Women Say the Darndest Things, Part III

There were so many arguments and comments about the previous blogs on this subject (Part I and Part II) you just knew that a third venture into the area would be forthcoming. Although there were minor interruptions about sports in those, since we have a hold on sports, now seemed like the time to give it another go.

You know, women often say the darndest things when the subject turns to sex. For example, 

WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG FOR BIG NEWS!
SPORTS ARE BACK!

Coach Jay here again, once more interrupting this blog that I'm sure the author believes will garner him a lot of attention and controversy, to let you know that we have emerged from the dark mantle of a sport-less period. Slightly.

Truthfully, it never went away completely. I blogged a while back about the importance of exercise during these troubled times, so we've still had that to keep us occupied. And of course, there were those who resisted orders to stay apart and recklessly took part in pick-up games of basketball, soccer and more (bad boys and girls. Shame on you). However, real organized sports were put on hold.

Slowly, that began to change. Over in Europe, they began to play football (Americans say soccer) with the Germans leading the way. But soon, other sports began to give it a try, from golf to tennis. Then the bigger ones, by that I mean the ones with more AMERICAN viewers, such as basketball and hockey began to creep back to the public view. Now, AMERICAN football is on the scene.

When the other sports returned, they had very strict guidelines which included no fans were allowed. This meant that they would pipe in crowd noise to simulate fan attendance and to enliven the viewers experience. Football however is being a little more reckless.

Many teams are allowing fans to attend. Admittedly, in small numbers. When you consider that stadiums may hold from 50,000 plus people, only allowing in a fraction may seem safe. Theoretically they could have one person per every six seats. But we're humans. We don't do that, we talk and yell and sometimes sing when at sporting events. But mainly, we huddle together to better enjoy the moment and excitement. And that's what is happening. Instead of everyone spreading appropriately apart, people are gathering in groups or clusters. Often these groups are spread out, but having 10-20 people in a group defeats the idea of social distancing that is so crucial to getting us out of this morass. 

For the players it's different. Most of them get tested two to three times a week. Some teams use “bubbles” that isolate them from the outside world. So the players have a great many safeguards. The fans do not.

Coach Jay suggests that teams and fans keep their distance. Fans should not go to the game, teams should not invite them. We all are desperate to get back to going crazy after a touchdown. To high five your buddy next to you. To boo loudly that lousy call by the ref. But now is not the time for that. We must get out of the humongous death march COVID-19 has brought us and that means having a little discipline. Yes, as a coach that often means I yell at some player for screwing up, or sending someone off to run laps for breaking a team rule. Now however, I can only plead with you to do the right and safe thing.

Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Keep on social distancing. Don't go to places where there are big groups of people together. Don't go to that stadium. We can get through this. If we all do what the doctors and scientists say for just a little while longer, we will get back to the days of wild football games with marching bands, cheerleaders and rowdy fans. Stay safe. 

Now, back to the regularly scheduled blog already in progress.

I know that radical feminists will hate this, but “normal” women, if they are honest, will have to agree. It's obvious.  Whew, aren't you glad The Thurber Brigade tackled this issue once again instead of having one of those odd sidesteps into politics or some social issue? 

Ah, James Thurber

Fit in!

The other night while channel surfing, I ran across Nightline. They had a news report about people who were getting harmed by doing too much exercise. As a former PE teacher this seemed hilarious to me. Oh, I felt sorry for the people who developed problems, but this new malady that ABC was pushing just didn't make sense.

Basically what they were raving about was that people who exercised too much could be more prone to injuries or suffer from affects of anorexia. Sure, these could be an outcomes from to much exercise, but to make it an issue worthy of national exposure went too far. 

The US may be the fattest country in the world. I believe the last report I read said about 60% of Americans were overweight.  It also said that of those, 35% were obese.  Of these fat people, men are the worst at over 70%, compared to women’s 60%.

Because of this overabundance of overweight people about 1/2 million people develop heart disease, while close to that number also suffer from diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney failure and more. The list of complications that relate to being overweight is incredible!

So a few thousand people suffering injuries from being in shape is laughable. Sorry Nightline.

Oh, I understand how news organizations have to sensationalize the news to get noticed. But blowing up something like fitness defies logic. Sensationalize all you want, but at least show some balance. Nightline did not. Oh, they briefly mentioned the obesity epidemic (yeah, I’m sensationalizing too), but it was almost like they said it under their collective breaths. 

I didn't see the whole show, so maybe I missed it, but I didn't see one interview with a doctor. If they did interview one earlier, did she say something like "oh, people need to cut back on exercise?"  I doubt it.

The real problem with reports like this though, is that I think it feeds into Americans ideas that they don't need to exercise. Oh, around the holidays when they really overeat (I mean more than they usually do, because a majority overeat all the time) they might think they need to exercise a little to work off a few of those holiday pounds. But then if they hear of reports like the one on Nightline they'll just say, "why bother? I could get injured."

It's bad enough that Americans have all sorts of other misconceptions. Things like it is natural to get fat as you age, or that if they just walk around the block once in a while it will be enough. Or that sitting at a desk for eight hours in the day is acceptable and part of American lifestyle.

For thousands of years, humans were hunters and gatherers. This meant that they moved a lot. (Exercise, if you will) they weren't naturally skinny, they were skinny because they moved a lot and didn't eat too much. This was the natural state of being. We got away from this by deciding it was okay to be sedentary. 

It is not.

I’m not saying everyone needs to go out and do intense exercise for two hours every day. However, I am saying you DO need to go out EVERY day and get some exercise. If all you can do is muster 30 minutes, then make it a good 30 minutes. And it should be as much of your daily routine as brushing your teeth (you do brush every day, right?) or eating breakfast. In other words, if you don’t exercise, you should feel that something is wrong. If you have a family—take them with you! That’s right, everyone needs to exercise as this country has a childhood obesity rate that is disgusting.

So don’t believe crazy news reports about the dangers of too much exercise. Worry more about what happens if you don’t.

Whew, the PE teacher in me just had to get that out. 

 (Yes, I exercise)

Next time, I’ll talk more about the War Between Men and Women as usual. You know, something like, women exercise to look good to impress other women—which is why men do it too.

 Exercise together!

(images courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/)