This is not a good look.
“The incident came during the first half of the Arkansas at Missouri game after the SEC Network promoted its upcoming coverage of gymnastic meets. While encouraging viewers to tune in, Booker joked, “Go hang out with the ladies. I mean… I want to go see some scantily clad girls!””
Happily, the other announcer immediately reacted appropriately, Booker has since apologized, and we can move on maybe understanding a bit more about not talking about female athletes in terms of how they look or dress, because it’s just so rude to the young women who compete in college gymnastics.
Let me go ahead and out myself here. I went through close to the first 50 years of live paying no attention to gymnastics, other than maybe knowing some of the “big” names for the Olympics. I don’t know that I would have said that about gymnasts, but I would have been fairly ignorant of the sport, what’s involved, and who watches it.
Over the past couple of years though, my wife and I have become season ticket holders for LSU gymnastics. Why? Because we went to one meet, and I realized just what a big deal this sport is in Baton Rouge for young kids, how amazingly athletic these young ladies are, how seriously they take being role models to all of those young fans who show up to watch them, and how much they support and seem to really enjoy their teammates. I don’t have a daughter, or a son for that matter, but if I did, these are exactly the people I’d want them to watch, because they are strong women in every sense of that word, while also being a lot of fun too. I want to support that, while also having a fun evening out.
Notice how none of that has anything to do with what they wear or how they look? You can enjoy the athletic feats of a woman who can do things you can’t even dream of without making it sexual. It’s OK no one is going to take away your man card for it.
Also, not that it matters, but the ladies from LSU are all adorable as hell too, because of who they are and how they act, as much as how they look.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/10/business/barry-booker-sec-gymnast-comment-trnd/
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