Stats ruin everything!

I gotta say I am not a math wiz. One thing I hate more than anything is when I am sitting down to watch a game and all I see is stats about the best pitcher, the most homer runs, the most touchdowns and all of that jazz. Stats don’t get me excited. If anything most of the time when an announcer tells you that something hasn’t happened in X amount of time- it happens that game! Basically it ruins everything! Your team hasn’t lost at home in 20 games? Welp they are losing tonight. This pitcher has the best batting average against lefties, tonight is the night lefties dominate. It is just the way it works.

This had me thinking. What other life events would be ruined if we started inundating those events with stats. Here are a few I came up with:

1) Pregnancy: How about in that special moment when you are about to give life you are given the stats of survival for moms while giving birth. How about the stats of baby’s being born stillborn. Stats of giving birth to a kid with birth defects? I am sure those stats would really brighten up that special moment!

2) Weddings: Right as you are about to say “I do” the ceremony stops and you are given the divorce rate stats. How about the financial stats of newlyweds? That is exactly what you wanna hear as you promise to love someone till the end of time.

3) Buying a House: How about before you sign the papers you are given all the stats of new homeowners with a large repair needed within the first five years. Stats for roof issues? Stats for home insurance claims? The list goes on and on.

Stats are a part of life. They are out there and if we want to find them it would be easy enough to do. The fact is there are many stats we just don’t want to be reminded of in the moment. And I am someone who would prefer to not be reminded of sports stats when I am trying to enjoy a game!

Women can love sports the same way as men!

I don’t know how much I have talked about this on my blog, but I am a Female sports fan. My favorite sport to watch is baseball but I also follow Football pretty closely and I am learning to love Hockey ( since the boyfriend is into it).

I have been into sports since probably middle school or early high school. I was the girl with all guy friends so it kind of came with the territory. I would stay up nights on the phone with one of my guy friends watching a game, complaining about the players and complaining about the penalties. I learned to love the sports. I learned everything about the sports just as well as the boys. In fact I became the person people turned to for their updates. And by people I mean the guys.

But this never carried over to new men I would meet. If I went on a new date and offered to watch a game with a guy they would usually laugh at me and say “I dont want to bore you.” If I tried to strike up a conversation about a particular player most men would say “oh how cute, did you do your research for me?” This ALWAYS infuriated me. But I always told myself I love the game for myself and not for anyone else so who cares what they think.

The funny part is, in every relationship I have ever been in, I have been the sports lover. I have had to beg and plead with the guys in my life to watch a full sports game. They just never had the passion for it that I did. And yet girl’s just don’t get sports, or at least accord to Men’s Health Magazine.

Now I can’t point you to the article because Men’s Health (wisely) deleted it. But this rant came up because they posted an article titled “How to talk to Women about sports.” The premise was basically that women don’t care about stats and instead need story lines.

Now, I will admit I am not a math person. But I do actually like to hear the stats of the game. Do I want to figure them out myself? No. But it does not mean I am not interested in hearing them. And I need story lines? Excuse me? Just because I enjoy a good chick flick doesn’t mean I can’t also enjoy a good game, stats and all.

The article is offensive because it lumps all women in as basically incapable of enjoying sports. Yet I am a girl who enjoys sports (without being talked to in a different way about it) and for the most part I know more than many guys do. To learn more about this article and the fall-out click here.

So Men’s Health Magazine please remember, women can be women and enjoy a good sports game.

What do you bloggers think about the Men’s Health article?

Everyone is NOT a winner!

This post was inspired by a child’s football game I attended to watch my sister cheer. At the game I learned that if a team scores too much over the opponents score, this is considered taunting and the team will receive a penalty. What’s more? The team is also required to write a letter explaining why they scored so high above their opponents score. All I could do was scratch my head at this. These children are being penalized for playing so well? How is it their teams fault that the other team didn’t play as well? Would a professional team think twice before dominating their opponent? Of course not! So why should these kids be any different?

As I researched this issue a little more I learned there is a bigger issue. These days every kid is considered a “winner”. When frankly this is just not the case. I am sorry if I am bursting anyone’s bubble but we are not all created equal. You sit me down for a math exam I guarantee you I will come out with one of the lowest (if not THE lowest score) in the room. Ask me to comprehend a book (any book) for you and I bet i could do this better than most. We all have strengths and weaknesses. Additionally we all have bad days and good days. And most of all, there is ALWAYS someone who is better than us at SOMETHING!

This is something we should learn young and learn it well. Because when you get into the real world it can be a splash of ice cold water if you were brought up to believe everyone is a “winner.” You will go on an interview and not get the job. You will apply for a school and not get in. You will fight for the man of your dreams and lose. This is life. Learn to love it.

According to this NY times article, “Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford University, found that kids respond positively to praise; they enjoy hearing that they’re talented, smart and so on. But after such praise of their innate abilities, they collapse at the first experience of difficulty. Demoralized by their failure, they say they’d rather cheat than risk failing again.”

We are not helping out kids by patting their back for existing. We should save the praise for when it counts so it means something! False encouragement gets us no where.

Since I am not a mom maybe I am totally off on this so I turn to you bloggers and moms out there, do you think losing is good for your children?

Why This Girl Wants To Be A Combat Juggler

As many of you know I am currently on a fitness kick. I am doing personal training once a week and trying my best to keep myself motivated throughout the rest of the week. I am not looking to lose weight but rather to gain muscle. The problem with this is I am not the body type that looks like I need to work out. That being said motivation is hard to come by.

I have been wracking my brain for a fun way to work out that is different and will keep me engaged. Kickboxing? Could be good for aggression. Jogging? Well I can’t run a mile so that might not work out for long. Zumba? Could be a fun possibility but not a fan of groups. Combat Juggling? Well that is one interesting idea!

Combat Juggling is a sport I recently learned about that is both out of the box and a great way to get out aggression (at least in my head). Since I am a girl who loves lists I decided to make a list of five reasons why I should try combat juggling as my new sport of choice:

5) Great for Eye/ Hand Coordination: This will be important if I ever become a wife- I will need to be able to see the back of my husbands head and connect the pan in my hand with it effectively and without hesitation to avoid suspicion.

4) Adrenaline Rush: This is such a good feeling to be able to understand. When a car falls on your child every mother wants to be able to harness the full power of an adrenaline rush to lift a car like the bionic woman. This sport will help train me for those catastrophes!

3) Combat the Fear of Clowns: Okay so there is nothing in the rules saying clowns have to be present at combat juggling but c’mon when you think juggling what image comes to mind? That red nose and creepy smile? Ya, me too. And as a girl petrified of those unreadable faces this will be a way to face my fears head on.

2) Aggression Relief: It is actually in the rules that you can throw balls at your opponents. What can be better than this? Feeling a little upset? Throw something at your opponent and get points for it! Winning!

1) Build Arm Strength: Juggling might not sound hard but try doing it for any length of time especially with weighted objects. Feeling it? This sport can help build your arms bigger than Serena Williams. Okay maybe not that far but pretty damn close!

So bloggers what type of unique exercise do you do to keep you motivated?