Harassment

Harassment

A cranky opinion for

Cranky Opinion Saturday

Stay off the internet!  Do not tweet! Beware of facial expressions! Practice your robot voice because you will be judged on words, facial expressions and body language.  Furthermore, body language experts you’ve never met will tell the world what you really said, even if you did not know you said it.

“What is this all about Cranky man?”

The quarterback of the SF 49ers was asked in a post-game interview by Erin Andrews, the original sidelines “Babe” interviewer,

“How does it feel to start the season 8-0?”

The QB answered with a smile, “It feels great baby!”  He then had the audacity as he turned and left to smile again.

The internet exploded over this overtly sexist comment.

“He called this married woman ‘BABY!’”

“He smiled afterwards in a sexist way!”

“His body language was clearly inappropriate!”

Get over it world!

This quarterback just finished an emotional, exhausting game where his team won for the eight-straight time.  He was happy.  He was high on adrenaline.  Winning any football game is an exhilarating experience, winning eight in a row in the NFL is special.  Pretty sure flirting with Erin was not number one on his mind.  It was probably about number 8 million and seven on his mind.

Ridiculous!

Erin Andrews is a competent interviewer.  She got her position as an ex-athlete who understands athletes and competition.  She also was chosen because she is an attractive lady.  She is not a supermodel, she is not Pam Anderson hot, but being an attractive lady surely helped her land this job.  She is still young at 41, but a bit older than the 28-year-old quarterback.  This QB is a good looking dude.  He is wealthy.  He is an NFL superstar.  Meeting women is probably not a problem for him.  He is probably not really interested romantically or sexually in a married sideline reporter 13 years his senior.

Have you ever watched “Dancing With The Stars?”  Erin works there also.  She does a lot of ogling and cooing over the hot shirtless male dancers on that show.  For some reason the internet does not explode when that happens.

I also did not read anything negative into Erin’s reaction to “Baby.” Erin has had some real and serious harassment issues in her past, so she would have reason to be sensitive to ill-advised advances.

I am all about treating women with respect.  I have a daughter and a granddaughter; I know some men are assholes and treat women like objects.  Weinstein, Cosby, some politicians…all should have the crap beaten out of them and then be publicly humiliated as a rotten tomato target for the masses, but we also need to calm down just a bit.

https://nypost.com/2019/11/08/jimmy-garoppolo-cant-believe-erin-andrews-baby-comment-exploded/

If this QB was making an inappropriate pass at Erin as many, including  “body language” experts, claim, I wonder if he will be hit with a sexual harassment suit from the 320 pound lineman who he slapped on the butt after the game and shouted, “Great game baby!” 

I heard he was smiling when he said that too.

Clothesline

Clothesline

When is the last time you’ve seen a clothesline?  Not the illegal tackle with an arm to the runner’s throat clothesline, an actual line to dry clothes.

OK, those at the shore don’t count.  They are in every seashore back yard, but you only see towels and bathing suits on them.  I mean regular home back-yard clotheslines with towels, shirts, pants, socks et al hanging out to dry.

When we used to drive by apartment complexes in the city, there would be a line out every window.  The line would be on a wheel so clothes could be hung and moved to hang the next article of clothes, or bring in the dry laundry.

In our backyard, and the yards of most suburban homes was an umbrella type clothes line.  You could load it up and spin it around instead of the pull it in wheel type.

We had a dryer in our house, but mom insisted nothing smelled better than clothes that were left out to dry in the sun.  At some point I think mom decided good smelling clothes was not worth the effort, so the clothesline was only relegated for towels. 

She was right, towels do not smell as good out of a dryer as from off a clothesline.  

I wonder, did people talk about what they saw on other peoples clothesline?  Did they make fun of Mrs. O’Leary’s huge bloomers?  Did they just gossip in general while hanging and unhanging an almost daily laundry ritual?

I’ll bet you can still buy a clothes line rig, but I’ve not seen them in forever.   I know I have some rope that is still labeled as “clothesline” but it is for general use, not clothes.

Remember clothespins?  I liked the spring ones, they held BB cards in bike spokes the best.

It was a different world when there were clotheslines.  A daily ritual performed by every household.  A yard meeting place where gossip, recipes, and news were exchanged while performing the mundane chore.

It was a time when people actually “Laughed out loud”, exclaimed “Oh My God”, and would “See you later,” instead of lol, OMG and C U Ltr!

Bye Bye clotheslines, when we gain something, we always seem to lose something as well.

Wordless Wednesday

Finally on a roll