Patriots: Better Off Without Welker

A clipping from the Roundup Record-Tribune about Mac Bledsoe's 1999 visit.

Author's Note: This is my first article for a new sports writing gig I got, so that's why I have the different tag-line at the end. Enjoy!

I have loved the New England Patriots since Bledsoe's time. I was 10 when Drew's dad, Mac, came to my school in Roundup, Montana and gave a motivational speech. What he said resonated with me and I had been wanting to have an NFL team of my own (my best friend was a 49ers fan, so I had been a 49ers fan by default--and who didn't love Jerry Rice?!), so the New England Patriots became my team!

I was devastated when Tom Brady took over for Bledsoe in 2001. I "knew" that this kid couldn't be as good as Bledsoe and I knew where my loyalties were. But then I realized, as Brady started looking better and better through the season, that I was a Patriots fan, not a Bledsoe fan. Even though players come and go, and we get attached to them, at the end of the day, we are fans of our teams, not the players. Now, over a decade later, I am still sad to see some of my favorite players go, but love my Patriots more than ever!

Wes Welker had his first season with New England during my first semester at college. I was amazed by his talent and he easily became a top 3 favorite of mine (always behind Brady, and behind Deion Branch when he was on the team). Welker brought our team to a new level and the games were impressive to watch.

As the seasons passed and Welker continued to perform at an incredibly high level, I was a happy camper. When Welker dropped a perfect pass from Brady in the last 10 seconds of Super Bowl XLVI, I was unhappy. And then Welker decided to start contract negotiations. That made me even more unhappy. Here is an excerpt of an article I wrote about him back in September 2012:

"Wes Welker is a prime example of a player I love who was in contract negotiations this summer and, frankly, disgusted me. He wanted $11.42M this year with a long-term contract because he felt he was worth that much to the Patriots organization. He is now on a one year contract, making about $9.5M this year, and I'm pretty sure that yesterday in the season opener he got a total of 14 yards (Fourteen?!?!! Is this a high school stat???) and let a perfect pass bounce off his helmet."

In the 2012 season Welker went on to have 118 receptions for 1,354 yards; down from his 2011 season stats: 122 receptions for 1,569 yards. Although these are decent stats, I was disappointed in his season and was, to be honest, more interested in the on-again, off-again relationship Deion Branch (like me, a Louisville Cardinal alum) was having with the team.

I heard through the grapevine that Welker was renegotiating his contract with the Patriots for the 2013 season. I was furious! Why should my team spend more money to keep someone who tends to drop big passes when it really matters (e.g. 2012 AFC Championship game) instead of paying him what he's worth and getting some new guys who could start learning from the vets?!

Then, on March 13, 2013, Welker signed with the Broncos for $12 million over two years. And I said, "Good riddance." Honestly. I figure if he's spending more energy off the field trying to get a bigger paycheck than making big plays on the field, we don't need him. We are a team and if he doesn't feel like putting the team ahead of his millions of dollars, we can do better.

I've been spending the last couple of weeks getting over my anger at Wes Welker and scoping out the Patriots' prospects in the upcoming NFL draft. And then yesterday I came across this interview with Welker on the Broncos' website. Take a look here.

Wes Welker apparently told John Elway "how much [he] wanted to win" and that he "wanted to be part of a winning team." Are you kidding me?! The Broncos haven't been a winning team since Elway's time and, while I respect the hell out of Peyton Manning, he's 37 years old! In my estimate, they've got one shot to make the Broncos a championship caliber team: the 2013 season. Welker just left a winning team to go to a team that might have the possibility of winning. Maybe. It's ridiculous.

Then Welker had the gaul to say that the biggest thing he learned at New England was "always putting the team first in everything you do." Please. If he actually believed in putting the team first, he wouldn't be in Denver. How is this interview not raising red flags for Elway? It's incredibly obvious that Welker follows the money and doesn't care about "the team." I can guarantee you that I wouldn't put him on my team if I had one--who's to say he wouldn't leave after one season if someone else offered him more money?!

So, for all you New England fans mourning the loss of Welker, let him go. Frame your #83 jerseys and hang them up. Look back at Welker's time with us as a good era, but just let it slip into the history books. I mourned Bledsoe's leaving for months and (no offense to Drew) we got someone better. We're going to get a better receiver who doesn't only play well, but really knows and respects the value of being a Patriot.

"It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get back up." --Vince Lombardi

Be the Change You Wish to See

I've noticed something about our society: we LOVE a good cause and we get all fired up about it. And then we move on to the next cause without following through on the previous one.

Yesterday, 9% (100/1130--yes, I went through and counted) of my Facebook friends changed their profile photos to the red Human Rights Campaign logo. On Twitter, you can see real-time trends on a map here: http://trendsmap.com. It's very cool. Right now #MarriageEquality is trending in California, Minnesota, and New York.


But if you check out this infographic from HootSuite.com, you see the Top 10 Twitter Trends of 2012. The Olympics was the top trend of 2012--do you remember who won your "favorite" events? Maybe. We don't pay attention to Olympic sports for three years and eleven months out of the year and then we live and breathe Olympics. The election we can all still remember. Justin Bieber? Well, I don't pay attention to him! But look #4: Hurricane Sandy. We ALL came together for that. We could donate to the Red Cross, there was the 12/12/12 concert, there were all the hashtags sending the victims love and support...but do you still think about those victims? They're still recovering and we're not even paying attention anymore. Do you remember anyone who won an MTV Music Award? I don't. James Holmes was eighth in the World News category. Do you know who that is without "Aurora" being in the same sentence? In July were you incensed about his actions and were talking about the Aurora tragedy non-stop? After the Sandy Hook tragedy did you start talking about gun control again? Are you still talking about gun control, or is gay marriage (or anti gay marriage) now your "cause"?











And check out these other graphics from 2011 and 2010. Look at numbers 6, 8, and 10 in the 2011 Trending News category. Do you remember the Egyptian, Brazilian, or English riots? I don't. I went back and looked up the Egyptian riots and it jogged my memory--I was really upset about them. Do you remember the Libyan conflict? I do--I cried and wrote a letter to Obama when we shot missiles at Libya. But I never followed up with him. The earthquake in Japan was in 2011. Remember that? I made so many cookies and cupcakes for bake sales for them! They are still recovering from that disaster. How often do you think about it? I guess I did for the first time in almost 2 years on their 2 year anniversary earlier this month. But back then, I wanted to help and I made it my top priority.

In 2010, the Gulf Oil Spill was the top trend on Twitter (It's already been three years?!). Remember how fired up we all got about oil companies making sure they were keeping the environment clean? When's the last time that hit the news? Do you even think about it anymore? I barely ever do. The World Cup was also in 2010. Who won? I remember watching it and being incredibly into it--I even refashioned a Brasil jersey for myself to wear! And the earthquake in Haiti--how many bake sales did we all have? How much did we all donate? Do we know now how Haitians are doing? Nope.

My point with these graphics and pulling out "big" stories is that what means so much to us right now ends up becoming just another statistic on a graph somewhere. Unless we choose one thing and make it our mission, how effective are we being? I write every day about current events, but is anything changing? After Sandy Hook I wrote about gun control. The entire country felt like it was moving toward stricter gun control. One hundred days after Sandy Hook, nothing's happened and the window of opportunity for change is closing fast. After the BP oil spill in 2010, we had a window to regulate oil companies more. That window is definitely shut. After the earthquake in Japan we had a window to talk about nuclear energy--it's shut.

We must take the opportunities we have to make change. Yesterday the Supreme Court talked about how they're concerned that this gay marriage case is even in the federal court, because it's "younger than cell phones or the Internet." But this is our window. Look at these big issue windows in just the last three years that we have allowed to close without seizing the opportunity that's at hand. 

I love watching the news. I love making noise about the news and what we need to do to change it. But what will it take to really make change and not just make noise? This is a time for us--we are on the cusp of change: gay marriage rights, gun control, education policies, and so much more. If we become silent because an event falls too far back in our memories, change and progress will never happen. It is up to us to keep the conversation going. It is up to us to bring about the change we all so crave.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Hot Topic: Gay Marriage

As many of you know, I'm getting married this summer. I am so excited! My fiancé and I have been together for almost two and a half years. When he proposed last summer, I said "yes" with no cares in the world. I was so happy and so excited to get married a year later! I'm doing a lot of DIY stuff for the wedding and having a blast doing it!

But what if I wasn't allowed to get married? What if I was in love with someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, but I didn't get to be married? What if that proposal had been bittersweet because I knew it meant years of being treated like a second-class citizen even though I was living with the love of my life?

Unfortunately, the questions I just asked are what happens to our gay and lesbian friends, family, and neighbors every day. They don't have the right to get married in our country. Only in nine states and the District of Columbia is gay marriage legal.

Why? Because right-wing conservative Christians think that gay marriage is a sin and shouldn't be allowed.

Okay. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinions--until they restrict someone else's rights. Who do these evangelical "Christians" think they are? Why do they think that their hate is God's will? Did Jesus say, "Hate your neighbor and take their rights away if they're different"? I'm no biblical scholar, but even I know that Jesus said, "Love your neighbor." So is it Christ-like of these so-called "Christians" (meaning "follower of Christ") to decide that certain people shouldn't be allowed to have the same legal recognition of their love that straight people have? (Oh--and by the way, our country isn't Christian: it has the separation of church and state, so "Christian" values don't really have a place in this discussion, do they?)

Conservatives who are against gay marriage tout "traditional values" as the reason that gay marriage is an abomination. Guess what? I believe in traditional values 100%. I believe that if a couple decides to have a family, it should be the center of their lives; the "home base," if you will. I believe that families should love each other and make sure that every member of that family has what they need. I believe that having a married set of parents is important for a family--it provides stability. And I believe that having a family is a right.

I am already a rather moderate person, and getting more conservative by the day. I am personally fiscally conservative, I don't like Hollywood making "Spring Break" movies showing our girls that it's "normal" to be slutty and drunk in high school, and I'm not very compromising when it comes to how seriously I take family values. But even though I'm probably the most conservative in my entire family, I don't believe that it is my right to tell someone else that they cannot have the same rights I have.

Why should I get to be legally recognized for being in the best relationship of my life but someone else shouldn't be? I didn't do anything to earn that right and they didn't do anything to lose that right--so why should I get it and they shouldn't? It's not my right to make a decision about their rights for them.

Last week Ohio senator Rob Portman changed his mind on the gay marriage issue because his son is gay. While I am thrilled that he changed his stance, the fact that it is taking a family member being gay to convince conservative leaders that gay people should have rights is kind of amazing. But it worked for him and it worked for Cheney. So here is my challenge for all of you who think that gay people shouldn't be allowed to get married:

• Think of the person in your life that you love the most. 
• Think about how upset you would be if they weren't allowed to be legally married.
• Get on board.

Now, if your empathetic side isn't quite up to snuff, try this challenge instead:

• Think about yourself.
• If you're married, think about all the great things that you have because you're married.
• All those things were just taken away from you.
• You are a second-class citizen. 
• You are not allowed to get married to the person you love, because it's illegal.
• You are never going to have the same rights as everyone else.
• You are second rate.
• You are not equal.
• You do not have the same job opportunities as "normal" people.
• You will never make as much money as "normal" people.
• You have to fight to be heard every day.
• And you--YOU--are not equal to ME because you are different. 
• YOU are less than me.

I didn't like writing that--it felt mean and hateful. And it was. I hope it got under your skin a little bit. That is what the gay and lesbian community faces every day. It is hate and it is wrong. Get on board.

Today and tomorrow the Supreme Court of the United States is going to be discussing gay marriage rights in the U.S. This is a civil rights issue, just like race discrimination is. If it were left up to the states to decide whether or not to have in their state constitutions that African Americans, Native Americans, Latino Americans, or any other non-white American could not be discriminated against, how do you think that would work out? We need to have gay rights recognized as federal law, not on a state-by-state basis. 

I don't have any tolerance for discrimination. I just don't. People are people. Love is love. Equality is equality. None of that should be based on where you're from, what you look like, who you love, and what you want in life. I hope and pray that we will get equality in this country sooner than later. I am so ashamed to even have to say that in 2013 as an American. We must have equality.

From the Human Rights Campaign.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

5 Ways to Exercise--At Home!

I have always loved a good workout! I've been active my entire life. Growing up in country, I hiked, biked, and ran all the time. I started organized track and field in fourth grade and ran all the way through high school. I did ballet and ballroom dance through college for exercise, too. I much prefer to be outside than working out in a gym. But lately, it's been super cold and gross outside. Here are 5 ways to get a good workout in your living room!

My cat, Dorian, loves yoga!

1. Yoga. I've been doing yoga for over a year, now--and I've never taken a class! Do I have the "perfect" form? Probably not, but I've learned what works for my body and how to listen to what my body needs, so it's worked really well for me. Here are a couple sites I used to get started:

• http://yoga.about.com/
• http://www.yogajournal.com

2. Barre Technique. If you have ever been to a ballet class, you have probably started at the barre. So take it to your workout! It sounds easy, but it is a workout. Make sure you have a mirror and you use correct posture and technique, or you could really hurt yourself. Here's a good site to get you going, but if you don't have an experienced ballet instructor who can check your posture and positions, it might not be a good idea to try it on your own.

• http://dance.about.com/

3. Exercise Ball. This thing is not only great for a workout, but sit on it while you watch TV--your abs and obliques might feel a little sore the next morning! An exercise ball is really good for a variety of exercises. You can target certain areas and also do a full body workout. Here's the most complete list of exercises to try:

• http://www.ball-exercises.com

4. Dance with the Stars. I competed in ballroom a few years ago and loved it! Dancing with the Stars is huge right now and these DVDs are pretty fun. They aren't completely accurate when it comes to "correct" ballroom steps, so don't get good at them and think you know how to dance, but they are really fun to do!

5. Do Housework. Sounds silly, but a few weeks ago, this study came out. In 1965 women did 25.7 hours of housework and in 2010 women only did 13.3 hours of housework. Women in 2010 were, on average, 22 pounds heavier than women were in 1965. So get up off the couch and run a vacuum around your house!

Hope you're staying warm and staying active!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

March Madness: Crochet Edition

At the beginning of the NCAA Tournament I always make sure I watch all the games closely and research every team's stats when I'm not watching the games. I want to make sure that I know as much about the teams who I've picked to win in my bracket, so I can have an informed perspective on all the games. But, after last night's upsets, my bracket is all sorts of screwed up--March Madness has truly arrived! So I'm still watching all the games, but not as closely as I had been, and I'm not doing as much research as I had been doing before last night. 

I love messing around with yarn. I learned how to crochet a month or so ago and have figured out how to make things without patterns. I knit, crochet, or sew a lot while I watch TV. Since I still have somewhere around...45 games left in the NCAA Tournament, I came up with a fun idea: crocheted team logos!

Notre Dame, Louisville, and Cincinnati.

I am a University of Louisville alumnus, so my first try at making something had to be a CardinalBird! I think if I did it again, I would do the beak differently and change the "eyebrow" a little bit because it doesn't look angry enough. 

Louisville Cardinals

I know I've got a lot of people up here in Northern Kentucky and Ohio who are University of Cincinnati fans and, while Louisville fans don't generally like UC, I thought I'd indulge the Bearcat fans a little bit! Also, I'm aware that the claws are off a little bit--if I ever do this again, I'll shift them to the left.

Cincinnati Bearcats

Finally, I needed another team's logo to try, because I didn't want to only post two logos (seemed a little bit pointless) so I thought back to one of the most memorable games of the season: the 5 overtime Louisville vs. Notre Dame game. We lost. Then I thought back to one of the games that felt amazing to win: the Louisville vs. Notre Dame Big East Tournament semi-final. We won! Notre Dame seemed fitting. I like this shamrock--it's cute!

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

If you want to see what your team's logo looks like when it's crocheted, let me know and I'll see what I can do. Also, if anyone wants any of these, please contact me. I can do whatever you want to them to turn them into something useful--I don't want these other logos in my Cardinal household after the Tournament. ;-) 

Hope your team is doing well and you are celebrating in creative ways--like crocheting!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Smart Women Staying at Home

This morning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" there was a segment about women staying at home vs. women in the work force. I would suggest watching it before reading my article.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I started college with the goal of graduating with my music education degree, moving to Chicago by myself, teaching inner-city middle school music, and changing the world. I am smart, I am passionate about my beliefs and values, and I am a very quick learner. I had no doubt in the world that I couldn't do what I wanted to do. There hadn't ever been anything I wanted that I didn't work for and get for myself. All I knew was success at the highest level.

Three and a half years through my undergrad, I was still going strong. I was taking graduate level education research classes for fun, I had started competitive ballroom dance to expand my understanding of music and make me a better future educator, and I still had every intention of moving to Chicago and changing education in urban schools.

And then I fell in love. Hard. It wasn't "I love you until we graduate and I leave" like my previous relationships had been. It was "I love you forever." The guy I fell in love with I'd known for 4 years, so it wasn't a "whirlwind romance" or anything crazy like that. But within two months of being with him, I wanted to get married, have kids, and be a stay-at-home mom. I had never seriously thought that in my life. When you're young you think, "Someday I want to get married," and that thought had crossed my mind, but it was never really a part of my plan. Ever.

I went through a crisis: suddenly I, this powerhouse woman who was raised to go after her dreams and test boundaries, was wanting to be domestic?! Why was I presenting my research at state conferences when I wouldn't use it? Why did I hate cleaning the kitchen, but wanted to be a stay-at-home mom? Why had I never changed a diaper and only ever babysat anyone once in my life, but now I wanted kids??

I talked to my boyfriend about it and he was fine with the change in my plan (he didn't really want to move to Chicago, anyway!). Both of us had been raised by very present parents (my mom didn't go back to work until I was 10) and he was thrilled that I wanted to stay at home with our kids!

But I wasn't. How could someone who was on a full scholarship to college and didn't ever touch IQ tests because she was scared of the results being too high (teeny bit arrogant--sorry!) stay at home with kids? How on earth could that possibly be fulfilling for me?! At the same time, having kids and reading to them and playing with them and cleaning up their puke and all the other bodily fluids was suddenly what I wanted more than anything. (Even now as I'm writing this, that last sentence brought tears to my eyes because having a baby or two and getting to be with them is still my greatest hope.)

I started to realize that it was possible for me to have both: a career and a family. I would just teach for a few years after graduation so we could save up some money and then when we decided to have a baby I could quit for a few years so I could stay at home. Once the kids were in elementary school, I could go back to work. Seemed like a pretty good plan; and then I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

That was a year ago. I've since gotten engaged to the aforementioned man (He was so amazing to propose to someone with a diagnosis like mine!). We are still planning on having kids, but now we might have to wait longer because I can't teach. I don't have a job (For those of you who saw my post about getting a job last week...she never called me back. Very unhappy about that.) so we are living on one salary, not living on one salary while saving the other salary. I don't even know if I physically can have kids. Fibro patients statistically have more trouble getting pregnant than healthy women. Also, I'm in so much pain at 110 pounds that I don't know what putting another 40 or 50 on would do to me. And then when I have the kid, taking care of them 24/7 might prove to be too much for my stress levels, which means my pain levels would go up and I would be essentially non-contributing to anything. Those will all be bridges to cross in the future.

*Takes deep breath*

So. Like one of the women on the panel this morning said, "Feminism is getting to choose what we want and telling people what we need." I have actually realized in the last year that I like baking, sewing, knitting, designing, and everything else I backed away from because I thought it was too "girly." Even though I had already made the decision that I was going to be a stay-at-home mom when we have kids and now I know I would love it, I feel like my "choice" was made for me a little prematurely.

Joanna Coles, editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, asked today on the panel, "Is there something innate in women that makes us anxious that we can't do it all?" For those of us who have the world at our fingertips and all we have to do it step into it to succeed, yes. Yes, I am anxious that I'm not doing enough in relation to the amount of intellect that I have. But I am doing what I know how to do: succeed. It might not seem like it, because I'm not bringing in a six-figure salary like she is, but progress is success, and I am progressing.

My decision to stay at home with my kids and then my fibromyalgia diagnosis has made my "job" right now very complicated. My job is to find a way to feel fulfilled and contribute to our little family, while not physically shutting down. I'm not getting to contribute financially very much right now, but I'm using the skills I have to build an empire that will be profitable in the next few years. ChickOpinion wasn't in existence seven months ago. Now, I've got over 500 Twitter followers and 60 articles published on an outside website. I have people asking me for help with their writing. I share lesson plan ideas and educators with more degrees than I do love them. And I give women like me hope. Women who had it all...and, through no fault of their own, lost it. We will succeed, because I will settle for nothing less.

So for me, I will be a stay-at-home mom. This is a choice I have made. But I will also be the founder and CEO of my own company (ChickOpinion) and nonprofit (in the works) by the time I'm 30. It might not make millions of dollars and put me on the "30 Under 30 to Watch" list, but it will be immensely fulfilling for me and I will get to read to my kids every day. I will get to see my children take their first steps while helping thousands of women who feel as lost as I did a year ago learn to thrive. How can I see any of my future as a negative? It's everything I could possibly want--and it's the best of both worlds.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Spring Knitting/Crocheting Patterns

Happy First Day of Spring!!! Has spring sprung where you are, yet? It definitely hasn't here! Our high today is only 37 degrees. Brr!

It's cold, so we have to still wear "winter wear." But it's spring, so we want to wear bright, fun colors! I decided that I would share some of my favorite patterns of things to make to keep you warm, but still be fun and cute for spring!

The middle flower.

1. Crocheted Flower Scarf. This is actually a triangle pattern, but I only did the flower in the middle. I'm going to make a bunch of them and join them together as a scarf! This way, if you wrap it around a few times it will keep you warm, but you can still use it when it gets a little warmer because it's so thin.

Fun starburst scarf!

2. Crocheted Starburst Granny Square Scarf. I love this starburst pattern--it's really easy and I just made a few squares and put them together! Make it in crazy bright colors and it'll really pop. 

Don't have time to make it? Pick your own colors and buy it here.









3. Knitted Fun Fur Scarf. This one is very easy:
Pair a regular yarn (mine is orange) with a fun fur (blue).
Optional: Add any other yarn or fiber you want to knit in (I used a string of multi-colored puffballs.). -->
Grab your size 10 needles.
Cast on as many stitches as you want your scarf to be wide. I think this one is 20 stitches wide.
Knit.
Keep knitting until your scarf is as long as you want it to be.
Cast off.
Sew in ends.
Wear with a fabulous attitude!

Who doesn't love fun fur?!

Not in the mood to make it? Buy it here.

It's hard for knitters and crocheters to get excited about spring because we usually can't wear or use what we make--it's too hot! But this year, we've got it in the bag. It's freezing outside and people are looking forward to spring.

So grab your coffee, yarn, and put in a good movie. Happy knitting/crocheting on this chilly spring day!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi