[sinclairfan]

BARBARA WALTERS SPECIAL
INTERVIEWS WITH CHRIS EVERT AND CATHY LEE CROSBY
September 17, 1976

BW:  Good evening, America, this is Barabara Walters.  Later this week, ABC's Battle of the Network Stars will be airing an unscripted, unrefereed intra-genre fistfight between tennis champion Chris Evert and television spokesmodel Cathy Lee Crosby.  Chrissy is with me first, and I'd like to talk to you about the links between you and former Notre Dame Heisman Trophy runner-up Joe Theismann, but first ....

CHRIS EVERT:  I'm gonna stop you there, Barbara.  That's a pretty spicy meatball to just leave hanging.  Let's cover that one first, if you don't mind.

BW:  So be it.  And by the way, you're looking lovely as always.

CE:  Thank you for noticing.  As are you.  I met Joe Theismann at my high school commencement--St Thomas Aquinas high school.  Joe was making the speaking rounds as a famous Catholic athlete--he had just finished second for the Heisman Trophy to Jim Plunkett.  He was introduced to me since I was an up and coming tennis player.  Even though I was 18 and legal, ...  NOTHING HAPPENED, .... not then and there, between Joe and me.  But the energy was .... off the charts between us. 

BW:  There was a mutual attraction.

CE:  An attraction  but also an affinity.  Two soon-to-be-lapsed Catholics.  Two repressed Catholics.  Two "school jock" athletes.  Two in the public eye personalities.  So, we stayed in touch.  Letters, phone calls.

BW:  And where does Cathy Lee come in?

CE:  Cathy Lee comes in about 1975.  I guess she was over Joe's house one weekend, trying to leverage his network to jump start her career, if you ask me .... and she finds my letters to him.  And, she READS them ..... and she just lost it.  She threatens him, one thing leads to another, .... she breaks up with him, regrets it, asks him to take her back.  Just .... total tension convention between them over me.  It's clouded their reputation ever since.

BW:  So ..... did she confront YOU ever, before dropping your name at her Good Morning Amierica interview.

CE:  Not once, the coward.  And even when she dropped my name, I think it was impulsive and not thought out at all.

BW:  ....And yet Tracey Austin assures us the SHE, Cathy Lee, answered YOUR call out by confronting you in the Forest Hills sauna.....

CE:  Ya, well ..... Tracey can suck it ....  Cathy Lee came, but the confrontation between us was an accident....

BW:  Before you start that story .... let's take a break.

To be continued ...

[JT Edson]

Nice set up and the build up seems to be boiling nicely on a slow simmer.

[sinclairfan]

September 17, 1976
CHRIS EVERT INTERVIEW, PART 2

BW:  I'm back with tennis champion Chris Evert.  Chrissy, back in August, you stated you'd answer Cathy Lee Crosby's call-out for a televised ABC fistfight, but first she would need to meet you for an untelevised catfight, where the two of you would presumably resolve your Joe Theismann triangle.  Whatever did or didn't happen at Forest Hills, which appears murky and chaotic, had you and Cathy Lee ever confronted each other before that?

CE:  Very clever, Barbara, that's why you're the master interviewer.  You're right that the Forest Hills [air quotes] confrontation was anything but, thanks to Tracey Austin's ham-fisted meddling, not to mention trying to get me injured for play at the U.S.Open.  Cathy Lee showed, ...... but that's all it was was a show .... she had no intention of actually having physical contact with me, until Tracey engineered us being in the same sauna room, and some unnamed women on the Tour watched Cathy Lee and I roll around.  But, no, it was not the first time Cathy Lee and I have gotten into it.  She's stalked me at my training center in Florida, the French Open in Paris, and even skiing in Aspen.  All this, mind you, when I was dating other men, hardly ever with Joe.  And all while I was 19-, 20-years old,, much younger than her.  That's how stalker-crazy this woman is.  Which America already got a taste of, with Cathy Lee's ridiculous tactics against Lynda Carter, going straight for the [air quotes] "bathing suit parts".  Ya, I'll fight her this week .... settle this "first love" obsession of hers once and for all.

BW:  Was there a winner in those 1974, 1975 clashes?

CE:  No comment.  America can judge for themselves on Wednesday.

BW:  Up next, Cathy Lee Crosby.

[sinclairfan]

September 17, 1976
CATHY LEE CROSBY INTERVIEW

BW:  Good evening, America, now sitting across from me is the one and only Cathy Lee Crosby.  Cathy Lee, America just heard Chris Evert paint you as a jealous stalker of both herself and of football quarterback Joe Theismann.  Your thoughts??

CLC:  First, thank you, Barbara, for the opportunity to speak my piece.  My response is that Chrissy is projecting, projecting, projecting.  Tracey Austin, who I don't even know that well, will back me up on this, but Chrissy Evert is a borderline nymphomaniac.  We all heard on Tracey's interview with Phyllis George that with Chrissy, 'the line is long but It moves quickly'.  Well, Chrissy isn't used to being told 'no' ..... by the way, it's always her making the propositions, rarely the men .... and she got a BIG FAT 'NO' from Joe Theismann in 1972 .... because she was a damn high schooler, and, Barbara, her ego has never recovered from it.  He's been her White Whale, her Moby Dick, .... pun intended ..... , ever since.  That's what her letters to him are, Barbara... "Please, Joe.  Please fuck me."  Sick stuff, Barbara, pathetic.

BW:  Cathy Lee, please watch you language, we're on live TV.

CLC:  Sorry, I forgot. 

BW:  Cathy Lee,  we'll never clear up the she said-she said between you and Chrissy and Joe.  Can we turn instead to YOUR fighting style?  The grabbing of breasts, and the like.  Did you learn that from someone?  Did you develop it yourself?

CLC:  Well, Barbara, a real woman to woman fight will almost always involve going after each others' breasts in SOME way, even if it's not until the mount .... you know, the pin at the end.  But HOW I actually twist and pull and yank.  Yes, that was School of Hard Knocks.  A Rhodesian bitch ..... I can say 'bitch' on TV, right? ..... a Rhodesian youth tennis bitch got me in a hold once at a youth tennis camp, and got ahold of mine.  I swore I would never let a fight happen again where an opponent got to mine first .... that I would always be first to get hers.  It was a painful lesson, but a valuable one. 

BW:  So you'll be going after Chrissy's later this week.

CLC:  WITH .... A ... VENGEANCE.  [Turns to camera]  Count on it, Chrissy.

[sinclairfan]

SEPTEMBER 20, 1976
BATTLE OF THE NETWORK STARS
CHRIS EVERT VS CATHY LEE CROSBY FISTFIGHT

JL:  Good evening, girlfight fans.  In about 20 minutes, we will be showing you the 17-minute long footage of an unscripted fistfight which happened in ABC's studios earlier this afternoon between Chris Evert and Cathy Lee Crosby.  This is Josn Lunden.  My partner Donna deVarona will first be discussing the fight, so if you don't want the fight result spoiled, we ask that you turn off your set now and tune back in at exactly twenty past.  Donna, this was a long fight, leaving us with a little bit less time than before to recap it ..... so, tell our viewers what you and I saw.

DdV:  Joan, as you know, what you and I saw was a very, very mean .... a very tough fight ..... a streetfight, almost .... between one current athlete and one former one.  Both girls gave their all, but for most of the fight, there was a clear top dog .... top bitch, if you'll pardon my language ..... and that was .... Chrissy Evert!

JL:  I agree with your assessment of the fight ..... the toughness .... there's no love lost between these two ladies ..... neither of them were kidding in their Barbara Walters interviews.  But the toughness took itself out in the form of knees and elbows.  I think perhaps we were both led to expect more breast mauling.  To get straight to the elephant in the room .... did tomorrow night's parking lot fight between Morgan Fairchild and Lindsay Wagner, did that ..... get into Chrissy and Cathy Lee's head, perhaps?

DdV:  I think it did, particularly into Cathy Lee's.  Joan, Chrissy I think welcomed the stand-up nature of the fight.  She is a few years younger than Cathy Lee, and still tours, so her wind ..... I think she trusts it more than Cathy Lee should have trusted hers.  But, yes, Cathy Lee was talking a big game about her prowess and experience in mauling breasts ..... and yet we saw very little of that from her tonight.  Like you said, mostly elbows and knees, and clenched fists when hands were used.  Maybe a little hairpulling.  Especially when Cathy Lee started getting the worst of the fight, I'm not sure we she didn't make an adjustment.  She seemed to lose her cool, and spent more energy lashing out at Chrissy.  Which, in turn, caused Chrissy to almost start toying with Cathy Lee.  Real determination..... competitive spirit shown by Chrissy. 

JL:  I find it interesting that the former athlete, Cathy Lee, had an advantage on the non-athlete Lynda Carter .... and that the current athlete, Chris Evert, had a clear advantage on the former athlete. 

DdV:  Go athletes!

JL:  We'll be back, next, with the footage of the fight.

[sinclairfan]

GOOD MORNING AMERICA
September 23, 1976
Chris Evert post-fight interview

JL:  Good morning, this is Joan Lunden.  A lot to discuss from last night's women's tennis-themed fight, so let's get right to it with the victor, Chris Evert.  Chrissy, first, if you don't mind me asking-- .... how are you feeling? We can see all sorts of scratches, bruises, .... but mostly .... I guess, scrapes ... all over your face.

CE:  Yeah, well ..... surface damage only, which will heal.  As a opposed to Cathy Lee's wounds, which while not visible, are deeper .... AND permanent.  The psychological, emotional baggage she carries  .... and brings to every relationship she'll ever have ..... [turns to camera] don't ever forget that, guys out there.

JL:  Chrissy, we had of course come into the fight ..... having been led in that direction by Cathy Lee's words themselves .... that last night's fight would involve breast mauling ... whereas instead the two of you obviously did most of your work on each others' faces ..... we'll see Cathy Lee's face in a minute, so everyone can see to what I'm referring ..... Chrissy, what happened?  Why the face mauling?

CE:  Well, bottom line is that Cathy Lee knew .... still knows ..... that if she lays a hand on my books, I'll twist hers the hell off .... and will enjoy doing it.  Also, though ..... I think she knew there wasn't any way in he'll she was winning the fight.  So she decided to try and maim me .... I'll be in the public eye another 10, 15 years.  Whereas she will for another 15 minutes.  So, everytime America turns on Wimbledon or the French Open, she wants them watching not for the tennis but to check out my war scars.  Which is fine--America will remember who won the fight.

JL:  Who won the fight, or who won Joe Theismann?

CE:  Joan, I think we can leave Joe out of this.  There's plenty of reasons Cathy Lee deserved a public ass-kicking beyond her love life.  I was so pleased to see both Morgan Fairchild AND Loni Anderson calling her a pseudo-celebrity.  Cathy Lee's been exposed.  America now sees her for what she is:  a failure at tennis, a failure at acting, a failure at fistfighting.

JL:  Cathy Lee has been listening with my colleague Donna deVarona.  The two of them will be up next.

[AaronL]

Literally zero fighting so far. Five of these "stories" spamming the page.

[sinclairfan]

GOOD MORNING AMERICA
September 23, 1976
Cathy Lee Crosby post-fight interview

DdV:  And we are back .... this is Donna deVerona with Cathy Lee Crosby.  Cathy, I must say, Chrissy's face looked much worse than yours does.  Are you able to take consolation in the visible damage you were able to inflict on her in 18 minutes?

CLC:  Satisfied with that, and satisfied with exposing her .... [turns to camera] that's right, Chrissy, it was YOU who was exposed Wednesday night, not me ...... for exposing Chrissy for her .... desperation .... in not being able to have Joe Theismann.

DdV:  Cathy Lee, as a neutral observer here .... can I suggest that .... while there's definitely something odd there in the Chrissy-Joe dynamic, that at least theirs is just about sex--some sort of unrequited will-they-or-won't-they melodrama.  Whereas you and Joe--Cathy Lee, you seem to be trying to sustain a relationship ..... with a LESS experienced man than you are .... while fending off a woman who appears a better match than....

CLC: [Interrupts] Donna, ..... Donna, Donna, let me stop you there before you embarrass yourself....

DdV:  Excuse me???....

CLC: [Interrupts] .... first, you are NOT a neutral observer .... ABC sends you out to bait women who have just lost a fight .... like you baited Lynda Carter after I beat her ....

DdV: ...I did NOT ....

CLC:  [interrupts]  ... excuse me .... me, talking, ok? ... and second, you just admitted something Chrissy talks around .... sssooo, you admitted I'm right .... that Chrissy is crushing on Joe ..... you saw it, America saw it ..... Joe saw it .... so I exposed HER..... because, since 1972, she's been in denial about her ...  issue ..... and she can't deny it anymore.  And now it's etched in her face, too.  So, Donna..... I'll take it.  I'm proud, all in all.  Not a perfect, clean sleep..... I wish I coulda ground and pounded her ....  AND her boobs .... but I'll take the outcome.

DdV:  And I think you and Joe have a pretty bleak future.

CLC:  .....STAY that with the cameras off, bitch.

DdV:  [turns to camera]  ... I'm about to.  Goodbye for now, America, from me.  And say goodbye, hopefully forever, to Cathy Lee Crosby.

[peregrine]

 I agree with AaronL !