Yeah until we get to the generation that wore helmets for everything and was taught "just let yourself fall so you don't break your collarbone/wrist".

/stupidest thing I saw was one PBS show where they were telling kids to fall down backwards when they were ice skating.

That's what happens when you have hooks for hands.

some of the incidents "are believed to have a relationship to alcohol,"

At Gasparilla? Unpossible!

These motherfarkers concern me...

"The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Expolsives was busy too. Agents made 62 arrests that included: 57 arrests for possession of alcohol under age 21, two arrests for possession without a license and one for selling alcohol without a license, one for underaged selling and one for obstruction."farking fascist brownshirts hassling "the kids."

I guess under the current administration they are communist brownshirts and "the kids" really shouldn't mind.

Wow this is what passes for journalism in Fla? Pirates in the headline but nothing in the article explaining what was meant, "The Party", "The Parade", "The Madness"... what party? what parade? What madness?

FTFA: "When sober people like you and me fall, we put out our hands to stop ourselves."

Okay, but most of us don't have hook-hands. Sober or not, I'll take my chances with the pavement, thanks.

/aarr..
//"Well.. it was me first day with the hook, see...."

oh i was there and it was f'n amazing as always!

put it this way ... we were so drunk, that we didn't even notice the parade had ended.

/still don't know how i didn't end up in jail yesterday.

Fomby_Belcher: These motherfarkers concern me...

"The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Expolsives was busy too. Agents made 62 arrests that included: 57 arrests for possession of alcohol under age 21, two arrests for possession without a license and one for selling alcohol without a license, one for underaged selling and one for obstruction."farking fascist brownshirts hassling "the kids."

I guess under the current administration they are communist brownshirts and "the kids" really shouldn't mind.

I live in Tampa, I think they should get the National Guard out for this stupid event. Every 16 year old for 100 miles is bombed and full of liquid courage. Every bar in Ybor is packed with drunk wanna-be gangsta types looking for a reason to show everyone how tough they are.

People take this fake historical event as an exscuse to do whatever they want. Screw em, lock them all up.

/Really not an old-fart stick in the mud.
//WTF with the Obama is a Commie schtick? You lost, get over it.
///get back to your pancakes

Rush's_pills: Every bar in Ybor is packed with drunk wanna-be gangsta types looking for a reason to show everyone how tough they are.

What are you doing in an Ybor bar if you want to avoid drunks?

This is kind of different, because their hands were full; but watching a man pass out, mid-stride, no hands, just splat - on his face... It's both comical and unnerving to behold.

I can't imagine what a pirate costume does to that equation.

Fomby_Belcher: The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Expolsives was busy too.

When did they add "explosives"?

/stupid question

I came here looking the same bit of journalistic info also , lord_Dubu
Gay pride?
late Xmas
mardi gras in the wrong state?

Mugato: Fomby_Belcher: The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Expolsives was busy too.

When did they add "explosives"?

/stupid question

They're trying to spell FATE, give them time to work out the inner-office politics...

Tampa?

Guys, leave Carnival to the professionals.


/my bro's and me in bacchus, '03

Lord_Dubu: Wow this is what passes for journalism in Fla? Pirates in the headline but nothing in the article explaining what was meant, "The Party", "The Parade", "The Madness"... what party? what parade? What madness?

1. This isn't really "journalism" as it's a blog post.

2. Given that it's the St. Petersburg Times, it is assumed that the average reader would know that it is referring to Gasparilla.

drunk pirates who fell down? You they were just embaressed about getting beat up by ninjas!

Say what you like about Somali pirates, at least they don't drink on the job.

These guys arrrgh pussies...In my day, we'd fight on, even after having a limb hacked off

Confabulat: Rush's_pills: Every bar in Ybor is packed with drunk wanna-be gangsta types looking for a reason to show everyone how tough they are.

What are you doing in an Ybor bar if you want to avoid drunks?

I don't go near there...but the tools that do eventually leave and go to the parade. Really screw up the good time of professional drunks like myself.
/farking rookies

sober people like you and I?

thats very presumptuous of you submitter

Well, I put out my damn arm to stop myself and broke my damn wrist. It's been 6 months, and I still have to fap with my left hand.

/feels odd...but I think I might like it

The last time I crashed in a bike race, by all rights my face should have smashed into the asphalt. There's a bike racer out there somewhere who probably still has my teeth marks on his butt.

"But when you're arms are full and you have something in them you don't want to spill when you fall, you can end up with a facial injury."



You are arms? Really? Good job Florida editor dude.

unavailable for comment

Had I gone to the Gasparilla parade, I would have gone dressed as a Somali.

Probably best that I didn't go...

1. This isn't really "journalism" as it's a blog post.

2. Given that it's the St. Petersburg Times, it is assumed that the average reader would know that it is referring to Gasparilla.

1. It is a blog post by a staff writer for the Times on a news site. So the basic rules of journalism still apply.

2. You don't assume your readers know all the basic facts when writing a story. What? There are no new residents of Tampa/St. Pete who know nothing about this event? Nobody links to news stories on the internet? How hard would it have been to simply identify the event and describe it briefly - up front, in the first paragraph? Even someone familiar with the thing might not have been sure what the article was about until a couple of paragraphs in.


No excuse. Especially since this almost certainly went through an editor (in this case one who also passed "You're arms are full") before it was posted to the site.

Or maybe everybody at "The Times" was plastered, too.

joseelsegundo: Had I gone to the Gasparilla parade, I would have gone dressed as a Somali.

Probably best that I didn't go...

/Win +1

"The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Explosives was busy too."

I don't think any of the arrests they made qualify as federal crimes. But it's good to see they have cleared up all the high priority stuff so they can spend time on minor crimes.

/isn't this like the UK
// where the police don't arrest real criminals,
///but nail people for "anti-social" behavior?

Everyone at the Times were very likely plastered.

MBooda: Tampa?

Guys, leave Carnival to the professionals.


/my bro's and me in bacchus, '03
.
.
.
Leave it to the fat guys in Muumuus?
.
.
/Large groups of drunks tend to behave the same.
//Now, if you're talkin' food, NO's got Tampa beat.
///Impeach Ray NumbNutz.

MBooda: Tampa?

Guys, leave Carnival to the professionals.

I haven't been to Mardi Gras in a few years. Sweetie, are those silver dildos? Wow, the throw has sure gotten better.

/my bro's and me in bacchus, '03

Sorry. Putting out your hands to break your fall is how you spend 14 months in a cast with a broken scaphoid bone.

Learn to tuck and roll.

Goimir: Yeah until we get to the generation that wore helmets for everything and was taught "just let yourself fall so you don't break your collarbone/wrist".

/stupidest thing I saw was one PBS show where they were telling kids to fall down backwards when they were ice skating.

I fell down backwards the one time I went ice skating. To keep my head from hitting the ice I had to land on my elbows. Nothing broke but it hurt like a biatch for a few weeks.

umm... judo breakfalls anyone?

Sudlow: "The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Explosives was busy too."

I don't think any of the arrests they made qualify as federal crimes. But it's good to see they have cleared up all the high priority stuff so they can spend time on minor crimes.

/isn't this like the UK
// where the police don't arrest real criminals,
///but nail people for "anti-social" behavior?

See where it says Explosives. It actually means you're a dumbass, because this is the Florida state booze cops taking time out from their busy bribe taking schedule to bust some high school kids.

"When sober people like you and me"

Whoa whoa WHOA! Speak for yourself there.

Falling Pirates?

///Leaving illegal DVDs on the floor can make for a rather slippery experience

jdemartino: 2. You don't assume your readers know all the basic facts when writing a story. What? There are no new residents of Tampa/St. Pete who know nothing about this event? Nobody links to news stories on the internet? How hard would it have been to simply identify the event and describe it briefly - up front, in the first paragraph? Even someone familiar with the thing might not have been sure what the article was about until a couple of paragraphs in.

No excuse. Especially since this almost certainly went through an editor (in this case one who also passed "You're arms are full") before it was posted to the site.

1. The St. Petersburg Times blogs do not have editors. They are blogs, run on WordPress, like any other blog.

2. The likelihood of you immediately landing on that specific blog entry without ever coming across another reference to Gasparilla is nearly impossible. It takes up more than a month and is the major social event of the Tampa Bay area for the year. The only circumstance by which a human being would land on TFA and not be given any context for it is on Fark. Any other route to that page takes one through numerous front-page headline articles about this year's Gasparilla.

And again, the St Pete Times news blog is not generally aimed at a national audience, but at a local one wanting breaking news coverage.

meschepers:
I fell down backwards the one time I went ice skating. To keep my head from hitting the ice I had to land on my elbows. Nothing broke but it hurt like a biatch for a few weeks.

They were advocating helmets (well, stealth advocacy, acting like that was what was done and not even acknowledging that some people don't wear helmets) and saying "Just fall backwards if you're going to fall; your helmet will stop your head from getting hurt."

Lord_Dubu: Wow this is what passes for journalism in Fla? Pirates in the headline but nothing in the article explaining what was meant, "The Party", "The Parade", "The Madness"... what party? what parade? What madness?

Unless you came across the article on Fark.com, you know which party they're talking about. You'd have to be a farking hermit in the Tampa area not to know. And if you're a hermit, you're probably not reading the story anyway. So fark off.

FTFA: "But when you're arms are full and you have something in them you don't want to spill when you fall, you can end up with a facial injury."

Comedy gold.

yea, stick your hands out when you fall.
Dumbass

some of the incidents "are believed to have a relationship to alcohol,"

Alcohol's halfwit nephew?

I watched two different women fall directly onto their faces yesterday. Alcohol WAS involved.

FTA "so far they've treated at least 80 people on the parade route...In some instances people broke their arms or injured their faces"

Which in subby's pinhead means ...Paramedics treat at least eighty fallen drunken pirates for broken arms and facial injuries.

Must be stupid day for subbies on fark. I say this because the subby of the previous story suggested the Pope is a hypocrite because he has 3 media outlets and MySpace page [not to mention over 1 Billion regular followers, subby], but warns about perils of media overconsumption.

I'm afraid to keep reading and find out how many more subby headlines today are going to not even remotely be factual to the story.

Lord_Dubu: Wow this is what passes for journalism in Fla? Pirates in the headline but nothing in the article explaining what was meant, "The Party", "The Parade", "The Madness"... what party? what parade? What madness?

/this

This was my first year in a Krewe. Amazingly I am not numbered among the arrests despite getting to the end of the parade (we were #8 in the lineup) and then somehow stumbling backwards through the parade again to get back to S Tampa. Every cop I met or ran into (a few literally) that day was incredibly tolerant. You have to be doing something beyond stupid to get arrested.

...and we do it all over again Saturday at the Knight parade!

/Krewe of Italia