a lot of money. He's got endorsements.
Starting point is 01:03:44 He's got all this type of shit. He's making good money. So, I mean, you know, he's doing fine. And this is, I mean, he's in his, what is he, 30? That's 30. He was born in 51. So he's 30 years old. So yeah, maybe he wants to have a family now, settle down. Can you imagine? Kind of slow down on tennis. Because you don't play tennis until you're 40, professionally. You just don't.
Starting point is 01:03:59 It's not a thing. Tennis is a 22-year-old man's sport. It just is. It's a Roger Federer sport. He's young. And women's tennis, unless you're Venus or Serena, that shit's like a 22-year-old man's sport. It just is. It's a Roger Federer sport. He's young. And women's tennis, unless you're Venus or Serena, that shit's like a 17-year-old girl's sport. You know, it's like that sort of thing. She's winning Grand Slams pregnant. That's so funny. She's just a fucking, doesn't even matter.
Starting point is 01:04:15 She's brutalizing people. What a fucking freak she is in terms of athleticism. Fucking amazing, isn't it? I'm blown away. So awesome to watch. Now, 82, he is a runner up in one tournament in california yeah does wimbledon loses in the fourth uh u.s open loses in the second round yeah uh he sustains an elbow injury after this uh hurts his elbow i guess he hurts his elbow and he loses his fastball
Starting point is 01:04:37 basically he can't serve the same anymore it's not the same it's and i guess you know you take 20 miles an hour off a serve it's you got a pitcher who throws 95, hurts his arm, he throws 88. Seven miles an hour doesn't seem like a lot, but that's the difference between swinging a miss and fucking in the fourth row. It's just the way it is. When everybody's so good, you're 1%. It's all minuscule. This guy makes this much of a mistake and that guy wins. It's just so top level.
Starting point is 01:05:04 Operation on sports, that's what happens. It's that little bit that guy wins. It's just so top level, you know? So 1983... Operational on sports, that's what happens. It's all like that, yeah. It's that little bit that fucking matters. That's what's separating great players from shit players. Everybody's got all the ability and everybody's got that. It's every little circumstance, every little thing. It's that little bit that
Starting point is 01:05:19 steroids fucking make you do. Yes. Oh, that's what he should have been doing. Royden, he could have went forever. Fix the elbow. Oh, fuck. Fucking have been firing 173 out of... A little bit of deer. Oh, that's what he should have been doing. Royden. He could have went forever. Fix the elbow. Fuck, could have been firing 173 out of it. A little bit of deer antler. He's in. Anyway, 1983, goes to the Australian Open, goes back there, hasn't been there in a few years, loses in the third round, better than the first.
Starting point is 01:05:37 Wimbledon, he loses in the quarterfinals, so he went pretty far. And U.S. Open, he loses in the third round. So, yeah, he begins also at this time seriously seeing a woman in Colorado while he's married. Oh, yeah, he's planning on leaving Nancy for this woman. He meets in Colorado. That's a thing. January 19th. At least she's in the country.
Starting point is 01:05:56 You know what I mean? She's in the country. He's been out of the country. That's true. He could have formed a solid relationship in South Africa. Yeah, you never know what he was doing. January 19th, 1984. He appears on a TV show I've never fucking heard of before.
Starting point is 01:06:09 It's a drama. It is called Auto Man. It is starring Desi Arnaz Jr. What? Desi Arnaz had a junior? Yeah, who do you think was born on I Love Lucy? Oh, that's a good point. That was Desi Arnaz Jr. that was born on I Love Lucy.
Starting point is 01:06:21 All right. He was on the show. How about that? That's this guy. So you've seen that baby on I Love Lucy if you watched that. He kept acting. His fuckhead, yeah. 25 years later.
Starting point is 01:06:29 His first gig. Here he is, an auto man. Jesus. Had Chuck Wagner and Heather McNair, whoever the fuck that is. The show description is, quote, a computer-generated superhero and his human creator fight crime in the city. Wow, does that sound like a 1984 piece of shit. Sounds like something they'd put out now because superheroes are so big.
Starting point is 01:06:50 They're like, auto-man will kill. And technology and all that kind of shit. But back then, that sounded terrible. Roscoe is in an episode called Flashes and Ashes. The description here is, Walter's friend Frank Cooney is killed by fellow cops who steal from an armory. However, they make it look like he was the thief. So Walter does his own investigation to prove otherwise.
Starting point is 01:07:11 You get in that shit, Desi Arnaz Jr. You fucking prove otherwise. You figure it out. Wow. So he's in that playing a tennis pro. Okay. Which seems like a perfect run. He looks like a tennis pro.
Starting point is 01:07:20 He's a tall, blonde guy. He's a tennis pro. He's only six foot, but still, he looks like a tennis bro he's a tall blonde guy he's a fuck he is a tennis pro he's only six foot but still he's a he looks like a tennis bro yeah absolutely and then desi arnaz jr he's probably fucking huge i can't imagine desi arnaz is very big no he's not he's not at all uh now that year after that he he makes his final appearance in a grand slam uh this is his grand slam swan song he enters the u.s open and loses in the first round whoopsie daisy that's that i guess and uh that's his last big tournament uh his career totals here we're done with tennis uh is uh 17 career singles titles 25 runner-ups one grand slam one grand slam runner-up 13 doubles
Starting point is 01:07:58 titles 17 runner-up as a professional he earned more than two million dollars just on tennis just from tennis. Not even on endorsements. And that's in 1984. That's amazing. So that's a shitload of money in 1984. That'll buy you a house in Santa Barbara for sure. Absolutely.
Starting point is 01:08:15 So he retires and immediately tells Nancy, I want a fucking divorce. Right away. Divorces his wife. I can't go get pussy anywhere else. So I'm going to have to quit this. I'm going to quit. The wait is over. So far, you're not losing. The only thing you're losing is my patience.
Starting point is 01:08:29 Quickly, I see that. Bing! The queen of the courtroom is back. I didn't do anything. You wouldn't know the truth if it came up and slapped you in the face. I see he's not intimidated by anything. I can fix that. New cases.
Starting point is 01:08:45 She wanted to fight me. Leave her alone. Okay, so, um... This is not a so. This is a period. Classic Judy. Did you sleep with her? Yes, Your Honor.
Starting point is 01:08:57 You married his cousin. His brother. That's not him. Yes, ma'am. I would make a beeline for the door. The Emmy Award- winning series returns. How did I know that? I have a crystal ball in my head.
Starting point is 01:09:11 It's an all new season. It's streaming. You can say anything. Judy Justice. Only on Freebie. And now back to the show. And now back to the show. But the Colorado woman he was ready to leave for ends up being pregnant.
Starting point is 01:09:36 Uh-oh. And according to Tanner, it's not his baby. Oh, okay. So he says, I'm fucking done with all of you. Don't want you either. Free agent is what he does. He goes off. He doesn't marry the Colorado woman. He still divorces Nancy.
Starting point is 01:09:48 Yeah. And now he's on his own. Oh, boy. Not for long. Don't worry. It won't last. And we'll find out later. Even if he's on his own, he'll never spend a night on his own.
Starting point is 01:09:57 And we'll find out why a little bit later. So, by the way, at this point, too, his mother, Ann, dies. Oh, no. Divorce. Relationship falls apart. Career over. Mother dead all in the same year. Oh, Jesus. This is a tough year. the way at this point too his mother ann dies so divorce relationship falls apart career over mother dead all in the same year this is a tough year and his mom and he was very close to his mom and uh he was uh i mean as close as you can be to a blue blood or you're not allowed to kiss on the
Starting point is 01:10:14 cheek or have any physical contact with you know that sort of thing he was close with the with the guatemalan nanny who held him up his mother said she looks beautiful love you and put him back down before he gets dirty that's you know you know, that sort of thing. Don't get your muck on him. Don't get muck on him, please. After this, you know, he's got shit ahead of him. Corporate spokesman. He can coach tennis anywhere he wants.
Starting point is 01:10:35 He can go be some fancy country club tennis pro. Go work for Penn somewhere. That's it, man. But after leaving the men's tour here, he just has a goddamn – it's just a disaster for him overall here. Dick Stockton, sir. I'm sorry. Dick Gould, who was that coach we talked about earlier, he said too many dicks back then. It's a lot of dicks.
Starting point is 01:10:54 There's a lot. One guy's name, by the way, who was in the Baylor School Hall of Fame athletically, his name was – I can't remember what his first name was. But his middle name – it says Happy in the middle, and his last name was Dix. He went by Happy Dix, this fucking guy. Happy Dix. This isn't in my notes. I just remembered it. Ah, the 60s.
Starting point is 01:11:12 Happy fucking Dix. Wow. So Dick Gould said, quote, Roscoe's greatness was that he saw his glass overflowing. He just couldn't understand that other athletes might be his equal. It was pure confidence. My feeling is that this also might have been his greatest weakness. He refused to see where the glass really was. And as one thing led to another, he'd say, I can get out of this and not accept responsibility.
Starting point is 01:11:34 That confidence turned into be his greatest enemy, which he sounds like a comedian at that point. Yeah, no doubt. He's delusional as fuck. He went out. He heard phantom laughs. He heard three laughs, and he's like, no, man, they get it. No, they didn't get it. No, those three people are trying to be nice to you.
Starting point is 01:11:46 Because this horse poop joke, it's going to kill. Sorry, Eric. I know he listens, and we love him to death. So you know who you are, and we love you, fucker. But we're going to pick on you for that forever. It's going to crush, I swear. They get it. They're going to relate.
Starting point is 01:12:00 No, they're not. No. So the divorce case gets nasty and bitter, as you might imagine, because he's been a shithead to her forever. Nancy is awarded their home in Montecito, a lump sum of half a million dollars, and monthly payments of $10,000 in child support and alimony. That is, she got him good. He divorced at the wrong time.
Starting point is 01:12:22 She nailed him, man. That's what happens when you get divorced in California. That's what he did. He made a couple mistakes. Also, too, he was just, I mean, I'm sure she said, I have evidence of you cheating on me before. What are you going to do, fight me? You've been a complete piece of shit, and I'm sitting here with my daughter.
Starting point is 01:12:36 What do you want from me? You know what I mean? He's like, oh, good point. What do you want from me? Fucking everything. Yeah. Over the next year, his net worth would dwindle down to about $100,000 out of this. 1984, late 1984, before the divorce is even dry, well, as it's drying, I should say, he
Starting point is 01:12:54 marries a woman named Charlotte Brady. Let's get married again. Yeah. So despite the fact that he's not a pro tennis player anymore, his name is a big deal. He does corporate outings and he gets five-figure paydays in the 80s for these sort of things. He runs clinics. It's that sort of thing. When he runs clinics, he tells stories.
Starting point is 01:13:13 Everyone likes him. He challenges people in the audience to return a serve. You guys want to give it a shot? He's that guy. I serve 152. Not anymore, fuckface. Yeah, absolutely. But he's still—
Starting point is 01:13:24 But it's still not... Yeah, it's still not... And he still wants that James Bond lifestyle also. So this is not great because he doesn't have that income anymore. He's got to impress the pants off of some ladies. That's it right there. His ex-wife here, Nancy, said, quote, he had the world in his hands. He chose to make major, major bad decisions.
Starting point is 01:13:40 To me, he became a narcissist and a pathological liar. 1985, he and Charlotte have a daughter, Tamara. He's close with Tamara, or Tamara, however you want to say it. He goes to her soccer games and tennis matches, helps her coaches her play tennis. He's apparently a really good dad. But at the same time, he's also scamming people out of money left and right, including Bjorn Borg. Really? He fucking scammed Bjorn Borg out of some money.
Starting point is 01:14:07 Yeah, he's just, it's all about right now, how do I get women, alcohol, cocaine, and gambling money? That's all his fucking life is about. That's it. James Bond, here I come. And Borg beat me, so I'm going to fucking steal from him. I'm going to steal from him. And I'm sure he came humble, and he was like, yeah, sure.
Starting point is 01:14:26 He said, bargain, big and bargain, and then he gave him the money. So in July 88, he conducts a fast-serve tennis clinic at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Hotel tennis courts for 25 participants. They paid $8 to participate, and Tanner told him the finer points of the game. He made $200. He made like $200 off of it. I think it was just, I think probably the hotel was paying him just a flat fee and whatever. And he wouldn't put it on the Dolphins. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:14:55 He says it's great, though. He's loving this. He says, I'm involved with tennis in a fun way. I get to go to great places and help a lot of people. It's like, this is great. I like to see people having fun with tennis. That's what it's all about. Great guy.
Starting point is 01:15:06 No, it's not. Loving his retirement. Hanging out with his kids. Everything's going so well right now. So great. 1990 has another daughter, Ann, with his wife, Charlotte. He's got to stop. So he's pumping out daughters like crazy.
Starting point is 01:15:18 1990 in June, there's a big fluff piece on him. He's the new head pro at the exclusive Sherwood Country Club in Lake Sherwood. So he's very exclusive here. This club has all million-dollar homes around it that they're building. So it's a totally new thing. It's got five courts, a tennis stadium, the whole deal. It's huge. They even offer clay courts there.
Starting point is 01:15:47 Wow. Clay grass and hard courts. How about this? It's going to be a tennis place. Tanner said, quote, the stadium is probably the prettiest I've ever seen. I think it's the best facility for tennis members that's ever been designed. Tennis players are going to be treated like golfers, which golfers pay a lot. Right until a fucking hurricane wipes it out.
Starting point is 01:16:04 Absolutely. But while he's doing this, he's doing tons of lot. Right until a fucking hurricane wipes it out. Absolutely. But while he's doing this, he's doing tons of cocaine. He's running up credit cards. He's living beyond his means because he's not making a ton of money. He's just doing all this. And as this goes, the corporate shit becomes scarcer and scarcer because his name is less and less. And yeah, he plays on a couple of senior circuit tennis things that we're talking about that
Starting point is 01:16:23 he's not going to live on that shit. 1992, he's inducted into the Baylor School's Hall of Fame. Wow. Look at that, with happy dicks. That's where I found him, on the list of alumni, because I had to search to find fucking Tanner. Was it the same class? No, no, a different class. It was like 64 or something.
Starting point is 01:16:39 I'm searching through Prep School Hall of Fame athlete to see if our guy is on there. Patreon.com slash private sports. When he was inducted, was it the same time? Did they both get inducted at the same time? I don't think same year. No, they were inducted same year. And that same year, he's also inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. It's the state of Tennessee.
Starting point is 01:16:57 So early 1990s here, though. He's living above his means. He's doing all of this. Something's got to break. So he finds somebody that he can take money from uh a southern california billionaire named david murdoch those are good to find when you need money a couple of billionaires uh you don't want to fuck with billionaires though yeah take from them well i mean i guess not but i mean if you're this guy you're like that's just readily available money he doesn't
Starting point is 01:17:22 give a shit but consequences aren't a thing jim, when you're on cocaine and you're looking for women and you got a hot hand at the roulette table, you don't think about shit like that. You generally don't weigh the consequences very evenly. No, you're right. Definitely not here. So, yeah, he, you know, for a while he said he loved it at this prestigious place, but he just didn't get paid very much. He needs to get paid more. So he goes, he plays 1993 and Jimmy Connors puts together a senior tennis tour. All right.
Starting point is 01:17:49 He says it's just an over-the-hill gang. Of course. Each tour stop, it's $40,000 as first-place money. So it's not like a real tournament. It's like $200,000, $250,000 back then. Combined with doubles, though, there's potential to make enough money, unless you're an international cocaine addict and gambler and womanizer, enough money to live on at least.
Starting point is 01:18:11 He says, in their own words, this is about the thing when it's coming together, the tour, in their own words, quote, It's happening. It's definite. There are no contingencies. The agreements are in, and this is just going to be serious tennis. The concept is to get the guys a lot sharper than you can be playing a handful of tournaments every year. There's even some talk of putting together a training center for everyone. Jimmy is a player. He's organized and taking it into consideration what the players want.
Starting point is 01:18:36 And most of us have families we want to be with. Of course. Obviously. Except for him, who's got to fuck other people. He's not in a family. Full of shit. He blew it, too, but it's not even really his fault. He was just born at the wrong time
Starting point is 01:18:46 because Johnny McEnroe's got it made in the shade with all these fucking Adam Sandler movies he's getting put in. Yeah, well, he had a personality. That's why. This one really blew it by not developing a personality because he didn't have to
Starting point is 01:18:57 because he fucking had money right away. McEnroe was the rowdy, rowdy piper of tennis, you know what I mean? So he's memorable. On this tour is Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, Ili Nastase, Guillermo Villas, who he beat for the finals of the Australian Open. A bunch of other guys I've never heard of. It doesn't matter.
Starting point is 01:19:15 So anyway, April 18th, 1993, he beats Nastase, who's a Romanian former number one ranked professional tennis player in the world in the 70s here. He was ranked number one from August of 73 to June 2nd, 1974. That's amazing. That's a fucking long time. That's really good. To be the best in the world. For a year, basically, for 11 months.
Starting point is 01:19:38 He beat him in a charity exhibition at the Sherwood Country Club. His serves, Tanner's serves, were still clocked at more than 100 miles an hour. And so, yeah, he's still a little great. Yeah, but it's a little thing here. Now, remember, he's only doing this because Jimmy Connors knows what he's doing, and these people want to be with their families, Jimmy. And it's all a family thing here. It's very family.
Starting point is 01:19:59 So he's in New York around this time. There's a seniors double tournament. And, yeah, he has a few beers and he's, you know, hanging out. And then he returns to his room at the Waldorf. You know, he's got a room at the Waldorf, obviously. Got to get the Astoria in there. Yeah. So he's a class.
Starting point is 01:20:14 Jimmy, it's all class, right? Yeah. How much class are we in so far? It's super tennis. It's hard to get much more. Well, let's class it up a little more. He then calls an escort. Oh, yes. That escort oh yes that's classy
Starting point is 01:20:25 that's classy 30 minutes later a woman named connie romano knocks on the door fucking connie connie connie comes in and she's so classy she's from jersey and the name connie sounds like she's from jersey she's chewing her gum so i mean so he's escort named connie romano that's a one night in and out ah two months later she calls t Tanner at the Sherwood Country Club and says that she is pregnant. What? He knocked up an escort. What?
Starting point is 01:20:50 Not good. He got the hugger pregnant. He got the, yes. You don't want to knock up the sex worker. No. That is not good, I don't think, at that point. I don't think they want to be knocked up either. Or maybe they do because he's rich.
Starting point is 01:20:59 I don't know these persons. I don't know this woman's motivation, but I know his. And it wasn't to gain an heir. That wasn't what he was looking for. Here's the other thing. Why are you begging a prostitute without a rubber, you idiot? Oh, God. This guy.
Starting point is 01:21:12 He's so arrogant it doesn't even fucking matter. What an asshole. Yeah, she told him that it would cost him half a million to keep it quiet or else she's going to blab this shit everywhere. And he's married and has a name and he corporate gigs and all that. So she figured out who he is. She already knew. she had him yeah his wife said quote he has a problem with women i think he might have a sex addiction no shit you think charlotte what do you think real quick a good way i found out to get telemarketers not to call you back i've been getting so with your cell phone now, the caller ID comes up scam likely when it's like something that's not right.
Starting point is 01:21:47 So I'll answer those because you can just fucking silent it if you don't want to answer a scam likely. I like fucking trying to get off those lists and not getting called back. So right when I answer, I say in the middle of their little, hi, this is SoledSol for whatever the fuck I'm selling,'m gonna i'm a sex addict and i'll be tugging for the remainder of this phone call and then but i say it really fast and then they keep and they go so what's your name today and i go yeah keep talking and i just keep saying dirty shit and grunting at them and eventually they'll hang up and never call you well yeah eventually they're gonna hang up but they might stay on for a little you're gonna get a couple you're gonna get one of these guys that's like, yeah, tug that dick, baby. You're going to get somebody like that.
Starting point is 01:22:27 A couple of them have gone, what's that? What'd you say? And I just keep saying, yeah, keep talking. Keep talking, baby. Give me more. Give me more. That's fucking funny. Oh, man.
Starting point is 01:22:36 That's funny. So much fun. April 24th, 94, he plays in the 95th Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament. There's nobody of any note in here. It's just him. He's supposed to be the winner, but he ends up actually losing to a young guy named Sean Brawley. He beat Tanner in three sets here in the semifinal round and went on to win the whole thing. So he got knocked out, which he was not happy with.
Starting point is 01:22:59 He just said he's like, I wasn't in great shape. And he was. And I don't know. These are all good players. I'm old as fuck. Have I mentioned that? I'm a little old for tennis also. Now, in 94, Connie Romano-
Starting point is 01:23:09 I'm just here for the pussy. Just here for the pussy. So in 94, Connie Romano files a paternity suit. Fuck that. The daughter's name is Omega Ann, which sounds like a comic book character. He agrees, out of court settlement, he agrees to pay her $500,000. So she gets her half a million, but he didn't pay that. Come on. You think he's going to make all the payments on that?
Starting point is 01:23:30 No. Oh, God. Jesus. He couldn't afford it. She named that baby after a watch that she wants. She did. Or a transformer. So he couldn't afford it at the time. And they even did DNA tests to prove that he was the father of this child. He wouldn't afford it at the time, and they even did DNA tests to prove that he was the father of this child.
Starting point is 01:23:47 He wouldn't believe it. Even though the test is 99.96% sure, he managed to actually make Charlotte believe that maybe it was wrong. He made his wife believe that maybe a DNAna test was fucking wrong that's a talker that's amazing i could sell the shit you the shit out of your ass you could shit it out he could pick it up and sell it back to you he was a telemarketer he'd talk me through buying something while i'm talking through tugging and then he would sell you something that's the thing because he's that fucking good so what do you think about this timeshare? Yeah, yeah. Dude, unbelievable.
Starting point is 01:24:27 How does she – wow. Unbelievable. He thinks that he's going to be able to swing it because he has – he thinks he's getting a $1 million cut from the proposed Roscoe Tanner Tennis Club in San Fernando Valley. So he's going to get a mil for that and he's going to give – Her half a million. So he thinks he can do that. Project never came to pass, though. He never had the money.
Starting point is 01:24:48 He relocates. He takes a job as the tennis director at Grover Groves Island in Miami. Yeah. And he purchased one hundred and thirty acres in Tennessee that they that he and Charlotte were going to make the Tanner Tennis Lodge, which he's still doing this shit. I mean, Tennessee, when I think tennis, I totally think Tennessee. Well, yeah. Tennis is right there in that word.
Starting point is 01:25:11 Who goes to fucking Tennessee to play tennis? I don't know. This lodge that they bought, it's a 140-room lodge with a restaurant, bar, spa, a lake for fishing, and indoor tennis courts. Fuck. He told newspapers that Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors were going to play exhibitions there, but they never even started construction. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:25:27 And later on, we'll find out. He has to sell it off. And, you know, it's a mess here. Where all the fucking coke is. Yes. There you go. And women. All of it for him.
Starting point is 01:25:36 In 96, April of 96, he is lying to everybody. He takes a tennis pro job in Florida. Yeah. He's never home. This is Tamara's 11th birthday in 96. Roscoe said that he couldn't fly home to Tennessee due to the work that he had to do on everything. He was doing work down there. She found out later on.
Starting point is 01:25:57 Charlotte found his credit card receipts, and he was in the Cayman Islands that day. What? Fucking off and gambling and doing coke and banging women. God knows what else here. How fucking amazing is that relationship that he can get out of the country and she doesn't know until she's got a credit card
Starting point is 01:26:13 receipt. Not bad, man. Pre-cell phones here. Now, 1996. She's got a leash, a very loose one on him. Yeah, I would say. 96. Now, some shit starts happening and I'm going to start filling in the story with uh article with pieces from something called complaintsboard.com okay and this is a fugitive recovery agent named mark regan who wrote writes a long post chronicling his
Starting point is 01:26:37 constant attempts to capture or serve roscoe over the course of 10 years really and he's just he hates roscoe he calls him running roscoe and uh basically this is some shit about him he says out of this quote i found tanner living in an exclusive resort in florida but could not serve process or warrants on him there because the resort security would tip him off so i tracked him to atlanta where he was appearing in a celebrity tennis match with the assistance of the atlanta police i served my process on him and he was arrested for contempt of court and failure failures pay child support he's arrested on the court yeah by the way wow on the court they pull him off uh yeah this is the second uh on field arrest we've
Starting point is 01:27:15 had here the judge orders him to pay romano a thousand dollars a month yeah pay him a thousand a thousand dollars a month he didn't pay nothing no uh So 1997, he's in Naples, Florida in the middle of a seniors doubles match. This could either be either at his hotel room or during the match. We're not sure because it's quoted differently in multiple places. He is arrested during that. He's released when he makes a $40,000 back payment on this. Holy shit. Somebody helped him out here.
Starting point is 01:27:44 He had a little bit of000 back payment. Holy shit. Somebody helped him out here. He had a little bit of cash somewhere. Yeah, no. He posted $500 bail, but that happened there. He ended up going back the next day to the club and went on the court and received a huge standing ovation. He got arrested and came back out of jail. And here he is. Here's your criminal.
Starting point is 01:28:02 He's so happy. Big ovation. He and Charlotte then declare bankruptcy and everybody cheers. They declare bankruptcy. They lose their 130-acre Tennessee property in the process. It's a fucking mess.
Starting point is 01:28:14 Can you imagine to be at a point in your life where you were such an athlete, such a hero to so many, and then what breaks you is that you can't afford that one goddamn kid? That's it. That's the one that fucking... It's the one kid that fucking ruined everything.
Starting point is 01:28:26 He also doesn't pay his other child support. We'll get to. But that was the one. She was more aggressive. That was the first one. 1999, he and Charlotte divorce. She's sick of this shit, I would say. She's had enough of this roller coaster for 15 years now.
Starting point is 01:28:40 She's had enough trying to figure out where he is by looking at a fucking credit card receipt. Yeah, and then breaking out a globe to see where that is. They had very few assets to even divide up. They didn't have shit. The terms of the divorce were that Tanner was to pay Charlotte $7,000 a month for the two daughters and alimony and everything like that. That's a lot of money. Right away, it is. That's a lot of money.
Starting point is 01:29:01 $7,000 a month. You're talking about, what is it? $94,000 a year? Yeah, that's a good amount. That's a lot of money, 7,000 a month. You're talking about $84,000 a year? Yeah, that's a good amount. That's a lot. In 1999 money. You've got to pay somebody else, and then you've got to fucking figure out your own life. Absolutely.
Starting point is 01:29:12 Plus you owe a shitload more to other kids. Yeah, you owe money everywhere. Then you have investors that are looking for their money back for certain things. This shit is starting to get to where it's like, whoa, there's a lot of plates spinning, and they're starting to get wobbly, man. There's a lot of money that I can't fucking put, I can't cover. Yeah, that plate on his left toe is starting to get, he's like, oh shit, I got to get to that one.
Starting point is 01:29:30 Uh-oh. I got to fix that. He soon meets another single mother. Why not? Sweet Pete. Margaret Barna. Oh, Margaret. It becomes his third wife very quickly as they go off to Hawaii and have a commitment
Starting point is 01:29:41 ceremony. He learned better than to legally marry someone at this point. We'll bullshit this one. Ridiculous, man. He moves in. He takes a job near St. Petersburg. He moves in with Margaret and their two girls. She also, Margaret, likes to live beyond
Starting point is 01:29:58 her means. Also, they're the perfect fucking couple, these two. They go around spending money they don't have. Like in summer 2000 they decided they needed a boat they need a boat they're in florida they decide so what do you buy like a little make a little fishing boat or something like that we just want to go out on the water with the kids have a nice day no you don't buy that no you buy a 32 foot well craft oh my yacht basically big boat called nora's', that's the name of it, for $39,000.
Starting point is 01:30:26 Just make a friend that has a fucking great boat and go hang out with them. Like Bill Burr says, comedians and cars and coffee. You have a friend with a boat. You don't have a boat. This guy buys it from a broker named Gene Gammon for $39,000. He puts down a $3,500
Starting point is 01:30:41 deposit and he tells Gammon he would write a check for the balance as soon as he received a $3,500 deposit, and he tells Gammon— Swears he can have the rest of it. Tells him he would write a check for the balance as soon as he received a $150,000 consulting fee for his participation in a tennis development, a tennis center development. That didn't happen. Roscoe Tanner Tennis Villages in Knoxville, Atlanta, and Palm Springs. We have a fucking chain of them. They're everywhere. Let's do it.
Starting point is 01:31:00 They're like McDonald's. You know that. You pass by them all the time in your cars out there, everybody. Tanner calls Gammon back a few days later and says, waden can i pick this boat up i really want to get this boat gammon was out of town traveling and he said tell you what write a cashier's check for 35 500 deposit it in my account at first union and it's fucking yours yeah uh this yacht was they would plan to take him and margaret uh to all over the place they're gonna go down the Gulf of Mexico. They were going to have rich people yacht fuckhead times.
Starting point is 01:31:31 Do the shit on a boat that you do on a fucking boat. Do what Thurston Howell III and his wife did. Go on a boat and hopefully end up in a goddamn desert island where you can't rob anybody anymore. Immediately upon taking possession of the boat, he uses it as collateral for a $10,000 loan. Oh, no. Which would be fine if he owned the boat. Yeah, you don't think he owes $35,000 of the boat, he uses it as collateral for a $10,000 loan. Oh, no. Which would be fine if he owned the boat. Yeah, you don't think he owes $35,000 on the boat still. Well, he supposedly paid the money.
Starting point is 01:31:54 So at that point, he should be owner of it. But the problem is, Gammon says, quote, as it turned out, it was a bad personal check, not a cashier's check. The bank told me the check cleared, so I figured we were good to go. But the check didn't clear. They were just looking in my escrow account to see if it was covered. I paid the previous owner and transferred the title. 35 years in the boat business, and I never got a bad check. He knew he was passing a bad check. He gave me more lies about some deal that wasn't coming through. This went on for several weeks before I confronted him. In 35 years, he's never met a scumbag on a boat. Never met a scumbag. Just dealing with rich people.
Starting point is 01:32:26 Wow. They're worried about their reputation. Good for him. So, yeah, he did all of that. The boat's repossessed, all of that. Gammon also says, quote, he's a professional. You talk to him and believe him. You want to believe him.
Starting point is 01:32:38 He's been doing this a long time. I went to the state authorities, but they dragged their feet. Yeah. So, yeah, he's trying to do that. He is playing on October 1st, 2000. He's playing tennis. He's been hired as a pro here. And now he's trying to act like everything's fine.
Starting point is 01:32:53 Every time he gets a new job, it's a fluff piece on him. It's like this PR thing of his thing. And he says, I just want people to know that I'm not just a serious player. I enjoy the game for what it is, a way to meet people and have a good time and fucking rob them blind, I guess. Wow. Now, in May of 2001, he's working as a tennis pro in different resorts in Florida and in the Caribbean and all over.
Starting point is 01:33:16 He's arrested on court during a seniors double tournament. The second time on a court. Yeah, another failure to pay child support. He spent several days in jail for, quote, willful criminal contempt of court and was released after he paid $8,000. Jesus. We've got somebody ponying this up. At the same time, his ex-wife Charlotte auctioned off his Australian Open trophy on eBay for $10,000. He was pissed about that shit.
Starting point is 01:33:44 She sold his shit. He was pissed about that shit. She sold his shit. He was pissed about that shit. Now, two months later in July, another warrant is issued for willful criminal contempt of court. And now we have another word from Mark Regan, fugitive recovery agent. Orange County, he said, quote, Orange County authorities called me.
Starting point is 01:34:02 Apparently they knew I had found him once before and they heard he might be headed my way again. I located him in Tanner in Chattanooga, Tennessee, working as a Tenex Clinic instructor and noted to the authorities, but he was tipped off again and fled. I tracked him through several states where friends hid him out in their condos and resorts, and when I got too close for comfort, he hid out in Europe, England, and Germany until Interpol again came around looking for him. Dog the Bounty Hunter ain't shit. This guy's amazing. This guy has gone all over the place.
Starting point is 01:34:32 And in 2001, 2002, that's exactly where Tanner goes, to Europe. Really? To hang out and be a rich fuckwit playing tennis with other twats. He stops in England, France, Switzerland. Jesus. Wow. Just a tour. Jesus, just, wow. Just a tour. Eventually settles in Germany with Margaret and her two daughters.
Starting point is 01:34:50 Gammon, on the other hand, the boat guy, is still looking for him for three years now. He tracked him across on the internet and tracked him and saw he was playing tennis events over there. Here's the thing about fame. Yeah. Here's the bitch about it. Can I? When you fucking ruin people's lives, you can't run anywhere. When
Starting point is 01:35:07 your events rely on publication and promotion of you being there, you're pretty well fucked. He says, Gammon says, I wasn't going to give up. He was living the high life over there. They thought he was a hero. He's also wanted on a New Jersey warrant that
Starting point is 01:35:23 claims he is in arrears unspecified for $70,950, which is for Kanye Romano. October of 2002, there's articles in the United Kingdom about Tanner being wanted in the U.S. A former doubles partner of him, John Newcomb, said, quote, It sounds very sad. He never mentioned any problems and the personal stuff isn't my business anyway. But as a player, his record speaks for himself. He wasn't right. He wasn't right at the very top of the mountain.
Starting point is 01:35:54 But his first serve was incredibly powerful. And he was a very amiable chap about the locker room. That's a British guy. A very amiable chap about the locker room. Yeah. Wow. So, yeah. It was fun to have him in the locker room. Fun to have. He was very funny about the locker room. Wow. So, yeah. It was fun to have him in the locker room.
Starting point is 01:36:07 Fun to have. He was very funny with the towel snapping. Hey, you know that. The Treasure Island, the woman who hired him for the – Hiled him. They hiled him. He was that white. He's so white, people hile him.
Starting point is 01:36:17 The Treasure Island place here. She said, quote, he tends to wear out his welcome pretty quick. Yeah. Because he scams you. He couldn't be reached for the story on this, but he did tell the Los Angeles Times, quote, I'm sorting it out. I haven't skipped off with anybody's money. I just went to Europe owing a shitload of it. That's all.
Starting point is 01:36:34 And now back to the show. So it's announced that he's supposed to play in a bunch of men's 50 and over tournaments in Germany in August. But he never gets there because on June 18, 2003, he is arrested in Germany, in Karlsruhe, Germany. Interpol got him? I think so here, yeah. He's held for six weeks while awaiting extradition to Florida. This is on a warrant for the bad check for the boat. He's there.
Starting point is 01:37:04 And also, too, they're getting him for the New Jersey nonpayment of child support. They got them all locked up here. Omega's not going away. No, no, no. When he comes back, he'll end up spending five months in jail in New Jersey for that. So that's not great. He says July of when he gets arrested and he's in German prison, he says this is when he saw the light. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:37:23 In his own words, 17th day in German jail, he was watching television. And he saw a show called CNBC broadcast of Reverend Robert Shuler's Hour of Power. And let's see it in their own words on how it affected him. In their own words, quote. The Hour of Power did it. Oh, yeah. In their own words, quote. I knew I was tired of going through life Roscoe's way. When I looked at the
Starting point is 01:37:45 sum of my life, it added up to a big fat zero. I was crawling through life at rock bottom. I felt an urge to kneel. I immediately felt God's sweet presence. I know what you might be thinking. This has been a nice story, Roscoe, but your jailhouse conversion sounds a little too convenient to me when you're behind bars,
Starting point is 01:38:02 when all of your freedoms have been stripped away, and when you're suffering deprivation, your eyes are open. I did things Roscoe's way for more than 50 years. Now I'm going to do things God's way. Oh, Christ. He has found God. He has now bought property in his hometown and found God and has multiple keys. A fucking, he's a crime and sports athlete, this guy.
Starting point is 01:38:22 He found Jesus in a German prison. Holy shit. That's where Jesus hangs out. That's where he hangs out. That's where he's a crime and sports athlete this guy he found jesus in a german prison that's where jesus hangs out that's where he hangs out that's where he's been all this time so that's it so early 2000 floor he's in a uh pinellas county jail in tampa living god's way there uh he spends three months there uh he's being held as a fugitive which means that even if he made bail on the local charges he can't be released until the New Jersey issues dealt with. So he's just stuck there. He can't afford a lawyer or bail. His father doesn't intervene.
Starting point is 01:38:50 He can if he wants to. It would have cost his father $5,500 to get him out of jail. And he didn't fucking do it. His old coach, Dick Gould, called his father. He said, this is what Gould says, quote, when I heard that he was in jail, I called Leonard and said, what can we do about this? He said, Dick, there comes a time when you have to learn to help yourself and take responsibility. He said, fuck that kid. Cut him off.
Starting point is 01:39:10 Sink or swim, fucker. Cut off at this point. So he ends up being defended by the public defender, which is not great. So let's do an in their own words about that quick. In their own words, quote, I acted as my own lawyer and I was able to convince a judge pleading guilty to all the charges, confessing how bad I've been, that I was a brand new guy, a changed guy, a better guy. He gave me
Starting point is 01:39:32 10 years probation to make restitution to my creditors. So he fucking bullshitted a judge on the probation out of that. That's how good he is. He sold bullshit to a judge. To a judge. Wow. His whole job is to not buy bullshit. His whole job is to see right the fuck through it.
Starting point is 01:39:47 He owes $102,000 in bills, fines, and interest. If he doesn't pay it off by 2013, he can face 15 years in jail. Ouch. Yeah. The Florida person said, a spokeswoman for the court down there said, quote, after we have dealt with him here, he will have to go to New Jersey to deal with the folks there. Not great here. Yeah, he enters a not guilty plea.
Starting point is 01:40:09 But like I said, he does five months in Somerset, New Jersey. What a fucking mess. Then he gets in trouble again in Florida. There's a Florida state attorney's office spokesman said, quote, he forged a document to suggest restitution had been made. That seems to be the act of a desperate person or a person with no respect for authority. You think so? Yeah, yeah. I paid that.
Starting point is 01:40:29 Yeah, I got that. Here's the paperwork for it. April 19th, 2004, he pleads guilty for the Connie Romano case. That's when he goes there to New Jersey. That hooker won't go away. No. That's what you pay him for is to go away, and she ain't going. She ain't going.
Starting point is 01:40:44 He gets out of jail in Florida. Finally, we have an in their own words on the whole scenario here in their own words. Quote, I didn't consider myself a fugitive, but I guess the U.S. government did. They had me thrown in German jail sick for six weeks until I was extradited to Florida. Well, I was in jail for a few months until April. So I had no idea those articles in the paper about me being wanted. No clue. Everybody else knew but me. Unreal, man. 2004, he goes out to Orange County, California and gets a job coaching tennis. A guy named Cecil Spearman hires him. Spearman says,
Starting point is 01:41:17 he had no car at the time, so he walked the three miles to the interview along the Crown Valley Parkway where no one walks. He told me he'd found God and then he wanted to be close to his daughters who live nearby. Wow. Tanner said it's pretty close to impossible to find work after getting out of prison, so he found this guy to scam. Spearman hires Tanner. The people all love him because he's full of shit. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:41:39 You know what I mean? He's full of shit and he knows how to schmooze. Great conversation. That's right, man. He was paid a monthly salary of $500, but he's also allowed to keep 70% of the earnings from hourly lessons, which are $75 a pop. So if you bump enough in there in the day, that's not too shabby here. Spearman said, quote, I'd be stupid not to hire this guy. The members applauded our efforts to help a fallen angel, and everyone agreed he'd be
Starting point is 01:42:03 an asset to the club. So fallen angel. Plus, he said one reason an asset to the clubs. A fallen angel. Plus, he said one reason he wanted to come back to California was that he was estranged from his three daughters and wanted to get close to those relationships again. I mean, that's an accurate description of the guy. You know who else was a fallen angel? Fucking Satan. Yeah, perfect. He's the fucking devil.
Starting point is 01:42:19 But there's a problem. He needs to commute between the three clubs. There's the Laguna Nigel, Racquet Club of Irvine, and Monarch Beach. He's going to need a vehicle. He can't walk down the parkway, so what they do, Spearman finds a white Ford Explorer for $28,000. I thought you were going to say a white Ford Tempest.
Starting point is 01:42:36 No, no, no. I found you a Tempest. Shit. He finds him an Explorer here, for $28,000, and he cosigns on the loan for him would he's co-signing that's a terrible idea uh first few months he's a model employee makes the payments on the car he plays with the senior citizen members when they need a fourth he is just johnny on the spot however as the year goes on a little bit more uh he's now living in an
Starting point is 01:43:01 exclusive beach front front community of uh balboa here with margaret he's in balboa he's now living in an exclusive beach front front community of, uh, Balboa here with Margaret. He's in Balboa. He's in Balboa. Holy shit. They're excessively, they're very, they're, they're living beyond their means. And that's what they do. Spearman said, quote, he started chiseling. He had sticky fingers.
Starting point is 01:43:16 So that's two like old timey words for thieving. He's chiseling. See, he had sticky fingers. See? Yeah. So, uh, he was chiseling. He? He had sticky fingers, see? Yeah. He was chiseling. He stopped paying the bills. He stopped paying his car loan.
Starting point is 01:43:29 He stopped giving the club their 30% of the teaching money. Uh-oh. Even worse, Spearman was most pissed off about is Tanner stopped showing up for his weekly one-hour lesson with Spearman's grandson, Cameron. Oh, what an asshole. That pissed him off. So, yeah. So then he is the toy. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:43:49 So anyway, then another warrant is issued for his arrest because he missed a court date in a case concerning Charlotte, his second wife and his unbelievable man, a complete mess. And he says that he's pulling it together, though. He says he's trying to regain his self-respect and everything's wonderful. Things could not be better. He's working on it. He's going to be involved in an inner city tennis education project in Washington, D.C.
Starting point is 01:44:13 He's just a good guy. So August 27, 2004, he's arrested in California on nonpayment of child support charges, accused of failing to pay $80,000 in a year old New Jersey warrant because he never paid for the time they told him to pay then. Unreal. He's sentenced to a year of probation for that somehow. And wow. And then pay the $80,000. He's not going to fucking pay.
Starting point is 01:44:37 I feel so bad for Omega. That poor girl. This poor girl. She's the daughter of a prostitute. She's the product of a fucking mom business decision. Yeah. No, yeah. That's the truth.
Starting point is 01:44:47 She's growing up and she's got no fucking money. And you know her mother's like, that son of a bitch there. Yeah. And he's like, I don't know. She's screaming about every time she sees him on TV. So June 2004, he leaves California for another job in Tennessee. But he tells Spearman, I'll be back by the end of the summer. Takes the Explorer with him.
Starting point is 01:45:03 Spearman, who made six of the nine payments on his behalf since he got it, he was pissed when he found out that his name was on the title, too. So he said, Spearman said, I told him to take my name off the title or I'd put out another warrant for his arrest. He said, we were scared the police were going to come to our club and arrest him at that point. So we were happy he was gone. They were like, what the fuck do we do? Also that year, his daughter Tamara gets a scholarship to play tennis at Loyola Marymount. So that's nice. Good for her. She ends up having
Starting point is 01:45:29 an injury, having a tough time, but she actually graduates and does well with her life. Good for her. September 2004 at the Davis Cup tournament, Andy Roddick serves at 155 miles an hour, setting the new record. The SUV, the Explorer, was repossessed.
Starting point is 01:45:48 Spearman ended up being out $10,000 on the whole thing. When they found the vehicle, when they recovered it, there was 25 empty poker chip trays found inside. 20 fucking five. Trays? Trays. Wow. Of poker chips. I can't imagine the cocaine residue on the ceiling.
Starting point is 01:46:04 Oh, my God. He said, quote, he and Margaret loved Vegas. Roscoe had a real gambling habit. trays wow of poker chips i can't imagine the cocaine residue on the ceiling god uh he he said quote he and margaret loved vegas roscoe had a real gambling habit well no shit no kidding jesus so much money gone november 2004 huge fluff piece in sports illustrated sports illustrated is writing about him huge called outside looking in it's all about how now he's on good terms with his daughter, Lauren, who's at Vanderbilt. Just he's a changed man. No, he's not. Margaret says he's the best father to her two daughters in the world that he could be. Takes them places.
Starting point is 01:46:35 Her daughter, Lauren, said, quote, my dad never had to grow up until age 50. If I didn't see a major change, he wouldn't be back in my life right now. Everything is fine. Holy shit. Yes, it is. He's doing be back in my life right now. Everything is fine. Holy shit. Yes, it is. He's doing great. Outside looking in, like outside prison. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:46:50 Where he should be is inside. He's still unbelievable, man. So there's another guy named Steve Anacone who hired Tanner here to work in the Smoky Mountain Tennis Academy. He felt he deserved another chance. God damn it. He thought he had worked it all out and his problem, maybe it's fluff pieces in Sports Illustrated tend to sway people's opinions. He said, quote, he was very reliable, personable, and had no ego whatsoever. Some of the guys of his stature would think it was beneath them to teach 10-year-olds to play,
Starting point is 01:47:15 but I think he was actually really happy playing tennis. He was probably stealing their lunch money and their Capri Sun out of their fucking lunchbox here. 2005, his autobiography comes out. What's it called? Double Fault, of course. My Rise and Fall and My Road Back. Your road is not back. You have warrants for your arrest right now.
Starting point is 01:47:35 Holy shit. There's a fucking checkpoint on that road and you're about to go to prison. Unbelievable. He says it is important for him to write. He says he's ripped off friends, innocent acquaintances, creditors on two continents. He's cheated on two wives, failed miserably as a father to six daughters. Good fuck. What a fucking mess.
Starting point is 01:47:52 He said, quote, some people end up doing the right thing with a nudge and others have to be hit in the head. It appears I had to be hit in the head. I feel like he still does. How much does he hate condoms? Oh, fuck, does he hate them? He's got to hate them. Is he allergic to latex? Maybe.
Starting point is 01:48:06 What's going on? That's what it is. He is a fucking idiot. Stop slinging the dick. No, it's too late now. Just fuck. Oh, what do you do at that point? Jesus Christ.
Starting point is 01:48:14 Six fucking kids. Here's what you do. You go to John Devlin, who owns an Orange County mortgage company, and then this guy will lend you $30,000 for some reason. Devlin says, quote, I got the impression that he wanted to make a change in his lifestyle, make restitution to all the people he'd let down in the past. It looked like he had an epiphany. He's so full of shit, this guy.
Starting point is 01:48:32 It's amazing. Now, Charlotte, his ex-wife, isn't so snowed by it. He loaned him $30,000 to pay restitution. So he's taking out loans to pay people back that he's going to owe that money to. Plus, the $30,000 doesn't cover everything. Well, he just lied to that guy to get $30,000. Now, Charlotte, his ex-wife, isn't buying his bullshit. She says, quote, he has abandoned his daughters.
Starting point is 01:48:50 Anybody who's a changed person contacts their kids. The only time he ever sees them is in court. Jesus. Wow, that's a rough. That's a shit. That's a rebuking right there. That's a shit Father's Day. That's not great.
Starting point is 01:49:00 Yeah. The co-author of his book, Mike Yorkey, said, quote, in the beginning, it was two or three degrees, not that much in the scheme of things. Gradually, a few more degrees here, a few more degrees there. It got worse. Yeah. So imagine hearing that story. There's a warrant out for his arrest in Orange County for missing child support payments and failing to make another payment to Charlotte. The warrant was canceled after he paid six thousand dollars and offered 50% of the proceeds from his book to her. He's like, I'll fucking hear. Just take a cut of what I get later.
Starting point is 01:49:31 I don't care. Everything he's paying is shit that he doesn't have yet. No. It's crazy. It's all ahead of himself. October 2005, he's arrested in Tennessee, extradited to Florida, and charged with violating his 10-year probation from November 2003, the grand theft conviction involving the boat. Fucking mess. To January 18, 2006, at sentencing, Stan Smith comes and testifies for him as a character
Starting point is 01:49:55 witness. What? He gets on the stand. He also wrote the foreword to his book. Jesus. So this guy is a fucking friend. What a nice guy. A judge here is not so sympathetic.
Starting point is 01:50:03 He says, you, you sir may fuck off two years in prison wow take your fucking white bread ass out of here uh yes a term it's he's going to be in lake butler florida uh so 2006 he's there northern florida prison uh he writes a letter to his to charlotte and the two daughters saying that the future of all this is quote in god's hands. It's fucking amazing. Tamara said she wrote back and said, once again, when it's time to take care of your responsibilities, you put it off on something else. When are you going to step up to the plate?
Starting point is 01:50:34 He's put it on everybody, including God. He's left the responsibility up to everybody, including God. It's not just anybody. It's my fault. It's just his other daughter said, quote, he's a charmer who will say whatever he needs to get what he wants. I don't care to hear anything he has to say. All of a sudden, one day, he's gone and he never came back. The things that he's caused our family to go through, it puts doubts in my mind how real it was.
Starting point is 01:50:57 How could he really love me and not come home? He pretty much erased us from his life. I didn't think that was humanly possible. Yeah. His Charlotte said, quote, on the court, Roscoe's real skill was focusing on just the ball, not the opponent. Well, that's what he's done with us. He tuned us out and now we're the opponent. Yeah. So he's finally released. He's going to be released in February of 2007. But in the state of California, they are also aware that he owes Charlotte $500,000 in back alimony and could
Starting point is 01:51:26 insist on extradition even from that. Wow. April 2006, people are trying to get interviews with him and he sends somebody a letter. This is amazing. He sends somebody a letter and he's like, he just does a like, I don't know, sorry. He just does like, I'm just doing a little, he actually says like, I'm trying to have some peace and healing. Sorry. Sincerely, me. That's what he said. It's just all good. Not right now. And he sent it on a spiral notebook paper.
Starting point is 01:51:51 Oh, Jesus. And he says, P.S., sorry about the stationery. That's not stationery. That's how rich he is. Sorry about the stationery. Sorry it wasn't my letterhead from my desk glove. I'm sorry. Sorry this is mead.
Starting point is 01:52:01 So what do you think he needs to do right now? Die. What do you think is needs to do right now? Die. What do you think is a more attainable action? Beg dad for help. How about have another kid? No fucking way. 2006. Him and Margaret have a daughter named Lacey.
Starting point is 01:52:16 Let's have another one. Fucking A. Yeah. Woohoo. He's got a big support system of a big group of Christians. It's a so-called accountability group. They help him manage his affairs. This one guy is the leader of this whole thing here, Turner Howard. He's a Presbyterian pastor. He's an executive Presbyterian. If you listen to Small Town Bird, you'll know what
Starting point is 01:52:37 that is. He said, quote, he is decidedly Christian and he's focused on changing his life and becoming a new and better person. His mindset is such that he's trying to make it positive, make it as a positive experience as possible. It's my duty to attempt to put him in a situation where he can function. Okay, then. That executive presbyter has found a way to sell that man's bullshit too. Yeah, unbelievable. He sold his bullshit to him so well that the presbyter is even selling it.
Starting point is 01:53:02 That's fucking crazy. Gene Gammon's not buying it. The boat guy. He says, quote, they Gammon's not buying it. The boat guy. He says, quote, they were claiming he'd found God. Yeah, right. They offered me $25,000 if I drop everything. I said, go ahead and send me the money. I got the money, and he was arrested for nonpayment to Romano a few days after the check clears.
Starting point is 01:53:18 I was like, I dropped it, but he still got arrested anyway. He owed somebody else cash. Unreal, man. And people are just pissed off. There's DA saying he's insulted a lot of people. The DA is not happy with him. He's flaunting shit. He goes out here.
Starting point is 01:53:31 He goes out there. His ex-wife's lawyer, her attorney, says that he'd consider negotiating a settlement if Tanner could put down a down payment in the vicinity of $250,000 for an extra account. Good luck here. Then he would be willing to discuss a monthly payment of around 3,500, which is half the current sum, as long as he can prove that he actually can pay for it. Yeah. That's the problem with child support and this stuff. Like the amount that's set, what happens when that lifestyle goes away?
Starting point is 01:53:59 You got to go back to court and try to lower that amount. And then they want fucking paperwork. And all the time that you're pressing to get it lowered court and try to lower that amount. And then they want fucking paperwork. And all the time that you're pressing to get it lowered, it's still at that high. Yeah, it's still not going away. Right. And it just keeps adding up and adding. And it fucks you in the long run. So I can see why these guys end up being so fucked over for so long.
Starting point is 01:54:17 Yeah. But figure that shit out before you have kids, man, you dummy. No shit. Close to him, people close to him here, Charlotte and the daughters, they don't think he's sincere, obviously. Charlotte said, quote, he has to get past blaming God or blaming me for his problems.
Starting point is 01:54:34 He needs to make peace with Tamara and Ann. That's his number one responsibility. Yeah, his daughter Tamara says for years she tried to understand why he is the way he is, and now she said, honestly, I've stopped trying to figure it out. I have no idea. There's nothing to understand.
Starting point is 01:54:48 He's a fucking mess. He's sitting there. He's a fucking mess. He's just being all shitties in like a casino. Picture him, just scummy cocaine escorts, escorts coming out, coke residue everywhere. He's got gambling debts coming out everywhere. He, you know, he orders an escort. He hears a knock at the door. He opens it, and it's not an escort.
Starting point is 01:55:09 It's Estevez Jones, MMA fighter and 70s blaxploitation film villain. And he says, Motherfucker, how is it you arrived to be here? Man, what the fuck you doing? You crack-ass honky what the fuck is wrong with you huh you come man your daddy got money you understand that your daddy got money you be having baby mama everywhere what's wrong with you you let me tell you something else you knock up one of my hoes they're gonna be problem it ain't gonna be no court none of
Starting point is 01:55:42 shit like that you're gonna answer me and my motherfucking neighborhood. You hear that? All right. Poof. And in a puff of mink, he's gone. Just like that. Hilarious. Estevez Jones. Fucking ridiculous. I love Estevez Jones. He's one of my favorites now. So he's extradited back to California now at this point.
Starting point is 01:55:59 We may have a new character, by the way, with our fucking bounty hunter. I was just waiting to see this here. He's extradited to a-day sentence, 45-day sentence. He owes hundreds of thousands of dollars for the child support. So now we go to Mark Regan, fugitive hunter, baby. He's back. He's fucking awesome. He's the best.
Starting point is 01:56:16 He said, quote, now he's back on the street and he's telling his friends he's going to be going to England to donate his time teaching tennis clinics instead of working. His friends pay him under the table in cash and help him hide out from the law. Of course. Take a bite out of crime. Doesn't he sound like McGruff? He has a real McGruff rhythm. At this point, Stan Smith helps him get another job.
Starting point is 01:56:37 He helps him get freelance work. Fuck, they ask him, why do you stand by him? And he said, I don't know much about addiction, but he's struggling and trying to be straightforward and honest and not mislead people like an alcoholic who goes through sobriety and then falls back you look like you're doing better and then you take a step back it's a demon he has to deal with yes lying and robbing people blind the difference is that alcohol addiction is is a chemical addiction there's a there's something that satisfies it this is just a fucking asshole decision he's just a piece of shit. For his book, he only received an advance of $4,250, and he hoped book sales would ease the financial burden.
Starting point is 01:57:13 But according to his publisher, fewer than 3,500 copies have been sold a few years later. All his religion shit is these people have his back, all the religious people. May of 2008, Tanner is arrested again for bouncing a check for two sport utility vehicles. Yes, he writes a bad check for $72,263.43 to a Knoxville Toyota dealership for two Toyota Highlanders and then refused to return them when the check bounced. He appears in court for this. He didn't enter a plea. It's a felony charge, too. It ends up being dismissed in August of 2008 when the dealership gets the vehicles back,
Starting point is 01:57:51 which were taken out of town, and Tanner pays them a $5,000 restitution for the reduced value of the vehicles on recovery. So we have an in-their-own-words here, in-their-own-words quote. I'm not proud of what I did. I have a ton of regrets. I made a lot of money, but I also made some bad business deals and unfortunate marriages and liaisons. I went broke, but I was still trying to put up a front as a successful guy and went deeper into a hole. I was living desperately.
Starting point is 01:58:18 I would say so. May 28, 2007, his dad dies. Leonard Senior dies at age 91. So he's not going to help him at this point. Doesn't say. Nothing. I hope nothing. He keeps getting arrested for owing money, so I doubt it here.
Starting point is 01:58:31 Here's the thing, too. It's really hard once you lose all of that to just admit defeat. And that's his biggest problem is that he can't be humble. No, he's like, no, no, it's still good. I'm fine. I got this. Like he said before, I can handle it. I can handle it. He can't be humbled. No, he's like, no, no, it's still good. I'm fine. I got this. Like he said before, I can handle it. He can't be humbled at all.
Starting point is 01:58:46 No. April 2010, Tanner and his family here, his wife and his daughters, are evicted from a rental property in Vero Beach. So they're tossed out. But it's okay, because July 24th, he'll be at the Vineyard Youth Center to teach a show
Starting point is 01:59:01 and kids to serve here. It's a clinic cocktail start at 5.30pm when Mr. Tanner will give a question and kids to serve here. It's a it's a clinic cocktail start at 530 p.m. p.m. When Mr. Tanner will give a question and answer session. How about what the fuck was wrong with you? How's that? Holy shit. Ridiculous here. Cost for the whole thing is thirty five dollars for this space is our space is limited.
Starting point is 01:59:20 So early registration is recommended. At this point, a judge in Dade County, Georgia, issued an order of contempt of court in connection with Tanner's unpaid child support that he got arrested for a while ago, totaling more than $750,000. My God. Holy shit. The order's still active, and if Tanner goes to Georgia, he'll be arrested and prosecuted. So he just stays away from Florida.
Starting point is 01:59:42 There's a Bleacher Report article here around this time that basically breaks down that he's a complete sociopath. It says he's a sexual addict, a pathological liar, and cannot honor his commitments to anyone or anything. They call him the perfect sociopath because here are the 10 general symptoms. Not learning from experience. No sense of responsibility. Inability to form meaningful relationships. Inability to control impulses. Lack of moral sense. Chronically of responsibility. Right. Inability to form meaningful relationships. Yeah. Inability to control impulses. Yeah.
Starting point is 02:00:05 Lack of moral sense. Chronically antisocial behavior. No change of behavior after punishment. Emotional immaturity. Lack of guilt and self-centeredness. My God. That is 80 fucking six previous guys that we covered. That's exactly what that is.
Starting point is 02:00:19 They all fall into at least eight out of ten of those. That's incredible. Yeah. But December 2011, he swears he's turning his life around. He says he knows he let everybody down. He says he didn't represent the sport the way he should have, and he's not proud of himself for that at all. Not proud, but it's all good now.
Starting point is 02:00:37 I'm good now. I'm good now. January 2012, he's arrested on charges of writing a worthless $1,200 check for boat repairs. Why does he have a fucking boat? He has another boat? Another fucking boat. Unbelievable. He doesn't even have a house, but he has a boat now.
Starting point is 02:00:51 February 2012, there's an article on him in the New York Times. A former star is attempting to pick up the many pieces of a broken life. Yeah, it's not really a fluff piece. It's just kind of like a sad piece. It really is. His daughter, Anne, says, quote, he's stuck in a mindset where he's still in the 1970s and he's winning tournaments. He wants to fight about his trophies
Starting point is 02:01:13 when he should be trying to work things out with his family because he was mad that Charlotte sold his trophy. Which, you know what? Jesus Christ, that's a goddamn trophy. How funny is it that he was important for his serve and now... He's important for getting served constantly. Constantly.
Starting point is 02:01:28 You've been served. Oh, my God. Dick Stockton says of him, quote, if he's paid his debts, then he deserves another chance. But how many states are still looking for him? I don't know if he's paid his debts or not. He's like, if it's all good. But, I mean, who the fuck knows? Who knows?
Starting point is 02:01:40 There's so much money. Yeah, another guy, this other guy doesn't even like him. And he said he was a great guy who might have been a con artist. Everybody loved him, but he was always shaky with money and women. But if he called me today and asked if I wanted to have a drink, I'd still love to see him. Jesus. Hold on to your wallet, asshole. Yeah, no doubt.
Starting point is 02:01:54 The drink's on you, brother. Yeah. You're paying. Stan Smith is saying he wants to change, but he just can't. He just can't do it. He's trying, but he can't. At the time here, he's teaching tennis and living in Vero Beach with his with Margaret and their daughter Lacey uh so he's fucked over everybody wives daughters employers who hasn't he fucked over judges Mark Regan fugitive
Starting point is 02:02:17 recovery agent Estevez Jones is not happy with him I feel bad for all these people Jimmy I do but not nearly as bad as I feel. Get the fuck out of here. For Roscoe Tanner, who's a 92-year-old man in Lancaster, California. Of course he is. James Roscoe Tanner, who comes up a lot when you Google, and he's from the Tanner Law Group. Wow. So Tanner Law, and it's in Tampa, so it's Florida, too. What the fuck?
Starting point is 02:02:41 So he gets mistaken a lot. And finally, Roscoe Tanner, director at Learn to Serve in Orlando area. Oh, is it him? It's our guy. He's in Atlanta? He is in Atlanta. He is in Florida, Orlando. Oh, OK.
Starting point is 02:02:54 Learn to Serve Foundation. Yeah. He's teaching people how to serve. He's teaching. He's on LinkedIn and everything, this fucking asshole. That's currently. Yeah. March 13, 2003, Tanner is arrested yeah in indian river
Starting point is 02:03:07 county florida on warrants including a warrant for a worthless check 2013 march a failure to appear and a felony third degree grand theft warrant from st lucie county florida uh tanner pleads guilty to a reduced charge and is sentenced to restitution and probation wow it's constant repeated jesus christ lookical piece of shit. What an asshole. I hate him. April 7, 2013, there's an article by a childhood friend named Roy Exum, who's a writer. Yeah.
Starting point is 02:03:33 This writer writes an article called, Please Stop, Roscoe Tanner. Not, Please Stop, Roscoe Tanner. He's begging Roscoe to stop. Please Stop, Roscoe Tanner. That's literally there. He wrote a fucking open letter. Please. Please. Jesus. Jesus. November's 2014. roscoe to stop please stop roscoe tanner that's literally the fucking open letter please please jesus november's 2014 he's arrested again in river county indian river county florida this time
Starting point is 02:03:53 driving on a suspended fucking license wow he was sentenced to serve a jail term of 10 days oh my god and dade county george is still pursuing him on contempt of court warrants from that. May 2nd, 2015, he's living in Vero Beach still. He is arrested again, again for driving with a suspended license. He's in jail with no bond because in addition to that, he's also wanted in Georgia for contempt of court and all that shit. So they're holding him. They said he's been evading service since 2009 on that one. The word serve is in this fucking podcast. Between serving time, between being served papers, between learning to serve, this fucking
Starting point is 02:04:37 guy can't shake the word serve. August 29th, 2016, his former Lookout Mountain property, that big one that he bought, sells at auction for $1.6 million. It was listed at $4.25 a few years before that, but then the economy, or $2.5, I'm sorry, and then the economy went down. February 1st, 2017, there's an article in the paper here, in some paper, Wimbledon finalist to teach tennis camp in gardens. God damn it. Yep, he will be at a tennis camp in Palm Beach Gardens Tennis Center later in the month there.
Starting point is 02:05:12 He and colleagues Curly Davis and Amy Polizzi will do the present double serving, or will do the adult double serving camp. Wow, holy shit. $320 fee, by the way. Includes a Friday night meet and greet and two mornings of instructions and a lunch. That's for $320 fee by the way includes a Friday night meet and greet and two mornings of instructions and a
Starting point is 02:05:28 lunch that's a 320 dollars to have lunch with him have a lot of extra cash they need to fucking be aware and it says quote join us for a pre 4th of July tennis celebration learn from the best tennis legend Roscoe Tanner and Naples premier tennis pro Curly Davis along with Amy Polizzi, and our host pro, Milo Simovic, all at Treviso Bay in Naples. And that was just this year.
Starting point is 02:05:52 That was just this year. Wow. And that is not it. Let's have an in their own words to wrap it up here. In their own words, quote, my vice was selfishness, but I had an amazing ability to compartmentalize. Things would be eating at me so much I had this recurring dream that my body was filled with worms, but I couldn't block it out. I just brush people and problems and responsibilities to the side.
Starting point is 02:06:15 That's what tennis players do, right? They block out distractions. Yeah. I suppose. Your daughter said that. Yeah, no shit. He is still, to this day, the No. 7 fastest serve in tennis history. Wow.
Starting point is 02:06:26 No. 7 fastest serve. Can't get enough of Roscoe? Go to Amazon.com. You can get his book, Double Fault, The Rise and Fall, and Road Back. Brand new on hardcover, $24.01. A bunch of used ones starting from $3.50. One of 3,500. Yeah, right?
Starting point is 02:06:43 What's that? eBay, there was a PDP Open V 70s tennis racket, a 4 3⁄8-inch grip Roscoe Tanner model. It was only $39.99 with $12 shipping, and it had already sold. I was pissed. I was like, I'm going to buy that. Also, autographs for sale. You can get an autographed 1991 NetPro tennis card, regular price $25. On sale for just $15. Wow.
Starting point is 02:07:06 Holy shit, that's Roscoe, Leonard Roscoe Tanner III, a junior's junior indeed. I want his trophy. And a complete asshole. I want the Australian Grand Slam trophy. That's awesome. Someday. Someday. So if you like that story, that crazy-ass story, please, guys, get on iTunes.
Starting point is 02:07:23 Tell me you've heard of him. I dare you. Yeah, really. Well, if you're a tennis fan, you might have. Tell me you've heard of him. I dare you. Yeah, really. Well, if you're a tennis fan, you might have. Tell us you like us. Give us five stars. Tell us you're following instructions, following directions. Or please get on patreon.com slash crimeandsports to give much-needed donations to our coffers.
Starting point is 02:07:38 Or you can go to PayPal and make a one-time donation using our email, crimeandsports at gmail.com. There you go. If you want to get a hold of us, many ways to do that. You can. Instagram and Twitter at Crime and Sports. That's it. Facebook.com slash Crime and Sports. There you go.
Starting point is 02:07:51 And, of course, the aforementioned Crime and Sports at gmail.com. There you go. Let's give the list of shout-outs of the people who are so amazing, our producers this week. Jimmy, hit us hard. This week was a tough week because I lost my aunt this week, and we were supposed to play in a golf tournament, and we couldn't play because I fucking was grief-stricken.
Starting point is 02:08:10 And the golf tournament was a charity golf tournament for people that – it's for cancer. It was doctors that are researching or doctors that treat cancer. And my aunt died of cancer of everything, and it was just very shitty that we had to miss that because of that. It was like forgetting to walk a 5K for Alzheimer's. So it was a brutal week, and I appreciate everybody that knew about that, that reached out and said something nice. Thank you guys very much. I appreciate it.
Starting point is 02:08:42 But outside of that, thank you to Angela DiGiorgio, Rebecca Lieber, Dana Grayson, the fellow in Delaware, Bradley Harker, Jill Krauth, Matthew Jelinek, Catherine Little, Jessica Leitke, Kathleen Cassidy, Helen Banton, Alexander Chadwick, Wilson Effects LLC. If you need effects, I don't know what they make, but go to – They will affect your shit. Google Wilson Effects LLC and give them your business. Daniel Napier, Jeffrey Geiler, Sidney Bartholomew, Laura Racot. I like that.
Starting point is 02:09:19 Don't know. Parker Adelson, Chrissy Ann Costaldi. She's the best. She's not on social media. She never reaches out inaldi. She's the best. She's not on social media. She never reaches out in any way other than to basically save our lives. So thank you, Chrissy, for everything you do.
Starting point is 02:09:34 You guys are fucking... Really, seeing those... It's ridiculous. Thank you. Christopher Azcarga. A-Z-C-A-R-R-G-A. It's a tough one. Azcarga. It's got to be, right?
Starting point is 02:09:46 It's Spanish, I think. Azcarja? Italian? I don't know. Azcarja. Not a lot of Zs. Go ahead. Sorry.
Starting point is 02:09:53 Aaron D. Tanner. We got a Tanner. That's nice. I hope it's no relationship. Oh, he's going to hate us. Megan and Lauren Ashby. That's a fella. Lauren.
Starting point is 02:10:03 Rob Bridgewater. Julia Rawlinson. Catherine Earl Mahoney. Kristen Rice, or Race, or Reese? I don't know. Jane, I don't want to ruin it any further. Jane Greaser, thank you, Jane. Joe Seligman up in Portland, thank you very much, Joe. Chris Coles, Sherry Rice, Chelsea Cheeks, Chandel White, or no, it's not.
Starting point is 02:10:22 It's Chandel Whitney. What am I doing? Probably Chandel, too. It could be Chandel. It probably is, and I'm a piece of shit. Nick Laycock. Katie Subcheck. We know your name because I know a comic named Subcheck.
Starting point is 02:10:32 Yes, we do. And you thought I was going to fuck that up. I'm sure of it. Elizabeth Luby. Devin Murch. He's a terrific kid in New York. Thanks, Devin. Elizabeth Long.
Starting point is 02:10:42 Stephanie Sloss. It's an S and a Z. It's tough, man. Pick one. It fucking ruins me. Anzati, A-N-Z-A-T-I. That's one word, one name. Melissa Small, Brianna Ryan, Melinda Varadian.
Starting point is 02:11:00 Tommy Story. That's his name, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tom Story. Peter's brother. Probably, yeah. Thanks, Tommy. Diana Ward. Kevin Wilson.
Starting point is 02:11:08 Maria Macklin. Corey Browks or Brocks. Carly McGill. Damn it. I was in a fucking groove there for a second. Carly McGillivary. Dana Bader. She's terrific.
Starting point is 02:11:20 She follows me on every form of social media. She's terrific. Lil Buckaroo. Carol Malik. Terry Hluwitzki. Hluwitzki. Okay. Terry Hluwitzki.
Starting point is 02:11:32 I'll buy that. Rated Cret. Dita Vasquez. Jean or John. Jean. Zaquin. I'm sure it's Jean. Because I'm an ass.
Starting point is 02:11:42 Whatever. Make it complicated. Right. Siren Camilla Johnsgar. Johnsgar. Parker Adelson. I think I already an asshole. Whatever. Make it complicated. Right. Siren Camilla Johnsgar. Parker Adelson. I think I already mentioned him. Althea Fung. She's terrific.
Starting point is 02:11:52 She's awesome. She actually upped her donation. I like her a lot. She's cool. She's great. Carlos Santiago. Nick Gable. Lane Allaby.
Starting point is 02:11:59 Susan Rourke. Ryan Killow. Talia Ramirez. Mark Melbourne. Scott Gold. and Jaime Infantes Ward. Thank you all. Thank you guys. For being such heroes to us. Thank you so much.
Starting point is 02:12:11 Really, honestly, thank you guys. We couldn't do it without you because it really doesn't come from a lot of others. Producer cred. Yeah. Even like on this show, we have a few sponsors and we don't really make them. Right. Like we make such a piddly amount of them. You guys are the ones.
Starting point is 02:12:22 It's like, what happened? Why? So thank you guys so much. What if they wanted to get a hold of someone like you? How would they do that? You can find me on Snapchat, Twitter, or Instagram, at WismanSucks, W-H-I-S-M-A-N sucks, or find me on Facebook.
Starting point is 02:12:36 Interact and play along, guys. I really appreciate you guys being around. It helped me a lot this week, so thank you so much. And I am at JimmyPIsFunny if you want to get on there and hit me up, or you can try to copy and paste my last name if you want to get crazy about it. Do that, guys. But it's been a crazy week. It's been so much fun.
Starting point is 02:12:52 This episode. We both needed this this week, especially you. I know. So let's get through it here live from the crime and sports studios. We will see you next week. Bye. Bye. Music app today, or you can listen early and add free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.

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