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This week, it’s the commissioned episode you’ve all been waiting for…the FLUFFCAST! We jump into all the most insane, hilarious, horrifying, sexist, perfect, amazing, diva-tastic, butterfly-gazing, Romanian candle-holding fluff pieces in the history of gymnastics broadcasts. Thank you so much to Fluff Feels for commissioning the episode we were born to do, and thank you to everyone who sent in suggestions!
- 2000 Olympic All-Around fluff
- NBC’s Living-Parents Championship, starring Russian daddy issues and soldiers kidnapping Zamo.
- Prod’s shaved eyebrow
- Prod’s convertible flexing fluff, the only verifiably true fluff ever
- The legendary Romanian candle cups
- Elise Ray and the butterfly
- NBC’s weird obsession with 1950s-style nuclear families
- 2000 Atler v. Dantzscher v. Beth Rybacki’s tears
- How much resentment and blame? ALL OF IT!
- What’s the deal with that wild west picture? And that helicopter-parent one?
- 1996 Kerri Strug lives in everyone’s shadow fluff
- Is this the most sexist fluff of all time?
- Jessica’s expletive parade
- Invention of the Bechdel Test for gymnastics fluff pieces
- “A diva is magical”
- That time Khorkina was perfect in every way
- Was saying, “I want to win as much as I want to mother my own child” really such a big deal?
- 1994 Romanian terrifying fluff of horrors
- The twist ending and the LITERAL DEAD BODY
- Trouble with keeping communist narratives straight
- NBC’s fascination with Romanian people’s eyes
- 1995 Moceanu fluff
- A creepy pedophile wonderland of a fluff piece
- Why is Bela so bad at boats?
- That insane 1997 “I Will Remember You” fluff
- Moceanu standing in a forest in a leo clawing that tree in 2000
- 1992 Bogi and her coach fluff
- How respectfully and maturely do we think NBC handled the issue of suicide?
- Bogi has no time for family or your sexist coach narratives
- Kim Kelly gets bumped
- Blurry smoke-filled rooms! Shadiness!
- “Who’d they drop?” “You, Kim.”
- Mohini delivers pizzas (1) (2)
- Why let fact get in the way of narrative?
- Important question: what are raffle bars?
- The most upsetting and bizarre fluff you will ever see
- A lesson on which issues should never be addressed in fluff pieces
- Elvire Teza 1998
- More fun with racist Chinese music!
- Why we want to move to France and live with the French team
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CONTEST
WHAT: #BeerWithBetty: The Greatest Scavenger Hunt in the Galaxy!
PRIZE: The winner will share a beer (or root beer if you are under 21) with the great Betty Okino, Olympic and World medalist, creator of the triple turn on beam, and a member of the Precision Choreography team.
HOW IT WORKS: In August, we will release a list of 10 items on this photo scavenger hunt. Your mission will be to complete each one and post a photo to Twitter or Instagram tagging @GymCastic and @PrecisionChoreo and using #BeerWithBetty. The winner will be selected at random among everyone who completes all ten items. The hunt will start at 8am on Thursday August 17 and will end at 12pm on Saturday, August 19. The winner will meet with the Betty Okino at 3pm that day! If you enter, be READY FOR BETTY because winner will meet this gymnastics legend at 3pm that day!
PLUS: We will give six additional prizes for Most Outrageous photos! The top three most outrageous photos on Friday will win a personal voice message from one of Precision Choreography’s gymnastics stars (people like Chellsie Memmel, Alicia Sacramone, Houry Gerbesian, and Hollie Vise)! The top three on Saturday will get a special shout-out on the GymCastic podcast.
BUT WAIT: Before this contest starts, we need your help coming up with the scavenger hunt list! Please tweet us your suggestions using #BeerWithBetty from now until July 31. Something like socks with sandals, overused beam poses, someone over 50 doing the splits. We will give you full credit for any suggestions we use!
RELATED EPISODES
- 257: The Daniels Report
- 256: 1996 Olympic All-Around Final (Commissioned)
- 255: 1996 Olympic Team Final (Commissioned)
- 254: Vanessa Atler
- 200: Alicia Sacramone
- 197: Betty Okino
- 187: McKayla Maroney
- 38: Svetlana Boginskaya
- 31: Elise Ray
- 28: Kristen Maloney
- 19: Andreea Raducan
- 17: Growing Up In The Soviet Gymnastics System And Training At Round Lake
- 225: 1992 Olympics Recap with Wendy Bruce (Commissioned)
- 185: 2008 Olympic All-Around Finals (Commissioned)
- 252: Myths, Legends, and Unexpected Moments in Gymnastics History (Commissioned)
MORE WAYS TO LISTEN
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Way too much cursing in Fluff episode–I bailed out.
ok but like… how can you do an episode on fluff and not include Little Girls Dancing tho
The “Amazon Shop related products” section of this page is hilarious.
Kerri Strug’s mom’s glasses are my everything. Can’t believe you didn’t comment on it.
I had a nagging feeling the wild west photo was from one of those late 90\’s cheesefests, and a dive down a Youtube rabbit hole confirmed it. It\’s from the 1997 Rock & Roll Championship, as seen at 2:43 here, and it\’s even cringier in context: https://youtu.be/2jp090i32rc?t=2m43s
Another great podcast! Honestly there are soooo many overdramatic fluffs from the 90’s that it’s impossible to pick the worst, but you guys got the cream of the crop.
Others I remember:
1995 Nationals opening – This time it was Dan Hicks delivering the over-the-top narrative and it was a doozy, from Dominique Dawes’ “failing” body to “Shannon Miller, 18, ancient, hungry, and angry”. Ancient and angry? Who knew Shannon was so infuriated at being the ancient age of 18? Were they expecting her to kill Moceanu in a fit of rage, despite her arthritis and brittle bones? I was half expecting to see Shannon hulk out mid-competition like “Shannon…mad! Must…destroy…competition…after….dose…of…Geritol…”
I think that picture of Vanessa and Jamie in cowboy attire was from the 97 rock and roll championships that Zmeskal won – the women visited some theme park so there were all sorts of pictures of them in old-time garb. If it’s on youtube it’s worth watching just to see Lilia doing a complete cowboy FX routine, because when I think of old Westerns and cowboys I immediately think “Ukrainian gymnastics..”.
Despite the ridiculous fluffs about Zmeskal “failing” in 92 (which she so didn’t!), the one they did about her in the opening of the 1996 compulsories was actually quite good. It highlighted exactly what Jessica said that despite her disappointment in day 1 of competition she roared back in the optionals and beat anyone, like the true champion she is.
I remember watching the bizarre Romanian candle fluff and developing some bizarre half-baked belief that all of their parents (and maybe all the other children in Romania?) died on Christmas Eve. It made perfect sense to me at the time!
I have to tell you the most hilarious story as I was listening to this episode. I\’m walking and listening, and I\’m at the part where Spencer is discussing his favorite Olympics opening ceremony ever, the 2006 Turin ceremony. Right when you warn listeners that 2006 was a Winter Olympics, the emergency alert sound goes off in my earphones. I assumed it was a sound effect you added in, because then the podcast resumes as normal when the emergency alert sounder ends.
When I finally check my phone, I realize a local emergency alert had been issued for my area. But the timing was too perfect, so I ignored it!
hahahahah!
That was an amazing episode. And the part where JEssica cusses out the whole idea that women need men to make them something is the most sound-bite-worthy ever. I am noting where it is in the ep so I can play it for friends. Perfect combo of educated confrontation. Love you all so much.
\”Can we stop desert shaming the desert?!\”
I just found a new quote that needs to go on GymCastic merchandise.