Unless you've been living under a rock or live everyday with the sole purpose of avoiding any media outlets and people in general, you know that the two biggest sports stories over the past two weeks have been that Michael Phelps enjoys cannabis and Alex Rodriguez doesn't mind it when grown men stick needles into his behind (but only in 2003 obviously).
He may be a great swimmer but that doesn't make him the sharpest tool in the shed. Photo from flickr.com
And as these stories have been growing with new reports and speculation of what will become of these two spectacular athletes in their own right, a question has been posed; which is worse? I forget when this question was first brought to my attention, I know I was driving in a car somewhere with someone, but I don't quite remember who, which really just makes me fearful that I am already losing my short term memory and I'm only 21 years of age. Anyway, the story, told to me by whoever this person is that I cannot remember went like this: A little boy went up to his mother and asked, "Mom, is it worse to be caught smoking marijuana or is it worse to take steroids?" After a few moments of thought, his mother had no clue how to answer the question, because both were equally terrible in different ways.
Now, if I had been the mother of that child (thankfully I have yet to bear children, once again only 21-years-old) I would have set him straight right away. Of course it is worse to take steroids than it is to take a hit from a bong, the two are not even comparable. Michael Phelps participated in some recreational drug activity that you, your parents, and maybe even your grandparents if they were hip happenin' cats enjoyed at least once in their lives. Am I condoning marijuana usage? Of course not. Am, I saying that it's more likely that you've smoked out of a bubbler before than had a cousin inject steroids into your butt? Most definitely.
Music gets him in the zone, not Mary J. Photo from Flicker.com
And, although more people having done one particular thing doesn't make it right and the other wrong, let's get right to the heart of this issue which is, what is more likely to help you succeed in your sport that you are paid millions of dollars to play, Mary J or steroids? Michael Phelps is not a better swimmer because he hit a bong. Michael Phelps is certainly not lighting up a joint before diving in for a race nor is he going to lose any of his medals for smoking marijuana. Instead, he just suffers public embarrassment of proving he's not a god but just a 23-year-old dude with a possible speech impediment who parties just like any other 20 something year old in America. And, come on, the guy just brought America pride and bragging rights for the rest of eternity in swimming, give the man a break!
Up, up and away! Like his career. Photo from Flickr.com
A-Rod, or A-Fraud (love that nickname) on the other hand, should probably share some of his honors and records with his good ol' friend Mr. Steroids, and his cousin for pumping him up. A-Fraud claims he only took them in 2003, which I guess is somehow supposed to make America breathe easier and forgive him, but not so fast A-Fraud. Anyone who knows anything about sports knows that 2003 was a significant year in Mr. A-Fraud's career, he earned his third Most Valuable Player Award with 54 home runs and 156 RBI's on the year and was noticed by both the Yankees and the Red Sox and ultimately penned a contract with the Yanks for a disgustingly large amount of money. Steroids didn't just pump up his body, it pumped up his career. It brought him to almost a super human level, among the greats such as Bonds and Pettitte (hm odd they both also tested positive for steroids). And, maybe the most laughable thing of all is A-Fraud expects us to believe that he hasn't been taking steroids since he joined the Yankees back in 2003. Yeah, because that is all too believable that he would stop taking a substance that made him Yankee material now that he is on arguably one of the greatest baseball teams of all time. I think those roids are starting to get to your head A-Fraud.
So, will Michael Phelps never take a hit from a bong again? Doubtful. I would just hope he does it in the privacy of his own home and when he doesn't have millions of dollars in endorsements on the line. Will, A-Fraud never take steroids again? Now, that is a question I don't have the answer to, one would hope not and with the situation he's in, who knows what the future holds for this fallen star's career. But, with the steroid scandals surrounding baseball in the last five or six years it does bring back the question of why isn't there a salary cap in baseball? The Boston Red Sox's ownership is highly in favor for a salary cap for the 2012 season and this is coming from the management of the team with the second highest payroll in the Majors (second to the Yankees of course). If there was a salary cap, then teams couldn't offer people like A-Fraud these ridiculous paychecks that arguably force them into illegal activities such as steroids to stay on the top of their game and earn their paychecks.
If you look at the stats, almost all of the players who have recently been caught red handed steroiding are either from the Yankees or big names like Barry Bonds with even bigger paychecks. If they were forced to make less money and couldn't get these big contracts with big name teams, maybe players could relax a bit and spend more of their effort getting into top shape the natural way instead of resorting to HGH and other steroids. It's just a thought, but while it may be impossible to prevent youngsters from experimenting with marijuana, the MLB should be working harder to make it impossible to take steroids or make the consequences so severe that a player wouldn't even think twice when given the opportunity to get juiced up.
Which is Worse?
Katie Couric Didn't Major in Broadcast Journalism
During my youth (up until a year ago) I spent many a summers working six hour days in 20 minute rotations staring at a pool full of stay at home moms with too many children (aka I was a lifeguard at a private swim club). During that time I became good friends with an older lifeguard I will name "Susan" for legal reasons. Now, Susan was a bubbly college aged girl with an amazing figure that made you want to hate her except that she was too nice to actually hate. She also always wore these big black sunglasses, more so in the morning when it wasn't sunny and she was working the opening shift than any other time of the day. After years of witnessing this routine, I realized that Susan may have been hitting the bottle a little too hard Monday night, Tuesday night, and basically every single night of the week. Adding onto my suspicions is that you could always find her "sleeping" on a lounge chair until 10am when the pool opened and she miraculously perked up. Susan really was too good to be true.
But, Susan did have a problem. She could never seem to decide on what major to declare at her top tier school. The one thing she always fell back on was, "Well it doesn't really matter what I major in, I can always go into a different field. I mean look at Katie Couric, she majored in American Studies and is now one of the leading women in broadcast journalism." 
Looking good Couric. Photo from Flickr.com
After hearing Susan say this hundreds of times I decided to do a bit of research myself and found out that in fact, Couric was an American Studies major that has now become the first woman ever to anchor a solo evening news show. This led me to think about myself and fellow friends who have decided to pursue Broadcast Journalism and, in some cases, Sports Journalism. Are we making the right decision by solely focusing our major on what we think we want to do with our lives or would it actually make us better, more well rounded journalists, to major in something other than Journalism?
Now, I am not saying you should run to your Academic Advisor and switch your major, I am merely saying that I believe there are other routes out there that could get you to your future job as a sports journalist. So, if you are thinking about majoring in Sports Journalism or planning on declaring a major soon, here are some other Majors and Minors to consider that will help you become a better journalist.
*Any Communications Major: The skills I have learned as an Organizational Political Communications minor I have no doubt will help me understand people better and become a better communicator and therefore a better journalist. If your school has classes such as Mass Media, Argument and Advocacy, Debate, Leadership, or Conflict and Negotiation, definitely take them. If you don't know how to communicate and work out your problems with people, you won't just fail in journalism, you'll probably also turn out to be a pretty miserable human being.
*Acting: You may dream of being behind the mic and not on stage, but a lot of the qualities found in a great broadcaster are essential in becoming a great actor. When I entered Emerson I had no broadcasting experience, but I landed on air spots my first semester because of the skills I acquired from acting in plays and musicals. As a journalist you have to know how to occasionally memorize your scripts, banter or "improv" when you have extra air time to fill, and how to look at ease in front of an audience. These are all skills you learn from being on stage.
*Voice: Majoring in Musical Theatre or Voice may be a bit extreme for an up and coming sportscaster, but taking some private lessons in singing is highly recommended. A big mistake a lot of people make in life really is that they don't know how to use their voice. Your voice is an instrument, if you misuse it you will hurt it, if you know how to use it well and do things like (speak from the diaphragm, project, etc etc) you will sound much better on air. And, if you're a little too shy for a vocal class, a Professional Voice and Speech class will do the trick. Knowing, how your voice works will help you understand why you speak the way you speak and will make you a better journalist. Plus, if you have issues like dentalization, nasality, or a really terrible accent, you might as well work on getting rid of it now. 
If she can sing, than so can you. Photo from Flickr.com.
*Journalism: This option may be a given, but I'm not saying you have to major in Sports Journalism, what I'm saying is dabble in a little bit of everything. Take some print journalism classes, some broadcast journalism classes, some editing classes because these are all skills you are going to need to make it in the real world. People don't just get hired to "talk on the tv" anymore. You have to be well rounded. You must know how to write a good story, occasionally edit and put together your story if it is for radio or tv, and how to present it on air. And, you may find in these different kinds of classes, that the technical side of journalism is more your style or that you'd rather see your byline in the newspaper than on tv with your name in the lower third box on the screen. 
The only better feeling than being on air is being in the control room. Photo from Flickr.com
and your last option is....
*Anything: While taking journalism classes are advised, don't beat yourself up if you don't get into that broadcast journalism program you wanted or if your school doesn't have a sports journalism degree. Most schools don't. In fact, sports journalism as a major has only been around for a handful of decades so most of the older men and women in sports journalism do not hold degrees in that major. And, if they are old and you're still hearing them on the radio or seeing them on tv, clearly they are doing something right. Take classes that interest you. Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple, took courses in calligraphy because it was something that intrigued him. And, he later used calligraphy as one of the many fonts available to Microsoft Word users, an idea he pioneered. And where would we be today if we didn't have to option of expressing ourselves through Comic Sans, Times New Roman Bold, and the ever popular Lucida Handwriting?
So, if Katie Couric can major in American Studies, and Art Garfunkel and Lisa Kudrow can both major in Mathematics, then you, the next up and coming star in the world of sports journalism, can major in whatever you darn well feel like.
Your Guide to a Sports Related Date
This blog is both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing in the sense that I get to throw lines into conversation such as, "Yeah, I'm a paid blogger" "I write a sports blog" ""There's a website with a picture of me next to my awesome sports blog." And my best pick up line, "That's right, I write a blog, maybe some day I'll work you into it." I've yet to use that one, sigh.
But, this blog is also a curse. Just because I write a blog about sports doesn't mean I know EVERYTHING about EVERY sport or that I even enjoy 50% of sports available to the viewing public. And this brings me to hockey. Hockey is a sport I feel like I would watch more often if I were A. at a bar B. at home with friends and copious amounts of beer C. in the mood for a good fight. Usually I am feeling a bit of C (I'm from Jersey of course I'm scrappy), but I can never find the patience to sit through a full game and wait for the brawling to begin. Needless to say, I do not watch a lot of hockey or even know that much about hockey.
NJ Devils. Photo from Flickr.com
And that is where the problem started.
A few weeks ago I was asked out by a very handsome young man, adjectives cannot describe him adequately, but let's just say he's easy on the eyes. Once I got over the excitement of it all I actually fully read the email he had sent me and realized that he was asking me to go to a New Jersey Devils game. Verbatim he said, "I know that you're into sports or at least like to write about them (aka the blog) and was wondering if you would like to go to the NJ Devils game with me." My thoughts at that moment went from pure excitement to, oh crap. He thinks because I write a sports blog I'm some sports buff, and I've never even written about hockey! Once I stopped hyperventilating, I sprung into cram mode to get myself mentally prepared for this possible date at the hockey rink, which also happens to be the inspiration for this blog.
flickr.com
So, in lieu of Valentine's Day here are:
Meredith's Tips for Making You Into a Sports Know-It-All (or at least do a really good job at faking it)
*Watch the game the night before your sports date. That way you can throw in facts such as, "Wow the Devil's really used the power play to its full potential or can you believe that game went into OT last night!?"
*Employ that friend of yours who knows way too much about sports for his or her own good to pump you with sports information. I went around asking for three facts everyone should know about hockey, it's really applicable to any sporting event you may be asked to go to.
* Read! Literacy is back in! Pick up the paper and find an article that sums up the kind of year your date's favorite team is having. For instance, I learned that the Devil's are much stronger defensively this year and are doing extremely well in the overall standings, who knew!?
* Wikipedia. I know, as a journalist I should never encourage the usage of this blasphemous site, but it is good for searching things like "hockey" "baseball" and "oh no I have a date and I need to know if hockey is basically soccer on ice."
And, if all else fails.....
*Look cute or dapper (depending on if you are a woman or a man). You don't need to go and outfit yourself in every apparel item that your date's team has ever manufactured, if you happen to have a team shirt, wear it, if not looking good and dressing up is always in. As long as you don't show up in a mini skirt and a tube top or a tuxedo I think you should be just fine. Stay away from the extremes!
*Buy the alcohol. The best part about beer at games is that A. Your date will probably never object to you purchasing it and B. It gets you away from the game so that you have a few minutes where you don't have to be on your A game. Also, it gives you the excuse to lean in extra close to your date and figure out what you missed.
And at the end of it all....
* Don't be afraid to give away your cover and expose your less than knowledgeable sports self. You can enjoy sporting events and not obsessively follow them. And if you're date is a keeper, he or she is not going to care that you really didn't know anything about the game/match that you went to see. This is exactly what I did. I fessed up to my lack of hockey knowledge, but did come to find that I really love live hockey games and I would definitely go back to see another one. Well, mostly because I want to see a live action fight. Still waiting on that fight....
Nothing screams romance like a good ol' hockey fight. Photo from flickr.com
So, happy early Valentines Day and if you go on any good sports dates (and even better, you used some of my tips) let me know! If you comment on my blog I will always respond.
Super Bowl XLIII (That's 43 For Those of You Illiterate in Roman Numerals...aka Me
I’ll be honest this blog came as a bit of a struggle for me. I know what you’re thinking, just blog about the Super Bowl. But, saying to just blog about the Super Bowl is like saying just go organize a black tie event for 1,000 people for tomorrow evening, run a marathon, climb Everest; the Super Bowl is simply bigger than me. It is such an obvious topic, but also one of the hardest to blog about.
So, naturally I kicked around different ideas. Blog about the commercials, analyze the game itself (now there’s a thought), or focus on something only loosely related to the Super Bowl: the Puppy Bowl. Essentially the Puppy Bowl is an alternative for people that enjoy pets more than watching grown men pummel each other (aka old single cat ladies). Broadcasting off of the Animal Planet, the Puppy Bowl is the Super Bowl for puppies complete with a play-by-play announcer and a makeshift mini football field. After describing this idea to my God fearin’ “no cursing in this house” mother, she replied with, “that’s retarded.” That idea was quickly axed. 
Admit it, the Puppy Bowl sort of looks like fun. Photo from Flickr.com
Finally, a light bulb went off in my head and I said to myself, “Why not do something journalistically correct for once and take notes during the game so you actually have a basis for a blog?” My genius never sleeps. This seemed like a grand idea until I got a few beers into the game and taking notes went out the window.
But, I did manage to scrap together a few coherent thoughts so here is Meredith’s Social Critique of Super Bowl 43:
• Why do they make the players say their place of matriculation during the game? I mean, obviously they don’t say “matriculation” they probably word it more as, “Where did you spend a semester Majoring in Basket Weaving before getting drafted?” And what about those players who didn’t attend college? What are they supposed to say? My favorite response was the player who said “Swagin’”. Not quite sure what he meant, but I know it was amusing.
*And, on the subject of the players, can any of them articulate? I pride myself in being fairly fluent in English, but they might as well have been speaking in Ebonics because I couldn’t understand any of them.
• If the Super Bowl could be won by whichever quarterback Meredith finds most attractive, Kurt Warner and the Cards win. Big Ben looks like he’s taken one too many hits to the face and Meredith Roethlisberger just doesn’t have a nice ring to it.
Kurt Warner looking less than masculine but never the less, swoon. Photo from Flickr.com
• Apparently “fights” are called “skirmishes” in the NFL. Because nothing is more manly than getting into a “skirmish.”
• Cardinals’ Steve Breaston may not grow up to become the greatest name in football, but he will always have the funniest one.
• Highlight of the game? Half time. The appearance of Bob Costas on my TV screen was enough to send me into hysterical little girl shrieks. I was fairly certain they locked him away and only let him out for two weeks every other year for the winter and summer Olympic Games.
And just because I know you all watch for the commercials……..
*The advertisement for the TV show Chuck tomorrow night in 3D? Lame. I’m sure Chuck in 2D is bad enough.
• The Mr. Potato Head commercial. I don’t know what it was for, but I got the chills when it came on. Not because it was especially moving, but because I had a run in with Mr. Potato Head in my youth and Mr. Potato Head was almost victorious as his lips got stuck in my throat and I almost choked to death. Oddly enough in this commercial Mrs. Potato Head lost her lips. Well, she can’t blame me this time.
• Conan O’Brien Bud Light commercial? Sort of hilarious.
• The NBC promo for their Monday night line up. I love ads where actors lip sync some cheesy rock hit. Gets me every time.
Oh, and if you’re wondering why I didn’t talk about the half time show, it’s because there is no need. I’m from Jersey, Bruce Springsteen is from Jersey, and therefore Bruce Springsteen is a god. And I may not be a math wiz but Bruce is approaching 60 and looking suspiciously young. Botox anyone? 
The Boss. Photo from Flickr.com
Congrats are in order for the Steelers though. Thank you for winning the Super Bowl, mostly for my former roommate Brent, one of the biggest Steelers fans I know. If it wasn’t for him making me watch the Steelers’ games every weekend, I probably would know zilch about the Steelers and wouldn’t have cared nearly as much about this game. Well, ok he didn’t force me to watch them; I was mostly in it for the savory snacks he provided. So, thank you Steelers for bringing Pittsburgh, Brent, and myself eternal happiness. 
Yum junk food and sports, two of my favorite things. Photo from Flickr.com
