COLUMN: Sugar and spice?

Remember the sayings from years ago (I can’t imagine they are still accepted in this woke world of today) that little boys are “whales, snails and puppy dog tails”, and little girls are “sugar and spice and everything nice”?

Before I continue, log off the misogyny reporting site and allow me to explain where I’m going.

It has been an observation of mine over the past three or so years I have been writing about sports, including high school girls sports which back in my “caveman” years went unreported or under reported, that the description of girls as sugar, spice and everything nice, may need a little re-thinking.

I say that as I continue to ponder the whole whales, snails and puppy dog tails tag that was put on me as a little guy, but I’m not the one who came up with that.

This past weekend, I watched online a basketball game between the Superior Lady Bobcats and the Charlo Lady Vikings.

It can be safer than watching the games live.

There may have been sugar and spice but there was not an abundance of everything nice.

As the father of two very athletic young ladies, I had already begun to question the “nice” thing when it came to my daughters' participation in sports.

They were not breaking rules or playing “dirty,” but their tenacity surprised me to say the least.

My oldest daughter, who was a really good swimmer, got into weight lifting in her early 20s and this 5-5 “daddy’s girl” was soon in Washington state age and gender class territory for power lifting, particularly the dead lift where she could routinely heft more than 300 pounds off the ground.

I know that made a lot of guys in the weight room uneasy, but when the lifting was done, Tara became one of the sweetest humans on the planet.

My other daughter, a diminutive, quiet young lady, was a fireball in disguise. She excelled in swimming and diving and was stronger than most of the boys her age. One day at her high school some Marine recruiters were there testing boys for the number of pull ups they could do.

The top boy “chinned” himself 12 times. Kaley, in her shy manner, asked if she could try and promptly ripped off 21 pull ups. She later said she could have done more but she didn’t want to make anyone feel bad.

So you can see I had an early education in the “fairer” sex. Calm down you gender fanatics.

My point is, after watching the rough and tumble action on the court in Charlo this past weekend, I had to smile as I observed those sweet, sugary girls diving for loose balls, wrestling each other into tie-ups that resulted in jump balls, and clobbering each other during under the basket shot attempts.

Boys do these things too. Troglodytes like me expect them too, at least to a degree. Boys are taught to stand up and never back down.

Let me tell you, girls have been paying attention to that advice also.

Now this is not to judge anything either way. I was sitting court side at a volleyball game in Plains a couple years ago, looking down and checking my cell phone while the pre-game warm ups were underway.

Suddenly a volleyball, which somehow traveled a straight line parallel to the volleyball net, found the top of my head. Stunned and amazed, I checked for blood, then tried to smile and not show that I had my “bell rung” before the game started.

After awhile I wondered if one of the players was upset about something I wrote and sent that ball zinging toward my noggin as a statement. Whatever, the thing that amazed me was the force with which it impacted the top of my head.

Sugar and spice?

A few months later I was covering a basketball game in Noxon, once again sitting court side to get the best vantage for photos. An errant pass resulted in a ball that was heading out of bounds.

At the same time, I saw a “herd” of girl basketball players heading my way. Just before running into me, at least two of them jumped and braced for impact, which happened as their feet slammed into my knee.

I was stunned but proud that my male instincts quickly advised me to act like nothing happened, not let anyone see the inner me yelling “hey, that hurt”!

All of this has made me question the long-running thinking that girls should not play certain sports. Too rough for them is the feeble excuse.

I maintain football is not ready for the tenacity of female athletes.

Sugar and spice and a lot, but not everything, nice.