I’ll admit that I had never read or heard of local columnist Mike Seate of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, but I gotta hand it to him. The guy knows how to stir things up!
Recently, the Trib published Mr. Seate’s condescending editorial about roller derby. A few excerpts describe the sport as ---
“… so lowbrow a caveman would find it in bad taste” (imitating the Geico commercials)
“… dumb entertainment for people too dumb to even know they [are] being insulted”
“… aimed at an audience with three active brain cells”
The writer mockingly refers to derby as a “sport” [Seate’s quotation marks] and he asserts that “there is nothing vaguely athletic about [it].” There’s that protectionism again! Maybe Mr. Seate is a former jock, stuck in his old glory days. His Mr. T – like picture suggests that Mr. Seate could himself be a load on wheels, gasping for air after the first turn of the track.
And yet … indeed I do see booty blocking potential in him!
Mr. Seate references the days when roller derby embodied girls who “beat each other senseless” or “women who beat the snot out of other women,” but he never claims to have watched a recent bout.
Of course, he got what I suspect he was after --- reader reaction! This month Mike Seate published a follow-up column, detailing the response and having some fun with it too.
Recently, the Trib published Mr. Seate’s condescending editorial about roller derby. A few excerpts describe the sport as ---
“… so lowbrow a caveman would find it in bad taste” (imitating the Geico commercials)
“… dumb entertainment for people too dumb to even know they [are] being insulted”
“… aimed at an audience with three active brain cells”
The writer mockingly refers to derby as a “sport” [Seate’s quotation marks] and he asserts that “there is nothing vaguely athletic about [it].” There’s that protectionism again! Maybe Mr. Seate is a former jock, stuck in his old glory days. His Mr. T – like picture suggests that Mr. Seate could himself be a load on wheels, gasping for air after the first turn of the track.
And yet … indeed I do see booty blocking potential in him!
Mr. Seate references the days when roller derby embodied girls who “beat each other senseless” or “women who beat the snot out of other women,” but he never claims to have watched a recent bout.
Of course, he got what I suspect he was after --- reader reaction! This month Mike Seate published a follow-up column, detailing the response and having some fun with it too.
He claims his objections are less about violence than about sexual exploitation. He describes a horny male audience leering at “exposed female flesh” and likens derby to “Foxxy Boxxing” and “Nude Cole-Slaw Wrasslin.”
Never having seen either, I can’t say. I can only once again, go to the skaters themselves.
“If men really want to see me skate around in a short skirt and block other women, I’m happy to take their 15 bucks and move along, spending my time and energy putting on a good bout for those who can really appreciate the athletics of the event. I think, though, that these dudes are going to walk away from a bout genuinely surprised at how athletic and tough I am. And I also think that women who come to the bout are going to leave with a pretty renewed understanding of just how tough women can be, and just how much women can accomplish in community.”
- Tammy Oler (Diamond Lil), Bitch magazine 2005
*****
Photo courtesy of Kat Deem. View her gallery for additional derby photos.
4 comments:
It certainly sounds like Mike Seate needs to actually experience something before he preaches against it.
I think we're missing out on the real heart of the matter: since when does intelligence come up in sports discussions, any way?
This is John Madden reporting for golf...I'm sick and tired of all of those pseudo-intellectual sports, so I'm sticking it in for something that won't make me just want to lay around and drink beer and pick my belly button lint...oh, wait...
Great pic!
I've drinked like this in a party one time...wow!!!
Seeee ya!
Not sure who you are, but I'm pretty sure that I couldn't keep up with you!
I agree - Kathryn Deem is a remarkable photographer.
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