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GymCastic: The Gymnastics Podcast

A Quitter's Try - The CNN Parkettes Documentary

GymCastic: The Gymnastics Podcast

GymCastic: The Gymnastics Podcast

Sports News, News, Sports

4.61.6K Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2021

⏱️ 87 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This episode has been commissioned by Club Gym Nerd member Taylor, Princess of Sexy Data, who requested a deep dive into the infamous CNN Parkettes documentary, Achieving the Perfect 10, that we can all quote by heart. We discuss

  • Background
    • What's the deal with Parkettes?
    • The legacy of this piece
    • Jessica's experience going to the Parkettes camp as a youth (!)
    • Why we think Parkettes agreed to this
  • Part 1: A 7-year-old with a broken ankle
    • TOPs testing gives Spencer a panic attack
    • How NOT to sound like a creeper when talking about a 7-year-old
    • Everyone says "suck it up" 100,000 times because healthy
    • We root for everyone to quit and go to a pool party
  • Part 2: Get confident, stupid
    • Demeaning people definitely makes them more confident
    • The Mrs hates everyone, especially gymnasts, and teenagers, and you
    • Jessica is still fawning over Nicole Harris to this day
  • Part 3: Annie, are you OK?
    • "Do you just think it's more important to have bobbles so people will give you attentions?"
    • Why we're obsessed with deadpan comedy genius Annie Fogerty
    • OH GOOD THE WEIGHT PORTION, THIS WILL GO WELL
    • "Way to give up, Annie, way to give up"
    • "Was that a try, what you just did? What kind of a try? Is there such a thing as a quitter's try, like lackadaisical?"
    • What exactly is a quitter's try?
    • The Kristie Phillips cautionary tale
  • Part 4: Aftermath
    • Where are they now?
    • What this says about elite gymnastics, and why USAG learned all the wrong lessons from how horrified we are by it
    • The problem with typical American parents' view of sports

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Remember, the show is PG-13.

0:02.1

So you might hear a naughty word or two.

0:04.7

But she does say elite gymnasts are not lazy.

0:09.0

She says that.

0:09.8

I was shocked when she followed up with that.

0:11.6

I was like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

0:13.1

Did they mean to leave that in?

0:14.4

Like CNN made a mistake and they're narrative.

0:19.0

Today, a quitter's try, a deep dive into the CNN

0:22.9

Parkets documentary called Achieving the Perfect 10.

0:26.9

This is episode 342 for November 21, 2018.

0:31.7

And welcome to the number one June has six podcasts.

0:34.4

In the galaxy, I'm Jessica.

0:36.2

I'm here with Spencer from the balance beam situation.

0:39.1

And this episode has been commissioned as a gift by club

0:42.9

Jim Nerd member Taylor Anderson, princess of sexy data.

0:47.0

You might have noticed she has done some work for us

0:49.1

on the Jim Castic articles.

0:51.0

She requested an episode all about the infamous CNN Parkets

0:54.3

documentary and said, quote, I remember watching this

0:57.8

with my dad when it aired.

0:59.3

My dad was shocked by everything that happened.

...

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