Tuesday, November 10, 2009

A MONTH PLUS TWO

GIRL POWER

Since that lassie who did the mugging of the BYU soccer team has been such a sensation, I decided to go the other way with the idea of a 'girl doing something that boys do'.



This was an amazing athletic performance when everything is taken into consideration. There had never been a filly to win this race and none with the record that Zenyatta brought to the table. When she immediately fell to the back of the pack, though there weren't any NOW folks there to cheer her on, I do think it would have been one of the things that adds to the chauvinism in the world.

THE YOUNG DUKE

Watching the race, my thoughts turned to the line in the Benjamin Disraeli book that the term 'darkhorse' emerged from. Though I don't think that a filly who is unbeaten fits the role in the classic sense as she was among the favourites to win the race. The same I think applies to the horse that for whom the term was coined. Because the careless St. James did not see its name, did not mean that the horse 'wasn't on the list'.

As an amateur, when I'd go away to compete in tournaments out of town or even with my 'brunches' with regional or national teams, there would always be a cat who was trying to pump himself up with 'popcorn bravado'. I mean, everyone could be considered a very good fighter and to me, it felt like a fighter who would have to pump himself up by denigrating the competition was more worried than he would let on. I would like fighting cats like that. It always seemed to me that the moment of truth when they either saw that their pet combinations weren't as effective as they thought, or that I hit harder than they expected, they begin to fray.

On the other end of the spectrum, there was the less than confident cat. For whatever reason, they didn't feel as if they belonged. It was easier talking to them and getting them to understand that because they were 'here', and that they won to get to this stage that they truly belonged. And this was true in spite of what anyone else thought or said.

To me if you are on the list, how can you really be considered 'a darkhorse' when you win the race?

THE CARELESS ST. JAMES

When I first decided to look in my past for someone to go forward with, I left things open for someone to race in and take to the lead. But at the same time, is it really careless to be concerned with the majority opinions of who is the best and therefore most likely to be among the top finishers at the end? After all, just as the underdogs shouldn't sell themselves short, neither should the favourites overestimate their rivals. There were legitimate reasons that Mike Tyson was called, 'the baddest man on the planet'.

It is only when there is something that is overlooked, like with the Super Bowl between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots, that afterwards you see all the things that you were too busy being awed by to put in proper perspective. That is where you can make the case for 'carelessness'. People didn't put all the dots together and come up with an answer. Or they knew and just didn't pay the information any heed.

Anywho ... when folks find themselves in the serious pinning for someone, do they account for their own issues within the relationship? It isn't that the filly was simply faster than the rest of the field, but that no one in the field was as fast as she was. In short, the reason that they weren't 'winners' had a participatory part that gets overlooked in handicapping and in relationships.

The stereotype is that women commiserate with other 'you go girl' friends and drink cosmos, talking about how good they were to a jerk and whatever. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Like they don't sleep, crap and eat food too. There are reasons that things failed ... since I am not 'them' I don't know what specific that I may have done to have earned their enmity. I would cop to them and promise not to revisit the actions that were responsible for their dissatisfaction with me.

But do they ever ask themselves what did THEY contribute to the problem, beyond being 'too good' or 'forgiving'? Or do all they do is see themselves as a victim?

"By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach." -Winston Churchill

I try not to say or speak poorly of anyone ... and if I do, I will let them know what I think and not vent for the sake of venting. And that is when you'd have to have 'boots on the ground' to understand why certain changes occur.

Time to get up, get out, and get into it.

2 comments:

Senorita said...

Thanks for stopping by both blogs. Hope you have a nice week !

Ken Riches said...

I think your SFC is your real filly :o)