Why doesn't Footbag get no respect!?

Pattycakes · Post by **Pattycakes** » 29 Sep 2010 15:22

Honestly, everyone i talk to labels us as a bunch of potheads or half naked gay kids jumping around. Some people appreciate it but i feel like it gets a serious bad rap. I really want to comprehend it but I feel like haters just be hatin.

PegLegHolly · Post by **PegLegHolly** » 29 Sep 2010 15:44

yep... haters. close mindedness brings security for some

Wayne Laffitte · Post by **Wayne Laffitte** » 29 Sep 2010 15:46

Yeah it's a shame. I'm really new to the game, but when I try to tell other people about it or if they ask me about it, no one takes me seriously. Kinda discouraging when I'm trying to learn.

Corey · Post by **Corey** » 29 Sep 2010 15:58

it is not physical plus the "hippie" stereotype

Donovon · Post by **Donovon** » 29 Sep 2010 17:02

I come across this all the time.
But i usually emphasize its not what they think and attempt to enlighten them via internet or with a bag.
It doesnt take long for them to notice its really not the hacky sack they were thinking of.
But it could take more than forever for them to care.

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 30 Sep 2010 12:59

No matter what you do in life there are always going to be haters. Better for you to learn that lesson sooner than later. So you can love footbag and play it no matter what the haters think. Or you can keep trying to chase what other people think is cool... good luck with that.

baserock love · Post by **baserock love** » 30 Sep 2010 14:16

People say i look like a dork doing it. Then i show them a video of Vasek i found on youtube. THey see that and they're absolutely blown away.

I don't think anybody that's really good at it doing it in public will get hated on much. It's impossible to see it and not be impressed.

rSSn · Post by **rSSn** » 01 Oct 2010 08:02

Hmm all I get are occasional compliments and "wows" , both on campus and in the city, just from ducking and one dex trippiness, despite not being able to do double dexes and osis yet...

Are the Ottawa folk more friendly towards the bag?

Swizzle · Post by **Swizzle** » 05 Oct 2010 16:25

When i play in front of people, they either think i am dancing, and may not like dancing, or that i am amazing at hacky sack (lol), or they are somewhat entertained and just sit down and watch for fun. Not too many negative people in St. Louis towards footbag. But i am clearly not a pothead and maybe they recognize the difference easier.

As far as society viewing it. Like going into the olympics or news or anything larger scale, i really have no idea. I think if individuals enjoy viewing it, watching footbag final routines instead of table tennis one night on the olympics would certainly happen. Maybe its too hard for most people to understand or just too obscure, probably just too obscure. we need to start breaking our legs on walmart property so they put up Signs "No Footbagging." Then they will recognize us

mc · Post by mc » 05 Oct 2010 16:42

I had four people watching me and barrett playing footbag in the gym in my building today, two girls and two guys.

One of the girls had seen it before and she told the other one that we are awesome and that she had to check it out.

One guy didn't say anything. The other guy said we were totally incredible and went back to lifting weights.

The response you get to footbag is all about how you represent it, I have found.

The best way to represent it well is to use good style and do long, comfortable strings. If there is music, and you can play to a beat, that is way better (that's what I was doing when the guy said we were incredible).

If your style is sloppy and droppy... ya, you're gonna get no respect. Pat, that's no problem for you, so... what's the issue

? Next time someone's talkin shit, smile, do a double atw, and don't say anything.

haters gonna hate!

Pattycakes · Post by **Pattycakes** » 06 Oct 2010 11:10

your right matt and corey, i just dont understand why footbag cant be just seen as awesome, haters just be hatin. Lets just have a shred sesh to shake this feeling off. hugs all round

FlexThis · Post by **FlexThis** » 11 Oct 2010 14:17

I agree with Matt. I get more respect from long relaxed strings of easy to follow stuff, than I do for trying triple dex moves that may not land as controlled.

I did have an experience from a skater I will never forget. I was playing solo on my favorite street corner and wasn't feeling like being there. I was trying to get into it and this skater kept skating ever closer to me back and forth and saying stuff under his breath and mocking my style behind my back. I caught him several times out the corner of my eye.

So I stepped it up, cause the legovers and mirages were not impressing him in the least. As soon as the DATW and paradons came out, he stopped skating, gave me the thumbs up and then sat down to watch me for the next half hour.

Some audiences are tougher than others I guess. In the end I demanded respect through presentation and it worked!

Chelsea Dagger · Post by **Chelsea Dagger** » 11 Oct 2010 17:20

I think the only way is to just show people how awesome the sport is. Every time I try to just tell someone about it, more often than not, they laugh. But once they see someone play, its always "wow"

Anyone who makes fun of it is just trying to find an excuse, because they know they'll never be able to do anything so sweet.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 12 Oct 2010 03:22

It must be a U.S thing. Here in Israel people usually have a positive response for it. When I play on the promenade, tourists respond positively as well. Unless they're from the U.S, in which case they say "oh, look, hacky sack".

Or maybe it's just you

Pattycakes · Post by **Pattycakes** » 12 Oct 2010 09:57

haha its not me i swear, people love it but they see it and move on with their lives. it just disheartens me but i love footbag so whatever, maybe one day our sport will get recognized and appreciated widely

xsisbest · Post by **xsisbest** » 16 Oct 2010 10:12

I'm constantly introducing the sport of "footbag" to the community and everytime they say the same thing..... FOOTBAG?????? WHAT'S FOOTBAG??? OOHHHHHHHHHH... . YOU MEAN HACKY SACK???

No I actually ment footbag but sometimes it sounds like hacky sack ... err
Anyway once you explain it and tell em about the videos on youtube to check out show them a few moves they all seem very interested. The kids at the school are now trying to form a club. I would love to have gotten it started or help out but I'm helping coach soccer and it's all I can do to get my own shredding in. They constantly are blown away by the simplest of moves or even the ones I try and drop so it makes me feel pretty good. But I have to humbly tell them I have so far to go and to study the many great videos available to learn on there own. In time the world will understand the true athleticism it takes to be a pro footbagger. Until then.. impress em all... 1 at a time...

Outsider · Post by **Outsider** » 22 Oct 2010 05:44

Despite all, I LOVE Hacky Sack, and I don't care what anybody else says. I'll admit that Footbag and Hacky Sack aren't exactly the same thing, but, they aren't exactly "completely different" either. They're like siblings... twins, almost, but, not Identicaly Twins, just Fraternal Twins...

Anyway, have a look at this

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/pearls-before-swine

(now you've got to move back to the Oct. 22 comic -- I didn't realize my link wasn't date-specific. But, the Oct 23 comic is just another good example of Rat.)

Keep in mind that Rat is pretty much always offensive and sort of wrong about stuff, but is a cynical reflection of the views of a large amount of society at large -- that is, all those people that hold ideas about things that are offensive to you, but, can't be dismissed because there are so many of them out there -- thats Rat. Sometimes Rat is right for the wrong reasons, which is to say, sometimes the cynical point of view becomes truth just because it reflects how things really are even though they shouldn't be that way. Goat is probably a better representation of how the artist really feels, and Rat is showing that Goat feels much like us, disrespected by the hoards of haters.

Pattycakes · Post by **Pattycakes** » 25 Oct 2010 07:14

I see what you mean Jon, everyone is a cynic. I really can't pinpoint a person I know that is consistently encouraging, not even my parents or myself, and despite what society thinks its not specifically what the individual thinks. Many times people become apathetic and choose to float along with societal norm's. Not to say that they don't think twice about it, they do, but thinking about it isn't enough if it is accompanied with inaction.
Footbag is something that people think is "cool" and usually they say "Wow, I could never do that" but never really attempt it. Footbag already has a predisposed disposition as "hacky sack" and along with hacky sack comes the idea of hippies and with hippies comes another slew of stereotypes. At the end of the day, Footbag and the community here makes me smile so even though there will always be naysayer's its important to look past them and contribute as much as you can without loosing sight of why you began to play Footbag in the first place.

habitat · Post by **habitat** » 25 Oct 2010 21:20

Pattycakes wrote:without loosing sight of why you began to play Footbag in the first place.

To impress other people, right? No? Then why post this thread? I stopped caring how people judged my footbag playing (and anything else) a long time ago. I wear short shorts, in public, in the winter and do it with confidence. I catch guys and girls checking out my package. Some people like it and some people talk shit. Either way, they still stare at my hog.

Jazzkid · Post by **Jazzkid** » 02 Nov 2010 10:06

Footbag doenst get respect for several reasons... her are a few

1. Footbag is not a mainstream sport and Vasek (as far as I know) has not gotten on the cereal boxes yet ....."no money in the sport, no reason to spend all day training"

2. People have no damn clue what exactly is going on ....ie butterlfy and dimwalk look the same TO THEM. One parallel between Jazz and Footbag is that Jazz is usually a musician's music and Footbag is a shredders sport. It takes an openminded curiousity, discipline, and a passion to spend enough time to learn the "trick vocabulary" of either.

3. Short shorts aren't always popular

On the flip side
1. I love this sport
2. screw em
3. In the middle of a string all else drops out anyway (its just you and the bag)