there's an interesting little dialog going on over @ the beehive regarding mix martial arts in woodward park. for those that don't know, there was a mma event @ the park over the weekend. on the same night, a local theater troupe also had a play going. let's just say it probably wasn't the ideal setting to have both at the same time.
there had been a previous post about the event when it was upcoming and the comments were a little one sided for the mma crowd. after the event, these comments are skewing a bit the other way. i wonder where all these people were before?
what do you think, should the city allow events like mma @ the park? should they allow plays? concerts? what's acceptable in your eyes and why?
and, were the taunts after the fight just the ol' jocks vs drama kids?
cross posted @ wide world of fresno sports.
7 comments:
Among your regular readers, I may be uniquely qualified to comment, because I was at the play that night. It was...interesting. I won't get into the question of whether or not the sport belongs in the park, I don't really have an opinion. I will say that the play must have been on the schedule for a year or more, so it should have had dibs, but the city, or whoever handles booking for Woodward, has continued a pattern of disrespect towards a community theater organization that brings an excellent free event to a place perceived (mostly undeservedly) as a cultural wasteland. There have been several shows cancelled over the last 4 years because the city double booked the venue (a B95 concert on the closing night of Romeo & Juliet, if memory serves), repaving the park roads (right after the plays went on a month long break), etc. I don't know who runs the master calendar, or if one exists, but it comes off as totally low-rent, can't get their crap together town.
When you get down to it, there are tons of venues that are suitable for MMA, and I'm pretty sure that nothing the playgoers did disturbed the sportsfans. I just wish the city could have shown more respect for a free cultural event that make no profit while generating plenty of parking money.
So you don't think I'm a total prude, I do think it's kinda funny that some beehivers are offended at the profane comments from the MMA fans, made while they are enjoying some of Shakespeare's more vulgar jokes. "Country matters" indeed.
did you hear the profanity?
ummm...from my vantage point, I can't say that I heard very much. There were definitely jackasses doing some yelling and a little honking, and there may have been an f bomb or 2, but I had become pretty good at tuning out the noise by that point, as the play was reaching its climax.
i went to one of the plays the troupe put on last summer, and there was a concert going on at some other part of the park which interfered with being able to hear some of the lines a few times.
ok... you know I definitely have opinions on this one.
I, for one don't think having a concert/sports event/whatever at the park is a bad decision. It definitely brough tv coverage to the park and there was a lot of paid customers through the gates at Woodward (yay for city revenue)... that's all good and dandy...
BUT...
I have a problem with the scheduling conflicts! This is not the fisrt time WSF went up against sound issues (which the company is plagued with anyway) and distractions. It makes it even more blatantly obvious how the city feels about its theater.
I also have a problem with the front row seats being filled by "fresno city politician" elite... no I don't care that H. Spees was there... but the mayor and the police chief?? I have never seen them at one of the WSF shows.... why not? Are we not prestigious enough? I know they can't show up to every theater event... but this is a festival. To add to that.. H. Perea donated money to the Rogue last year (because he had the funds to do so) where are the other politicians in this town? Why aren't they supportingthe arts?
Ugh... I could stand on the soap box for a while but bottom line is this... there's an overall lack of support for the "theater/art festivals" that go on in this town and it makes it that much harder to put them on with the apathy being so thick.
i agree with everyone that it was disrespectful to schedule the two events on the same night. as for the question of whether MMA belongs at Woodward, would anyone even be asking if it had been held at Roeding?
That would be awesome! Shoot, they should do it at the Winged Wonders stage in the zoo.
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