Horny teens and the LSU gymnast

Not totally for nuthin', but in the last 40 years (roughly since I entered professional sports journalism), competitive high school gymnastics has pretty much withered on the vine (virtually no serious gymnasts now will even bother with HS; the number of high schools sponsoring gymnastics has dropped about 2/3, or at least it has in Michigan), and been replaced in school athletic budgets by cheerleading (now three separate varieties), dance team (a couple types) and yes, pom pom squad (which somehow is considered a separate thing from both cheerleading and dance squad).

 

Just so I'm clear on this...

You read a story about the disgusting way men are behaving around an attractive college athlete... and your reaction is to post a stripper pole and saying they should add that... and then add "to be fair," look at how those athletes dress?

 

LSU at Kentucky tonight, and looks like the lower stands are about 2/3 full at Rupp. Haven’t heard any horndogs in my 10 minutes watching, but did see a wipeout on beam and a bad stumble on floor.

 

Olivia Dunne has $2.6 million in NIL contracts, according to the story. Highest-paid female collegiate athlete.

 

Is she the one that the cameras were lingering over in the stands during the football championship, or is this another cute blonde the camera favored and the horndogs followed?

 

She’s on TikTok.

 

To be fair ... the story headline points out "boys" and "teens" ... not men. And if she is "internet famous" as indicated and teen boys are flocking to see her and cheer wildly ... how is that different than teen girls going to a boy band concert and screaming and causing a scene? In both cases ... dumb for both sexes to act that way.

 

1) The issue isn't the teens cheering for her. The issue is that she actually had to put out a plea on social media for them to stop being abusive to the other competitors. And there is a basic difference between a college athletic competition and a rock concert.

2) What does that have to do with a stripper pole and "to be fair, look at how they dress"?

 

I’m torn on this.

She is putting herself out there. She eats up the attention. I am NOT victim blaming. She is going along with it, though. She hasn’t said boo about all this attention until it pissed off her coaches and teammates. That makes me wonder if some of this is about intra-team dynamics and perhaps there’s some jealousy at play?

Obviously these putzes have never been to a gymnastics meet and they have no idea of meet decorum. Not saying they’d obey a pregame request to avoid Neanderthal-like behavior, but perhaps it’s worth a shot.

 

Creepy Mormons.

 

It is notable how many “crowd can’t behave itself” stories are in Utah.

 

Just so we're clear - the comment was A) sarcastic in nature, not serious and more a reflection on how female athletes are sexualized by their governing bodies and b) an actual question about why women's gymnasts have to dress the way they do for meets. I absolutely agree that the fan behavior in question is disgusting, but also noting that when gymnasts are allowed to wear whatever they want when they are practicing and not governed by "the rules" of gymnastics, they wear more athletic type gear, more similar to men's gymnastics attire.