Show Student Life Monthly Review Page 23 i oM ran off with her red kickball Though she's never hit one since ("But shudda slapped few") she sort of laughs as she recalls how the uprising demanded the protection of her brother ("They started throwing clods at me So we had to fight back") In third grade Marie tossed her Hoppy Taw from the lagline onto the crumbley asphalt for the last time From then on she took to the field to s play ball with the gang She left jumprope jacks and other to the Missy Lou's and Kimberly's She would have done it three years earlier but third graders were not allowed onto the playing field She found little competitive satisfaction in I Consider Marie Green with her warm pleasant smile sitting in my apartment in her plaid cuffed slacks telling me what it is like to be a jock She tilts her head back a little when she talks as if she were relaxing after a tough workout at the gym She is careful not to slouch or cross her legs hillbilly style She is a lady consciously feminine in her dress speech and manners She wears a finely carved turquoise ring When first pondered an article on female atheletes at Utah State had visions of encountering a stocky gal with short black hair brawny similar to my own She would be wearing a grey shoulders and sweatshirt with "Property of USU Athletic Department" across the merchandise Ms Muscle would have bulky arms and chomp on multiple sticks of Doublemint during our interview In reward for any snide comments she would throw me across the room pin me and proceed to seat on me until said UNCLE! (Err AUNT!) met Marie But my vision and stereotype was shattered when of girl jock Green who is obviously a representative of a new breed The missing-lingirl is who is toned b£th physically and mentally I ! leg-ha- ir I I k disappearing Marie's hair was long and sort of a funky dishwater color the hue of hair that was blonde in the cradle While talking she looked at me out of the corners of her hazel eyes like a chick on her’second date with you confident but reserved (charming) She had no bruises or calluses to show for her athletic prowess and wears her "jock" image like a Steve Reeves family secret In no way does she resemble Three time a week see Marie saunter the halls after a short story doesn't No hiking class with a coed! She could belong to a sorority butlocker-rooabout no hint boots no florescent orange back-pacto identify This is her only a mild scent of perfume that am unable No No a not to say that she is a feeble fragile trembling little girl athletic trophies vanishes any miscon- display of her twenty-fou- r I m k I Yes YES Metal fused to marble in small nice big one with a lady memorails to Marie Let's see there'slikea an enchanted wand atop an baseball player holding her golden bat stone There is octaaonal pedestal rising out of a slab of grey streaked like a backstop for another one with a fine metallic feather standingon her shoulder There are hrome babe with a Louisville Slugger ribbons miniatures and grand ones Trophies CeAh°ves the trophies -- S'S— -v-"- "rr'S Bttle effort you could probably With a a for her trophies to make down-payme- nt collection on a small pawnshop "Nah" she says "I ust leave The closet'' Somehow a female carting around me feel uhm in- enough1hardware to furnish a sporting shop makes n'frrnte girly-game- in sandlot She was anxious to graduate from the sandpile to the All of this took place in the blissful protection of grade shcool where there were boys and girls but really no was just sort of a pleasant benign neuter That is until they showed THE FILM to the girls and the principal came in and talked to the boys Suddenly the sexes-everyth- ing s adults started hinting about things that most already had graphic knowledge about It was in junior high that Marie began to understand that boys and girls weren't playing on the same teams anymore She was surrounded by the petite little girls who were only interested in the Bill's Bob's and Jeff's who were just getting used to their new jock straps ("Hey which side goes in front?") Marie developed a lot of her competetive spirit because she is a twin In grade school they would never put them in the same class to reduce the natural sibling rivalry But as time went on Mike went his own way and left his siter seven inches behind at as he climbed to be sixth-grader- five-nin- e four Marie's challenging spirit was a survival technique in many ways Growing up in a neighborhood where tiny girls were scarce caused her to grow up with a rawhide sphere in her hand instead cf a doll Now she has a box of shiny trophies instead of a broken managerie of Barbie's Ken's and Raggedy Ann's Trying to establish an athletic tradition in the Green family I ask "Was your dad a big athlete?" Answer: "My father played marbles" Another great writing six-fo- ot doll-playin- g Betsy-Wets- y tangent down the tubes I change the subect kept wondering why a nice beautiful female would get a thrill out of playing catcher on a softball teatn center on a basketball team and spiking volleyballs You can go through alot of Freudian crap about aggression but the fact remains that Marie digs the adrenalin energy that shoots through an actor on stage a politician at the podium and a breathless athlete in triumph he will to achieve to excell indeed to conquer Richard Nixon Vince Lombardi Peggy Fleming I |