(reposted from US Open thread)
As proof that not the entire press in Flanders is pro-Kim: sports journalist Hans Vandeweghe (De Morgen) has done it again in his column(read
"writing" about Kim).
The column is called "KC Lourdes" (in a pejorative sense) and, in a nutshell, it's a major criticism on Kim's marketing in fact: the latest KC line, her website, and so on.
Three remarks on what I have posted here from De Morgen's Hans Vandeweghe:
Please note that:
1) I have selected this particular column to illustrate that not all Flemish journalists are pro Kim, to illustrate how sometimes is written too
2) I don't want to start a habit of posting trash and all, but just for point 1 I rate the following column very illustrative.
3) Do also know that this guy has been at least banned once by Kim's family, for as far as I know.
Source: De Morgen, August 23, 2003
KC Lourdes
By Hans Vandeweghe, Translation by Ingrid
“... But come on, it would be really unfair to blame that one on Clijsters...”
This sentence was in this newspaper the day that Kim became world number one, you know, that world fact which was the opener at every TV news broadcasting.
It’s not lesson one in journalism but you’ll encounter it easily enough: a fact is never a reproach, speaks for itself, is an established fact that you can’t ignore.
That Kim Clijsters runs herself off her legs to become number one, that she has become number one without winning one grand slam tournament, that she lives on her fitness and the volume of work she can put in (because she fails mentally when it matters), that she of all the top ten players is the one with most hours on court, that all of this conflicts with the family mantra that she has to be oh sooo careful with her shoulder injury and the result is just a welcomed side effect of her young adult amusement, these are no reproaches but facts. These may be black on white in the newspaper for once, though. That the Clijsters clan doesn’t like to read or hear this, is a fact too.
So be it. I allow Kim it, but I hope for Justine Henin. Much funnier girl, more exciting, far more bitch and thus far more real, more attractive tennis, Mc Enroe as fan and not that brat of a Hewitt, no father around, and above all, and not to forget: no little bracelets, little key-rings and little necklaces with her image.
It started with that website, launched the day that the Fed Cup against Austria was presented in Bree. We would know all about Kimmeke Clijsters and the media even got a special access code with extra info. Subject to how well in favour one was of the Clijsters family, one would get more or less access privileges. I am apparently not so well in their favour, because I don’t have any privilege. I have subscribed already two times, and I have receives something three times, to be exact. I never saw a password. The first email was at the beginning, then nothing came for months, and a few weeks ago she was back again out of the blue to announce that she wasn’t angry-at-aaaaaall at Justine. She illustrated this with the example that she had been joking with Justine’s team a quarter of an hour after her loss against Justine in San Diego. Somebody with a bit of a sports heart must become sick of this: that loses a vitally important match and goes on making jokes about it next, can it be more unreal? Would women’s tennis not be a top sport then though?
The website promised a lot at the beginning, but it became nothing. The info is merely very basic, the logo is brutally copied from Nike’s and Michael Jordan, and the quotes of Kimmeke don’t say much, totally in line with her rattling on radio and TV. This week I got a message at once, saying that she was number one. Speaking of spam.
The truth came out mid of June: the site was to make money. Kimmeke got a merchandising line. Dad Lei had said it many times: so much people want something of our Kimmeke, it is impossible to keep up with anymore. Immediately, it was said too that the profits would go to charity on which Kim spends so much money already. Nobody who asked: so the money for these charities that used to come from her own pocket, she now is getting out of the pockets of her fans who will buy her bracelets and necklaces and so? Key-rings cost € 30, pendants in between 17 and 20, and bracelets between 20 and 35. The bracelet in rubber is the most expensive: I don’t get that.
The product line, well, sort of, is a joint venture of LCM, Lei Clijsters Management, and 4Play, the small enterprise of Leo Van der Elst, an ex-international football [=soccer in US] player who made more of a name as a quizmaster of the Red Devils [Belgian national soccer team] and in his career afterwards more as the moron-on-duty. Leo and Lei are the geniuses behind the sell-off of the image of Kimmeke Clijsters, who is recommended on her website as a kind of post-modern Mary of Lourdes [= a Saint]. Class, or the lack of, that’s also a reason why I am pro Henin. The world of Clijsters is that of the bulging red baby cloths of Fila [literally in Dutch was ‘kruippakjes’] and the fake jewelry [‘faux bijoux’] of Leo and Lei. Justine Henin is standing for the tight [not sure if I understood this word the way he meant it, he wrote: ‘strakke’] fashion line of Adidas. Kimmeke Clijsters stands with her Lourdes-booth in Play Tennis [a Belgian tennis magazine] and Het Nieuwsblad [a competing newspaper of De Morgen, a far bigger one]. Justine Henin is the show-window of Rolex in The Herald.
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Last remark: there were so many moments I could have included certain smilies, that I have skipped all...
