Michelle vs. Jennifer and adolescence lost

Reading a recent article in Golf Digest about the obvious coming of age problems facing Michelle Wie reminded me of one August afternoon back in 1989 when I was sitting at my desk in a Los Angeles advertising agency and got a cold call from a talent agency pitch man who, knowing that we handled a good portion of the Nintendo business, launched into how Jennifer Capriati would be the perfect spokesperson for the tween gaming company.

At the time Capriati was the hottest thing to hit the women's tennis circuit. A phenom. The next Navratilova (who was still beating the bejesus out of everyone). The pitch guy was arrogant, rude and pushy, but trying to do his job I guess. Nevertheless, I ran the idea by the client when she got back from vacation (in the meantime this guy called me every day implying I was not doing my job because he hadn't heard back from me). Nintendo passed on the 'opportunity' because Jennifer had not won The Big One. We agreed that we wanted to see what her staying power was. Everyone including me thought they knew what Jennifer was, and should be. Except Jennifer.

That experience gave me a good dose of what the people are like who create the hype and 'handle' these kids and how they affect our perceptions and expectations. Not much later, Jennifer had a number of highly publicized problems that now seem to have been no more than her trying to prove her adolescence--an adolescence she may have still lost in order to overcome what she had done to live out her point. I remember that, once portraited as a human tennis action figure, all of the news photographs suddenly became as unflattering as they could be.

I think she just wanted to be a kid when everyone around her wanted her to be something different. She made it through, and has been a stalwart on the pro tour for more than a decade even if she may not have played to the expectations others set for her. I'd like to know more about that part of the story.

By all accounts the same thing is happening or about to happen with Michelle Wie. She attends Stanford University now. Yep, Tiger did, too. Must be the water. But, according to the Golf Digest story I read, this is a year Wie, her parents and handlers would probably like to forget. Her former coach Gary Gilchrist is quoted in the article, saying "She hasn't backed up the hype, and everything she does now produces negative commentary and negative energy."

So, what's her problem? Gilchrist thinks her parents may be a lot of it, "B.J. is the strategist and Bo is the perfectionist," Gilchrist is quoted as saying. "...They're arrogant, they stick to themselves, and they don't have many friends out there. A lot of people give them good advice, but they don't seem to listen."

Here is the kicker. What does Michelle really like to do? "I like to call back home, talk to my friends, and just listen to their troubles for once and just talk about silly stuff, be stupid and just be goofy and just not think about anything, just not have a care in the world...", she says in the article.

You only have to look at Michelle, Jennifer, Lindsey Lohan, Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton to wonder if the real problem here is just bad parenting. So, why critique and criticize everything an 18-year old does when all they'd rather do is talk to their friends on their cell phone, have fun and be adolescent?

I hope Michelle has the courage to assert and be herself. Her talent will take care of the rest. And, I wish Jennifer would talk to her.