6 comments Filip Bondy Hates How NBC Whores Out Women Volleyball Players

Filip Bondy has an issue with NBC. He knows NBC knows people enjoy watching women's volleyball so they have scheduled that Olympic event to occur in primetime. One would think this is a big win for women's athletics, that there is enough interest in women's volleyball that the sport would be shown in primetime during Olympics. One would be incorrect. See, Filip points out that these women volleyball players are going to be playing late at night and they have (actually they don't have to) wear bikinis when they play the sport. These women are used to playing in bikinis and so that is the attire they choose. This is just completely inhumane to force (or not force at) them to wear skimpy clothing and then take advantage of these poor women by showing their sport to the largest possible audience. I see this as a somewhat big win for women's sports because it gets exposure for women's volleyball (no double meaning implied) and it puts two of the most decorated and exciting Olympians (Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor) in the primetime spotlight. Rather than agreeing with me and seeing this as a big win for women's sports, Filip sees this as a way for NBC to whore out women athletes for ratings...not ironically something these women volleyball players don't seem to give a shit about. Of course, if no women's sports were shown at night I'm sure Filip would find a way to have an issue with this as well. These women are wearing their bikinis while playing volleyball, it's just a matter of when NBC wants the event scheduled in order to determine how large of an audience these volleyball matches receive.

Imagine the potential frustration, the awful irony.

The "awful" irony. Filip isn't being overdramatic about this clothing issue at all in calling it "awful." Filip would compare giving women volleyball players the choice of their clothing during a match, and some of them choosing to wear bikini, as being on par with other such "awful" incidents as the Colorado theater shooting, the hunger epidemic in Africa and probably slightly above the oppression of women in some Middle Eastern countries.

NBC, which basically runs the Olympics,

Let's call them Dictator NBC. That's much more accurate, especially the way they oppress women's volleyball players by forcing them to play at night in front of a larger audience fully knowing they have the option of which attire to wear. It doesn't get more sexist than that.

demands that beach volleyball champs Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh compete as late in the evening as possible so that the network can attract better ratings back home.

My God. What would Gloria Allred think about this? NBC is purposely, and without remorse, featuring a women's sport in primetime because America is interested in this sport. WHEN WILL WOMEN GET A CHANCE TO BE EQUAL TO MEN IN THE WORLD OF SPORTS?

Organizers comply, starting the pair at an outrageous local time, 11 p.m. on Saturday night.

When Dictator NBC wants something, Olympic organizers jump as high as they can to do what Dictator NBC wants them to do. But to feature women's volleyball where those who are interested can watch, it is mind-boggling why NBC would do this. The audacity of NBC to feature a program Americans are interested in at the primetime hour...I'm so beyond infuriated, I've gone full circle back to being incredibly calm. That's how infuriated I am.

But then the London weather scares the athletes and they pack cold-weather outfits, which they might wear instead of bikinis.

Women's volleyball players now have a choice as to whether they wear a bikini during a match or not. Again, how dare the women be given a choice as to how they should dress during the outrageously cold summer nights in London. Sarcasm aside, this would be a much bigger issue if the women's volleyball players even seemed to give a shit about when they are playing or what they are wearing. These women are just happy to be in the Olympics and to be able to play in front of a crowd.

So far, Filip has complained NBC has moved women's volleyball to a more popular time slot and this is a bad thing because these women might get cold in their bikinis...except they aren't forced to wear a bikini. I'm not entirely sure what the issue is. The sport of women's volleyball gets more exposure while the women have the option to limit their own exposure to the harsh summer London night conditions.

This could have been a sartorial disaster, a programming blunder, except that the city of London has heated up considerably, climate-wise, in the last couple of days.

Well thank God. I bet these women's volleyball players wouldn't want the exposure a primetime viewing slot gives their sport. God knows it is bad for the sport of women's volleyball for viewers to be excited to watch. I'm not a big Olympics viewer, but I am excited to see Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Traenor defend their gold medal. I don't care what they wear while defending the medal. It does look a bit odd to be wearing a parka while playing beach volleyball though.

The two-time gold medalists already practiced Tuesday night in bare midriff at the venue,

NBC made them do this, obviously...at gunpoint.

and May-Treanor says they are leaning toward their skimpiest apparel.

“We pack cold weather gear, but if it stays like this we’ll stay in our bikinis,” she said Wednesday. “We wouldn’t be playing in shorts. It’s not comfortable. You get sand everywhere.”

NBC triumphs again,

You win NBC! You not only insist on giving women's volleyball wider exposure, but when giving them the choice of wearing more or less clothing the women are choosing less clothing...probably because of the pressure they feel to wear be as naked as possible and not because it is more comfortable for them to play in bikinis.

has it both ways, prime time and practically naked.

Playing in primetime is a good thing for the sport and the women choose to play in their bikinis. Nothing to see here. Move along.

The Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB) this year installed new rules giving its players a broader range of sportswear options.

"A broader range of sportswear options?" So naturally because this is all a big conspiracy to show more skin at the Olympics, NBC schedules women's volleyball for primetime when the women are less likely to wear their bikinis because the weather is colder. Because if NBC is really trying to have the women play with as little clothing as possible, having them play at 11pm is the optimal time of the day to succeed in achieving this goal. You done reverse-psychology'd us all up NBC!

In order to (slightly) respect the religious beliefs and customs of more modest nations, players can now legally don short-shorts, tank tops, full-length sleeves or tightly-fitting full body suits.

Pigs.

I bet these women who play the sport of volleyball are up in arms over this too.

“To not be able to play because of the attire is not OK,” said U.S. volleyballer Jennifer Kessy, who likes the new rules. “We’re OK with bikinis. We grew up in Southern California, and this is what you wear. It’s a good way to get attention, but we don’t think about it.”

Which is exactly what NBC wants Jennifer Kessy to say. There are no lengths this network will go in order to sell sex to a primetime audience is there?

Attention is what they will get, for sure. Beach volleyball, with all its loud rock music and bare skin, is being staged at the most incongruous of sites, at stuffy Horse Guards Parade on the doorstep of the Prime Minister. May-Treanor said this was perfect, because she loves the smell of horses.

Which is exactly what NBC wants Misty May-Treanor to say. They want her to talk about her love of horses in order to fulfill NBC's evil agenda. It's no coincidence NBC also televises the Triple Crown every Spring and Summer and now Misty May-Treanor claims she likes horses. NBC obviously has these women's volleyball players fully under their thumb. Next thing you know the women will be talking about how much they enjoy hockey and the latest season of "Parks and Recreation."

This is her last Olympics, she vows. May-Treanor, married to Dodgers catcher Matt Treanor, wants to start a family, coach, unclutter her house. Meanwhile, on Saturday night, there is a bikini with her name on it

Which May-Treanor doesn't have to wear, but Filip Bondy knows NBC has forced her to do so. Bondy isn't making an issue out of nothing. Not. At. All.

and several more for the other women beach volleyballers, who always get top billing over their male counterparts.

One would think this is a good thing for women's volleyball and is a sign of progress that a women's sport is more popular than the men's form of that sport. One would not be Filip Bondy if one thought this.

That probably would be true even if the men were wearing teeny tight Speedos, instead of relatively baggy shorts.

And NBC would have it no other way. Showing women's volleyball in primetime, the women's volleyball players having a choice of what outfits to wear, and having the women choose to wear a bikini...NBC is setting the feminist movement back more than when they aired "Are You There, Chelsea?"

“The women’s form is something more people are attracted to,” Kessy said. “We’d still get more attention.”

And this is a bad thing for women's sports to get a primetime spot at the Olympics and the women choose to wear the skimpiest outfit possible. Does NBC have no shame?

It must have been a reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally slow news day in London when Bondy wrote this column.