{"id":128,"date":"2025-10-29T16:11:03","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T16:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bethmanderson.com\/?p=128"},"modified":"2025-10-29T16:11:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T16:11:04","slug":"billie-jean-king-and-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bethmanderson.com\/?p=128","title":{"rendered":"Billie Jean King and Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was 13 and an avid tennis player, I played 5-7x a week. A guy I liked, Lane, challenged me to a match that fall, the bet was $.50. He brought some buddies to watch, probably to harass me. I didn\u2019t know to ask anyone to come so it was just me. Turns out he had to borrow a racket. 6-1, 6-0. I think I let him win the one as it was embarrassing to me that I was so much better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As I took the second set he threw his borrowed wooden racket against the chain link fence, breaking it. Then he stomped to the net and threw the $.50 at my feet; four dimes, a nickel, five pennies. His buddies were razzing him pretty hard as they all rode off on their bikes, leaving me on the court alone. I picked up the change and rode home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Told my mom and she told me how wrong I was and I should have let him win. Yeah, nope, my relationship with my mother started a downward trend from then on. And the cute boy who I used to chat with in study hall? Never even looked at me ever again. It was a good thing, all around.<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was 13 and an avid tennis player, I played 5-7x a week. A guy I liked, Lane, challenged me to a match that fall, the bet was $.50. He brought some buddies to watch, probably to harass me. I <span class=\"excerpt-dots\">&hellip;<\/span> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/bethmanderson.com\/?p=128\"><span class=\"more-msg\">Continue reading &rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Billie Jean King and Me - Beth M. 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