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posted 02/27/11 at 12:44pm
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Tosh.0 - Put some effort into it next time
 | posted by anngaff, a Women Talk Sports blogger About anngaff: Chief Technical Officer, Women Talk Sports. I competed in Track & Field and Cross-Country in college at the University of Nebraska and competed professionally in Track & Field (3000m Steeplechase) fr...more |
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Last night, the TV show Tosh.0 featured a couple of female high school hurdlers who were embarrassed by a video of their hurdle race going viral last spring. It was embarrassing because everyone thought it was hilarious that they kept hitting hurdles and falling. "Ha ha!" laugh the average people, as they sit at their computer laughing at people - high schoolers no less - who are brave enough to try something new and difficult.
So this guy - is his name Tosh? - has two of the ladies on his show and claims he's giving them a chance for "redemption." So he sets up a fake press conference where he's the only reporter in attendance and says a bunch of misogynistic stuff ("Do your parents have a son? Thank God!") that isn't very funny. Then he dresses in what looks like a wrestling onesie and says that they're all going to the track. I thought the humor was going to begin finally with him getting on the track and trying to hurdle and subsequently making a fool of himself.
Instead he dresses in another dumb outfit as the starter and puts the high school girls on the line with Ginnie Crawford and two other hurdlers I couldn't see the faces of - nor did he introduce them as the world-class athletes they are. Then he shoots a rifle - yes, a rifle - and they hurdle down the track, the professionals obviously winning and the high school girls struggling just as they did in the original video. Then he awards the high schoolers medals for being the "worst hurdlers in the world."
You know what would have been funny? If he had let the girls work with the professionals on their technique and then race HIM and we could all laugh at how much he sucks. OR we could just let some average people who thought the original video was a hoot get on the track against Crawford and the other pro's and get left in the dust. OR he could have shown the girls picking up and throwing each hurdle instead of hurdling it. At least that would have shown them in a less demeaning position.
He could have at the very least introduced the pro hurdlers!!
In general, it is really pathetic when non-athletes make fun of athletes but in fact are too scared to even try what the athlete is doing. I was running the other day and some jerk leaned out his car window and yelled "RUN B**CH RUN!!" Really dude? Go home and finish off that package of Twinkies. I hope you're proud of what you're doing with your life. Next time, try yelling at me from the same side of the road I'm running on.
Here's the clip from the not-funny show last night. What do you think?
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- Track & Field, Sports, Media, Videos, SportsPLUS, Media/Marketing
There are 3 comments on this post. Join the discussion!
His full name is Daniel Tosh...and I have to say that I was proud of the high school girls because it seemed like they were pretty well-adjusted to all the attention they'd gotten for the original video. They were able to answer his "press conference" questions with some degree of self-respect despite the digging he was doing. It IS sad that, when race time came again, they seemed SO tentative to go over the hurdles quickly for fear of falling again though. Hopefully the whole experience (from youtube-Tosh.0) hasn't ruined their appetite for new experiences.
Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 1:21am EST
WOW, anyone who attempts a crack at journalism needs to read the rulebook. On page 1, it says, "Have a sense of humor!" Daniel Tosh has a dark and twisted sense of humor but is VERY funny. His show is not about sports, it's about human experience. These two young girls were INVITED to be on his show, not forced to be. While I don't have a TV show, I do have a radio show in NY, where each week we talk about issues facing kids, parents and coaches. We frequently deal with everything from the heart-warming to the outrageous, the ridiculous to the sublime. Unfortunately, i think you;re trying to make a story out of something where there really just isn't a story at all.
Lighten up a little and enjoy comedy for what it is...or don't. But don't try to turn a show on Comedy Central into debate fodder.
Best
Coach Tony
Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 6:59pm EST
Ann %u2013 This Tosh guy goofs on literally everyone. That%u2019s his shtick. The fact that you were watching his show makes me think you probably already knew that. It%u2019s amazing to me how he can goof on guys constantly but when he messes with these uncoordinated, untrained and unathletic girls you decide he%u2019s a bad guy and a misogynist.
It doesn%u2019t take a genius to figure out these girls had no business being in that race in the first place. They clearly didn%u2019t know what they were doing and are fortunate that their multiple face plants didn%u2019t result in serious injury. Their respective coaches are also clearly incompetent.
A more interesting question here is what type of oversight would result in allowing these girls to race to begin with? They clearly don%u2019t know what the hell they are doing. I know it%u2019s PC to have more girls participate but if this is any indication of what is going on you ladies should get together and figure out how to protect them from themselves.
In any case if these two poor little girls were so embarrassed they certainly could have spent some time on the track actually learning how to hurdle properly. Rather than taking that route it appears they were happy to get their second fifteen minutes of fame being the foils in this goof. They don%u2019t appear to be very victimized to me.
Friday, February 25, 2011 at 12:36pm EST