On Thursday night ESPN talk show host Keith Olbermann grilled the Philadelphia Flyers’ decision to bring back their ‘Ice Girls.’
In Olbermann’s “World’s Worst” segment, he named the Philadelphia Flyers worst for the week. His rant insulted the Flyers’ fans and their intelligence as he proclaimed, “Us Flyer fan. Whar Ice Girls? Narn’t happy!”
Olbermann thrashed every aspect of the Ice Girls, “It did look like they had been mugged on their way into the arena and forced to surrender their, you know, CLOTHING!” he thundered.
The Ice Girl hoopla started this pre-season. The Flyers loudly heard from the Wells Fargo Center fan base in two home pre-season games. Male substitutes skated in place of the Ice Girls and Flyers’ fans placated to vitriolic booing Tuesday as they demanded that the team bring back the Ice Girls.
The Flyers publicly addressed the issue at September 30th’s pre-season game. Mid-way through the first period the team displayed a video board message for Ice Girl tryouts.
Olbermann did not stand with the Ice Girls returning for the sake of bitter Flyers fans.
The situation is a sexist issue, which is justified by some of Olbermann’s banter. A Mother Jones article exposed the horrendous work conditions for Ice Girls in the NHL. They are nothing more than eye candy to the fans. In the work conditions of a frigid ice rink, it makes matters worse with short shorts.
It’s not officially confirmed whether or not the Flyers will move forward with the previous Ice Girl uniforms. The male substitutes sported orange fleece jackets with black track pants.
The fan and media fuss may cool off if the Ice Girls work as a co-ed group. An alternative may be that they wear the male uniform or at least ditch the short shorts. If that triggers more Flyer fans’ boos, then Olbermann may need to broadcast yet another tirade.
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