Our daughter is a cheerleader in the local youth football program. We’ve been involved with this program for a while, so, you know, I’m pretty jaded with the whole thing. Been there, done that, got the pomp pomps, as it were.
When the football team scores (in this instance, when they carry the football across the line.) the cheerleaders have this cheer that they do, encouraging the virile young men onto more heroic efforts so they can “score” more. I said to my wife later that it’s really kind of amazing how we, as adults, sub-consciously reinforce stereotypical, metaphor laden behavior on our kids at such an early age.
But that’s not what I wanted to talk about today.
So, anyway, after this cheer, the cheerleaders typically do jumping jacks for each point the team has scored. If they score is 14, they do 14 jumping jack and if the football team scores again (and makes the extra point), then the girls do 21 more jumping jacks. And so on and so on.
Late in the third quarter, our team scores again, raising its’ point total to 28. So, with the girls having done 42 jumping jacks already, the over-energetic mothers leading the group decided to give the girls a break, and have them do some other form of celebratory calisthenics. What did they choose? Sit ups.
That’s right, the moms decided to have approximately 18 middle school girls, in skirts, lay down on the track, point their feet at the young hormonal boys on the field, and crank out 28 sit ups.
WTF.
Sometimes, we all have brilliant ideas that really shouldn’t see the light of day, you know? Even for jaded old me, this really took on way too much sexual over-tones. I was expecting the girls to chant out with each sit-up “Hey boys, how about scoring some more!” Why blame the internet and TV for corrupting our youth, when we do it to them ourselves?
Let’s move on, shall we?
On Monday, I took the kids to an amusement park that’s about an hour away. The park has a bunch of roller coasters that they kids wanted to scare themselves silly on before school started today.
At each of the rides they have a bar that kids have to be taller than to ride the ride. I’m sure you’ve all seen something similar to this.
I was wondering if we could have amusement parks start to install scratch & sniff signs that say “If you body odor stinks more than this, you cannot ride the ride”. Or better yet, can we have this at the park entrances, so our fellow BO enabled citizens can just be denied entry to the park? Is this really asking that much?
Look, after riding five roller coasters, chocking down some corn dogs and fried dough, the last thing my highly agitated stomach wants to experience is the noxious fumes emanating from your body. Why can't people add “take a shower” on that pre-trip list that they have before leaving their houses? Is it so much to ask? Hello? I work at a landfill and some of you people stink more than that place. OMG.
So, how was your weekend?
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