A salute to Toby Keith…. this beer’s on me!

 One of my favorite country singers is Toby Keith.

 

Me and the TobeMeister!

I had a chance to meet Toby Keith last year as he wandered into our little part of the world, shake his hand and realize that he was a big man…. don’t meet too many around these parts. 

When Toby was in Baghdad entertaining the troops, my daughter listened to his free concert … actually –to her credit — she ( a lieutenant ) gave her men all the tickets she got so they could see him in person… Kristin had to listen from a great distance. So, when Kristin arrived home… we took her to see him live…. up close and personal.

He is a great American…. no doubt about it!

 

IfzFO9YeQVs

This music video gave me some of my biggest laughs… especially when Toby slips a couple of pills to himself before his date with ‘twins.’ The above YOUtube link may die soon… CLICK here for the REAL thing!

We need More Toby Keiths.

Roger Freberg
PS. Check out Toby Keith’s Fan Site!

Before you date…. ask to see his hands!

Look at his Hands before you date him

It seems like eons ago, but there was a time when people believed that you could tell everything about someone by just looking at them. Judgments were made based on what were believed to be influencing factors. Although some may call this prejudice , stereotyping or worse, there is some truth to the fact that biology does influence who we are in ways we may never have realized…. and sometimes with little regard to our environment. This wasn’t unknown to the ancient Greeks.

Hippocrates wrote:  “You will find, as a general rule, that the constitutions and the habits of a people follow the nature of the land where they live.”

The father of medicine, Hippocrates, was stating a simple truth from his time. Basically, what and who we are today is the result of long periods of exposure and interaction with our environment. For example, today, many of the people in Scandinavia and Europe – to a lesser degree- carry with them a resistance to the Black Death. Over time, a gene(s) for resistance to the plague gained a greater foothold in the population.

We may all be ‘equal’ in the eyes of our lord, but we all don’t have the same abilities, levels of intelligence, skills, aptitude or potential. Populations differ as do individual people. After all, we live in a diverse world.

Today, it is recognized that certain hereditary factors can have a profound influence on a person’s outlook, health and behavior. Correlations within families regarding suseptability towards types of diseases and some mental illnesses are becoming better understood.

Some researchers have pointed to  the presence of high ‘testosterone’ in men as a precursor for aggressive and violent behavior. They were in error, the truth is a bit more complex. High levels of testosterone in adult men have little correlation to violent behavior, per se. What has a some correlation is “prenatal testosterone.”

A high level of prenatal testosterone during pregnancy has some very interesting correlations.

For example, when a man’s index finger is significantly shorter than his ring finger there is a correlation with ‘physically aggressive behavior’. Does this mean every man with a shorter index finger displays ‘physically agressive behavior’… of course not. What it does mean is that ‘statistically’, it IS significant.

With three daughters, I may now ask their dates…. “Show me your hands!”

Roger Freberg

The SUPERIORITY of MEN! Ahem, at least in Darts!

Classic Example Why Men are Soooo Wonderful!

Did my title grab your attention?

One of the fun things about genetic research is that we are beginning to reaffirm some of the thoughts commonly held not all that long ago… the fact that men and women are not clones of each other…. and viewing men and women as two distinct populations demonstrate many differences that can not be easily explained by the impact of the ‘environment’ or ‘societal’ expectations and training. Some of this stuff comes from our biology, like it or not.

Back to darts!

An interesting article in Human Nature Review makes some fun observations regarding , ” with no more data than that gleaned from a passing glance at your hands, a stranger might infer whether you are likely to have homosexual inclinations, are highly fertile, may eventually suffer from a heart attack or breast cancer, have musical aptitude or sporting prowess, and a suprisingly long list of other characteristics.”

Besides all of the above, here is the really really important stuff:

” Manning notes that the male digit ratio may be functional… thus increasing throwing accuracy.” He adds,” Today, this sex difference may be seen in male superiority in throwing darts.”

Nothing new here… we knew it all the time!

 Hmmm….Maybe that’s why I have to throw with the ‘crummy’ set of darts at home.

                       Typical Superior Dart Player... Male, of course!

Typical Superior Dart Player… Male of course.

Roger Freberg

Soccer: Give them 1 point for effort… but it’s not enough to keep me awake!

 Soccer only requires a ball

Americans have just never caught soccer fever or ‘World Cup” mania. This has lead some advocates to believe that this failure is due to some shortcoming in the American psyche rather than soccer’s lower sex appeal. Many cried over the failure of women’s professional soccer, but it’s demise wasn’t totally unexpected. Even today, there is a certain amount of drum beating to try to develop support for reintroducing U.S. professional women’s soccer, but unless they compete in the nude, it’s not likely to fare much better.

Soccer has a tough road to hoe in a country that invented or popularized many of the great sports in the world. My impression is that baseball addressed the shortcomings of cricket and American football and rugby evolved from socccer by reshaping the sport to better engage the spectators and participants.

Soccer marketeers are working hard to capture American’s imaginations. Articles about the world’s greatest athletes are soccer players or the fittest athletes are soccer players just don’t ring true to fans who watch Reggie Bush and Justin Gatlin. It doesn’t seem likely unless the criteria include running around for 90 minutes or so and not do anything interesting. The world’s best athletes are in sports that captivate the fans and pay their players like gods.

What do average Americans know about the last World Cup? They know some French guy head butted some Italian guy. It seems rather ironic that two countries that can’t win any wars would be competing for any kind of World Championship.

Soccer is not the ‘safe’ sport for kids that it is marketed. Statistics reveal that head injuries are one of the most common forms of injuries and they occur in about the same frequency in soccer as in American Football. In case you were dozing off… the quote was “In soccer, concussions make up 2-3% of all injuries. This is the same rate as for American football!” All that contact, and soccer still can’t keep me awake.

It is also not hard to understand why in many less economically developed parts of the world, locals have embraced a contest that requires only a ball. Ask any Division I AD about which sports cost the most and the least.
Continue reading “Soccer: Give them 1 point for effort… but it’s not enough to keep me awake!”