Category Archives: sports

The Lingerie Bowl vs. Blondes V Brunettes Flag Football

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photo of woman kissing woman lingerie bowl pictures Back in May, someone I knew was all excited that they were helping a charity. It was the Alzheimer’s Association and he was coaching their first annual Blondes vs. Brunettes charity football game. I immediately became offended. First off, football causes brain injuries and has been linked to both Alzheimer’s and dementia, so right up front this is a fail. It’s like promoting cancer awareness and prevention in a smoky bar. Second, why is a man coaching women who are pitted against each other based on hair color? Why is this happening?

His defense, when I called this event grotesque and sexist, was “It’s being put on by women” (so, so much shame when I heard this) and “It’s not like they’re playing in lingerie.” He, of course, was referring to the Lingerie Bowl, the annual event that happens during Super Bowl season wherein girls wear bras and panties and run around playing football.

Don’t get me wrong—I love football. LOVE IT. I am almost fanatical about the sport. I’ll play it in a backyard, I’ll yell at teams that I feel play it wrong, but I have never played on a team and here’s why: I know I am not built for the game of football. I am 5’5 and 103 lbs on a good day, and I have no business playing that game … I could die. So it irritates me to no end when girls in knickers and helmets go out on the field and “play football.”  You cannot play this game in your underwear … you’re doing it wrong.

Naturally, everyone gave me a hard time on my stance saying, “Oh it’s all in good fun,” but finally I have government officials on my side! Last month Australia’s Minister for Sport made a public statement on the website Mamamia. She called the Lingerie Bowl  ”cheap titillation,” ascended to ”degrading perv,” and that ”lingerie football” was an affront to all women.”

Yeah, that’s right—now it’s not just me saying that the Lingerie Bowl and Blonde vs. Brunettes Flag Football is sexist: it’s a Minister of Sport, too. Her whole job is to know this stuff. As for me, I have never felt so vindicated. But hey. Maybe we’re both wrong. Maybe it’s taken too personally. What are your thoughts?



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My Foray Into a Man’s World

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Photo of cigar humidor
As a lifelong New Englander, lots of my memories are tied to sports events.  Many of them involve epic, longstanding, ultimately fruitless journeys (professional athletic teams have a tendency to choke in my neck of the woods … Google “1986 Bill Buckner Boston Red Sox” to get some idea).

That being said, though, along with actually having “Ayuh” and “Wicked pissah”" in our regional vernacular, we never give up.  And, when the chance for glory is at our fingertips, we go all out.

Which is how I ended up watching the Super Bowl at a cigar bar.

When I was a teenager, my parents and their best friends had memorable events each Super Bowl where they cooked a themed dinner.  I can remember eating Jambalaya when the New Orleans Saints were playing,  Manhattan Clam Chowder when the Giants played (not this go-round, obv), and of course lobster newburg whenever the Pats made it.  Good times.

The last Super Bowl I spent with my parents, though, was in 2004, when the Pats won it all.  My stepfather was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer a couple of months later.  That was sadly his last NFL championship, and I consequently lost my taste for the game with the exception of the annual Super Bowl festivities.

The 2012 Super Bowl seemed especially fortuitious, as the Pats were back … and the invitations to do cool stuff with many and varied groups of friends and family members rolled in.

How I ended up at a cigar bar is kind of a funny story.

My ex-husband was really into making decisions (I’m trying to avoid phrasing like “anal-retentive” or “control freak”), and unfortunately I’m still feeling repercussions despite the fact that we’ve been divorced now for years.  In other words, I don’t do decisions.  Tell me where to go, and I’ll go (this is the character trait that drives my boyfriend crazy …

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Winterguard: Sport or Hobby?

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Photo of Winter Guard Member
The “is it a sport or not?” debate vis a vis everything from women’s skiing to cheerleading has been ongoing for some time now … and there’s pretty much universal support for the fact that it is, at least when you’re considering teams that compete, not just shake pom poms around at a football game or something.

Which leads me to winterguard, a primarily female activity that’s become increasingly popular both in American high schools and at a competitive level.

When my daughter announced to me last year that, as a high school junior, she wanted to join her school’s winterguard team, I was pretty flummoxed.  For one thing, I had only the haziest idea of what winterguard was … namely, girls dressed in odd-looking costumes waving flags around.

I soon learned that it was more than that.  Much more.

For one thing, it entailed three hour practices two nights a week, daylong practices on weekends, and eventually competitions every weekend.  Oh, and countless hours spent in the backyard practicing flag tosses.

The end result of all that practice, the concussions and chipped teeth and bumps and bruises collected by this team, looked something like this.

I was blown away every time I watched that show, and on a personal level, watching my daughter, who has a tendency not to try something if she’s not going to quickly and easily excel at it, blossom into a confident performer through an activity that was incredibly challenging both physically and emotionally was powerful beyond words.

She also dropped something like twenty pounds over the course of last year’s season, and she wasn’t a big girl to start with. The physical demands of winterguard left her not just bruised and battered, but buff as well.

But does that make it a sport?

Well, what exactly constitutes the word “sport”?  According to an English teacher I know who specializes in …

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Topless Hockey as a Form Of Feminist-Political Protest?

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photo of russian topless hockey pictures
The 2014 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) world championship tournament is set for Belarus. But a lot of people, such as the president of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, all the way to the Obama administration, say that these plans should be suspended in order to expose the extreme corruption of President Alexander Lukashenko. The concept is pretty good in theory – kind of the way you take things away from a disobedient child to teach him a lesson – but the people being punished in this particular case are the hockey players themselves.

A Ukrainian feminist group decided to protest this decision according to Russia Today. The group, called Femen, organized a game of 2 on 2 hockey in front of the IIHF headquarters in Switzerland. Sound innocent, right? The twist, however, was that the women played topless. The women were clad in unbuttoned coats wearing nothing underneath, while others held signs that read: “Do not encourage dictatorship!” “Lukashenko, let’s play in Hague!” and “Slaves can’t play hockey!” Hm. Good way to attract attention, or just playing into stereotype?

The group later released a statement, asking sports officials “not to give rejuvenating injections to the rotten and dying body of Lukashenko’s regime.” They said that “the dictatorship is ruling Belarus by suppressing its own Constitution and fundamental human rights, suppressing all dissident attempts with torture and blood.”

From Russia Today:

The protest took place near the main office of the International Ice Hockey Federation in Zurich. Braving a severe frost, the protesters started a hockey game in the street wearing unbuttoned coats with nothing on underneath. Their demands, spelt out on banners, read: “Do not encourage dictatorship!” “Lukashenko, let’s play in Hague!” and “Slaves can’t play hockey!”

Femen also reminded the IIHF that top officials of the Republic of Belarus had been banned from entering the European Union and the United States following a series of human rights violations and complaints from pro-democracy NGOs and Lukashenko’s opponents.

Femen said several of its activists had been abducted and tortured by Belarus’ State Security Committee in December after staging a protest in Minsk.

Last month, the International Ice Hockey Federation said it supported the idea of holding the World Championship 2014 in Belarus, thus distancing itself from politics. A number of EU and US politicians have asked the IIHF to change its decision.

Thoughts?



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