“LYDIA KO BODY SHAMED” led the Stuff web-site on Sunday, in the process making it clear they had no news to report. So too the Herald, adding the adjective “Disgusting”. Both accounts were age-old newsroom beat-up fabrications. Here’s what happened.
Lydia drove from the tee.
“What did you think of Lydia’s swing?” asked a male commentator. Note that Lydia has recently changed her swing approach thus it was a pertinent question.
“I like her. I don’t think it’s changed that much,” replied Lydia’s close friend and commentator, golfing great Juli Inkster, adding “looks like she needs to go to the buffet counter a little bit”.
To this Juli’s co-commentator Karen Stupples said “We all want to see five more pounds on Lydia”.
“She can have five of mine,” laughed Inkster, adding “That’s one thing I’m good at and that’s eating”.
Thereupon a few half-witted attention-seekers took to social media with contrived offence-taking and ludicrous claims of “body-shaming”.
In fact Juli’s observation was no such thing. There are three notable tubbies in the top echelon of the LPGA. As athletes they’d be even better were they to lose weight but to comment on them would indeed be body-shaming.
Lydia appears to have added a few inches in the last 18 months, as would be expected at her age. In the process, particularly her upper body strikes me as too thin and this has implications for her driving power and length, thus the apt comment after she had driven from the tee. Additionally, she went on a diet and has probably overdone it.
The right weight is a constant pertinent topic by sports commentators where weight is a factor. I must have heard it remarked of boxers thousands of times, usually with the lighter weights. “He’s too gaunt and should step up a weight division” is a common remark. Likewise with rugby players, particularly forwards.
It’s precisely these sort of non-stories why newspapers are dying. A proper heading to this nonsense would have been “Another shameful newspaper fiction”.
One Comment
Sir Bob…
After your fainting spell last week when the Dominion P sent your blood pressure low and lower by almost producing some articles of note in a couple of their additions. The scoop of the week turns up.
Today the front page had a photo of an extra size ape which played no part in the huge headlines “Disquiet at Wellington Zoo ” which after reading all the tripe on page 1 and contd. on page 3 for more torture it turns out to be some internal staff problems which most companies have routinely and deal with without all this rubbish. If it was a cleaning company perhaps a photo of a cleaning lady with a mop in a bucket and a look alike Hilda Ogden would have appeared on the front page story.
No wonder the ape looked pissed off. His big moment and no mention.Perhaps he too was about to faint with his stardom exposed as well.