American Cheerleader

Did you all catch the MTV VMA’s this weekend? Of course you did, what was I thinking? So, obviously you all saw the horrible thing Kanyé West did while the talented Taylor Swift was giving her acceptance speech for winning Best Female Video. If you were away from your TV like me, and don’t keep up with pop culture, here’s what happened: when Taylor began to give her speech, Kanyé ambled up onstage, took the mic away from her and told the audience that he thought that Beyoncé should have received the award instead. The country crooner just stood there, obviously stunned by the outburst and didn’t even get to finish her speech!

This got me thinking about how important it is for all of us to practice good sportsmanship all the time—not just when we’re at competitions. That means, when you’re at school and someone gets a higher grade then you, you don’t begrudge them their accomplishment. Or when a friend beats you at Scrabble, you don’t spend the rest of the night pouting and making fun of her because you’re bummed over losing.

If Kanyé had been practicing good sportsmanship, he would have let Taylor have her moment to shine—and let’s be honest, the girl deserved it—instead of taking that exact moment to publicly disagree with the outcome of the voting. If he’d been a better sport, he would have acted like Top Gun has at past competitions. This top-notch team is known for their goodwill toward other teams.

I would like to point out though, how gracious Taylor’s been about the whole incident. Instead of bad-mouthing the bad-mouther, she’s choosing to focus on the fact that she won (and she even accepted his apology)! And Beyoncé even showed her class by calling Taylor up on stage during her own award acceptance to allow the teen to finally give her speech. Now that’s what I call sportsmanship!

On a sadder note, poor Patrick Swayze lost his fight with cancer yesterday. He was a legend on the big screen, a phenomenal dancer and great performer. If you haven’t seen it yet, Netflix his movie, Dirty Dancing and watch it with your mom…she could probably use the support while honoring Swayze’s incredible life.

Brittany