Vote for the Sacramento Kings Dance Team (merged)
- Thread starter Folsom Al
- Start date
If you're really that set on voting more than once, you can clear the www.nba.com cookie from your computer.
This thread has been very interesting to read and quite civilized considering the topic. BTW: The Sonics team may win, but it will likley be because of the bikini pics. If you really look at the girls, I believe the Kings girls are, on average, much better looking women. But what the h*ll do I know, I'm one (woman, not better-looking ).
To me, it is not wrong that women (or men, to some degree) are protrayed as sexual beings or sexually attractive. What men can't possibly understand is the issue of being judged and treated based primarily on physical appearance.
A woman I really admired was Shirley Chisolm, the black congresswoman. I have never forgotten her statement that she had experienced far more discrimination due to her gender, than due to her race. A lot of women have sacrificed a great deal to give the current generation of woman a better chance to be judged on ability, talent, knowledge and smarts. That's what gets under the skin of some of us a bit about the escalating "raunchy" factor in this contest.
On the other hand, it is definitely true that this is a contest based on looks. I just think it could have been about looks without resorting to quite as much over-exposure and suggestive posing.
The truth is, how would you guys feel if the NBA was sponsoring a get-near-naked, flex your muscles, pictorial competition among the basketball team players? If they wanted to participate would you think they were degrading themselves? Would you have a lot of fun voting in that contest? Would you think it was wrong? Would it make you uncomfortable? Really, what would you think?
BTW, I'm being hypocritical and participating in the voting. Course, I'd vote for the Kings dance team even if they were homely.
).To me, it is not wrong that women (or men, to some degree) are protrayed as sexual beings or sexually attractive. What men can't possibly understand is the issue of being judged and treated based primarily on physical appearance.
A woman I really admired was Shirley Chisolm, the black congresswoman. I have never forgotten her statement that she had experienced far more discrimination due to her gender, than due to her race. A lot of women have sacrificed a great deal to give the current generation of woman a better chance to be judged on ability, talent, knowledge and smarts. That's what gets under the skin of some of us a bit about the escalating "raunchy" factor in this contest.
On the other hand, it is definitely true that this is a contest based on looks. I just think it could have been about looks without resorting to quite as much over-exposure and suggestive posing.
The truth is, how would you guys feel if the NBA was sponsoring a get-near-naked, flex your muscles, pictorial competition among the basketball team players? If they wanted to participate would you think they were degrading themselves? Would you have a lot of fun voting in that contest? Would you think it was wrong? Would it make you uncomfortable? Really, what would you think?
BTW, I'm being hypocritical and participating in the voting. Course, I'd vote for the Kings dance team even if they were homely.
The finals are from (today) March 31 - April 3.
http://www.nba.com/features/dance_finals_060404.html
Keep voting. The Heat team has opened up a huge 40% lead right now.
Is there any way we can disqualify the Heat dance team for using performance enhancing substances?
http://www.nba.com/features/dance_finals_060404.html
Keep voting. The Heat team has opened up a huge 40% lead right now.
Is there any way we can disqualify the Heat dance team for using performance enhancing substances?
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But see that's the wrong comparison. I was looking for one myself, but that's not it.
Here's why: NBA players have ways of already being compared that do not involve looks. Indeed the entire league is already one big competition among professional athletes as to who is the best bball player. Having them do one of these contests would be much like having a "who's the best LPGA player" contest and having them all decked out in bikinis (not a pretty sight in some cases ). And that WOULD be kinda offensive -- ignoring the whole point of them being athletes/competitors to focus on their looks. (now that said it really wouldn't bother me if the NBA guys did it -- just be a good laugh. Truth of the matter is that if all NBA players looked like 45yr old 300lb plumbers with sagging jeans and plumber's crack overall female interest WOULD be lower. Heck, so would mine. )
But the RCD (and I think I will continue to call them the RCD rather than "Kings Dance Team" just because our front office has the collective marketing saavy of a slimemold) -- in any case, the RCD are pure entertainers. Like actors. Or models. There is not a one of them who is not partially chosen for physical attractiveness, not a single dance team where looking good isn't part of the appeal. We, as in everybody, amle or female, just like to be entertained/look at attractive people more than unattractive people. Its why models look the way they do. Its why the highest paid actors of either sex are all beautiful people. And so judging the RCD and its competitors on physical attractiveness is not a perversion of their purpose. Its not denigrating them by ignoring their salient traits. Its focusing precisely on one of the very raisons d'être for the whole enterprise. Not the only one. And once the lingerie/bikini pics start popping up you are getting further from the mission statement. But nonetheless, being attractive and entertaining is very much part of what they do.
The better comparison, although obviously without the local team angle, would be how would I feel if there was a "who's your favorite actor" poll in which all of the pics submitted were of guys in various beefcake poses. Answer: would not bother me at all. Yes they are "actors", and yes, like the dancers they have skills beyond their looks, but being pretty is also a big part of their popularity, and so being judged on it is no biggee at all.
Here's why: NBA players have ways of already being compared that do not involve looks. Indeed the entire league is already one big competition among professional athletes as to who is the best bball player. Having them do one of these contests would be much like having a "who's the best LPGA player" contest and having them all decked out in bikinis (not a pretty sight in some cases
). And that WOULD be kinda offensive -- ignoring the whole point of them being athletes/competitors to focus on their looks. (now that said it really wouldn't bother me if the NBA guys did it -- just be a good laugh. Truth of the matter is that if all NBA players looked like 45yr old 300lb plumbers with sagging jeans and plumber's crack overall female interest WOULD be lower. Heck, so would mine. )But the RCD (and I think I will continue to call them the RCD rather than "Kings Dance Team" just because our front office has the collective marketing saavy of a slimemold) -- in any case, the RCD are pure entertainers. Like actors. Or models. There is not a one of them who is not partially chosen for physical attractiveness, not a single dance team where looking good isn't part of the appeal. We, as in everybody, amle or female, just like to be entertained/look at attractive people more than unattractive people. Its why models look the way they do. Its why the highest paid actors of either sex are all beautiful people. And so judging the RCD and its competitors on physical attractiveness is not a perversion of their purpose. Its not denigrating them by ignoring their salient traits. Its focusing precisely on one of the very raisons d'être for the whole enterprise. Not the only one. And once the lingerie/bikini pics start popping up you are getting further from the mission statement. But nonetheless, being attractive and entertaining is very much part of what they do.
The better comparison, although obviously without the local team angle, would be how would I feel if there was a "who's your favorite actor" poll in which all of the pics submitted were of guys in various beefcake poses. Answer: would not bother me at all. Yes they are "actors", and yes, like the dancers they have skills beyond their looks, but being pretty is also a big part of their popularity, and so being judged on it is no biggee at all.
coolhandluke said:
The finals are from (today) March 31 - April 3.
http://www.nba.com/features/dance_finals_060404.html
Keep voting. The Heat team has opened up a huge 40% lead right now.
Is there any way we can disqualify the Heat dance team for using performance enhancing substances?
http://www.nba.com/features/dance_finals_060404.html
Keep voting. The Heat team has opened up a huge 40% lead right now.
Is there any way we can disqualify the Heat dance team for using performance enhancing substances?
We broke out the big guns, and the Heat responded by breaking out the nukes.
this is probably true...but i can't help but feel like the RCD were at a disadvantage from the start. awfully damn hard to beat a dance team whose display on the voting page (http://www.nba.com/features/dance_finals_060404.html) is more suited for a sports illustrated swimsuit edition then a dance bracket. most people aren't gonna vote based on the actual performances, because most people won't even see them. most people are just gonna vote based on the pictures given in the links.
Oh, didn't you get the memo?
The Kings front office, in the same summer that they invented the abomination of grown men wearing gold lingerie as a uniform, and dumped a giant cheesy beer sponsored gold #6 out on the front lawn of Arco, stripped the RCD of their name and decided that "Kings Dance Team" was oh so much more catchy and meanigful than "Royal Court Dancers".
The Kings front office, in the same summer that they invented the abomination of grown men wearing gold lingerie as a uniform, and dumped a giant cheesy beer sponsored gold #6 out on the front lawn of Arco, stripped the RCD of their name and decided that "Kings Dance Team" was oh so much more catchy and meanigful than "Royal Court Dancers".
