So, I read an interesting item the other day…It caught my attention because its title is “Why men don’t understand women.” I see you nodding your head – of COURSE I’ll take time out of my day to read that…it screams: “A CHANCE TO CITE SCIENCE TO THE MEN IN OUR LIVES, FURTHER PROVING OUR SUPERIORITY!” But it actually got me thinking about this information as it relates to kids’ sports – boys’ in particular: the participants/athletes, and well, their coaches.
Nature reports (no, I don’t read Nature, I gleaned this from the “cliffs notes” version provided by The Week magazine, great for cheaters like me – makes you feel totes smarty-pants, highly recommended!) anyway, Nature reports that the recently cracked genetic code of the female X chromosome shows that females are far more genetically “variable” than scientists realized – and (wait for it….) far more complex than men. Women have all their genetic instructions on two Xs, while men, as you know, have one X and one Y. Y determines maleness, and not much else, so, they are basically products of that one, valuable X. Women, on the other hand, have two Xs that are brimming with active genes and info…yes, I know you’re already there…researcher Huntington Willard of Duke told the L.a. Times that every one of the women they looked at had a different genetic “story” and suggests that “in essence, there is not one human genome, but two: male, and female.”
If you are with me…yes, did you read that last part? It’s true: WE ARE LITERALLY DIFFERENT BEINGS THAN MEN. That might be a different blog, I know, it’s rich – it’s well, almost too tempting to not expand on that. But for the purposes of this blog, let’s focus on the other presumption…men operate with a basic set of data – arguably only half of the data that women have to draw on – however, clearly a good part of that wiring includes an acute ability to maintain, explore, and understand nuances of sports that often, women simply don’t have an inclination, or frankly, ability for. I would submit (after reading, you know, two paragraphs about genetic code) that much of that complex data in our men is an intricate and complex – constantly active sporting database. I further submit – it might compare, in the female brain, to our ability to write a memo, participate in a conference call at the same time, yell at the kids while balancing the checkbook, schedule the next 6 months doctor, chiropractic, and Orthodontist appointments during a trip to the post office and back. There really is no direct comparison in terms of sports knowledge in the female mind (with due respect Erin Andrews and our own Susie Wargin.) This may explain a lot:
1. Why my boys know who threw for over 100 yards for the past three NFL seasons, but don’t know what time 5th period gets out.
2. Why men can spend a day golfing, or a weekend in Vegas drafting their fantasy football team, and not once, ever, have a conversation about life, jobs, their families (true conversation: “Bryan, Martha just had a baby…you spent the entire weekend with John 6 months ago and it didn’t come up that she was pregnant??) – and honestly admit that – it just didn’t come up.
3. Fathers of boys count the days until they can coach their kid. Men who are not fathers volunteer to coach. Fathers whose boys have left for college still coach sports.
4. Why, if you ask any/all of the men in your presence anything, anything at all – during a sporting event – the answer is: “Huh?”*
* NOTE: this result might also be due to findings I read in summary article titled “Why Men Don’t Listen” (you guessed it, my smartie pants cheat sheet “The Week“) – citing a study “verifying that female voices are more complex than male voices, making men’s brains work harder when listening to them.”
‘Nuff said. Happy Football Sunday!
Fun companion infographic: http://www.infographicsarchive.com/humor/understanding-how-the-male-brain-works-or-doesnt-work/#prettyPhoto/1/
Tales From The Bleachers 