All-Star Cnn Cea Youtbe Link

[Just-a-Mom]

I know it's not her fault...which I said numerous times. I just think maybe since the thread has turned towards how we could prevent this in the future my thoughts are leaning towards maybe NOT making teenage girls feel like they are second class citizens - and telling them they are horrible people for having feelings. Yes, they are lucky to have Maddie on their team. But she's just as lucky to have them. I don't know what to say about CNN. Nothing much to be done there - the story is done, it's aired, and I doubt there will be another. But how the reaction is handled is what matters. And telling these girls that they're awful people who are just bitter and jealous is really not going to make them love Maddie more - as a matter of fact it's a surefire way to make sure this happens again and again all year. So while I get that everyone pretty much agrees that the Twitter posts were not the best plan ever, it really is just as bad for people to come on here and call them jealous, bitter, horrible people. It's just more of the same thing they already felt - "Maddie is the only one who matters. Live it, learn it, love it."

 

[njallday]

I have watched this segment multiple times and read through the entire thread. I think a lot of valid points were made, and it is understandable why some in the industry are upset over it. You also have to remember that going into this, CNN had no idea what the outcome at worlds would be. They had no clue that maddie's stunt would fall or the CEA would be in third. For all they knew, they could have been following the team who would win worlds.

CNN got lucky, so to speak, that Maddie's stunt fell and that CEA lost. (CEA was obviously not as lucky.) Maddie was already a main "character" in their piece, but the fall and loss provided them with a way to edit and create a compelling piece of journalism that is both dramatic and heart-wrenching. And while there are 35 other members that are essential to the success of the team, Maddie was a good story.

I agree with others and I do wish that they at least stressed how much of a team sport cheerleading is. But at the same time, I think following just Maddie made it a much more relatable piece to those outside of the cheer world. No matter what the sport is, one person cannot and will not be the sole reason the team won. Even if you scored the winning goal on your soccer team, all of your other teammates helped you get there. But if you missed the final penalty kick, you sure feel like you, and you alone, lost it for your entire team. And that is what makes this piece. Any person who has ever played a sport gets that, so maybe everyone who just happened to watch CNN that night gained a little more respect for cheerleading. a step in the right direction.

 

[lakerfantlc]

I know it's not her fault...which I said numerous times. I just think maybe since the thread has turned towards how we could prevent this in the future my thoughts are leaning towards maybe NOT making teenage girls feel like they are second class citizens - and telling them they are horrible people for having feelings. Yes, they are lucky to have Maddie on their team. But she's just as lucky to have them. I don't know what to say about CNN. Nothing much to be done there - the story is done, it's aired, and I doubt there will be another. But how the reaction is handled is what matters. And telling these girls that they're awful people who are just bitter and jealous is really not going to make them love Maddie more - as a matter of fact it's a surefire way to make sure this happens again and again all year. So while I get that everyone pretty much agrees that the Twitter posts were not the best plan ever, it really is just as bad for people to come on here and call them jealous, bitter, horrible people. It's just more of the same thing they already felt - "Maddie is the only one who matters. Live it, learn it, love it."

Agree!!! On a side note....it was Maddie who had her mistake blasted on National TV....so there is a lesson in there too for the other kids...be careful what you wish for...the spotlight will catch you in the good and the bad....focus on what you have and not what you percieve to be good and covet....

 

[mommy2mygirls]

I know it's not her fault...which I said numerous times. I just think maybe since the thread has turned towards how we could prevent this in the future my thoughts are leaning towards maybe NOT making teenage girls feel like they are second class citizens - and telling them they are horrible people for having feelings. Yes, they are lucky to have Maddie on their team. But she's just as lucky to have them. I don't know what to say about CNN. Nothing much to be done there - the story is done, it's aired, and I doubt there will be another. But how the reaction is handled is what matters. And telling these girls that they're awful people who are just bitter and jealous is really not going to make them love Maddie more - as a matter of fact it's a surefire way to make sure this happens again and again all year. So while I get that everyone pretty much agrees that the Twitter posts were not the best plan ever, it really is just as bad for people to come on here and call them jealous, bitter, horrible people. It's just more of the same thing they already felt - "Maddie is the only one who matters. Live it, learn it, love it."

I think my issue is you make it sound like this whole thread is one big bash fest on the other girls - one or two people in this thread have said things about them being jealous/whatever -- the prevention comments are regarding making sure it is protrayed the right way so it doesn't make them feel that way again NOT that they can't/shouldn't feel that way. How you feel vs how you respond are two hugely different issues -- “Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitudes toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.”
Charles R. Swindoll

 

[Just-a-Mom]

you are brillant!!! and it's not a bash on maddie, but i think this is a HUGELY accurate representation of what happened! i only hope that they team mates will work through this very awkward turn of events, BTW i ddn't see the tweets, but i have a teenage girl with friends so i can see this happening very easily, and they will gain some understanding and life lessons from this.

I didn't only shimmy you because you called me brilliant But also I just agree. I have a teenager as well, and they have so much Facebook and Twitter drama it's insane. And it is QUICK. Like amazingly quick. In one night of posts whole friendships shatter - and half the time it's a misunderstood post that starts it all.

But I sooooooo do not envy Courtney this one. I genuinely hope they do work through this - it could make for a rough season if all this just festers.

 

[StarshipTrooper]

Coming form someone who does know the situation let me say that they are kids, young adults, but kids. Most have talked to each other and have worked out any hard feelings or misunderstandings. In other words, if you leave them alone they will work it out. Same things happened when I was a kid on the playground, just nobody past my yelling voice heard anything about the circumstances. Now, would we let her do another documentary where we have no input on how the content is presented? I doubt it. Have some people learned something about responsible use of social media? I think so. Will parents make it better by inserting themselves into the situation? I doubt it. They are fine. Will Courtney be OK this year? I believe so, everyone involved has always known that CEA and SE are her and Ben's teams.

 

[cheerisgood]

LOL Just-a-Mom...too funny, but yes you're right. and if there isn't enough drama to go around, they create drama facebook pages, specifically to create drama. Hopefully Courtney (and the parents of the girs) have already shut it down. It's my understanding that a lot of these ladies have been together for years, so i'm sure they've survived the drama before.

And fame is the double edged sword, i commented as such on the thread about face social networking sites. I hope that the attention derived from this show is more in the positive light and doesn't encourage creepers to come out of the woodwork. for every positive, there is unfortunately a negative.

 

[CheerCoach84]

I thought the show was wonderfully put together. And i'm not going to lie I teared up a bit watching Maddie cry during the after day 2 performance interview. I thought CNN did a GREAT job portraying what we really go through being allstar cheerleaders and I wished it didn't end so soon.

I don't get the reason for all the angry hasty tweets and rude comments. When your directly asked a question, your most likely going to respond with I. Stop making a mountain out of a mole hill and analyzing EVERY word she or anyone else said on the show. Maddie seems so humble and whole hearted I just can't imagine saying all those rude things about her. Granted, I think I bleed teal, but that is neither her nor there. If this was World Cup in the same situation and Kelsey Rule had a show mostly based on her, and her injury leading up to worlds and such... I wouldn't be saying hurtful things about her, or anyone else for that matter. She seemed so brave to do that interview right after her performance. Are you kidding me? How many of you (the ones being rude) would be able to answer questions with CNN after you did not have your best performance at worlds in finals and keep your composure? All i'm saying is stop over analyzing everything and hanging on every word she said. Whether any of you like it or not, she is the center flyer for a reason and yes there ARE 35 other people on SE, but they chose to do it on her because she is such a cheerlebrity and had the most interesting story for the show. Just be happy they even put our sport on national television and it was a true representation.

that is all.

Amen again!!!!!:fro:

 

[carolinagirl823]

Okay I have been thinking about this situation alot because I was upset with the way that people were speaking out against the segment, but I believe that I understand their side a little bit better now.

I think that when we first heard that CNN was shooting at CEA through worlds, we all made the assumption that it was going to be about Senior Elite's journey. However, after stepping back from the situation I think it is obvious that CNN was trying to do a segment on cheerleading as a whole, with a specific example (Maddie) and story to tell. I can understand why people were upset because they were under the impression that it was going to be about the team, but that impression was made by those of us talking about it on the boards after we heard that CNN was shooting a segment. In CNNs eyes the segment was never meant to be about putting Senior Elite on a pedestal and boasting about their accomplishments, which is what I believe people thought that it was going to be.

People do not respond well to things when it is not what they expected. If CNN had been more upfront about it in the first place about following one cheerleader's story then I do not think that the reaction to it would have been so severe.

I personally loved the segment. I think that it portrayed cheerleading in a good light to the rest of the country that may not have previously cared about it. I think Maddie did a great job of presenting our sport in the manner that we wish it to be seen.

I encourage those of you that have a problem with it to rewatch it with the impression that it was made to be about the sport as a whole. I think that your opinion will change.

 

[cheeringfor3]

People do not respond well to things when it is not what they expected. If CNN had been more upfront about it in the first place about following one cheerleader's story then I do not think that the reaction to it would have been so severe.

I see this a little differently....no matter what CNN's original intentions were when they began filming, the situation played out to hand them the perfect "agony of defeat" story. I think they saw how everything played out at Worlds and then went to the editing room to develop a piece that used those elements to their best. If I were producing this piece (and back in the day, that is what I did), that is exactly what I would have done.

I mean, the situation, from CNN's perspective, could not have played out better: follow a World champion team, get many hours of interviews with one of their "cheerlebrities", who gets injured in the weeks before the biggest competition and then falls in her specialty stunt? On top of that, she is smart, sweet and likeable, and your heart just breaks watching her look at the replay, and hearing her voice crack in the post-interview. Oh, and by the way, she fell two years ago and you have interviews with her where she still feels responsible (true or not). For a human interest piece, this WAS the story. Think about all the sports heartbreaks you remember throughout history...for example, Dan Jansen falling in the Olympics twice. People (and not cheer people, I mean the general public) can RELATE that.

CNN did not set out to document a cheer team. The set out to present a story about cheerleading that people would be interested in watching. For better or worse, they captured a story that was compelling and interesting.

 

[SharkDad]

These are things I wish we would learn as a sport and could do better from now on:

1. As athletes in a team sport, we should wish our fellow teammates well when they get the spotlight or even other teams. Even if another team beats us in competition, we wish them well and can be upset at falling short of our goal. There is never a need to be hateful to another because they get a good deal.

2. People who had negative reactions weren't wrong for having their feelings, they were disrespectful in many ways for displaying them so publicly. In the future I hope people can keep negative feelings about others to themselves or pass them more privately to their close friends.

Bottom Line - Our heart controls our feelings, but our brain controls our actions. I hope we can continue to learn how to deal withour negative emotions and deal with them rather than pass them on to anyone else.

 

[lakerfantlc]

These are things I wish we would learn as a sport and could do better from now on:

1. As athletes in a team sport, we should wish our fellow teammates well when they get the spotlight or even other teams. Even if another team beats us in competition, we wish them well and can be upset at falling short of our goal. There is never a need to be hateful to another because they get a good deal.

2. People who had negative reactions weren't wrong for having their feelings, they were disrespectful in many ways for displaying them so publicly. In the future I hope people can keep negative feelings about others to themselves or pass them more privately to their close friends.

Bottom Line - Our heart controls our feelings, but our brain controls our actions. I hope we can continue to learn how to deal withour negative emotions and deal with them rather than pass them on to anyone else.

awesome...agree.....the best use is this..."God gave us 1 mouth and two ears...lets use them accordingly"...

 

[StarshipTrooper]

Having watched that again just now, for the first time since Sunday, don't minimize Courtney and her effect on the program. She is very good in this piece.

 

[ShoWStoppeR]

alrighty. i was waiting to say something so i could think of the best way to say what i wanted to say.
did i think it was a good piece? absolutely. for an informative piece for the non cheer goer, it definitely succeeded in its purpose. mind you, its purpose really was to target the non cheer audience, get this sport some proper respect. now to the from a cheerleaders POV. though it doesnt really matter, because we already are involved in this sport and know its true power, work, etc. however, i can understand being upset with the way maddie said certain things. from a cheer perspective, she could possibly appear selfish and self centered. think about how those other 35 girls must feel, seeing cnn present their team as the maddie show. that being said, we all know they didnt just walk into that gym say hey, i think im going to tape this teams practice, and pulled maddie aside on the spot. we all know very well that they were aware of what was going on, and its a very good possibility some of what maddie said was scripted, or else edited to sound the way it did. none of us know,do we? do any of us work for cnn? no. do any of us know how they wanted things to come across? no. i will admit, i was extremely upset with the segment the first time seeing it. then i watched it again, trying to put all my "cheer knowledge" aside, and would you look at that, you see a young lady that works hard, using how she works in the cheer world equally in the real world, and has become very talented and successful. and i am glad they showed her fall and her talking about it. it makes everything that more realistic. now, my final thing i would like to give ya'll for thought: so many of you say, "i hate how she kept saying i, how about a we?" now, you say this. how about when she talked about them losing worlds? i KNOW many of you have blatantly said "maddie gardner lost senior elite worlds 2011" here, she used I. here, she took full responsibility, although we have also had a discussion about how this sport is NOT an individual sport, but rather a team sport. so tell me, you still want a we instead of an I?
i have done my best to word this in the best way possible as "food for thought". i am in no way bashing anyone, maddie, cea, cnn. just throwing the possibilities out there. have at it

 

[John Butler]

So I have been reading this thread, and the others before it, since they started. Quite interesting to see everyone's take on it. Also, I have not watched the segments. But here's my take, as short and as sweet as I can make it.

Maddie Gardner, you're an awesome, amazing young lady. Your light shines bright, don't ever let anyone take it away from you.

The rest of senior elite, every one of you are amazing young ladies. Your talent is unmistakable and you should be so proud of being incredible athletes!

Fierceboard fans, you're an amazing group of people. I truly enjoy that we live in a country where I can hear each of your views, even if I don't like them or agree with them.

CNN, while I hate you for being "bought and paid for" media that never gives me true unbiased news anymore, I thank you for highlighting a SPORT that my entire family loves and hopes will only continue to grow as a SPORT as more regular folks learn about us.

In closing, I'm going to get a bit sentimental. I'm not the oldest guy on the boards, but I remember a time when life was more simple. I remember a time when speaking your mind meant thinking first. When blurting out the first thing that popped into your head that was based purely on emotion was imprudent. I remember a time when parents instilled this in their children. A time when children were taught to be mindful of their words and their delivery. When children were taught that their words could be more powerful than the sharpest of swords. That these words could cut deep, and therefore it was true wisdom to listen twice as much as you spoke. I remember a day when technology did not give us the false sense that it was ok to quickly and senselessly trash another human being without carefully considering our point of view first and the damage it's delivery might cause. I remember a wise person once saying to allow only what is good for lifting others up to come forth from your lips. Constructive criticism is only constructive if it is delivered in a responsible, caring and sensitive fashion.

I fear for the future of our nation. Freedom of speech has always been a god given right, but so has introspection. Freedom to think has been around since the dawn of time, but so has courtesy, respect and integrity. Seems to me that with each passing day that we get "connected" to each other more through technology, we move further away from the most important connection, the connection that comes when you look another human being in the eye and understand that each word that comes from your lips can affect the very spirit of the eyes returning your gaze.

Proverbs 3:21-22
My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgment and discretion; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck.

Proverbs 10:14
The wise store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin.