Saturday, September 06, 2008

Why I'm no longer a hockey mom

I wish I could say that I'm no longer a hockey mom because I don't want to have anything in common with Sarah Palin. But alas, it's a mere matter of overscheduling our kids' sports. But since I'm on the topic, here's my small opinion on the matter.

[Start skipping here if you like gun-toting beauty queens]
Four More Years
Image by kytelae.

This pitbull juxtaposition was posed in response to her RNC speech quote, "You know [what] they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit-bull? *pause* Lipstick."  A colleague who knows that I used to be a hockey mom tried this joke on me and I unleashed on a political tirade that never occurs at work.  (Perhaps I have pitbull remnants after all.)

I'm not sure what McCain was thinking when he choose Sarah Palin, as there are many female Republicans who far more qualified with a less divisive views. Just because I am a woman doesn't mean that I will vote for one (I couldn't even muster a vote for Hillary). The choice of Palin definitely won't win over disillusioned Clinton supporters who can't seem to back Obama (see Gloria Steinem's essay).  The only reason I can think of is to appeal to the horny male vote.

Let's face it, guys just want to see Sarah Palin naked (check out the uncanny Tina Fey + Susan Lucci likeness). If you check the Google Trends for September 2nd, the top two out of the three Palin searches were sarah palin hot photos (#34) and sarah palin bikini pics (#71).  And what a bummer when you guys found out that the gun-toting stars-and-stripes bikini photo was fake and the naked pictures were Julia Louis-Dreyfus (yes real links for you perverts).

So guys, please get your heads out of your pants!

[Resume reading here if you're interested in my commentary about youth sports]
IMG_8951
Adam before his first U10 travel soccer game. He scored a goal!

Last year, Adam was in a great Learn to Play Hockey program which had one practice and one game per week.  This meshed nicely with his U8 (under age 8) soccer schedule which also had one practice and one game per week.  In the spring, all the hockey parents were abuzz about the tryouts for the Mites team (age 8 and under). Now this team had fees in the 4-digit range and required two practices and two games per week including travel.  Since Adam wasn't a hockey star yet, I felt that he could still stay in the Learn to Play Hockey program for another year.  Besides, at four hours a week, it would mean that soccer would have to be dropped.  Over the summer, Adam was accepted into the U10 travel soccer league even though he is underage at seven.  This pushed our soccer schedule to two practices and one travel game per week.  Although it didn't conflict with the times of the Learn to Play Hockey program, it was just too much, so we dropped hockey for the fall. Besides, soccer is orders of magnitude cheaper than hockey when it comes to fees and equipment. Dova is also involved in youth sports this year with U6 soccer, skating lessons and gymnastics (thankfully only meeting for each per week).  We can only schlep the kids so much!

But why the huge time commitment to youth sports when kids are only seven years old?  There is no way to carry more than one sport at a time.  Why do kids need to specialize in youth sports by the time they are in second grade?  

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