Professional Joke                                                                                                                                       RD
“The Watergate Scandal”                                                                                                         Hanover, NH
November 8, 2020

Informant Data:

RD was born on April 23^rd, 1964 in Queens, New York City. At age 3, he moved to New Jersey where he began playing tennis at the age of 6. Neither of his parents played sport seriously, however they started playing tennis recreationally during the 1970s when tennis began booming as a sport within America. RD began playing more seriously in competitions the summer before 7^th grade. At age 13, his family moved back to Queens where he continued to play tennis in his local neighbourhood. He played on the varsity tennis team at Boston University, graduating in ’86.  RD also earned a doctoral degree in developmental studies and counselling from Boston University’s School of Education in May 2002. From ’87-’98, RD was men’s head coach at BU before moving on to become head coach at Colgate for both men’s and women’s teams until 2002. Since then, RD has been the head coach at Dartmouth for the women’s varsity team, winning the Ivy League in ’11 and ’17. RD would describe his coaching style as largely focused on players strengths as well as developing players in all three walks of life: academic, social and athletic.

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: Tennis is a sport popular among many different cultures and countries around the world. It is understood as a simple game of hitting the ball over the net and onto the other side. Yet, as the game has developed and gained further popularity, it has developed a great deal of complexity in terms of tactics, playing styles, equipment etc. Despite the progression of the game, it is often still seen in its purest form, where simple but effective tactics paired with strong mental and physical ability are the most important factors of being a successful player.

Social context: This joke weaves political context into the game of tennis. It refers to the Watergate scandal involving the administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon. The joke is said when someone deflects a ball that is smashed at them by their opponent, yet is unsuccessful with making it back over the net. It alludes to the fact that the player was able to cover up and protect themselves from the ball, similarly to how Nixon attempted to cover up the re-election fraud that was taking place during his presidency.

Item:

“That’s a Watergate!”

Tags:

• Verbal folklore
• Jokes
• Referential humor
• Verbal humor
• Coaching

Nina Paripovic
Dartmouth College
RUSS 13
Fall 2020