March Diet Madness

Posted: March 23, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Diet- comedy | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

 

 

What is the tie between major sporting events and eating really unhealthy food?  During the Super Bowl this year I learned the statistic that Super Bowl Sunday was the second biggest eating day behind Thanksgiving.  I wonder what the calorie count difference is though?  At Thanksgiving you have a chance at some vegetables and turkey can be healthy, but I can’t think of one traditional Super Bowl food that would be in my normal weight reduction food list.

 

Now it’s March Madness and since I live between Duke and UNC I can’t help but be interested in the goings on around hoops.  I just got an e-mail from our club up the street that they have a special NCAA menu in the Grille for B-ball watching.  This is what is being served: Buffalo Chicken Wings with blue cheese dressing and celery, Fried Mozzarella Sticks, Fried Mushroom Caps, Potato Skins with Cheddar Cheese, Bacon, Sour Cream and Scallions, Chili Fries, Beef Sliders with three kids of cheese and Nacho Platter.  Out of that whole list I could have the scallions and the celery.

 

One would think that watching basketball was a huge amount of exercise based on the number of calories that appear to be necessary to watch it.  Maybe it is just that these foods can be consumed mindlessly so one can stay focused on the screen.  I am sure that the club will still have salads available, but don’t plan on any salad specials for the games.  Who can eat with a fork and watch TV at the same time, must be the reasoning?

 

Since March Madness is an eight-day event if you only count the days games are being played and not the time in between, I venture to say that NCAA tournament is the biggest eating affair of the year by far.  Even if you only eat wings every other day you are probably consuming more calories watching basketball over those eight days than you ever would burn off playing basketball all year.

 

I’m advocating for some lettuce wraps and fruit kabobs be included in the offerings during the tournament.  People really need to pace themselves, March is a long month.

Season’s End

Posted: February 8, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

 

Yesterday was Carter’s final middle school basketball game.  It was a day met with sadness for Carter who declared earlier this year that basketball is her favorite sport.  I knew that was true when while Carter was sick for two weeks I caught her sleeping with her basketball in her bed.

 

Carter is tall, something she has always been.  Tall is good in basketball, but it is not everything or even half.  I am thankful that she has discovered this love of basketball even though it is late in the child sports world of today.  Learning the important ball handling and shot making skills ideally would have started when she was about four.  I blame Carter’s nice nature and my ignorance for this not happening.

 

Carter was first introduced to team sports when she was three in YMCA soccer.  She was the tallest kid on the field and she did not like to try and kick the ball hard because she was worried about hurting one of the other, smaller kids, who had not problem kicking her.  This “I don’t want to hurt anyone” attitude kept Carter from being interested in most team sports so she gravitated to horseback riding and swimming.

 

Today Carter is less worried about hurting someone else and she is still a target to get hurt by the other teams.  This last week of basketball had three games.  The first two were against really great teams and were hard fought contests. Carter limped home on Tuesday with a bruised hip from going down in a tussle over the ball and a back eye from a skinny girl’s sharp elbow.  Both those matches were in the loss column.

 

Yesterday’s final game was the last chance for this team of really nice girls to go out on top.  The game started with a star player passing Carter the ball so she could make the first basket.  It was the start of a great game where the score was 24-2 at the half in favor of Carter’s team.  Every girl seemed to be playing her best and I feel that everyone made at least one basket.  Our team of parents was living high on the sidelines.  I asked that we all memorize exactly where we were sitting and what we were wearing so we could repeat it next year.  No sport superstitions here.

 

Then, just as I was thinking that this basketball season was going to end on a total high, Carter stepped an opponent’s foot and rolled her ankle going down to the floor.  When she did not get up the coach and my husband went out to the court to move her to the sidelines.  Carter said she heard a crack, which she has said at least four times before when she has in fact broken bones.  So off to Triangle Orthopedics she and I went where they have the Carter Lange VIP treatment room from her frequent visits.

 

After text consolations with her personal Ortho doctor Mack Aldridge and his remote x-ray reading, a bad sprain was the verdict.  My sideline job as a radiologist looking at the print out of her various x-rays confirmed the good doctor’s pronouncement. Treatment involved Carter needing to wear one of her many orthopedic walking boots for seven to ten days.  The celebration ensued until in the car on the way home Carter remembered that today is the school dance.  I made her promise to keep the boot on for the dance.  I am not taking her back to Triangle Ortho again tonight.