The Tactics Of Tantrums

By Anastasia Toufexis

Over the years, Jimmy Connors has treated spectators to phenomenal displays of tennis and temper -- and at the U.S. Open last week, he exhibited both again. In the second set of a match against Aaron Krickstein, Connors flared up when the umpire overruled a linesman and called one of his passing shots wide. In a one-minute tantrum, the 39-year-old, five-time Open winner called the offending official "a bum," "a son of a bitch" and "an abortion." From then on, Connors played brilliantly, and he took the 4-hr. 41-min. match in a tempestuous tie breaker, before advancing again three days later.

The abuse, though it drew no penalty from Open officials, appalled many onlookers. Some longtime Connors watchers, however, recognized that such displays may be an integral, even calculated, part of Connors' game. "The world may see a spoiled brat," observes David Pargman, a sports psychologist at Florida State University, in Tallahassee, "but some elite athletes turn on the anger strategically."

In sports ranging from baseball to football to hockey, agrees Cal Botterill, a psychologist who works with the Chicago Blackhawks, "the very best athletes can use their emotions -- and anger is one of them -- to push their performance up." In fact, a baseball adage has it that managers prefer players who get mad. Anger steps up the body's pitch: blood pressure rises, heart and respiration rates quicken, and adrenaline surges. That may sharpen performance by heightening alertness, boosting energy and speeding up reactions.

Some athletes use hostile emotions to catapult themselves into fiercer play. Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dave Stieb is one. "It might allow me to throw my next pitch harder or concentrate harder," he says. Others cultivate anger as part of their game preparation. Sports psychologist Bruce Ogilvie of Los Gatos, Calif., recalls that one great football defensive end, now retired, worked himself up for Sunday competition by starting to fantasize on Thursday that his opponent had raped his wife.

Men more than women seem to draw on anger as a tool, but it is decidedly double-edged. In a sport like golf, which depends on fine motor control, rage can spell disaster. In football, anger may help power up a blitzing lineman, but it can impair a quarterback's judgment.

Some experts believe anger is a vastly overrated asset. Says Jerry May of the University of Nevada at Reno: "It leads to inconsistent results. Anger can tighten muscles and increase the risk of injury." May, who chairs the U.S. Olympic Sports Psychology Committee, makes an analogy with sex. "To respond optimally, you must be excited but relaxed. You need that feeling to excel in sports as well." St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Tewksbury agrees. "The more I try to have fun and laugh about situations, the better I perform," he says. So far this year, Tewksbury has won nine games and lost ten.

With reporting by Ratu Kamlani/New York and Elizabeth Taylor/Chicago