I’m home sick on a Monday afternoon (nothing serious, just a stomach bug), and flipping through the channels.
I get to ESPN2, and they are broadcasting the World Juggling Championships, sponsored by THEWJF (World Juggling Federation).
Juggling. On television. On my sports television. Seriously. I’ve seen the following “sports” on ESPN2 over the years: spelling bee, dog show, jump rope, swamp buggy races, bass fishing, poker, and ball room dancing.
I don’t care so much that ESPN2 (or any other network, for that matter) covers and airs some of these events. I just can’t understand how some of these events…some of which are NOT sports (spelling bee, dog show)…get aired, but one of the fastest growing sports (disc golf) in the country doesn’t even register on ESPN2’s radar.
WTF?
If you can find an audience for juggling, there’s gotta be an even bigger audience for disc golf.
***
UPDATE: I wasn’t the only person to stay home and catch juggling on ESPN2 and then blog about it:
- In The Storm—Reflections of a Code Monkey mentions a few “sports” that are sometimes on ESPN2 that I forgot:
stong man competition, shooting, log rolling and other assorted logger sports, miniature golf, whiffle ball, battle of the network stars (you kids won’t remember that one), arm wrestling, archery, bobsledding (and other related sledding sports), x-games, frog jumping, dog sledding, table tennis, badminton, lawn mower racing, mud bog racing, monster trucks, sailing, power boat racing, bicycle racing (road and track), tractor pulls, and on and on.
- Grumpy at Grumpy Times was also home sick and watched the juggling championships too. He mentions the play-by-play commentary of Penn Gillette. Yeah, that Penn Gillette (minus Teller). Which was what really made the broadcast entertaining.
That’s like old school ESPN with curling, tractor pulls, and men’s softball…
Agreed! All we can do is continue to spread the good word about disc golf and eventually, the mainstream media may wise up.
I think that showing different !!!!SPORTS!!!! on televeison is a great way to get the word out about them. I for one, as an avid juggler was thrilled to see it on tv and watch it. I takes much more skill than most sports. For example Jason Garfield, one of the winning competitors, has over 18 years of experience at juggling and is just now good enough to win. In basketball, some guy go pro straight out of high school, and they only have like 10-11 years of expeirience. I dont think that most sports players practice 5-6 hours a day like jason Garfield does. Finally juggling is a sport and you would be very surprised to see how many people would actually like watching something of the sort.
I bet i can find at least 5 jugglers for every ‘disc-golfer’ you can fine.
Hey all.
I’m a sport juggler. I just read this topic and I don’t like it.
1st of all juggling is a sport
2nd, shut you mouth, I think that most jugglers would hate this topic, I do!
Some peaple might not think juggling is good, but you can’t just come here and discribe juggling as a bad thing. Some juggler have spend more time on juggling, then Tiger Woods have done on golf. I’ve personale spend 4 hours every single day in 2 years. Not because I wan’t to get in to an circus or something like that, it’s because juggling means a lot to me, it does to a lot of peaple. So shut your mouth!
I can very much see how you think poker and dog shows aren’t really sports, seeing as one is a game, and the other isn’t even comparable. But I hope you’re not saying that juggling shouldn’t be aired – if you just had a clue, I am sure you would realise how much of a sport it can be – not necessariloy is at all times. Put it in the hands of an artist, and it’s an art. Put it in the hands of a sportsman, and well… it’s a sport. Of course there’s got to be an audience for disc golf, but there are many people who love juggling and like to see it on TV as well, also seeing as “sport juggling” is pretty much never covered on any other TV channel.
juggling is a sport
you’re a douchebag
ESPN kicks ass