The not so great Wallenda
 

trailing a safety harness took all the 'thrill' out of the stunt....a very ho hum event! please TV stations don't waste our time!!!

Amazing, wonderful Nik Wallenda
 

Niagara Falls is my home town, and I went to school with Roger Woodward, who survived a plunge over the Falls at age 7 in 1960. This was an amazing feat. Nik didn't want to wear the harness, but his sponsors made it a requirement before they would pay the costs of the event. And, he did not miss a step - no need for the harness.

IMHO, "walk 1500 ft. in his shoes" before putting him down!!

:agree:

I agree quirky......and as you said was required to wear harness.

Wow...I so have to disagree with you!

Of course, we skipped the first hour of hyperbole before his walk, but I found it absolutely riveting.

If you have ever been to Niagara Falls in person and have seen it's magnificance, you would be wondering what the heck was this guy thinking???

I, for one, applaud him and admire him for his faith and perseverence.

We saw history being made last night...that film will be shown for years and years!:clap2::clap2::clap2:

I am VERY impressed.

ditto :agree:

I have to agree with you completely,he just made it look easy. I guess what some of the other posters call exciting is to watch a bunch of cars go around in a circle all day long ,with numerous laps under a caution light, and the winner, in many cases, is not the best driver or car, but the guy who still has some fuel left at the end.Ask any of those drivers whether they would ever try anything as dangerous as what Wallenda did last night,can't believe he received the permits to even try.What he did was nothing short of CRAZY:shocked:

http://www.davesfiles.com/Random/Gif...na-pothead.gif
Sharing?

Not sure how "trailing a safety harness" makes the action less"thrilling". Is the fact that he could get killed more exciting or thrilling than watching the skill of walking a tightrope over such a large expanse? I would think that he would have to compensate for the harness as well as the wind and the mist and that would add to the challenge. Heard that he is planning a crossing of the Grand Canyon next. He seems to be one of those who answer the question "why?' with "because it's there". BTW check out "Man on a WIre" if you like tight rope walking. That was very "exciting" in many ways for me.


LW888

Yeah, you're right. Think of all the money you could have made if you'd done it first.

The TV stations didn't waste your time. You did.

not saying that what he did was not very difficult....BUT...for days this was hyped as a death-defying mega stunt, the 'event' was preceded by an hour and 40 minutes of death defying mumbo jumbo, was it a difficult feat, certainly, was it a death defying ace as promised...not at all. Tight rope walkers (THE great wallenda) had professional pride and would not use a safety harness...this was rather pale. I didn't want to see him fall but there's no nail biter when there's no risk whatsoever!

I don't recall hearing that old Karl Wallenda ever used a harness - but a bunch of Wallenda's have been killed over the years - including Karl himself. Hard to sell "death defying" when there is a safety harness involved.

I don't believe that the safety harness took anything away from what he did. I also shudder to think that, if he did not have the harness, and something happened, how many other lives would have been jeopardized in trying to aid him.

Rainbow Bridge
 

I've walked across the river on the Rainbow Bridge too. And that was just as dangerous Wallenda's walk across the falls on a wire with the safety rig.

I live here in Niagara County and have been to Niagara Falls too many times to count. Each and every time I am awed by the power and majesty of God's creation. For Nik to traverse this course had me riveted. Unless you have seen Niagara Falls in person you cannot possibly understand the difficulty.

To say that Wallenda was not so great, so then what is?

What is Great is subjective to ones opinion of what greatness is.

Wallenda had to have the harness in order for the network to post what he was doing.

Again, "What is Great?"

Answer; whatever you think it is

I don't get it. To get your kicks you needed Wallenda to be in risk of a gruesome death?

The sheer skill of walking 1800 feet on a wire in high unpredictable winds and succeeding was not enough of a skill set to impress you?

I'm at a loss.

I wouldn't even have the nerve to attempt this feat. My knees would be knocking at the thought. To consider the wind, mist and other elements, this strikes me as a couragious feat.

Watching on TV, it would seem to be easy if done correctly.

Reminds me of Evil Knievel. When he was successful. he made it look easy.

When he had a mishap, no film was available of his hospital stays.

I'd never want to see anyone die a gruesome death. But by the same token, I object to people conning the public to think what they do is "death defying", when it isn't anything like that at all. I'm not interested in Wallenda whatsoever, but I am interested when the audience is being conned by the networks into thinking what he does is "entertainment". He walked across the falls in no danger whatsoever. How is that different from walking across the Rainbow Bridge?

I didn't watch the show, but I think that traversing the falls on a cable less than the thickness of a tennis ball is probably a little more challenging than crossing it on a footbridge, regardless of whether or not a safety harness was necessary?

Why shouldn't someone be able to enjoy watching someone's amazing talent (in this case balance) on TV if they choose? I'm a big believer that if you don't want to waste your time watching something on TV, turn it off or change the channel. If you were unaware that a harness was required and you ended up "wasting" a couple of hours watching the entire TV show, it probably wasn't the first time "wasting" time watching a bad TV show or movie. I know I've wasted more hours than I can count watching crappy movies at the theatre, but I simply move on and forget about it. Shoot, I've wasted plenty of time watching mediocre entertainment in the squares but the bottom line is that it was my choice and at the end of the day it was no big deal.

I do think that these types of shows tend to cater to a certain segment of society that hopes to see blood and gore (the same folks who slow down and stop traffic to "observe" auto accidents, many who watch auto racing hoping to see a crash, etc.). I am not saying that all who watch these types of shows are hoping to see misfortune, but many think that the chance of seeing someone hurt themselves is part of the entertainment.

Cappy, I'm mostly in agreement with you. My problem is the networks hyping a "death defying" act that isn't death defying at all. But I wouldn't have watched it even if there wasn't a safety harness. I'll be interested in seeing the ratings next week. I'm betting they won't be all that great.

Let's get real here. Risk to life and limb is a large factor in the appeal of "daredevil" activities such as tight rope walking, sky diving, etc. We all have a certain fascination with blood and gore.
If there were no fights in ice hockey, and players didn't get slammed into the boards, who the heck would bother to watch it? It would be about as exciting as watching grass grow.
Same thing with pro football. If wide receivers never got their lights knocked out by viscous linebackers, if quarterbacks never got blindsided by charging defensive ends, the game would not be nearly as popular with the macho male wannabees.
A little reality, please.

Might not be death defying, but falling and dangling from the harness with the cameras rolling might have been career ending for him.

There is an element to all this that I don't think has even been mentioned yet. This was a once in a lifetime event as it has never been done before and may never be done again. That in itself is news worthy and certainly worthy of being televised and for people to enjoy watching. Why some people will even get up in the middle of the night to try and catch a rare glimpse of the brief flair of a rocket launch. And how about the solar eclipse that occurred on May 20th that won't happen again in our lifetime? I think this whole issue is a non starter even if it hyped by the media as a "death defying" event!

Welcome back!
 

Not to hijack the post, but - 2BNTV! Welcome back! Where have you been?

Here's how it is different
 

Here's how it is different from walking across the Rainbow Bridge (see photo below). If it is all the same then, please take a tightrope on your next tour over to Canada.

How do you comment so negatively on a performance you didn't even watch?The ratings were outstanding for ABC,their most watched Friday show since November 2007.The show more than doubled the ratings of any of the other networks on Friday .They drew over 13 million viewers on a Friday evening, for the actual walk in the 18-49 age group,the advertisers most important demographic group.

I didn't watch it, but saw a photo in the next day's newspaper. That's when I noticed the safety wires and actually had to laugh. Again, I have no problem with his using the safety wire - and I would guess that if it were up to him, he wouldn't have used one. My issue is the death defying hype from the network. It's a joke.

The media in one form or another hype up everything they can. I watched most of the event and found it to be pretty interesting. I don't feel the harness really took anything away from the stunt if anything adding a possible problem to his balance. Even with the harness something still could have went horribly wrong. I can't knock him for doing it because you'll never get me up there on that wire.

.......

I agree. ;) I think my Sweetie would say this is getting to be a ****ing contest. You can't win a ****ing contest.:22yikes:

I think we're all exchanging views and expressing opinions. I'm OK with that. I don't generally expect people to always agree. That's why I like this forum.

lol, your expectations are realistic. I was just tryin' to support all that goes on in Niagara Falls. Lot of terrific folks from that area. You'd think they were Cincinnatians, they are so nice.

I respectfully agree to disagree with others who have a different viewpoit than mine.

Let's be one big happy family on this wonderful forum. :smiley:

Never forget that one can brighten a room when entering and some when leaving. :jester:

Great Stunt !
 

The TV executives wouldn't televise the event unless he agreed to the harness. It actually made the uphill part of the walk more difficult because he had to drag it along.

I didn't need a "thrill" to admire the athletic ability required to complete the walk.

:eclipsee_gold_cup:

You ain't just whistling Dixie there! It also doesn't hurt to have your hand ready on the light switch... just in case! http://www.4smileys.com/smileys/happ...y-smiley55.gif

Nic did a lot of praying as he was crossing the tightrope. If it was a piece of caking, he wouldn't have been praying. Also, there were times he said he could not see with the mist and spray, and the wind came at him from all directions. He had 40 lbs. on his back carrying the balance pole or bar. The safety chain looked like more of hindrance to him than a help. What if that would have caught on to something? Note: he did not want to have this hooked on to him. Nic had a lot of elements to deal with. I was very impressed with his courage. Remember, too that he practiced quite a bit before he tried this feat. So if it looked easy to you, think about what I just stated.

Bythe way, Nik did NOT want to wear the safety harness at all. ABC mandated it.

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: