Miss America | Golden Skate

Miss America

show 42

Arm Chair Skate Fan
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Jul 26, 2003
I was flipping channels and noticed that it's that time of year again.........Miss America Pageant. I didn't pay much attention until I noticed that one of the featured singers was Clay Akin (Toni, did you happen to catch his performance?)..............42
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Bummer! I missed Clay. I only saw it from the question just before the talent portion. Did that cellist's rendition of Saint-Saens' "The Swan" hit about a hundred off notes or what? I was sure a dog would start howling during that. The singers were pretty good. I thought Miss Maryland was a shoe-in to win and when she was 4th runner up, behind that milk-toast cellist, I was really surprised. I liked the fact that Miss California had short hair instead of a "crown do." Of course she was last in the runners-up, lol.

I was also surprised at how badly some of them did on the "quiz." Though I have to remember they're in their early 20s. But not getting Bay of Pigs-JFK? Geez.

But no matter how corny it is, I still get a little lump in my throat when the new Miss America does her walk, this year especially when her parents got up there. Awwwwww.

I also think it's so great to see so many different cultures and backgrounds, and the fact that a black Miss America is now just par for the course. So glad to see it.
Rgirl
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
ITA. Miss Maryland was robbed! I thought I saw the judges sending foot signals to each other!

Mathman
 

show 42

Arm Chair Skate Fan
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Jul 26, 2003
I thought Miss Maryland was a "shoe-in" ;) too. She was gorgeous........missed most of the program after the first hour....had to watch my alma mater, Cal State University at Fresno, win their football game on another channel.......did get in for the closing moments though.........42
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
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Jun 27, 2003
show 42 said:
I was flipping channels and noticed that it's that time of year again.........Miss America Pageant. I didn't pay much attention until I noticed that one of the featured singers was Clay Akin (Toni, did you happen to catch his performance?)..............42

OF COURSE! I had known about it for about a month and a half, but failed to relay it to people on this board

anywho... I totally spaced it until about 7:30pm here... and I kicked my little brother off of the TV just to see if I had missed him and just about that time he was announced onto the stage...

you could tell he was nervous as he was very FLAT at the beginning... however he started belting out the chorus and just soared thru the rest... he was great... way to go CLAY! LOL


(and I wanted Miss Florida to win, so YEAY!)


Rgirl said:
But not getting Bay of Pigs-JFK? Geez

actually I didn't know that answer either... though I got the rest of them right... I know I wasn't taught about it in my school... perhaps the same holds true for the others?
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Tone,
Apparently so re Bay of Pigs not being taught in most schools, since most of the Miss America contestants didn't get it, which is a shame since the Bay of Pigs incident is when the US and USSR came within a whisker's breadth of nuclear war and JFK really showed his mettle and his diplomatic intelligence, IMO, in the way he handled things. I'd think that would be something important to teach. Perhaps because the CIA blundered in terms of invading Cuba, some/many schools are not anxious to teach it. An excellent and I think interesting movie on the subject is "Thirteen Days."

In general, obviously the judges got it wrong since four of us now have said Miss Maryland wuz robbed. I saw a special on Miss America and the former winners say that the 15-minute interview, which the audience never sees, is "everything" as one former winner said. So maybe Miss Maryland blew that interview. Even so, they gave the breakdown of how much each part of the competition counts for in terms of percentages, and it seemed to me just doing a rough estimate in my head that Miss Maryland should have at least done better than 4th (was it 3rd or 4th?) runner up? Anybody know if Speedy has taken over the judging of this too, lol?
Rgirl
 

Ptichka

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Jul 28, 2003
Bay of Pigs taught in schools

RGirl, it is all a question of a particular school/ teacher. Most states do not have guidelines on what should be taught (Massachusetts DOES have history on its MCAS graduation requirement test; when everyone was debating if it was too hard, I actually downloaded a sample from the internet and went through the whole test; I was struck by how reasonable the history portion was -- demanding a lot of general historical knowledge, but NOT emphasizing dates and such). In the particular school I went to (I graduated about 10 years ago). I had a excellent US history teacher in 11th grade. However, his course ended with WWII. Then, in 12th grade, I had "History of 20th century World" -- the biggest waste of both the teacher's and the students' time EVER!!!
 

Yazmeen

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
wanted Hawaii to win, but I wasn't surprised by the outcome.

I think Florida got it because she was the most low-key of the top five and best fit the Miss A mold. Hawaii was adorable, but you could see she had a silly streak a mile long (why she was my favorite) and I think the judges found her too goofy. Wisconsin was smoking until the quiz and her lame answer on her question--she is a major organ donation advocate, but her answer to preventing sale of organs and other abuses in the system was poor--she nervously suggested pushing existing laws. That and the quiz did her in. I'm not surprised at her performance in these parts--she has lived a totally sheltered, regimented life based on becoming a doctor. I'm a doc myself, and my cognizance of the outside world during med school was only kept up to the level it was because I was determined to have somewhat of a normal life. I cannot IMAGINE going to med school at age 17 or 18!!!!

Maryland was terrific (my third choice after Wisconsin), but she was very slick and VERY sexy, and along with her question answer against school vouchers for private schools (I agree, but that ain't the conservative position and that hurt her), I don't think she fit the Miss A bland image. California was just a crashing bore--she was plain weird. I'd have rather seen Virginia make the finals.

By the by, I think talent is only 20%. and the reason they cut it back to the final five is that statistics have shown that talent is the portion of the competition where most people change the channel. That's sad, because its usually the best part.

I haven't watched the pageant in years, and it was encouraging to see such diversity in the final group. Plus, I'm just mean enough to really ENJOY the fact that both Miss Texas and Miss New York got shut out completely for a change!
 

KwanFan1212

Joey Votto Fangirl
Final Flight
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Jun 24, 2003
^^^LOL, I liked that part too! NY and Texas seem to always make it so its like a treat when they don't because other girls actually get a chance. ;)

And count me as one who does NOT see what all the fuss was about with Miss Maryland. She seemed too practiced and I just didn't care for her. She never got my vote at all. I was rooting for Hawaii! She was so spunky and fun but also had a lot of poise too. I thought her song was best too actually. If this had been Miss USA, I think Hawaii would have had it hands down. Those two pageants are so different. The best part of the show was seeing Clay and hearing him sing. That was awesome. Tom Bergeron did a nice job as the host but I am still trying to figure out why Trista and Ryan were even a part of this. Whatever, LOL :D

And Miss Florida did have the line of the night after winning the title! "I'm going to Disneyworld!" :laugh:
 

Yazmeen

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
I SWEAR Disney should hire her on the spot, if that's possible with Miss A. Her reaction was priceless--I really think she expected to be the first runner up. I think Hawaii was just as shocked to make it to the final two.
 

Tonichelle

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Jun 27, 2003
I still wish we could see ALASKA make it to the top 5... our girls have been just as pretty....

I got to see the heavy competition for "Miss Alaska" back in 1995 and all of our girls could have made just as much of an impression... Alaska is always ignored :(
 

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
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Joined
Jul 28, 2003
show 42:

I tuned in at the end when they were "crowning" Miss America. Talk about the Halle Berry moment at the Oscars! Miss Florida looked like a "carbon copy" of her as the former Miss America struggled to put the crown on her head. She would not stop bobbing up and down. It was so funny!

Miss Florida "low key?" Not at the end of the show.
 

hrmsk8ngnutt

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
The Swan????

Rgirl said:
Did that cellist's rendition of Saint-Saens' "The Swan" hit about a hundred off notes or what? I was sure a dog would start howling during that.

LOL!!! :laugh: I just watched the tape and I just couldn't bear to listen!!! :eek: Then to only get 3 right on the quiz!!! :cry: Poor thing - she seems like a nice girl. Maybe it was the salt water in the air.....

Herm (sk8ngnutt)
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Pitchka,
Thanks for the info on the way these Miss America contestents might or might not have learned certain things about US history. Doesn't it suck when a teacher/course is so bad it's a complete waste of time for everyone? Bummer. Of course when I was in Jr. High the girls still had to take Home Economics and the boys took Shop. Yeah, making friggin' pie crusts. That was an invaluable part of my education.

Tonichelle,
I've been to Alaska and of course Alaska's girls are great. Where Alaska may be lacking is in the great Miss America-Making Coaching Corporations that states like Texas have. You know, all the pageant experts that turn a lovely, intelligent young woman into a lean, mean pageant-winning machine. A girl I knew in high school was first runner up for Miss USA in about 1978 (this was before Donald Trump bought it and it was a more well-rounded, no pun intended, beauty pageant) and I kid you not, this girl ended up in the hospital suffering from exhaustion after the pageant. She was Miss Arizona and she was trained for Miss USA like an athlete. She was about 5'7, about 125 lbs and she competed at Miss USA weighing 105. This was in the days before breast implants and this girl had one heckuva rack, whch no doubt helped her win swimsuit. But they literally physically, psychologically, and as best they could, intellectually molded this girl into a winnah! Or close. But she really got sick afterwards from the stress, the dieting, the lack of sleep, the exercise, all of it. She ended up being the weathergirl on the noon news in Phoenix for a while. I'd moved to Salt Lake City by '74, but I saw her on TV when I went home for Christmas. She was so BAD. She sounded and moved like someone doing an imitation of an empty-headed, robotic weathergirl. And the little bit of banter she was supposed to do with the news guy--OMG. "Ha ha, Don. Ha ha." I'm not kidding.

Anyway, what I think Alaska needs to do if they want to move up in the pageant world is get a hired gun from one of those southern states that are big on pageants. The only thing is, those girls or the state pageant have to pay these pageant experts a ton of money. Back in '78, the training the girl I knew got was mostly funded by the Arizona state Miss USA pageant, but she, or I should say her father, had to shell out a lot too. I think the state paid about $30K to the consultants and the girl's family paid about $15K, which was a LOT in '78.

Well, I'll root for Alaska next year. I'm sure I'll make the difference, lol.

Herm,
I was beginning to wonder if anybody else had noticed that cello solo:laugh: And the girl, Miss Wherever, put such emotion into it with her face and the music was so awful! Really, I expected to open my window while she was playing and hear dogs going "Owooooooooo!" all over the city. Worst Miss A performance I can remember since Miss Oregan danced the ballet solo "The Dying Swan" to "The Swan" back in the late '60s. I swear, feathers were falling off her tu tu. Another howler. Stay away from "The Swan" girls. Though I must admit I miss the baton twirlers from the '60s. Now there was a talent besides singing that those girls were really good at. Quad turns under highflying double batons caught behind the back--all the big tricks and all to music like "Flight of the Bumblebee" or Katcheturian's "Sabre Dance." And the ones who played things like bells, loved those too. My hope is to live long enough to see a Miss America contestant play the drums as her talent. I want her to do a kick-a$$ heavy metal or at least hard rock drum solo--in evening gown of course. "And here doing the classic drum solo from Iron Butterfly's 'Inna Gadda da Vida' is Miss Ohio, Shirley Ann Marie Wynona Ryder Price!" Of course I'd want Beavis and Butthead doing the commentary. Heh heh.
Rgirl
 
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