Kids' Movie Starring Alex Rodriguez Causing Controversy Because of Steroid Scandal

donderdag 15 augustus 2013

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Alex Rodriguez fans who were looking forward to taking their kids to see the embattled New York Yankees third baseman in a new kids' movie may never have the chance. The folks behind Henry & Me, a movie about a little boy with cancer and his magical adventure with baseball players, are debating the effect his steroids scandal could have on a flick for kids. There's talk Alex will get the axe.

As a long-time Yankees fan who has never particularly taken to A-Rod, I'm not exactly crying. But as a mother of a little baseball fan, I wonder if they aren't overreacting a tad bit.

A-Rod, of course, is currently in the midst of an appeal of Major League Baseball's 211-game suspension for alleged steroid use. He's damaged goods, and sponsors don't want to be associated with him.

But we're not talking about advertising here. We're talking about a kids' movie. The movie's executive producer, Ray Negron, has said of the threat to cut Alex from the film, "I love Alex Rodriguez, but I love kids more."

The question is, do kids even care?

I don't know that they do.

Sure, they know who Alex Rodriguez is. My daughter used to have an A-Rod jersey, and she could point him out in a lineup. Because we live in New York, most kids I know could probably do the same.

But they know about Alex Rodriguez the New York Yankee. They don't know about Alex Rodriguez the person, Alex Rodriguez, the guy who may or may not have used illegal substances.

That's the way it is with most sports stars. They know how they play. They admire how they play.

But there's a distinguishable difference between idolizing a baseball player and idolizing a person.

In general, kids know very little about players' personal lives, and they don't want to follow in their footsteps as human beings. Little New York Jets fans don't see Antonio Cromartie and think, "I want to have 12 kids, just like that guy." They see him and say, "I want to play cornerback."

Kids don't look at Michael Vick and say, "I want to go fight dogs and go to jail." They see him and say, "I want to lead the Hokies to a national championship. I want to play quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons."

So it is with Alex Rodriguez. There's been a lot of debate in recent weeks over what parents should tell their kids about A-Rod, whether they should take away their jerseys and rip down their posters, lest they follow in their "hero's" footsteps. But for kids, the steroid scandal hasn't changed things; it won't set them on a path to steroid use any more than wearing a Cromartie jersey will make them more fecund.

Quite frankly, parents credit professional athletes, heck, all celebrities with way too much power over their kids' lives. Yes, celebrities screw up, and sometimes our kids find out, and we need to talk about it. But day-to-day, kids are much more focused on the flaws and foibles of the grownups around them. We are their real role models, the people in whose footsteps they will really follow -- wrongly or rightly.

Cutting a guy like Alex Rodriguez out of a kids' movie might be good for the production company in terms of getting it out there, but let's be real -- this isn't about the kids themselves.

They could care less.

Would you let your kids watch this movie if Alex Rodriguez had a role? Do you worry about your kids idolizing athletes?

Image via Rafael Amado Deras/Flickr

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My Paranoia About Getting Pregnant Is Causing Big Problems in the Bedroom

dinsdag 6 augustus 2013

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by The Stir Bloggers 13 hours ago

Ever since the first time I had sex, I've been afraid. Not of the sex, please. Just like any other woman with a healthy libido -- I enjoy the sex. What I don't enjoy is what can happen because of sex. Nope, not a commitment-phobe. I am, however, frightened of becoming pregnant.

The answer to your question is yes. At some point or another, I'm going to want a child. At that point, when hopefully I'm married, financially stable, and prepared -- that child will be my everything. But now? For the past 10 years? No. I'm just not ready. Nowhere close.

The fear, it's cautionary and a little irrational. Despite being on the pill for years and years now, I rarely have unprotected sex. In a three-year relationship that ended not all that long ago, I could count those risque encounters on one hand.

And you know what? I think it's safe to say that my fear drives every single man I ever date insane. Who am I kidding? It's driving me insane, too.

Sex is an intimate thing. It's a close thing. At the end of the day: It's a big deal. It's frustrating, knowing that for so many people without this fear, getting hot and heavy is spontaneous. It's fun. It can be done anywhere, anytime, without a care in the world. For me, though, I do care. Even if STDs were non-existent, I get anxiety every time my partner and I do the deed without that extra protection. To be really frank with you: Pull out or stop. It's not just any anxiety, either. This anxiety prevents me from continuing on in my day-to-day life.

However, I'm human. In the moment, it's easy to say "screw it" (and me) and let's just go for it instead of hopping over to the drug store. So what results? The next morning, I immediately regret it. I think, Is this the time a pregnancy test will come out positive? I wonder when my last period was. When my next one should be. I wonder if I should get Plan B. I get mad at myself. Eventually later that week, I may buy a pregnancy test.

Is it bad that I'm this way? Yes and no. I've been in a relationship where my overcautious attitude annoyed my partner too much (read: he didn't want to use protection all the time) and we went our separate ways. I understand. I'm sure that it's easier to be with a woman who is on a birth control pill that she trusts and doesn't freak out after a spontaneous sexcapade. 

Still, I'd rather be too cautious. The right man and partner won't get angry with me about my mentality. I'd like to stick with the attitude that if my companion can't accept that I'm trying to do us both a favor, he and I don't need to have an intimate relationship in the first place.

Can you relate?

Image via plaits/Flickr

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My Paranoia About Getting Pregnant Is Causing Big Problems in the Bedroom

maandag 5 augustus 2013

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by The Stir Bloggers 4 hours ago

Ever since the first time I had sex, I've been afraid. Not of the sex, please. Just like any other woman with a healthy libido -- I enjoy the sex. What I don't enjoy is what can happen because of sex. Nope, not a commitment-phobe. I am, however, frightened of becoming pregnant.

The answer to your question is yes. At some point or another, I'm going to want a child. At that point, when hopefully I'm married, financially stable, and prepared -- that child will be my everything. But now? For the past 10 years? No. I'm just not ready. Nowhere close.

The fear, it's cautionary and a little irrational. Despite being on the pill for years and years now, I rarely have unprotected sex. In a three-year relationship that ended not all that long ago, I could count those risque encounters on one hand.

And you know what? I think it's safe to say that my fear drives every single man I ever date insane. Who am I kidding? It's driving me insane, too.

Sex is an intimate thing. It's a close thing. At the end of the day: It's a big deal. It's frustrating, knowing that for so many people without this fear, getting hot and heavy is spontaneous. It's fun. It can be done anywhere, anytime, without a care in the world. For me, though, I do care. Even if STDs were non-existent, I get anxiety every time my partner and I do the deed without that extra protection. To be really frank with you: Pull out or stop. It's not just any anxiety, either. This anxiety prevents me from continuing on in my day-to-day life.

However, I'm human. In the moment, it's easy to say "screw it" (and me) and let's just go for it instead of hopping over to the drug store. So what results? The next morning, I immediately regret it. I think, Is this the time a pregnancy test will come out positive? I wonder when my last period was. When my next one should be. I wonder if I should get Plan B. I get mad at myself. Eventually later that week, I may buy a pregnancy test.

Is it bad that I'm this way? Yes and no. I've been in a relationship where my overcautious attitude annoyed my partner too much (read: he didn't want to use protection all the time) and we went our separate ways. I understand. I'm sure that it's easier to be with a woman who is on a birth control pill that she trusts and doesn't freak out after a spontaneous sexcapade. 

Still, I'd rather be too cautious. The right man and partner won't get angry with me about my mentality. I'd like to stick with the attitude that if my companion can't accept that I'm trying to do us both a favor, he and I don't need to have an intimate relationship in the first place.

Can you relate?

Image via plaits/Flickr

?

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Doctor Tells Woman Her 'Ghetto Booty' Is Causing Her Back Pain (VIDEO)

donderdag 18 juli 2013

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Maressa Brown 12 hours ago

Now, for your OMG/WTH/You Have to Be Kidding Me moment of the day ... A woman in Tennessee has filed a complaint with the Tennessee Department of Health, because she says a doctor named Dr. Timothy Sweo, who she was seeing for back pain, diagnosed her with "ghetto booty." Fifty-five-year-old Terry Ragland told local FOX affiliate, “I think I blacked out after he said ‘ghetto booty.’ I think my mind was just stuck on the phrase because I couldn’t believe he said that." Unbelievable is right!

Even Dr. Sweo himself admits that he used those words to explain the cause of Ragland's back pain, because as he states in a letter he sent his patient, "I was trying to take technical conversation regarding your lower back and make it less technical." UGH!

I hate to generalize, but it makes my blood boil for so many reasons. Why is it like pulling teeth for so many patients to achieve the kind of rapport with a doctor that they feel they're being understood and treated appropriately? Why is bedside manner so hard to come by? And how in the world would a doctor think it was okay to simply dismiss a patient's pain with a slang-borderline-slur term like "ghetto booty"?! It's maddening -- and the mark of a physician who clearly doesn't treat his patients the way they deserve to be treated.

Ragland herself noted that she feels Dr. Sweo gave her that answer -- instead of the technical explanation he was apparently trying to "dumb down" -- because he underestimated her intellect. So, so wrong. We all deserve doctors who listen to us, who allow us to ask questions and give them thoughtful answers, who don't take us for fools or morons!

Furthermore, it's outrageous that the guy boiled it all down to nothing more than "lumbar lordosis, which is a medical term for the curve of the lower spine that makes the buttocks protrude more." Wow. And all he could allegedly think to offer her was painkillers and to say "there is no cure." Really? She was born that way, so she's doomed to experience pain and should just throw in the towel and pop some pills? No discussion of any injury or repetitive activity that could be contributing to her discomfort? No suggestion of physical therapy, which is considered the top treatment for this lumbar lordosis? Just, this is your body, deal with it? Sick -- and seriously problematic.

Thank goodness Ragland spoke up about her experience. Any patient treated in a half-assed way by a physician should follow her lead -- and then find a doctor who not only treats them like a fellow human being but is willing to put in the extra time to help them truly heal.

What do you make of this? Have you ever felt like your doctor was "dumbing it down" for you?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Maressa Brown

has enjoyed reporting and writing for a variety of entertainment and women's magazines and websites. More often than not, you'll find her blogging, hitting the gym, reading, researching something on her iPhone, laughing, chatting at an above-"normal" volume, or getting her caffeine fix.

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