Hockey players have nothing on spinners and ballet dancers

My weekend was spent by almost being done in by a spinning instructor and getting a look at what true strength and athleticism really is. I will start with the spinning. For those of you that don’t know, THE TEAM 990 participated in a Spin-A-Thon for Lupus.

www.lupuscanada.org

If you don’t know what spinning is….let me just say this; think long and hard if anyone ever invites you to a class. It was hands down one of the most physically demanding things I have done since I stopped rowing. Basically you are on a stationary bike and the instructor takes you through an hour of telling you when to sprint, increase tension so you are 'climbing a hill', more sprinting, pushup like things while you bike standing up, more sprinting…all to very loud techno music that you are supposed to ‘keep the beat with’. Ya right….how about I just keep myself breathing instead?

A good time was had by all and when our shift was done and I peeled my red faced, tired ass off the floor where I had collapsed moments earlier, the event had raised over 6000$ and there was still a few hours to go.

Thank you to all my wonderful coworkers and colleagues who sponsored me. Pics are on the way

Saturday evening I had the good fortune to be invited to the ballet. I am - to put it mildly - a ballet neophyte. I’ve seen The Nutcracker and another one where all the men were in tutus. I enjoyed both of those but neither came close to what I experienced at Place Des Arts on Saturday night. The Ballet was Revelations presented by Alvin Ailey ^® American Dance Theater. The night was an amazing combination or GREAT music- Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Roberta Flack, Regina Carter and Diana Krall just to name a few, and dancers that will knock your socks off. These men and women can do things with their bodies that I didn’t even think was physically possible. Click this link and just LOOK at that woman’s body.

http://www.alvinailey.org/

If you ever see this come to town again or are in New York and can catch it I highly recommend checking it out.

Do Barry Bonds, Britney Spears and Tim Hardaway all share the same brain?

"No Comment, no comment, no comment" that is pretty much the gist of Barry Bonds meeting with the media yesterday as he reported to spring training. Now Barry, I understand you don't want your son to find out that you cheated your way to the top but could you consider for a second that there are actual people out there facing some very real life altering consequences as a result of this charade and do not have the luxury of sitting in their gated communities thinking up new (old) ways to stonewall media members that have the AUDACITY to ask you questions about the biggest smear on pro sports in recent memory that you, like it or not, happen to be at the center of. Hey Barry; You know they are going to ask you questions about steroid use and the possibility of facing jail time for perjuring yourself so how about preparing a well thought out answer that shows that you actually care about the issue at hand or express some regret with how the sport that many of us love has become riddled with drug use over the years?

Moving from one bald headed loser to another. Ahhhhh Britney Spears. Now I thought the interview with Matt Lauer was rock bottom but she seems to have outdone herself once again. Yes, you could feel bad for her but I will reserve my pity for the millions of women in Africa afflicted with AIDS because their men cant keep it in their pants or the millions of girls sold as sex slaves every year in India and there will even be a little left over for the poor Spears/Federline offspring. Hey Britney: It's a child. Not a cute talking purse that you take out if it matches your outfit. Even Madonna realized that she would have to channel some of her Blond Ambition towards raising her children.

Do you think Tim Hardaway enjoyed the open mouthed kiss between Britney Spears and Madonna? Hey Tim. You can apologize till you throat bleeds but money talks and BS walks. You have already proved the latter so how 'bout you pony up some of those hard earned dollars and donate them to a gay/lesbian support line that will be overloaded with calls due to your insensitive and ignorant comments you made not once but twice in a public forum.

Is it a sport if it doesn't hurt?

As everyone else is cursing the cold outside and pretty much dropping like flies around me at the station, I couldn't be happier that we finally have snow and I have been able to get to the slopes a few times already.
Unfortunately in my exuberance I sometimes forget that I am now an old lady and probably should not be quite as foolhardy (read stupid) as I used to be. Learning to ride with mostly boys I was often used as a guinea pig to check landings as in; "Andie go drop off that and check the landing", so falling on crap landings is not an unusual feeling for me however bending my spine in half this weekend has put a real damper on my week so I think those days may finally be over.
The flail has got me thinking however, especially after boarder cross was such a roaring success at the Olympics, what is considered a sport these days?
From what I understand the IOC has dropped women's ski jumping out of the Olympics because by classifying it as an 'EVENT' and not a 'SPORT' you need more countries to have active participation in order to warrant its inclusion. Now, if flying 100 meters in the air while holding your body tight as a drum and actually landing without doing yourself in and taking a few spectators with you is not a SPORT then how can you call Golf a sport with a straight face?
Listen I'm not going to lie and say that I am biting my nails at Olympic time waiting for women's ski jumping to come on but there has been criticism that this EVENT/SPORT clause in the Charter is a loophole that has grandfathered in the discrimination against women ski jumpers. Is this really the direction we want to be going with amateur sports? In a time where kids spend more time in front of a TV/PLAYSTATION/NINTENDO (take your pick) and most adolescent girls are surviving on saltine crackers and the occasional apple because they are afraid to get fat, should we be pulling the funding out of women's events or supporting these girls who want to compete for their country? And doing a damn good job of it might I add. Canada has 3 young women on the National Team that rank among the top 16 jumpers in the world.