GOOD

Cubs Fans Are Celebrating By Taking Insane Trust Falls Off Very Tall Objects

Let’s hope this doesn’t become a trend in the world of sports fandom.

 Penn Collins
11.04.16

Chicago Cubs fans have been partying almost non-stop since Wednesday when the team took down their first World Series in 108 years. Fortunately for all the drunken revelers on the streets (and it seems like there are millions of them), the celebrations leading up to today’s parade has been civil and good-natured.

But that doesn’t mean it’s been perfectly safe. Apparently at a loss for safer ways to demonstrate their enthusiasm, more than a few fans have taken to performing death-defying trust falls off of tall objects into the arms of others who have taken to the streets.

Like so many facets of sports fandom, it’s pretty pointless to analyze. You could say it’s brought about by a sense of community and trust (of course), but that doesn’t completely explain the desire to take headers off of light posts onto busy streets, relying on the kindness of strangers to keep them off the pavement.

Whatever the reason, it’s happening, it’s dangerous, and it’s pretty hard to stop watching.

Here’s one from the night of the victory:

Another from a stomach-churning height (roughly 18 feet) just this morning into a crowd of fans awaiting the team’s victory parade:

Note the time stamp. These people should really have waited until at least lunchtime to think this through.

A bit later another fan in a different Cubs jersey took the backward plunge, disappearing into a throng of paradegoers.

Sure, it’s kind of cute (in a self-destructive, negligent way) that the fans are trusting one another to do this, but the law of large numbers and common sense dictate that it won’t be long before something bad happens if this trend continues. It’s, above all else, really, really dangerous. Even if their form happens to be perfect, as it clearly was in the top video.

Fortunately, the coming and going of the parade should (should, mind you) create a natural end to this type of behavior. After today, maybe Cubs fans can share their enthusiasm in a safer manner, like a friendly conversation, or a well-crafted blog post. It’s not as thrilling, but it keeps your skull intact.

Sports

A former Miss World contestant was disqualified for being a mom. Now she's fighting back.

Some beauty pageants, like the Miss America competition, have done away with the swimsuit portions of the competitions, thus dipping their toes in the 21st century. Other aspects of beauty pageants remain stuck in the 1950s, and we're not even talking about the whole "judging women mostly on their looks" thing. One beauty pageant winner was disqualified for being a mom, as if you can't be beautiful after you've had a kid. Now she's trying to get the Miss World competition to update their rules.

Veronika Didusenko won the Miss Ukraine pageant in 2018. After four days, she was disqualified because pageant officials found out she was a mom to 5-year-old son Alex, and had been married. Didusenko said she had been aware of Miss World's rule barring mother from competing, but was encouraged to compete anyways by pageant organizers.

Keep Reading Show less
sexism beauty contest discrimination veronika didusenko miss world

NASA's solar probe sent back its first findings, and it's more incredible than we thought

upload.wikimedia.org

One mystery in our universe is a step closer to being solved. NASA's Parker Solar Probe launched last year to help scientists understand the sun. Now, it has returned its first findings. Four papers were published in the journal Nature detailing the findings of Parker's first two flybys. It's one small step for a solar probe, one giant leap for mankind.



It is astounding that we've advanced to the point where we've managed to build a probe capable of flying within 15 million miles from the surface of the sun, but here we are. Parker can withstand temperatures of up to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit and travels at 430,000 miles per hour. It's the fastest human-made vehicle, and no other human-made object has been so close to the sun.

Keep Reading Show less
nasa space parker solar probe sun

The Army's football program ditched a team motto after learning it's used by white supremacists

via Sportstreambest / Flickr

Since the mid '90s the phrase "God Forgives, Brothers Don't" has been part of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point's football team's lexicon.

Over the past few years, the team has taken the field flying a black skull-and-crossbones flag with an acronym for the phrase, "GFBD" on the skull's upper lip. Supporters of the team also use it on social media as #GFBD.

Keep Reading Show less
god forgives brothers don't white supremacists aryan biker gangs brian bosworth west point football anti-defamation league college football espn army motto gfbd
Culture