Do academic programs have to steer into stupidity as has the Women's & Gender Studies Program at Bradley University? This "higher learning" private institution out of Peoria Illinois via their "The Body Project" declares that heavy people are essentially helpless. They pan the fact that many feel fat individuals could lose weight if they tried.

And it must be terribly disconcerting to the interdisciplinary luminaries at Bradley to know, or at least suspect, that many fat people also think they could lose fat if they exercised more and chose healthier foods.

Anyway, the academics involved in the program could lose some weight of their own. In their five primary objectives, they could lose some words, use simpler words, resulting in clearer writing. Get a load of point two:

2. to understand that gender is foundational to the functioning of social, cultural, economic, and aesthetic systems;

The above objective takes 16 words. Try this on for size:

2. To understand that gender is basic to society's cultural, economic, and aesthetic essences;

The reworded objective takes 13 words, reducing the sentence's weight by some 18%. (It also capitalizes the letter t at the beginning.)

Almost as importantly, does anyone, other than the intelligentsia at Bradley, know what an aesthetic system is?

It's perhaps not shocking that these folks involved with gender should loom large with language. Look at point one, their raison d'être - for in it they wantonly declare they want to spread everywhere:

1. to integrate knowledge about women and gender into the scholarship of various disciplines and professions across the university by promoting student engagement with feminist discourses and practices;

Hopefully this treatise hasn't lost you, getting bogged down on Bradley U's shortcomings. Let's look at the fat-heavy-obesity assumptions that this Studies discipline makes, to see if some make any semblance of sense. Essentially, the program worries that the fat are stereotyped as "...lazy, undisciplined, unhealthy and gluttonous."

Much as we, who verge on scaling the heights of Mount Political Correctness, hate  to admit it, we know stereotypes don't come out of thin air. They're backed by actual or anecdotal observations and research. Many fat people don't walk enough in their spare time, preferring to chow down in front of the boob tube, a pity, because as opposed to watching - walking - however brief in time, or short in distance, is a great way to exercise, a fine way to lose pounds.

To their credit, however, a couple of points in The Body Project - The Skinny on Fat - are pretty well bang on. They warn of chronic dieting and how it can lead, unfortunately in the short term, to weight gain - and can lead - eventually in the long term, for weight reduction to be a physical impossibility. Yo-yo dieters can verify to these happenings as problematically true...

But Bradley University goes too far. To their detriment they itemize a few studies, without linking to same, supporting their suppositions. But where's the balance, where are the contrary findings of other studies, or their links?

Reading The Body Project, one gets the feeling that the authors mean well. They care about the corpulent - yet their overriding bullet points and biases trend toward homeostasis. They prefer that the grossly overweight accept their condition, not only for reasons such as the blunting of fat shaming, but for the ultimate uber-kooky rationale that this may be the healthiest, both mentally and physically, route to go. 

Alas, Bradley University is not alone in exalting a "don't worry, be happy" approach to health.

Heard of HAES?

It stands for: Health At Every Size. It essentially, boldly and baldly, states that "body diversity" is cool.

Then it dips its big fat toe into the waters of skepticism, saying scientific assumptions must be challenged. As regards the skepticism about science - and confronting dogmas or politicized papers or positions not truly peer reviewed - for fear of offending the cultural "accepted" positions of the moment - good for HAES.

Science has become politicized, if Global Cooling - NO! Global Warming - NO! Climate Change! are any indications, but while Bradley's best are busy confronting a myriad of scientific and personal essays and entreaties on obesity, have they bothered to observe the subjects being studied? How many over-weight individuals, for example, are limited by their conditions - precluding mountain climbing, horseback riding, marathon clomping, or one-seat fare airplane flying? How many of the adipose, other than Santa Claus, seem to be jolly? Unlike, race or gender (which are now situationally in flux every 15 minutes) being fat - has always been - a non permanent condition.

​One can change one's shape. Or not. Or fail or succeed in the trying(s).  Bradley and HAES are so wrong in the: what feels right...

What doesn't feel right, if our sensitivity and inclusivity antennas are monitoring for perceived or egregious offenses, are, as of August 25th, 2017, this program's website scrolling pictures. Horrors upon horrors, there is one picture of six white women with no women of color anywhere to be found!

That's not allowed.

Fortunately that faux pas was corrected when another photo shows six black women, with no other races present - but as for clothing - five are being non-inclusive in display, only showing off the color purple, while one has a top of a muddy aqua-blue lilac hue. What the heck gives? Where's the rainbow, if not of  people of all colors, of at least clothes in a colorful spectrum?

Phew. For me and you things come to a full holistic circle with a group shot of the black and white women, with another body that so much looks like a guy. And in another shot, they show a smattering of serious, studious, Bradley brainiacs at a smorgasbord, with plates of comely comestibles offered - yet - ironically, or intentionally - not a one of the diners shows a heaping plate of food on their place setting.

No photo shows sushi seaweed lodged between teeth or part of a chicken super-sized wing stuck in one ear. Hmm, oh dear.

What gives?

Hypocrisy, it's clear - writ large!

Don’t know if Donald Trump is to blame for this, but the U.S. is the fattest place, anywhere. And don’t blame global warming, with its oceans rising and our lands sinking for this, either - because these submerging grounds are due to 711 million of us...being obese.

We, the fat, crevice continents by the very act of standing up.

Ok, the massive mortal, mashing our earth into water, is hyperbole - but the 711 million figure and the asserted USA-being-the-fattest fact, are real. The Washington Examiner calls it a life threatening problem, this obesity onslaught, with The States leading the way. The Examiner refers to a study done by the New England Journal of Medicine.

Actually, if we want to blame a US President for obesity - at least as it exists in Mexico, blame President Clinton. Under his rule the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was passed - as legislation, not as a laxative - and since then, some experts contend, Mexicans have been gulping down sodas, and other soft drinks, from their northern neighbor, like there's no tomorrow and now today, Mexico is a heavyweight so far as ranking countries for "globesity" goes.

So what? Should we care if the obese leave us prematurely? Sure, the fat will die first, there will be less of the porkers present, but look at the bright side: the shapelier will be alive – and Charles Darwin can have another long, cool one, knowing his evolutionary theory - AKA “The Survival of the Fittest” - will continue to survive and thrive...

(But let’s not look too hard into the fact that fat people seem to be winning the evolutionary battle because A) it defeats the paragraph above - and B) there is still more fun to be had here...)

Speaking of survive, perhaps peace will reign what with east meeting west in this pickle of the porcine. The above-mentioned study says China and America are the most rotund so far as adults go. Commonality there. A chance for a sharing of ideas...

But, to underscore how much this problem of obesity worldwide is a serious subject, with serious criteria, serious characteristics, and even more serious conclusions, it was befitting the NEJM had its pointy heads reveal:

“We used spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression to estimate the mean prevalence of obesity and overweight.”

Got that? Me neither. But we realize that, yes, obesity is a weighty matter, needing our long-term concern. But on a short term basis, shouldn't we care much more that the intellectuals who wrote the above quoted didn't get: A) It can make no sense to anyone who isn't an academic, rendering it gobbledygook, thus creating B) It, the public, will not be galvanized to support this cause? 

Because if that public literally can't understand the underlying rationale that explains the "facts" - the Poindexters' attempt to scare the wits out of everybody will fall flat. If the masses can't understand the underlying foundation, they won't rise up and shake a real or metaphorical leg... What were these supposedly smart researchers and prognosticators thinking? So, definitely, shouldn't we care more, in the short term, that our intellectuals are unfathomably dumb - to come out with such non-soul-stirring language?

Anyway, for decades now, worry warts on the issue of gargantuans on our globe have been hectoring. They've warned us of facts, trends, and reasons behind us growing so huge. And how we, the BIG, have failed their - and governmental expectations. And for decades now people – if our sight of these sights is bang on, have - pun intended - largely - ignored the treatises of  plights and pleas - - - - - - - widely. 

Basically the corpulent haven’t cared a hoot, munching on fast foods and ordering those foods into bigger portions than ever. 

So if we the ordinary folks don’t care, where’s the problem?

Perhaps we don’t mind if we are flabby. And perhaps the main reason we buy those fat loss and fitness books is because, well, it's the least we can do. We can virtue signal to fitter friends and family  that we are on the case, and that we mean business. We can also vicariously signal to same that we, HOPE these purchases will buy us some silence from our disapprovers and denigrators...

Getting back to the blame game vis a vis politics and our too-big people, perhaps, in reflection, Barack and Michelle Obama are blaming themselves for failing to get their citizenry to shape up. Remember Michelle's "Let's Move" project? Among other things it wanted stricter regulations on what kids could eat at lunch.

The kids voted with their taste buds, and their feet - tossing the mandated healthy meals into the trash before they, at best, scrammed out of the school caf to find some fast food, or, at worst - went to alleviate noon-time hunger by smoking outside.

Lots of federal funds and White House fiats went down the drain. Furthermore, according to another study, the kids who got - and ate - their meals from schools, adhering to Michelle's best ordered-intentions, grew fatter. 

So let's remember, too, that Trump has only been running and ruining the world for some 8-9 months now. The fatsos have been hulking about for a long time....

Therefore, let's say the choice to be a whole hog is a personal, not a political-partisan one. And perhaps health experts should stop shaming us tubbies – for it does no good. Undoubtedly carrying excess poundage is not good, physically for the person, but if that person doesn't intrinsically care, why should we? 

So, what is the key to losing fat? Walking, Water, Weight training, Watching what you eat, and Writing of your progress; the FIVE W's! 
​
As for what to eat, whether you are a vegan, vegetarian, or an unreformed carnivore - it still comes down to the amount of food you eat, not the type of food. There are far too many value judgements about what is right or wrong to eat. Eat what you will, where you wish, when you want. If you find yourself loathing the fact that your mirror ain't wide enough to handle the load, you'll figure it out, you'll do something. Leave the protestations about what you are eating, aside. Enjoy your food. Remember to chew it though, and not swallow it down the hole, whole.  Perhaps you might ponder about eating just a bit less of whatever you're chowing down on, for if you can't see the plate upon which your comestibles temporarily rest - it might explain your weight... 

​Carleton University, many years back, had a reputation as being a druggie school. It’s located in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, where the Canadian federal government makes life messy, if not miserable, for Canadians. Carleton U, however, wants to make everything peaches and cream for its student body. To this end, it has banned its weight scale from the campus gym – for fear of triggering.

It should be stated that Carleton, as an educational institution, is not completely bonkers. Back in 2013, it finished somewhere between 401st and 500th in something called the ACADEMIC RANKING of WORLD UNIVERSITIES. It has some mediocre merit...

Obviously with this act, one can only conclude the institution has a dim opinion of its students, considering them infantile, immature, and overly sensitive – young adults to go off the deep end, should they weigh themselves, and get the wrong answer. This is a big demerit to both the university and its progeny.

So ascertaining fat facts by foot stepping on to a scale is not good because of “triggering.”

But hey, get this! Even reading an/this article on triggering comes with a message that reading the article may cause triggering! How triggery-screwy is that?

Back to the main story...

So a weight scale is to be shunned because negative emotional responses may result?

So what! So...what?

Many of us should think long and hard about our faults and frailties, and attendant negative emotional responses and reactions – and whether they are stirred up by a scale, or by unfiltered observation(s) of family or friends, or by our own harsh self-appraisals – we should take them for what’s they’re worth. We, as individuals, should not have the “right” to go through life without being offended – and we, as individuals, are NOT the centre of the universe from which we decide what is acceptable for everyone else.

Bruce Marshall is Carleton’s manager of health and wellness. Seems like a decent fellow. He volunteered to be on the Healthy Workplace Committee. But he backs this move. Unbelievably, he and others at Carleton don’t think weight should be fixated upon. Yet in The Charlatan, Carleton’s Independent Weekly, he does offer advice for those that want weigh-ins, saying “If you must weigh yourself, pick a consistent day and time...”

They favor a more “holistic” approach – whatever holistic means...But stepping on a scale is not being fixated upon anything – it is a search to see if weight is being gained, lost, or maintained.

Whatever happened to the idea that information was power? Or to the thought that we live in a knowledge-based world? Carleton must figure its students are complete idiots, wherein if scales are banned, they’ll not know they are portly, rotund, obese, or gargantuan – when they look into a mirror. Should mirrors be banned for fear of upsetting one’s feelings? Should airlines widen seats for fear of reminding folks they are too wide in the rump? Like that’ll ever happen...

The scrapping of the scale does have backers. One person tweeted that “We live in a weight-obsessed culture that’s very toxic.” But that can’t be true as obesity rates are through the roof in this world, in countries rich and poor. If we were truly weight obsessed we’d be anorexic at worst or skinny at least, like models. But when most of us flop on the couch it shudders while we sigh.

And, basically, the removal of scales is overkill – an act that precludes kids at the gym from having any free will – to step on, or not step on, a scale in the first place. If any of us feel the scale is a trigger to WHATEVER, don’t get on it – perhaps shun your eyes away from it, perhaps cross your arms and hex it.

Look, it is rare, save for perhaps extreme gyms where elite weightlifters or bodybuilders go through the motions, for gyms to have people lining up to hit the scales like they line up for coffee. Most of us don’t want confirmation of what we intrinsically know – our waists are wider and our arms and legs are a bit more jiggly. We’re not stupid, no matter what Carleton University thinks – we know when we are fattening up. We know the jeans bought just last year are way too snug. We know we don’t look like that Adonis or Aphrodite that graced pictures from our high school yearbooks. Should we ban clothes from yesteryear and photos from our past as well?

In a way, Carleton is correct: weight loss or gain is not the best barometer of health or fitness. But weighing oneself IS a barometer that shouldn’t be removed – from an exercise facility of all places – because students are too fey and delicate to cope with contradiction or confirmation. Keep the scales and instead emphasize that how a person feels about his or her self, or what they can do physically, is more important than an arbitrary glance at poundage.  

Marshall fesses up. The taking away of scales was not based on complaints. In other words, Carleton University has committed an unforced error. It comes from their recreation and athletic department(s) from having too much time on their hands coupled with such bureaucracies intrinsic wishes to promulgate and regulate.

But Marshall does have his finger to the wind. If the flack gets too heavy they’ll rescind the decision to cover their asses, pronto. So it’s not a deep conviction being demonstrated here by the University, it’s a trolling of current trends to see what’s acceptable and what should be silenced, banned, neutered, nixed. Sadly, let us remember universities nowadays, from what the demonstrations against contrary speakers appearing at schools in Canada and the States tells us, are moving away from education and are heading towards indoctrination and the closing of minds to unpopular views, and in Carleton’s case, towards unpopular views and viewpoints of one’s body.

Carleton University was better when it was known for its druggies.
​
This just in. Kooky Carleton University has shifted its weight: it’s bringing back scales into change rooms!

​Only an institution as stupid as a school would ban kids from playing tag. Kids could get hurt so California’s Gold Ridge Elementary School nixed it. And given that the school is located in the city of Folsom, perhaps tyke transgressors will be sent to Folsom State Prison for a look see at what might become of them if they, you know, push, shove, trip, slap, or tap another child a bit too hard for the school brass’s liking.

But before Gold Ridge sends ‘em to the slammer they’ll brandish these barbs:
“If a student breaks the rule, they’ll receive a warning, then a referral and then a parent-teacher conference...”

Firstly, everybody understands a warning. Secondly, if a referral means snitching – well, is it ok to ask - - - just why do kids get tattletaled on – when illegal aliens in the state of California do not? Lastly, isn’t it a bit over the top to hold a conference just because one kid tried to tag another in the school yard? A conference? Why not go whole hog and hold a summit?

Can’t the school see the benefits of tag? It’s been around for ages, requires no equipment, keeps the kids active, and is usually a lot of fun.

In the USA there has been at least one death from playing tag. Back in 2008 a 10-year old boy in Nebraska died when a small piece of metal impaled in his skull. But as tragic as that was for the kid, his family, and friends he was playing with – one death out of a zillion instances of participating in “you’re it!” sounds like a pretty good safety-to-fatality ratio, especially if, as has been opined, one Alfred J. Tag, an Oxford University professor in 1913 created the game...That’s a lot of non-deaths for a sport now considered ban worthy.

Gold Ridge is but one educational institution. But stupidity did not originate, when it comes to tag, there. Consider the case of the US National Association for Sport and Physical Education which declares that, among other features, tag must incorporate “cooperation” into its realm.

So, one sentient in matters and manners of tag, might presume, if cooperation is essential, that those being chased by the person who is tagged, must immediately go along to get along - cooperate - and sit down or stand still – so they can immediately be touched and thereby tagged. Perhaps a sitting circle, where the person next to you, tags you, working clockwise or counterclockwise, would work best for such an idiotic idea.

Gold Ridge has a district spokesperson, Daniel Thigpen. He revealed the true dumb rationale behind banning tag. Paraphrasing his words:“specific behaviour problems need specific solutions.”

BUT, Daniel, a GENERAL, ACROSS-THE-BOARD nullification of a kiddie activity is not specific solution, duh.
 
In fairness to sub-national entity, California, and civic-municipal entity, Folsom, they’re not the first political clusters to ham-handidly and haphazardly rule out kids having fun. In Toronto Ontario, a few years back, the Earl Beatty public school totally banned balls. Parents with some balls of their own vehemently protested this asinine act and the school sheepishly brought back balls of the nerf, tennis, and basketball varieties.

But let’s, for a moment, tag and slag - you’re it – on Principal David Frankel - for his welcoming message that (click the link above, or take this writer’s word for it) showed a surfeit of euphemisms, and a  pomposity of verbosity.

He also, perhaps unknowingly – let’s not kick the can with this fellow completely - revealed just how rank and low standards go for teaching standards at Gold Ridge Elementary when he said: “Gold Ridge is fortunate to have an experienced, dedicated, and professional staff.”

Note to David; it should not be “fortunate” to have these qualities with your staff, it should be de rigueur.

Back to bans. Some bans – or very strict supervision – on child activities - make sense. For example, trampolines yield a far greater ratio of spine and head injuries to youngsters than do playing sports like soccer. (And apparently 60% of injuries occur while landing ON, not off, the trampoline. So even strict spotter supervision is inadequate...)

But other bans, such as Weber Middle School of NY State banning cartwheels, unless a coach watches over the budding gymnast, make no sense. (And note - this is a middle school, not an elementary one.)

In other jurisdictions kids’ antics such as red Rover have been kyboshed and even the rather sedentary, but oh so fun and, yes, somewhat competitive, Musical Chairs – has come under scrutiny for lack of inclusiveness.

Life has risks. Part of growing up is in taking risks. Yes, kids get hurt, break bones, suffer sprains, even worse sometimes. But to ban for all, an activity because a few get hurt, is ludicrous.

Perhaps, though, some of these schools aren’t interested in so much as putting a protective wrap around their young because of safety concerns as they are but, instead, coddling them in safe-zones to protect their schools from lawsuits from hellish-helicopter parents of Johnny or Susie when they invariably demand a pound of fiscal flesh because their kid fell off the swing or slide - or whatever. If so, that’s unfortunate.

But, generally speaking, for a school, principal, or teacher, to be liable for a law suit – they must have shown negligence. And, generally speaking, for the parents of a child who injured another child to be eligible, to be sued successfully, it must be proved that their kid willfully and maliciously intended to hurt the victim.
​
Hey! But let’s leave the law and lawyering for another day, save for this thought: if ONE SPECIFIC lawyer action – behavior - causes needless pain and nonsensical injury, let’s ban ALL lawyers...

​Let's tag them.

​MMA fighter Georges St-Pierre is returning to battle after 3+ years. Is this wise? He’s got the titles, the money, the fame, is thought of as a class act – and he risks his health and hale name, for what? And why?

And he’s not working his way back to elite form fighting tomato cans. He starts scrapping at the top, facing UFC middleweight champion, Michael Bisping, this year. And St-Pierre would be moving up one heavier weight class to boot. Michael loves that factor. Neither are spring chickens. St-Pierre is 35; Bisping is 38.

It was back in December 2013 that Georges decided to walk away from mixed martial arts, wanting a “normal life.” One supposes the normal life - for Georges training, teaching, and travelling all over the world, was too pedestrian, too humdrum, and so he’s coming back. But will he, having not fought competitively for 42+ months hurt his chances - forget success and winning - to surviving: mentally and physically, health somewhat intact?

A big reason for vacating his welterweight title was his inability to sleep at night. He sounded like he was one burnt-out warrior. When sleep doesn’t come easy to a man whose physical conditioning is always near peak, when your body should naturally go to sleep from a happy, well deserved exhaustion, that body is telling you: take a different path.

But now he’s back on warpath. And his news conference with Bisping, the latter who showed up 30 minutes late, pissing off Dana White, President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, on Friday March 3rd, confirms it. Like any fight contestants, they traded the requisite insults jabbing at the other's mental and physical toughness and bravery – with Bisping, once arriving, telling George “to shut the f—k up” but GSP had one huge new truth for his fans (after accusing Bisping of still being drunk from the previous evening)

He’s overhauling his fighting style.

He talks of a new GSP fighting version.

But is it possible to recreate oneself after so many years of doing things a certain way? Can an old dog learn new tricks? He says he’s striving for the ultimate combination “the perfect peak” of athleticism, knowledge, and wisdom.

Undoubtedly he’s talked all of this through with his management and training team(s). They all know he came back in 2012 after an 18 month layoff due to injury - but that was 5 years ago. Gotta wonder, however, what the coterie’s final vote was. And do they want this to happen for Georges’s sake - or do they have their own personal, career motives in play here too? For in helping George fight 15 world title fights (out of 27 bouts – with 25 wins and 2 losses) they were also at the apex(s) of their crafts...

So, for better or worse, GSP is returning to the cage. He doesn’t seem completely driven by ego in deciding this. Sure, he’s driven to success but one gets the feeling it is for the sport and not so much for his vanity. Heck, on his way up the ladder he worked as a garbage man, hardly a job for a bloke concerned about “appearances.” Thus his comeback could be seen as one based on the sport and not on the self.

Ok, he’s got a bit of an ego. Ok, maybe a lot of an ego. He says the fact that his comeback attempt has never been done before excites and motivates him.

You know, Georges, aka “Rush”, if you want a meaningful, motivational role in the sport, why not act as its better angel, its conscious? Perhaps you could look into allegations of illegal doping within it. You’ve called it “...a freaking joke.” Might you be able to clear things up? (This is not to say St-Pierre isn’t against additives. He takes supplements). And, if another idea is needed, why not continue with your charity work like your prior deeds with CIBC and children’s charities in Canada, for example?

Back to the nitty-gritty. He returns with a multi-fight contract negotiated with UFC with his first contest slated for July 2017, during International Fight Week, in Las Vegas. UFC President White’s pleased – he refers to GSP as “The King of Pay-Per-View.”

Anyway...Both fighters are getting a pretty payday with this battle.

Before he quit, Georges had won 12 in a row. Bisping says Georges misses this kind of limelight. Let’s assume Bisping’s correct. And here’s another big; WHY? If Georges comes back, and gets his pre-fight build up of fame and adoration, then muffs the fight – he’ll forever be known as the guy WHO SHOULD NOT HAVE COME BACK. That’s a legacy nobody would want. Obviously he’s willing to take that risk to his reputation, heading into the Octagon, back to fighting it out in 750 square feet of testosterone-filled space; it’s basically back to the future for GSP. Let’s hope he doesn’t end up flat on his back.

Bisping, for his part, is 30-7 with 16 knockouts...He’s won his last 5 fights. And Bisping’s gotta win - the pressure’s all on him because if he loses, his detractors will rip him, saying he couldn’t even beat a guy coming back from a 3 year hiatus. Michael is also coming back from having a knee “cleaned up” with a torn meniscus...but he’s full of confidence, bravado - for sure, BS at least - when he declared he could go out on an all-night bender and still beat GSP the next day.

Benders or no benders, currently GSP is the betting favorite to beat Bisping...
​
But this is a sure bet. Whoever loses will have his career bend – and will have his character be bent out of shape for good.

​Fat shaming is a life-sentence offense. Columnist Alan Linda wrote for 30 years for the Daily Journal but in his last essay he had politically incorrect views about a fat fellow - so that was it - that was his last piece: he was had, he was axed from his post.

Granted, he was “privileged to work” for this august publication – to the tune of no wages...thus making his slave labor easier to jettison, but the editor and publisher, Tim Engstrom, said his firing of this guy was popular with folks.

So Tim - - - presumably a leftie because he’s politically correct in being against blaming and shaming fat people for their condition(s) - - - is a populist - just like President Donald Trump.

Tim, are you OK with that?  

Tim, truly - self-deport yourself from your ownership and editorial positions of this Daily Journal – for you've exhibited an ardent and atrocious case of ageism, opining that fat shaming could be “...a generational thing.”

For, surely, ageism is as egregious as fat shaming - basically bullying - it's an incorrect view, an ugly epithet, correct? And, in today’s American world, intolerance for any point that the left academic and news “elites” don’t agree with - must result in immediate disgrace and dismissal. So, Tim, you've gotta be cashiered out of town, like your former lackey-serf, Alan Linda.

Right?

Wrong.

Tim lives!

Fergus Falls lies in west lower central Minnesota. And if Tim’s thoughts are accurate, the bunch of the lot is one unadulterated set of particularly touchy folks when it comes to uttering ideas on body forms different from their own. But, if you take Alan’s take on fatties, well, it would seem everybody in FF would want to access and caress, and envelop, triple-wide load bodies on airplanes. For Alan’s article, titled:

"Taking notice of the size of people in today’s world”

(which has been excised from the Daily Journal’s website)

describes his plight as this.

Alan has the aisle seat. A stranger has the window seat. The middle seat was vacant until an enormous 300-pound guy approached. Alan wrote (and this should be a lesson to us all, if Alan’s case is any case - is that we’d best hold our true controversial feelings, thoughts, and ideas – in our heads – and  never put them to pen and paper, because, otherwise, crank-artist-perpetually offended-eternally aggrieved types will go nuts and demand ours be cut off.)  

Listen, we all know airlines have seat-widths so small – the starving, the skinny, the svelte, and the shapely, not to mention our super sized, can barely squeeze into them. Should all airlines, in discriminating and shaming against ALL-body shapes and sizes, using Engstrom’s logic, be fired?
​
Rhetorical questions aside, what makes this town of 13,138 residents - as of 2010 – besides revering the rotund and round - tick? Wikipedia says its biggest economic claim to fame is its “108-bed hospital, cancer research center, assisted living community, and multiple clinics.

So basically, Fergus Falls is a caring community.

But Alan cared to write for 30 years in a Friday weekly column – but he proves loyalty and gratitude to the likes of his efforts were a mile wide and an inch deep. Clearly he had the wrong opinions on the portly. Fergus Falls proves the only proper stance is to love the huge and embrace the enormous.

That’s the lesson. View fat people, not as objects of criticism, but as victims whose personal environment is under control of unseen forces. They can’t help it if they are obese. And apparently psychologists, almost to a shrink, aver that fat shaming, rather than aiding the adipose to get fit, actually makes things worse, makes them eat even more...

It would seem, at a closer look though, that some heavy people could change their condition. They could exercise; go for a walk for 30 minutes a day. They could start a slow and steady stretching exercise program. Then they could start with the light weight training. They could cut back on junk food, eat more fruits and veggies, and perhaps not sit in front of the computer or TV for hours on end.

Unless there is a genetic or medical condition impinging on one’s ability to exercise and make proper diet and lifestyle choices, and unless the fat are kids or teens, who aren’t fully equipped emotionally to handle harsh criticism – though they’ll get it from their peers in spades - it would seem that those that critique fat adult people should not automatically mean they lose their career or reputation.

Should it?

By his own words Alan says he wrote 50 columns yearly, for 30 years. That totals 15,600 essays. At no charge. He muffs one, and they axe him?

WTF?

It looks like we have become totally intolerant of casual observations and opinions, if they’re not in the politically correct mold of the moment.

But, you know what? 

There is, in fact, a victim group – that still bears the brunt of jokes and aspersions – and this group, unlike our fat group DOES have inherent structural impediments to alteration and these are short people. Vertically challenged people are still made fun of and they can’t do a darn thing about their state.

Who speaks for them?

As for Alan Linda, perhaps he’s inherently wealthy and doesn’t need to work for money. But, if not, he’s hopefully, probably, got a line of work that actually pays. He’s a family man, he’s gotta pay the bills somehow. Let’s hope he doesn’t lose his other job...
​
 And as for ageist, Tim Engstrom. He’s been run out of town on his own accord. He and his family are moving to the Twin Cities “...to be closer to our relatives.” 

​Pablo Sandoval made 17 million from the Boston Red Sox in 2016. He had 6 at bats, 0 RBI’s and a .000 batting average. Sandoval is portly.

Actually he’s fat. Nevertheless he can be a heck of a ball player: he was awarded the 2012 World Series MVP and has been a 2-time All Star. But for this past season he was a beached whale, laid up with a sore left shoulder.

So what looms for Pablo, AKA The Panda, this 2017? With Christmas fast approaching this 2016, he’d better not go home otherwise what looms is that he and the Sox are doomed. In 2011, over the holiday period, he gained 21 pounds in 21 days feasting it up with family and friends.

But, if this picture of Dec 7th of him and another other guy is real, Red Sox’s Panda has slimmed down a ton and has toned up a lot. Boston would love it if he could show his good glove work that he wowed the Giants with a few years back. And if he can increase his torque to offset a potential loss of power due to less body mass, he should be able to do what he does best: hit line drives and pop homers.

Sandoval, like José Altuve, hails from Venezuela. But there the similarities end. While Pablo is twice the size of Jose, he’s half the player. Whereas Altuve is all effort all the time, Sandoval picks his spots on that attribute, showing it for San Fran and showing none of it for Boston. But he vows that 2017 will be different. He says he’s been getting up at 6:30 to start sweating off the uglies at the Sox’s Fort Myers complex.  But his position at third is not guaranteed. He’ll be vying for playing time against Jack-Of-All-Trades-Mr.-Versatility, Brock Holt. If Pablo doesn’t win the starting position he’ll have to be the most expensive switch-hitting-switch-throwing bench warmer ever. (Brock, in 94 games in 2016 had 34 RBI’s a .255 BA and earned $606,000 smackers.)  

Perhaps the highlight of Sandoval’s lowlife production and play with Boston was, instead of belting homers he belted out his belt, bursting off his gargantuan gut. But pictures don’t lie and Red Sox President, Dave Dombrowski, avers (basically) that Sandoval is in great shape heading into spring training. Of course it will never happen, but wouldn’t it be great if Boston sued Sandoval for breaching his contract (5 years $95 Million with a 6th year option, exercisable by the team) for (pick a description) putrid performance; misrepresentation; lack of dedication; favoring buffets over baseball; making the wrong decision to leave the Giants for the Red Sox...

And Boston should be embarrassed at their “research” in deciding to make the wrong decision in signing Sandoval...

If he hasn’t got his act together this 2017 season, he might have April to October as his offseason, with his playing for the Magallanes Navigators as his regular season. The latter has been his offseason team these past few years.

He’s come a long way down from his declaration during his press conference in Boston upon his signing that his weight would not be a problem and that he expected to be the everyday third baseman. He said he was looking forward to working with the team’s fitness staff. He had talked of loving the game, respecting the game. He said he didn’t take the barbs about his blubber personally.

Perhaps he should have.

But perhaps what is even scarier than big fat people making big fat bucks in a professional sport, and what is even more shocking than Sandoval shedding the fat this off season - is the fact that baseball management sets such low expectations and are willing to pay WAY TOO MUCH for even those. John Farrell, manager of the team, just wants him to be a “...a very good, everyday Major League player.”

You should know, however, that it seems that the everyday Major League player is slimming down. Sporting charts has a list of the heaviest players – and the latest year any one of the 10 players played was 2012. (So obviously Panda isn’t anywhere on that list. That says something. Of course the chart tracks the heaviest, not the fattest – there is a difference. What is kinda surprising is that 4 of the 10 athletes were pitchers!)

Perhaps slimming down was not an accurate description of weight and fat trends in MLB. While no players have been as heavy as our top 10, as a whole since the 1990’s, according to research undertaken by Penn State and Northwestern University, only 20% of today’s players have what is deemed a normal Body Mass Index. Abnormally (or perhaps this is a normality, given society’s trend to bigger and fatter citizens) 70% of today’s players are overweight. Here’s the proof in the pudding of astounding midriff massiveness.

Therefore let’s cut Sandoval some slack. Let him wear the slacks he wants - let him carry on with his delusion that he shouldn’t consider being a designated hitter - and let us stew in our jealous juices - quietly knowing that his beer gut made him that 17 mill this season past - while our beer guts got stern warnings from our doctor and severe warnings from ourselves to pee late at night.

While Sandoval’s 2016 non-season is to be shamed, let’s not get into body blaming right now. The guy has lost serious fat and weight. But as all of us who have lost such pounds know, keeping it off is absolute murder. Sure, right now he can train all day, but what about when the season starts? What happens then? Will strength and conditioning coach, Kiyoshi Momose, be on call 24/7?

So Pablo’s 2017 could either be a boom - or a bust - or somewhere in between, in that great mushy, wasted/waisted middle. 

​Japan’s 4 x 100 Men’s Relay Team won silver in Rio - barely beaten by the BEST - Usain Bolt and the Jamaicans. Who’d have guessed?

Bolt.

He, as a spectator, saw Japan beat his team in the heats. “...the execution they have is always extremely good.”

Canadian sprint sensation, Andre De Grasse, admits he knew little of this burgeoning team. He was figuratively blown away by their performance, but not totally, however, for he and his mates captured bronze.

Many who are unfamiliar with relays think it a simple matter of finding four speedsters, to then slap them on the track, to then spring them loose. But experts say that isn’t the road to victory; it’s the road to ruin. The best teams are truly a team, they get along, they sacrifice for the other - with the monumental moment of their dynamics being the passing of the baton.

Japan’s team uses the “upsweep technique” to hand the stick - to stick. The relay coach, Shunji Karube, deserves credit for reforming their 2008 baton work, where they took bronze in Beijing’s Olympics, to come up with a new underhand baton pass, where runners transfer and take the baton with the elbow higher than waist level. (Somehow this lessens the lengths runners must go.)

More importantly, however, is Japan’s team - being a team - with fantastic fundamentals to boot. Consider that, while none of the four individually, has run under 10 seconds for the 100-metres, their cohesion has them, now, second best olympically. (And only - astoundingly - a foursome as deep as Jamaica’s, with the incomparable Bolt running anchor, could win gold with JUST ONE TRAINING SESSION in 2016 with Usain. Incredible. And risky...)
​
Reputedly Japan is blown away, realizing this relay team is the first to take silver in track since Kinue Hitomi did it in the 800 metres, in 1928, in Amsterdam.

So Japan’s relay-rush rise to the top has been in the works for a while. For starters, they trained together for six months leading up to the 2016 Olympics. In Beijing, they became the first Japanese men’s team to medal in an Olympic sprinting event. They don’t cross lanes - a trespass that American and Canadian relay teams know only too well, and this year, oh dear, in Rio, the Americans were disqualified after initially being awarded third place because 2nd man, Justin Gatlin, touched the baton prior to entering the takeover zone. In fact the States since 1995 has - eight or nine times - either been disqualified, or been diminished, by either its specific baton passes or its general relay recklessness.

Meanwhile, as anchor Aska Cambridge points out, Japan figured it could win a medal. His, and his teammates’ confidence, was not misplaced - heck, coming up the ramp to the track they demonstratively displayed a pretend pose of flashing swords: only a relaxed, confident, ready bunch could do this. Furthermore, watching the race in slow-mo, shows each baton pass pretty-near flawless in execution - amazing - given the magnitude of these games. No wonder their smiles on subsequent Japanese TV interviews are 4 x 100 metres wide and 4 x 100 metres high!

Hey, these four guys set a new Asian record of 37.60 seconds. Japan is proud...but Jamaica can lay a small claim in bragging rights. The aforementioned Aska Cambridge has a Jamaican dad and a Japanese mom. Aska has lived in Japan since he was two. Aptly, Aska means “flying bird” in Japanese.

Aptly and happily, too, is the realization that there is no ideal body type for sprinting. The body shapes of the Jamaicans compared to the Japanese are vastly different in the arms and upper torso. The sprinters from the former show heavily muscled limbs and parts - the latter are much more streamlined and smooth. You know what this means? If you’re fast you’re fast. And that’s that.

Perhaps the squad will train again in Yamanashi Prefecture, and will look up, inspired, to Mt. Fuji. Perhaps, too, they’ll blossom, again, like the cherry blossoms that abound all around Yamanashi - and ultimately, perhaps too, their future races will smell as sweet, and be as beautiful, as the lavender flowers there. Geez, even in practices, they apparently had no baton misses!

Oh, speaking of beauty, did you see the relay team’s hot, tight and pinky-orange “a healthy soul in a healthy body” outfits?
​
And more on beauty: who among Aska Cambridge, Yoshihide Kiryu, Shota Iizuka, or Ryota Yamagata will be labeled as cute as Japan’s gymnastic marvel, Kohei Uchimura?

Listen, not everything is peaches and cream in the Land of the Rising Sun. Apart from this country digging the Onbashira Festival (lunatics on a log) Japan has got big problems. Their population is declining, and those around, are aging. The workforce is being replaced by spent-force pensioners and babies are scarce. Given current demographic trends, there’ll be about one million less Japanese watching the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games than viewed the Rio Olympics, in which that nation garnered 41 medals, a record for it.

But for those living, they’ll forget the “Lost 20 Years” economic doldrums (for two weeks anyway) and they’ll forgive population shrinkage (for ever apparently) to fervently watch this amazing 4 x 100 metre relay team – a seasoned, yet, with a young average age of, in four-years time, only 27 - do its fleet thing. The group wants to stick together, get better. Truly a win-win situation for the country and these men.
​
Now, with Usain Bolt out of the picture, do they win gold?  

The Spartan Race bills itself as the “World’s Best Obstacle Race. Period.” That’s gotta be true. It certainly has blossomed world-wide in popularity with races in 20 countries in 2015. It can only grow as more learn of its challenges and (theoretical) fun.

Basically the Spartan has a course for nearly every walk of life. There’s an obstacle challenge for juniors and three races for adults beginning with the Spartan Sprint, Spartan Super, and the most grueling, the 25-obstacle 20+ kilometer Spartan Beast.

Scratch that. There’s was an Ultra Beast adventure in athletic agony at Sun Peaks, Canada, last September. At 42 km, the winner would probably time in around seven hours, plus. And Mikhail Gerylo won in seven hours, two minutes (and four seconds.) The top women, who finished 15th overall, was Allison Tai completing in nine hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds – so basically, ten hours.

And scratch that. There’s a Spartan Death two-day race. That’s probably longer than the weaker-limbed entrants will live afterwards...

Let’s look at this toughest, most ornery ordeal going...First of all there’s the pressure to compete and complete this excruciating event.

And, no, we are not talking about the contestant, but about his or her shoes.

Normal running shoes need not apply, for the tough terrain will leave them a wreck. And if you’ve decided to go with a rugged trail shoe, train in them beforehand – under dry and wet conditions. Afterwards, once you are mobile, take them to the car wash and use a pressurized hose to take the gunk, mud, and crud off. Once white shoes will be forever gray, but at least they’ll be clean. Can’t have everything, sorry.

Basically, the best shoe for spring and summer, let’s not talk about winter races (for to conceive such a beast is probably illegal if not gauche) will be light in weight, with good treads, that drains water well – and dries as quick as can be.

And unlike many sports where you’d think cotton would be great for tops or underwear, for the Spartan race it’s the worst. Cotton retains water, and the extra weight and its uncomfortable feeling will leave you feeling bogged down physically and mentally.

Now, if you are a newbie to this sport, did you know that it has coaches? For example, Donald Wilkinson of Calgary is a certified Spartan Group X (SGX) Coach.

This (pun intended) movement - that then crystallized as a cult, before forming into a fad, with its burgeoning later into an almost-somewhat-mainstream endeavor – has now the icing to put on its athletic-cardiovascular cake: this brutal, testing, and exhausting fete, now produces elite male and female athletes - and world championships, albeit without the glam, fame, and fortune of sexy sports like sprinting...

Now, how about Hobie? Is he icing on the cake, la crème de la crème, that could take obstacle racing up to the next level - such as becoming an Olympic sport as its CEO, Joe De Sena, ardently hopes?
Hobie Call, considered the best man in obstacle racing events, has had unfortunately life-obstacles prevent him from continuing in such contests.

Rather sadly, he’s gone: A-B-C gotta make-me-some-money via HVAC. Yet, he knows, as do his followers, that he inspired many to get into this fitness forum.  

On the women’s best list, meet Amelia Boone, she with the glowing smile and six-pack abs, sponsored by Reebok, who actually makes a living from this sport. She has, however, come to a cross road, as do so many of us with a vocation: when does it stop being unmitigated fun and turn to drudgery...work? Despite her superhuman strength and determination she has not found an answer to the dilemma of deciding if Spartan Races are work or play. She calls the problem of balancing herself between the pull of fun and the push of competition, a tightrope.

Many of us would regard these athletes - who push themselves through waist-high mud, icy-snow, under barb wire, up mountains, while carrying logs, and throwing spears, and jumping through fire - as crazy and neurotic. And if you fail to complete an obstacle you have to do 30 burpees as punishment. Why go to such extremes when a good brisk walk and some light weight-training work might be enough to keep one healthy and sane? Why do these athletes, risk serious injury, hypothermia, shattered confidences if one decides to quit, and the loneliness and absence from friends and family while training?

In fact, for Spartan Racing, loneliness need not be a factor at all. Have you heard of the Spartan Queens? They are not a troupe in drag but are, in fact, real-live Colorado women who competed together and, as a group, in the Breckenridge Colorado course on August 18th, 2015. NBC showcased them. And thank god for that. No normal person can relate to the elite warriors that tackle such terrains. But everybody can relate to the trials they’ve endured, as they put themselves “out there” on this trail, pushing, urging the other on. For this, Spartan Races and others of their ilk may make some sense...

Finally, here’s what makes eminent sense if you are a Spartan elite athlete, an OCR (Obstacle Course Racer), like Mikhail. You need a balanced training program. He works on strengthening his grip, doing speed work, increasing his stamina, mixed in with circuit training, functional training, and something called lactic-threshold training, and the obligatory calisthenics - all with the idea that in each workout, there should be no stopping.
​
Now that’s Spartan.