September 16, 2011

"Hell, I've Had Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Since '97"


"It's like skateboarding without the balance or the fear factor."

Over cocktails the other night, I was told of a particularly disturbing National Public Radio story. An NPR story about fingerboarding.

One must actually listen to it (at the previous link) to get at its full eye-rolling potential (and to feel appropriately sorry for poor Sarah Reynolds). From $100 fingerboards to kids being judged on "style" to the music that plays as the story goes out, this is the type of package that even the most ardent defenders of public radio will not defend (myself included).

In light of this story, I'm actually feeling a momentary bit of solidarity with the "We listen to NPR precisely to avoid this sort of stupidity" crowd. Of course, there were letters about the story too (starting at 0:45). When the crux of one writer's letter (an ex-skater's) is essentially, "Come on," AND Robert Segal agrees with the sentiment, well, come on.

I still think the most accurate representation of fingerboarding is the 12-year-old video above. Happy weekend.

2 comments:

Andrew Leibman said...

solid post!

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/user/wisdot#p/u/6/uIrAkVOCfoE Beer Up, Bro Down would be a no, no in Wisconsin.