All-Star Article On Panthers

[cheerheart4life]

I love CA Panthers but this article did not make them sound like the nice, smart, talented girls that they are. It honestly made them sound full of themselves. Which I know is due to the way the author wrote it as well! Way to many cuss words for an article. Crazy.

 

[MomOf2ThatsMe]

Not a horrible piece, but why, why, why, why always the focus on the appearance? Seriously! The only thing I have watched or read about Allstar Cheer that didn't focus heavily on it has been the Twinkles piece! I get that we are probably all a little used to the glitter, abs, and spray tans, but is it that bad that virtually every document/ary about the sport needs to be seemingly >50% focused on that aspect?

For Pete's sake, doesn't anyone on this board write articles for mainstream media for a living?!?

 

[NEliteSteven]

After I read it, I just couldn't get one question out of my head. "Is suffocating each other like a cool new thing? That's dangerous, right?"

 

[cachoi]

Okay I must be in the minority here, but I really like that the author talked about the party and the fire. I thought it was interesting and gave those of us that don't stalk Cheer Athletics a chance to learn what some of the inside jokes and voiceovers came from.

He just talked about it way too much in my opinion. Like you don't need to write THAT many sensory paragraphs about a sleepover if the article is supposedly about how hard the team worked to win Worlds.

 

[TealFan]

I'm curious as to what they claimed their original intent was. I imagine if they had been honest, CA would not have agreed to be followed to begin with. It's a shame too because the writer's ability to be descriptive was impressive (minus the spelling and grammatical errors). It would have been nice for him to put that effort into describing the actual performance, rather than the drama.

 

[Underestimated]

i wonder what the coaches think of this?

 

[Underestimated]

I am one of the few who probably liked the article. First, I should mention they did interview me for about two hours, (which asked and pumped me for a ton of stuff... non of which made it into the article) so I was quite intrigued on what if any I said would make it in. I was complimentary to CA and Panthers (I am a fan of both) and spent a lot more time talking about cheer culture.

To me kids are kids... and this was a piece into just the culture around a team for that year. I didn't read anything and think anything negative of the girls (just that they were girls). I saw some of the culture of cheer in Texas and also how certain coaches motivate (I am really big in to the psychology of motivation and how different coaches do it right now). I did not expect a piece on how awesome everything would be. I do think when someone hangs around a team for a year they can catch us at moments when we are not our best, but everything I read still had me appreciate that team and that year. I did think it was too short for the epic scope of what the writer tried to present (he needed about twice as much). I wasn't completely sure what the inaccuracies are ( BlueCat can fill me in).

i couldnt agree more KIDS are KIDS.. it is what it is.. i just choose to not read anymore afterwards.. they do what they please on their personal life imo. it shouldnt matter to anyone what goes on outside the gym/competitions as long as its not repping the gym bad..

i wonder if this report is on this board..

 

[Tribeboy89]

I just have to say I about died on the last line. Rough day, I needed that laugh. I do agree this could have been an amazing article, but he didnt quite know how to capture it.

 

[Cheetahmom]

Wish just once all the unbelievably hard work our kids put in could be shown in a positive light. This sports empowers women more than any other sport, we aren't trying to plays a boys sport, this is ours and we have elevated it to be one of the most difficult and challenging sports there is anywhere. Yes there is glitz and glamour that is why its a girls sport. It lets us celebrate being a strong and beautiful woman. There is nothing to be ashamed of in that idea. Shame no one will tell that story.

 

[Cheetahmom]

I typed it on my iPhone please ignore my grammatical mistakes....o mercy

 

[RockstarCheer]

WOW! I'm gonna leave it at that! SMH!

 

[Jule]

d for a darn CHEERLEADING article. No, it wasn't. Did the writer want all their readers to think "wow, cheerleaders are horrible people, the state was in a drought and they still did that. Are they dumb?"

Well but IF they did that and caused a fire... that could really be considered as not the best choice.

I really just hope that A LOT of the barbie/twitter/etc things where blown up out of proportion. Cause after reading the article, even I as a cheerleader, get a weird feeling about how all this cheerlebrity stuff in the US might be getting way out of hand AND take away from the sport.

 

[King]

I am not necessarily upset about the multiple factual errors. The bulk of what was in the article actually happened or was actually said, although without context it can be misleading. It just seemed like the reporter knew what story he wanted to tell ahead of time and cherry-picked comments to fit that narrative - rather than getting to know the team and trying to accurately capture the essence of what the team and sport was about. (In fairness, I don't exactly have an objective view of the athletes, team, or coaches either.)

We have allowed similar access to reporters before and the results were mostly positive. The Discovery Channel documentary, Newsweek, and even HBO Sports were given the same kind of all-access pass and used that to produce insightful, interesting pieces. Each had a few "cringe" moments that showed some flaws, but at least they seemed to put an honest effort into portraying the athletes in an accurate and fair way.

Yes, we should take some of the blame for trusting the magazine to treat us the same way that the other reporters had done in the past. Lesson learned.

I would encourage our athletes to move on and please leave the reporter and editor alone. What's done is done - enjoy the pictures.

Just read your original post (I had skipped it before because I was on my phone). I see you had already pointed out inaccuracies. My bad for missing that. Need to be reading more on my computer.

 

[cheercurl]

After I read it, I just couldn't get one question out of my head. "Is suffocating each other like a cool new thing? That's dangerous, right?"

Good lord me too...it was hard for me to read the rest of the article, I kept going back to re-read what I just read because I MUST have read it wrong. Only guess what? I didn't.

 

[cheercurl]

I think it might have been kingston who kind of said...if you spend enough time with a group of people you are going to see the good, the bad and the ugly. The cheer world is not a perfect place with perfect well behaved children. I get that and even if they wanted to show that darker angle, should that be the focus?

If a reporter did an in-depth piece on the "Fierce 5" I would expect to maybe see some crying or whining or maybe even a stomp your foot like a petulant brat moment. What I wouldn't expect is for it to be the focus of the article. Making an elite athlete look like an over-indulged, selfish, narcissist is not good journalism unless you work for the "National Enquirer". A story that balances all the hard work, sacrifices and pitfalls is what makes a story good. Just my thoughts...

Why does this sport struggle so hard for respect? Anyone?