Recently, I read through three award winning columns in sports writing, while reading these I had some ideas and thoughts on them that I’d like to share.
Sis! Boom! Bah! Humbug!
As I read through this I had some strong disagreements and some points where I rethought my views on cheerleading.
But mostly just the disagreements.
It was news to me that cheerleading accounted for half of the injuries in high school extracurricular activities. and while that is sad, I personally have many friends who cheer, as a competitive sport, and they are insane athletes.
Rick Reilly obviously is against cheerleading. that much is evident, but I think his bias overlooks competitions in which cheerleading gets extremely difficult. Obviously it’s not a sport to stand on the sidelines yelling at the crowd, but I dare him to watch a cheer competition and still say it isn’t a sport.
CLICHES AREN'T EVERYTHING... ...THEY'RE THE ONLY THING--IN THE WORLD OF SPORTS, AT LEAST, IN WHICH THERE'S A BROMIDE FOR ANY SITUATION
This column was amusing in its use of just about every cliche in sports. Using every saying from, ”give 110 percent” to, “we’re all in this together” this it a jumble of words that ultimately comes out to be about the least thought out half time pep talk of all time or just a mess of verbal vomit reminiscent of an interview with an athlete while they’re still sucking in air after a hard game.
Ewing Theory 101
This was my favorite of the articles. Obviously there are multiple examples of this in rugby (my vein of expertise) but as far as these examples that Bill Simmons offers my favorite is the ‘99 Detroit Lions. In a pinch after losing their star, Barry Sanders, they still shocked the NFL by making it to the NFC Playoffs. And we all know how rare that is for the Lions.
While reading this though, I think of how common this phenomenon is. It happens every year or so in at least one sport, and despite the simplicity of the theory, I think we can all agree that when it happens, it makes for some really interesting competitions.
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