A few sports-related items to get your blood pumping this weekend:
Season Two of Workout, starting lesbian fitness trainer and entrepreneur Jackie Warner, starts Tuesday, March 20. Aside from watching Jackie work out her body, we get to see her working things out with girlfriend Mimi. The two broke up at the end of last season, but are apparently trying to reconcile. Personally, I thought last season focused too much on the interpersonal dynamics of Jackie’s gym, and too little on the training and business aspects of Jackie’s world. Maybe it’s just that I’m getting all the dyke drama I can handle from The L Word right now. Or maybe it’s just that I really really want to know how to get abs like Jackie’s.
On a sad note, gay trainer Doug Blasdell, who appeared on the show last season, passed away this past January from a brain tumor. His death, and the cast’s reaction, is chronicled in the last few episodes of this season.
- The Women’s NCAA Basketball Championships start March 17. A scandal has hit the sport, however, as Louisiana State head coach Pokey Chatman resigned this week amid allegations of sexual misconduct with a former player. Whether the accusations are true remains to be seen, but I hope this isn’t just another unfortunate case of lesbian-baiting. If the rumors are true, I hope the situation is dealt with as would any inappropriate situation involving a coach and player, but not used as a global example of “predatory lesbians.”
- And because I have a penchant for small, obscure sports, I’ll note that the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is underway. Four-time winner Susan Butcher sadly died from leukemia this past August, but left a legacy that is both inspiring and tough to follow, for both men and women. This year, eighteen of the 109 mushers are women. Aliy Zirkle, in 12th place, is the lead woman at this point in the race.
- Finally, if all this talk of sports inspires you to hit the gym harder, Lifehacker has a helpful post on how to prevent sore muscles.
The Iditarod has a long, well-documented history of dog deaths, illnesses and injuries. For the facts: http://www.helpsleddogs.org
People are responsible for their deeds while they are alive. Susan Butcher’s dogs died in the Iditarod in her effort to gain fame and fortune. One of the dogs usedby Butcher in the 1994 Iditarod died from exertional myopathy, otherwise known as “sudden death syndrome.” Another dog used by her dropped dead in 1987 from internal hemorrhaging. Several were injured and killed by moose. People who love their dogs don’t make them run in the Iditarod.