I think it is a tacky idea because this is a sports competition, not a rock concert. And it is interesting to me that some of the people behind this are also very vocal about the necessity of CoP to validate skating as a sport and not entertainment or art. Behaving as if they are at a hair band concert in 1987 is not going to help validate skating as sport as opposed to entertainment for bored women.
(And, hello, everyone, I'm new. I've lurked in the past)
I was 27 once.....35 years ago! Man, I DO feel older than dirt!If it weren't for canoeing, hiking, motorcycle touring, long range rifle shooting, air races, air shows, homebrewing, camping, figure skating events and having a great wife, I would just crawl in a hole and die....
(Louisa05, dont mind us...we are just crazy....welcome and post anytime you feel like it....)
Well, it's not like spectators of "real" sporting events (such as baseball, hockey, football, etc.) are all prim and proper either . They get drunk, they paint their faces and chests, they holler silly cheers, they banter and trash talk with fans of the opposing team, they take off their clothes and streak, and yes, they throw various things onto the field. Sometimes they even have all-out brawls. And none of this prevents baseball, hockey, etc. from being taken seriously as sports, so why should a few panties have that effect on figure skating?Originally Posted by louisa05
I think it is a tacky idea because this is a sports competition, not a rock concert. And it is interesting to me that some of the people behind this are also very vocal about the necessity of CoP to validate skating as a sport and not entertainment or art. Behaving as if they are at a hair band concert in 1987 is not going to help validate skating as sport as opposed to entertainment for bored women.
(And, hello, everyone, I'm new. I've lurked in the past
Professional and elite sports ARE a form of entertainment. That doesn't mean they aren't worthy of respect as sports. The only people who would point to something like this and declare that figure skating isn't worthy of respect is someone who never respected it in the first place.
Last edited by Rachmaninoff; 12-06-2011 at 08:17 PM.
True, they are. But throwing ANYTHING can get fans kicked out of the venue at baseball or football...years ago they sometimes threw oranges for the local college fb team due to a tie to the Orange Bowl (that is now long gone). And fans caught got hauled out of the stadium. Ticketed if the things were frozen, as they often were in the Midwest in late November and perceived to be able to hurt someone. With much more sophisticated stadium and arena security now, people are even more easily spotted and removed for throwing things. Skating is an exception to that rule. And...I've watched all sports all my life and never seen panties thrown on a field or court. That's rock concert territory, not sports.
I don't think that it will destroy the image of skating, but I think it interesting that the planners are some of the very same people who think any little unconventional thing will...yet make plans to behave as if they are at a rock concert.
Well, they throw hats and octopuses onto the ice in hockey when such celebrations are called for.
I think it was a hoot that someone threw a pair panties for Patrick. It was meant to be funny, as per North American way though the origin was quite salacious. However, though PJ might mean to raise public interest in the GPF and figure skating in Canada, or she might think it cool for her to be involved, sanitized naughtiness and sanctioned rowdiness are ultimately very uncool.
I hope fans just disregard the suits and have some harmless fun as they see fit, and Patrick too.
I wasn't arguing that ALL the things I listed are acceptable behaviour (rioting certainly isn't), but that they happen on a regular basis and don't exactly harm a sport's popularity or image. Fans in the stands act silly/rowdy all the time; it's still serious business as far as the game goes.
People may not be throwing panties onto the field (fans of most other sports are mostly male, after all), but they do other silly, interactive and even tacky stuff. There are ways in which people behave pretty similarly to the audience at a concert or some other performance event. How is the fact that it isn't normally done an argument for why it shouldn't be?
I don't think it's the most thigh-slappingly hilarious idea ever, but I'm firmly in the lighten up/harmless fun camp here.
tacky like the football and baseball fans who have their beer guts painted in the team colors?
That is tacky.
I guess to me the worst part of this has already been mentioned here...which is middle-aged women indulging in what is really a sexual innuendo directed at a 20 year old. But that's more creepy than tacky.
Oh no...louisa has discovered this forum is made up of a bunch of Cougars....I still agree with Toni...its tacky for our sport.....I personally think skating is more of a sport than Nascar or football, which are more spectacles than anything.... maybe it is just a cultural thing. Who wants to see wild behavior at the Opera?
I dunno... you should see what the Iditarod has going on... and that sport is beautiful... and I love football
and I like the more rock concert fans go wild crowds in figure skating than the golf claps.
So how does the lone coyote feel among the cougars? Lunch?
Oh, CoyoteChris, I may be new here, but I'm not young, or naive, or new to following the sport and its online fans. I already knew that. I would say this is just the first very public manifestation of that fact. This may well get public attention for that fact which one would have to have read the boards to realize the extent of prior.
And it still isn't as creepy as male posters I've seen on skating forums who are obsessed with each new teeny tiny junior girl flavor of the season until she hits puberty. That is uber-creepy. This is just Twi-Mom creepy.
but why is there this double standard?
Because Patrick, Taylor Lautner, and Robert Pattinson are all past puberty. If these women were drooling over this kid and throwing panties at him...well, then they would be uber-creepy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRHimaaLOYg
He is currently 12 years old.
Haven't read all of these but if i did that I'd put a smashed up chocolate candy bar in the panties.
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