46^th World Table Tennis Championships

Osaka, Japan · April 23 - May 6, 2001

“TONE-Y!…TONE-Y!”

By Tim Boggan, ITTF and USATT Media

Dr. Michael Scott, the genial ITTF and IOC Sports Science Committeeman, has…let’s say not a perverse but a mischievous side that reflects his dual U.S./Irish citizenship. (“Why,” by the way, he asks in his leprechaunish way, “are the Irish warm-up suits royal blue rather than shamrock green?”)

Ten years ago at the World Championships in Chiba, Japan, when North and South Korea were fielding what was being called a “unified” team, Michael, stationed in the stands, amused himself and a good many others, including the U.S. players on the court below.

How so? Well, I’m sure he didn’t promise a pot of gold, but he somehow got the North Korean cheerleader to rather bizarrely momentarily expand his horizons. For soon this cheerleader and his followers began chanting loudly, “U-S-A!…U-S-A!” Which you have to admit was quite a feat.

Here in Osaka, Michael was at it again. This time with roughly 300 bussed-in Japanese middle-school children—all perched above the U.S. vs. Germany women’s team match on the court below.

Pretty soon there came a chorus of “TONE-Y!…TONE-Y!”

“Tony”? They were rooting for a man? But there were no men playing.

Uh, sorry—Time Out….Very patient correction.

“TAWN-Y!…TAWN-Y!”

It took the U.S. player below—Tawny Banh, a Vietnamese emigrant—about 1-2-3-4-5 points to “get” it. To connect the syncopated claps and calls to HER.

“That was so emotional,” she said later. “Were they really clapping for me?”

Well,…

Despite the support, Tawny lost her match two straight, and the U.S. team lost to Germany three straight. Said Michael, “The kids enjoyed cheering more than they did watching the game.”

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