there is an edition with a ten-year update on the main characters
I guess everybody has to give their own opinion on Hermione/Ron.
I had a very weird sense of...I'm not sure what to call it, when the Harding-Kerrigan retrospectives appeared a few weeks ago.
It was such a huge deal at the time and yet I don't think I've thought of it once during the 20 years since it blew over.
So what sport can I be a fan of without feeling slimy? I should probably go watch a movie or listen to some music.
So what sport can I be a fan of without feeling slimy?
Nude roller derby.
I read it back the LAST time Stormcrow linked it
Right. When you badgered me to make a post out of it. And so here it is.
"There's nothing wrong with boxing. It's one of the great working class escapes, is boxing. It's just sport, like any other. Two highly trained athletes at the peak of physical perfection, trying to outwit each other in a ring of combat. In fact, at its best, it's not a sport, it's an art form."
"Yes, but female topless boxing?"
"Come on, Kryten."
"And they're not even hitting each other. They just appear to be standing in the middle of the ring and jiggling up and down."
If nobody lands a punch, I suppose the judges will decide the match on points.
The only pure sport is Flappy Bird. It was too good to live.
2: It was such a huge deal at the time and yet I don't think I've thought of it once during the 20 years since it blew over.
Yes it did drop off as a thing quite quickly. I suspect if it had gone that Kerrigan had been hurt much worse and not skated, and/or Harding had ended up with the gold it would occupy a much more prominent place in popular sports culture. Now it's kind of a footnote. But as heebie indicates, the first piece is a nice retrospective analysis.
Oh, it was huge all right. I remember Frank Rich called attention to the class aspects of it, and was attacked on sports talk shows for patronizing the working class.
I remember the splits in our office, lawyer-against-lawyer much more heated on this issue than any other in the 90s, than OJ or Monica, which were insignificant by comparison.
much more heated on this issue than any other in the 90s, than OJ or Monica, which were insignificant by comparison.
The 90s really were a halcyon decade, weren't they?
11: Yeah, as I indicated in the post, a guy I worked with was an actual figure skating fan as well as being one of several outspoken conservatives* in our lunchtime walking group so we all yelled at each other about it daily for a few weeks. Some of it political, some of it awful sexist stuff (I will confess to often not being great at all on that front in RL, and I was worse at the time, so would weigh on things like "Who would you rather have sex with**?)
*He was a somewhat interesting guy on that front. Had a very hardscrabble childhood in Nova Scotia, but ended up with A PhD from CMU and a complete FoxNews American political stance with particular emphasis on homophobia and religious fundamentalism. And a big figure skating fan.
**Harding, of course.
And since we're reprising things from other threads, a few days ago apo mentioned stumbling across this bit of wonderful trivia: On August 12, 2009, Harding set a new land speed record for a vintage gas coupe with a speed of 97.177 mph driving a 1931 Ford Model A, named Lickity - Split, on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
The 90s really were a halcyon decade, weren't they?
When I think back to the big bruhaha's in academia during the 90s - arguments over what belongs in the Canon or whether there should even be a Canon, the "Science Wars", & etc. - it all seems almost quaint now.
Now we get to argue over whether academia will exist at all in any recognizable form for much longer.
I was thinking it would be cool if, for just one of the Olympic sports, they made it totally legal for you to do things like have your entourage take out your opponent's legs with a tire iron before competition. Like, part of the strategy was to have your team work to tale the other guy out. You could have all kinds of crazy adventures leading up to the competition -- everyone would be like "holy shit luge competitor Glog Olson was just beaten up by Canadians in the Stockholm airport! Now will the Swedes be able to get past the guard dogs at the Canadian luge fortress in Whistler?" Wouldn't this be the greatest thing ever?
On the veldt, men were willing to have sex with eighth place finishers because they have less investment in any one particular reproductive act than women.
12: The 90s really were a halcyon decade, weren't they?
I'm gobsmacked that the Lewinsky stuff has been brought up by at least one Republican (Rand Paul?) as somehow reflecting poorly on Hillary Clinton.
With a moment's reflection, I'm actually not gobsmacked at all.
17 may be the greatest comment ever. It's certainly the greatest veldt comment ever.
On reflection, I think the Harding matter riled us more than Rodney King/OJ/Monica because those were all essentially legal, and lawyers had a sense of defending our values against assault, so we were more likely to reach comity.
Harding set a new land speed record
Hooray! I've always found it hard not to root for her.
I remember the class aspect of the Harding-Kerrigan thing being flogged from the outset like an old, tiresome rug.
So, in 20 years will anyone remember the name Michael Sam?
Yeah, I even remember the Harding thing from elementary school.
16: I've always argued that there should be a Drug-Free Olympics and a Drugs-Allowed Olympics. The latter would be a massive public benefit. Look at Formula One - think of all the advances that have come out of that, like, I don't know, ABS and computer-controlled fuel injection and lean-burning engines and better tyres and so on, all of which have moved into the general car business and made our cars faster and more efficient and safer.
The Drug Olympics would be the same for pharmaceuticals - they'd be a testbed for all kinds of drugs that we could then (after adequate clinical testing of course) admit for other uses. It would be the cutting edge of human enhancement technology. The military spinoffs alone would be immense.
27: Right. As a 24x7 smartass I asked the following at a department safety meeting in 1988: "Given Ben Johnson's performance at Seoul, are we reconsidering our drug policy?"
What is that White and Black intro wordage doing there? Is it some thing they do on some NPR show?
I've been following the UCI, the International Cycling Union, cycling's governing body in its bid to have cyclocross at the Winter Olympics.
Cyclocross is and always has been a winter sport, but doesn't require ice and snow--sometimes it's there, sometimes it isn't, like in much of the temperate zone. Traditionally a Winter Olympic sport required that it was performed on ice or snow.
I love cyclocross, but don't know how I feel about this.
I haven't looked at and of the OP links yet, but two other things to toss onto the pile.
I had a very weird sense of...I'm not sure what to call it, when the Harding-Kerrigan retrospectives appeared a few weeks ago.
See also the recent, short post, "Surya Bonaly is the biggest bad ass in Winter Olympics History"
Also, I really don't watch much of the Olympics but at the gym yesterday I happened to see Jason Brown' performance and it was great. I found myself really engaged by his charisma as a performer. He's impressively demonstrative and charismatic.
The 90s really were a halcyon decade, weren't they?
Considering what followed in US public life, I have no trouble being nostalgic.
I was sure this (very long, very interesting) article about black quarterbacks was going to be in the post. But: no! No it was not. Unless I missed it.
32: And the annoying thing is, that soon when you say something like that it'll be rebuffed with "Not if you were gay, you privileged bastard".
I just thought of an improvement to 16 -- the sport where your entourage could take out your opponent in the four years before the event should be biathlon, but the opposing team has to take you out on skis. How awesome would it be if you had teams of dudes on skis with rifles chasing each other around the globe, for years, to take each other out before the competition? It would immediately make biathlon the most important sport in the world -- I'm envisioning like a six month pursuit across Siberia, James Bond opening ski sequences, etc.
At this point in history any sport with an entourage involved has to invoke Justin Bieber. So Biebathlon.
If we're going to have a drugged olympics I want it to be interesting drugs, like pot and shrooms and stuff. The shrooming decathlon would be a lot of fun to watch. Also bring back tug-o-war.
34: This does seem like the thread where someone should bring up the college football player who just came out. I don't remember his name or who he plays for or know if he's any good, but one of you people who cares about football should.
From the link in 33, I learned the all-important fact that there was a quarterback named Willie Thrower. If only he had played at the same time as offensive lineman D'Brickashaw Ferguson.
If Tonya was a T. Rex, lumbering out of her enclosure and bringing chaos to the night's well-ordered spectacle of heavily regulated female strength, then Nancy was a velociraptor, hissing with stifled aggression as her turf was overrun by tiny, quick-blooded mammals.
the veldt....
I love cyclocross
Say more! Do you ride? Do you race? There's no reason this can't be a cycling thread!
38: SEC defensive player of the year Michael Sam.
38: So the answer to the question posed in 24 is not only will we not remember him in 20 yers but we don;t remember him now.
The gay offensive lineman, Mike Sams, is in fact good - before coming out, he was predicted to go in about the third round (the draft has 9 rounds). It'll be very interesting to see where he goes now. The continuing unsignedness of Jason Collins renders me pessimistic, but I imagine the Patriots will take him eventually if no one else does -- their owner said he'd be fine having a gay player on his team, and owners are the ones who ultimately call the shots.
And we make typos when we don't.
35: I believe it was in For Your Eyes Only that Bond takes out a guy during the biathlon.
If we're going to have a drugged olympics I want it to be interesting drugs, like pot and shrooms and stuff.
Like the Freak Brothers cartoon where Fat Freddy ends up playing baseball while out of his skull.
offensive lineman
There's nothing offensive about being gay, homophobe. (He's a defensive end projected to play linebacker in the pros.)
33: Be the link you want to see in the world, Sifu. Ah, I see that you have. But yes, that looks like a good red. The Steelers would have won Super Bowls with Joe Gilliam as easily as with Bradshaw.
31: "Surya Bonaly is the biggest bad ass in Winter Olympics History"
Ah yes, had forgotten about her. A lot of arguments with my figure skating bro' about her (I forgot very racist as well as homophobic). Only moves allowed are those that skinny white girls can do.
29: What is that White and Black intro wordage doing there?
Explicitness is my middle name.
Does anyone know anywhere with a really in depth analysis of which teams are most likely to draft Sam? (Taking into account the kind of defense they play, their current depth chart, reports of which coaches are homophobic, etc.)
34: I don't really mind that. It's a pretty decent point on a couple of levels: It reminds me that not everything has gone to hell; and it invites me to, yes, check my privilege.
I have been tempted, on occasion, to pick at the "privilege" scab on Unfogged and elsewhere, because I really do think that sometimes the folks who invoke that phrase - and similar ones like "intersectionality" or "ally" and the like - really do sometimes cross a line into non-constructive rhetoric.
It also is true that in some contexts there's a problem with a thing that might plausibly be labeled "political correctness." Trying to identify those instances seems like a waste of time, though, given that critiques of political correctness are almost always invalid.
If someone thinks I'm not an "ally," well, then, they are almost by definition correct. It's up to me to decide whether I want to be an ally, and up to them to decide whether I've succeeded.
Say more! Do you ride? Do you race?
I haven't raced, but I'll only be 62 this year, so there's still plenty of time. Gravel road riding, organized or not is big in the Midwest and I hope to do more of it this year. I ride off-road as often as I can on whatever.
But I'm a ridiculous, cowbell-clanging fan and have been for 25 years. Laurence Malone's well-written articles and manifestos converted me years ago, and the recent article on his enigmatic life was very interesting also.
47: Again, sports anecdotes that I don't quite remember because of not so much caring, but there's a no-hitter on acid story, right?
Addendum to 46: And the creepy-due-to-huge-age-difference potential love interest* in For Your Eyes Only was an Olympic figure skater! Coincidence?
*The filmmakers must have realized it was a bit too creepy because I believe potential love interest angle was raised but never followed up.
56: Oh yes, Dock Ellis.
It would rule a lot if the Patriots got Michael Sam with some late round pick because all the other teams are full of homophobes.
31: Surya Bonaly was great, and constantly screwed by the judges. She also was also the clearest example of the vacuous bubble-headedness of sports announcers. Literally every time she appeared, the announcers would say "Bonaly is from Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. In Sanskrit, Surya means sun."
And while we are on the general subject, Dave Zirin article "10 Points About College Hoops All-American Marcus Smart Pushing a 'Fan'."
1 Oklahoma State guard Marcus Smart, a 19-year-old top NBA draft prospect, shoved 40ish-year-old Texas Tech fan Jeff Orr. He has told coaches that he did so after being called "the N-Word."
2 Orr has a wretched reputation, stretching back years, as a Texas Tech "super-fan" who gets off by yelling horrible things at teenagers. No less a source that Dick Vitale tweeted after the incident, "Guy involved in the Smart situation is NOT a fan as HE IS Classless". Other former OSU players like John Lucas III have taken to Twitter to testify similarly about Jeff Orr.
3 Orr denies that he used any kind of racial slur, but he texted to a friend, "I kinda let my mouth say something I shouldn't have, I feel bad"
56, 58: Animated short of the incident. (I'm pretty sure linked on this blog before, in keeping with the spirit of the thread.) Except Sifu added new stuff.
63: It's Ellis himself describing the incident.
Being homophobic and also a major fan if ice skating should certainly put one in the top ranks in the cognitive dissonance endurance event.
Drugs allowed sports - fine so long as all participants minimum age of something north of 21.
Being homophobic and also a major fan if ice skating should certainly put one in the top ranks in the cognitive dissonance endurance event.
I know! And I still can't believe Liberace was gay. I mean, the ladies loved him!
Drugs allowed sports - fine so long as all participants minimum age of something north of 21.
NASCAR and LSD. Who's with me?
67:
"And they've all been sitting motionless on the starting grid for, what is it now --"
"Two hours forty minutes, Ted."
"Thanks, Brad. Two hours and forty minutes and not one of the drivers have moved."
"Their minds seem to be on something else, Ted."
"That's absolutely right. This really is quite extraordinary."
"If only they'd at least stand up and get into their cars, that would be something."
"Well, I think we could have something -- oh, no. Sorry, I thought that was Danica Patrick making a move, but in fact she's just fallen over."
"Back to you in the studio, Brett."
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Great correction from the Star-Ledger on a bridge scandal story.
"An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Drewniak referred to the Port Authority's executive director as a 'piece of crap,'" the correction said. "While Drewniak did call him a 'piece of excrement,' it was David Wildstein who referred to the executive director as a 'piece of crap.'"
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Being homophobic and also a major fan if ice skating should certainly put one in the top ranks in the cognitive dissonance endurance event.
Why? AIUI ice skating is a very homophobic sport despite/because of the number of gay people participating.
70: they should all do splendidly, then!
And despite/because is doing alot of contradictory work there. Same logic would apply to NFL.
It makes sense to me; "despite" for the superficial reason that you'd think a sport with lots of gay participants would be relatively gay-friendly; "because of" because the fact that there are lots of gay participants—but relatively few (again, AIUI!) out gay participants—means that protestations of straightness manifested as homophobia would be even more common/virulent. Or something, y'know.
I am still in favor of every athlete who qualifies for the Olympics being allowed a wild card slot of their choice to be in any other event. Finished your track event and feel like trying a high dive? Why not!
See what you mean. Still seems odd to me that the over determined gender norms ruthlessly policed in certain art forms happily coexist with very tolerant attitudes to non conforming sexuality, but transfer those same over determined gender norms of self presentation to the world of sport and you seem to get virulent homophobia.
74: friend who I knew had been very serious swimmer when growing up recently told me how she got herself kicked off a high powered diving team when about 8 -9 years old. She didn't trust the coach because he consistently pushed them to do things without explaining how sufficiently, and at the same time she regularly saw older kids seriously injured doing dives. Unable to articulate her discomfort, she just went into insubordination mode until she got kicked off the team. The week before this happened, she found out years later, her mother sat next to another parent at a meet and got an earful re all the major scary injuries. So apparently mom wad not too upset when friend was banished from team, although at the time my friend wad kind of surprised at her mom's low key reaction.
Surya Bonaly is the biggest bad ass in Winter Olympics History
Recall Debi Thomas, Olympic bronze medalist and narrow loser to Katarina Witt in the legendary "Battle of the Cheesy Opera Music Carmens" in Calgary 1988.
Thomas was the subject of plenty of "oh she's so ... athletic" stories which were pretty thinly veiled racism. She's now an orthopaedic surgeon....
A very athletic orthopedic surgeon.
It is the most physically demanding type of surgery, according to orthopedic surgeons.
I love the smell of patinage artistique in the morning.
79: A pediatrician, to me:
"What does it take to be an orthopedic surgeon? You have to be strong as an ox, and twice as smart."
You have to be strong as an ox, and twice as smart.
My dad describes both me and Dr. Oops in precisely those terms.
Heh. Folks don't say awesome stuff like that anymore.
Is there a legal field where brute physical strength is useful?
Dunno -- a partner in a little firm I used to work at got into an idiotic "hold me back!" kind of scuffle with opposing counsel at a court appearance once: I wasn't there at the time. But my understanding is that physical prowess had no effect on the outcome of the litigation (thank goodness. I can't imagine the partner in question coming out of anything physical particularly well. I suppose it all depends on the other guy, though.)
"If the large rock does not remain suspended above his head, you must acquit!"
Is there a legal field where brute physical strength is useful?
There will be.
Trial by combat will resume under Halfordismo.
Let's just say that crocodile wrestling won't just be a novelty act for Australians.
You've either never been to Florida or are very strict about the distinction between crocodile and alligator.
89: are you talking about state or local courts?
Is this an Onion article? Do terrorists watch Archer? I have so many questions.
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"The term "digital magazines" may sound kind of dumb, but First Look Media's approach is not" (the venture Greenwald is going with). From a quick scan, it seems that the "not dumb" is to not be eclectic. Who knew?
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Back in the day I actually got to somewhat know two Olympic figure skating gold medalists through the avenue of coaching their children in another sport. I don't know if their kids skated at all and they had no ambitions for them in my sport (which they were mediocre at), and as far as I knew none for them in any athletic endeavor. The wife was the first woman to land a double axel and had gotten out of the sport just before the 1961 plane crash that wiped out the entire US team. She did begin coaching skaters sometime after I knew them, but I think her husband contented himself with corporate lawyering.
Semi-Olympic-related: An actual clever bit of Republican mockery.
Torch-lighting Russian figure skater who tweeted racist Obama photoshop now says she was hacked. It worked so well for Anthony Weiner.
I guess I should watch the men's 1000m speed skating event on Wednesday, since I vaguely knew Shani Davis back when I skated. Very impressive that he's still so good; as far as I know, he's the only person close enough to my age that I knew them at all to still be seriously competing.
97: Ah, forgot you were a speed skater; the daughter of my figure skating fan co-worker was a fairly serious speed skater (in her teens but I think gave it up). Probably ~10 years or so younger than you, however.
59: It would rule a lot if the Patriots got Michael Sam with some late round pick because all the other teams are full of homophobes.
Saw one source today had the following teams saying that would draft him:
Patriots, Broncos, Packers and Lions.
Re: Tonya Harding, I remember liking her athleticism when I watched her skate. I wasn't ever properly attuned to the reasons she didn't fit in. The biggest detail I remember about discussing it with my parents was being told never to use the term "white trash." They never got into the classicism, just the racism.
JP, I'm enjoying your guest posts. I don't usually have much to say about them, but they're interesting. Thanks for writing them up.
Back when Johnny Weir was competing and not out, I thought it would be particularly interesting if he was flamboyant and dressy but not gay or a crossdresser. It's an even more contested taste for a man, as far as I can tell (and yet, historically, that's odd).
Saw one source today had the following teams saying that would draft him: ... Packers
Uh heh heh heh