The Coen Brothers

My oldest brother, Todd, and his tennis partner, Steve Friswold (representing Eden Prairie High) were playing in the opening round of the Minneapolis Metro area regional boys doubles tennis tournament in early June, 1976 (the top three teams would later advance to the Minnesota State Tennis Tournament the following week). On this day they were to play against Ethan Coen and Mark Zimering from Saint Louis Park. Even though it was a nice day outside, the tournament was being held indoors in Apple Valley. It just so happened that Ethan’s older brother, Joel Coen, worked as a locker room attendant at this particular tennis club during the summer months. Because he had worked there the previous summer, he was able to get permission to set up several video-film cameras around the court to document the match. While warming up, Todd and Steve noticed something odd about the court they were about to play on. There were holes in the four corners of the court that had plastic covers on them. After they were all done warming up for the match, Joel Coen walked around the court, taking off the four hole covers at each corner of the court. He also pulled up the net and the net posts from each side of the court, leaving two more holes (now a total of 6). Some other guys came running over from several courts away carrying giant rolled up tarps, and began lining the entire court with them on all sides. Within a minute the tennis court looked like a giant pool table. Joel Coen came running in with a sack full of numbered croquet balls. Joel Coen then pointed to Todd and Steve and said, “You guys are stripes.” He pointed at Ethan and Mark and said, “And you shall be solids.” An hour and a half later, with only the eight ball left, Todd scratched. Steve screamed, “Nooooooooo!!!!!!!” A couple of tournament organizers came over and disqualified both teams from the tournament. Joel Coen was fired from his job as a locker room attendant for drilling holes in the tennis court corners. But he was able to leave with his video cameras and the full recordings of the match proceedings.