Text message: the new Post-It?

On a state level, it always amuses me that when the Naval Academy singers do “Maryland, My Maryland” at the Preakness, they only sing the most obscure verse of the song (which, hilariously, is the same tune as “O Tannenbaum”). Because what it’s actually about is how bravely everyone stood up to “the despot” Lincoln…

Exactly. I read it as the opposite of conceited — as hopeful and defiant.

I keep coming back to this comment bc it seems to get more perfect each time I read it.

Good gracious, my stars.

I dunno, I think it’s important to make the distinction in this case because there’s so much external stuff around HYPE and PRESSURE and THE FUTURE OF WOMEN IN THE UFC, you know? No man or woman is a fortress; not a fighter has ever existed who didn’t have a weakness. Unless you were only watching commercials and not…

At the end of the day, Holm fought the fight she needed to — the fight that she had prepared — flawlessly; Rousey never succeeded in taking control of the fight, showed her weaknesses and ill preparation, and paid the price. With a different game plan, I think the fight might have looked and been paced very…

What you said, and also I’m not taking any chances about a potentially semi-conscious Rousey on the floor, I don’t care how soundly you’ve had her beat to that point. Holm’s decision making in those few seconds (before and after the finishing kick) was impeccable (as it was the whole fight). You can’t really take an…

You’re really shading how you present that, bro.

The lack of any plan to deal with Holm’s reach advantage makes no sense to me either. It was all anyone could talk about when they discussed Holm’s strengths! She was constantly charging and exposing and basically walking right into Holm’s strategy.

My family business was hardware. I’ve had a toolbox since I was four. I feel ya. ;)

I hate the “boxing vs. MMA” conversation so much. My partner is a former boxer and I get a lot of entertainment mileage watching his face for reactions when these conversations inevitably spring up at fight night parties.

First of all, there is no way the hours involved in changing furnace filters or doing basic car maintenance add up to the hours of other labor being described here (in the article and by frustrated women in the threads); if they are, I think you may need some instruction on how to more efficiently use your time.

Yeah, I agree. I think it’s a little too simplistic to say men use it one way and women use it another; I think it’s a move that’s about implying shared responsibility with the connotation of “by which I mean it’s your job to perform a task that we need done.” That isn’t baseline a problem, it’s how it’s applied. A…

I do think the “we” thing is non-gender-specific, actually. I for sure do it to my partner...I think I picked it up from my mom (sigh). Usually when I do it, it’s a way to gently remind him that he needs to do a thing that he said he’d do and hasn’t yet. So it’ll be like:

I think you may have seriously misread the OP if you think she was saying men lead “carefree” lives. She seems to be talking specifically about how women shoulder emotional labor, which is literally what this article is about. This isn’t the space to throw in that men have it rough too, emotionally. Trust me, we’re…

I think whatever was going on started pre-weigh-in, frankly. But the showing there was a red flag that she didn’t really have it together the way she should.

When I say she was unprepared, I mostly mean she was poorly prepared (I think she was certainly unprepared mentally to face a challenger like Holm, though). Her defense was atrocious, she had no real plan for countering Holm’s reach advantage, her attacks exposed her over and over, and she had no change up prepared…

Yup. Rousey chased and just kept walking into her attacks. Holm did exactly what she needed too — kept her at a distance, used her speed and reach, rattled her, and then took advantage of the openings the prior attacks created.

I think the litmus test for people really respecting women in the UFC is going to be the ability to understand that nuance. No, she’s not a monster created only by hype; no, she’s not a god above all other women. She’s a terrifying fighter with some weaknesses, just like everybody else, and anything can happen in a…