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Padawan · 05-16-2006, 11:15 PM

Law and order on NBC had a scene with fencing in it. The detectives were interviewing a case and they were at a fencing practice at a private school in NY. No visor masks either, wow, fencing on television again. Show is one 10pm est.

Inquartata · 05-17-2006, 05:02 AM

WHICH "Law and Order" ( BUMP PUMP! ), though? There are what? 3 or 4 of them?

Jason · 05-17-2006, 05:06 AM

A friend of mine--and a former fencer--does costuming on that show. She apparently had to do quite a lot to explain the concept that right-handed jackets don't go with left-handed gloves.

fencergal33 · 05-17-2006, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inquartata

WHICH "Law and Order" ( BUMP PUMP! ), though? There are what? 3 or 4 of them?

It was the season finale of Law and Order: SVU last night. It was a good size scene with quite a bit of fencing in the background.

RoninX · 05-17-2006, 03:50 PM

Great. Fencing is once again cast as the "private school sport", Sports of the elite, inaccessable to the masses... what wonderful prime time exposure...

...grumble, grumble...

fencergal33 · 05-17-2006, 03:51 PM

Hey....it's better than no exposure at all....

RoninX · 05-17-2006, 03:53 PM

So they say... of course maybe we should ask David Duke if "any exposure is better than none".

CvilleFencer · 05-17-2006, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoninX

So they say... of course maybe we should ask David Duke if "any exposure is better than none".

You know who he is don't you?

Reminding people that fencing is still a practiced sport, even in a somewhat elitist environment, is a good thing. It may encourage them to look localy for fencing clubs. Once they are in, we can correct any misconceptions they have, assuming they are not part of one of those elitist clubs and/or that experiance is not what they are looking for. Takes all kinds you know...

jjefferies · 05-17-2006, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoninX

Great. Fencing is once again cast as the "private school sport", Sports of the elite, inaccessable to the masses... what wonderful prime time exposure...
...grumble, grumble...

Actually this is not a bad thing. First, I doubt fencing of any kind will ever be a sport of the masses - that is unless guns can be made to be a liability. But being seen as an activity of the elite has a certain cachet to it. And at least so far western or olympic fencing, as it is sometimes called, has escaped the fate of Kendo in becoming a butterfly collection. And as someone mentioned earlier it does show that the sport is alive and doing reasonably well.

RoninX · 05-17-2006, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CvilleFencer

You know who he is don't you?

Reminding people that fencing is still a practiced sport, even in a somewhat elitist environment, is a good thing. It may encourage them to look localy for fencing clubs. Once they are in, we can correct any misconceptions they have, assuming they are not part of one of those elitist clubs and/or that experiance is not what they are looking for. Takes all kinds you know...

Why did it have to be a private school though? Many public high schools around the country have fencing programs (not as many as I would like to see, but still). Many YMCAs support fencing classes... anyway, of course I see your point.

I would rather have them show fencing in that clip than... what? Arrested at an equestrian meet? But still a little coverage that doesn't involve investment banking and private schools would be nice (yes I'm aware of that car commercial as well...)

thud · 05-17-2006, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjefferies

And at least so far western or olympic fencing, as it is sometimes called, has escaped the fate of Kendo in becoming a butterfly collection.

Sorry...can you elaborate on that?

fencergal33 · 05-17-2006, 05:33 PM

The kid they were talking to didn't actually end up being a criminal either. A jerk, but not a criminal

They interviewed this kid because the victim had a crush on him. We were making jokes at my house about everybody wanting to lose their virginity to a fencing jock.

HDG · 05-17-2006, 05:33 PM

It's a shame that the fencer character was so detestable -- even for a cameo. Where did they film the scene? The fencers in the background moved like they knew what they were doing.

CvilleFencer · 05-17-2006, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoninX

Why did it have to be a private school though? Many public high schools around the country have fencing programs (not as many as I would like to see, but still).

I know that NJ, NY and IL have a serious HS fencing league. I would not say that it is widespread around the country. I teach fencing at 4 middle and high schools. Only one of them is a public school. It is the worst environment (always getting bumped/pushed by basketball and my fencers sometimes get harrased by all the bangers and wannabes that go out for ball sports), has the least family support and is the one school that I do for free. Come to think of it they still owe my club for gear they ordered and never paid for. The three private schools? Money, parental support, faculty support and material support.

I could easily go into a diatribe about the sorry state of public education in the country, but I will spare you and just state that in my experiance, unless they have a coach silly/stupid (I fall into both catagories...) enough to work for free, you won't find a lot of fencing at the public school level in most of the country...

Is it a shame? Yes, but when the school can barely afford to pay teachers and those teachers have to purchase things needed to teach the students out of their own paltry paychecks, there will be little left over for a "niche" sport that has, at least in the minds of the uninformed, liability concerns and limited appeal.

So the short version of all that is that it seems very reasonable for the fencing to be at a private school. And if the bad guy was wealthy he probably did not attend a public school in East Harlem...

fencerbill · 05-17-2006, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CvilleFencer

I could easily go into a diatribe about the sorry state of public education in the country, but I will spare you and just state that in my experiance, unless they have a coach silly/stupid (I fall into both catagories...) enough to work for free, you won't find a lot of fencing at the public school level in most of the country...

There are some exceptions, like Concord-Carlisle here in Mass. They treat all the sports equally. Eliot Lilien was coach there so long that he was getting more than the football coach.

Of course he was getting results. He was very charismatic and could get the good athletes, like Soccer allstars, for the fencing team. By my rough count the fencing team had produced more collegiate All-Americans than all the other sports at the high school combined. The year he had Doug Powell, Dave Donadio and Andy Goorno on the Sabre squad, there were probably no more than half a dozen college Sabre Squads that were better.

RoninX · 05-17-2006, 07:29 PM

By no means did I mean to imply that fencing was ubiquitous in high schools. Or that it was well funded (or even regularly funded) by pubic schools. However, this episode was in NY city, and when we are talking about NYC there are many public high schools with fencing programs. Some with reasonable funding and distinction - or at least fencers I have met who were in HS in NYC in the 90s tell me...

slowgraffiti515 · 05-17-2006, 08:12 PM

this reminds me of some car commercial i saw where people were fencing. it was only for a few seconds but i remember thinking they were fencing sabre with foil lames...

NNR · 05-17-2006, 11:35 PM

Scene was filmed in New York City at the Union Theological Seminary and the fencers were kids from the Fencers Club.

KShan5[PrFC] · 05-18-2006, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fencerbill

There are some exceptions, like Concord-Carlisle here in Mass. They treat all the sports equally. Eliot Lilien was coach there so long that he was getting more than the football coach.

Of course he was getting results. He was very charismatic and could get the good athletes, like Soccer allstars, for the fencing team. By my rough count the fencing team had produced more collegiate All-Americans than all the other sports at the high school combined. The year he had Doug Powell, Dave Donadio and Andy Goorno on the Sabre squad, there were probably no more than half a dozen college Sabre Squads that were better.

Right....but look at where that public school is, Concord-Carlisle....where everyone is loaded. It's a rich public school that is funded better than some private schools, this isn't like Dorchester High has a fencing team.

dsapery · 05-19-2006, 02:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fencerbill

There are some exceptions, like Concord-Carlisle here in Mass. They treat all the sports equally. Eliot Lilien was coach there so long that he was getting more than the football coach.

Of course he was getting results. He was very charismatic and could get the good athletes, like Soccer allstars, for the fencing team. By my rough count the fencing team had produced more collegiate All-Americans than all the other sports at the high school combined. The year he had Doug Powell, Dave Donadio and Andy Goorno on the Sabre squad, there were probably no more than half a dozen college Sabre Squads that were better.

Thanks, Bill, for bringing back such haunting memories... my high school used to fence against CCA every year (including against the aforementioned trio in the early 80's). If memory serves, the scores were in the neighborhood of 24-3.