I Am Also... (Part 2)

Against my better judgement, I got a Dr. Pepper at the concessions counter before seeing the movie Snow White and the Huntsman with Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth. I am normally the type of person who doesn't get a drink at the movie theater, but figuring that it wouldn't be the end of the world if I missed a few minutes of Stewart's renowned acting in order to pee, I broke my movie-going rules. But with the crossing of a pond roughly forty-five minutes into the movie, I started to regret that Dr. Pepper.

Yes, despite it being a Kristen Stewart movie, I didn't want to miss any part of it by going to the bathroom. The movie that I had told my friends I was seeing for the special effects hooked me in, my eyes locked to the screen as I desperately sat on my feet and bit my lip.

Whether Stewart had suddenly gotten better at acting or not, the story line was brilliant. While they can't get all the credit (because it's an adaption of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves), the plot twists that they added to the original story were unique while still being believable. And the set and special effects were also incredible, keeping me in my seat as my bladder was about to explode. For once, the plot of a Disney Princess movie was not driven by a girl's desire for a perfect Prince. Likewise, the movie also strayed from the original by ending with the crowning of Snow White, instead of the Disney wedding with all the forest critters tearing up at the ceremony. Long awaited and surely needed, Disney has given us another heroine to look up to.

Don't worry, I am not a born-again Stewart fan; that's not what I spent three paragraphs explaining. As I regretted drinking my Dr. Pepper, I thought of another way to define myself (and no, I'm not going to say I have a small bladder, either). In addition to being a soccer player, track runner, high school student and jigsaw puzzler, I am also a movie buff.

I Am Also... (part 1)

Despite what many might think, I am not just a soccer playing robot whose sole interest is athletic competition. While I do spend a great deal of time either playing, or complaining about high school sports, I have other hobbies that i devote just as much time to (but perhaps not as much complaining).

One habbit that I have not been able to kick is my love for online jigsaw puzzles. Yes, I can spend up to two hours clicking together electronic puzzle pieces to reveal pictures that range in content from Florence, Italy to Pokemon.

Prior to last month, I have never really been a fan of puzzles. I didn't particularly enjoy smashing piece into piece, frequently bending-- or even tearing-- the cheap, thin cardboard slices. However, in the midst of a marathon session on www.stumbleupon.com, I "stumbled upon" a website called Jigidi. If anyone out there is looking to waste an hour or two (after reading all of my blogs of course... :P), try a jigsaw puzzle on Jigidi. It's fun, free-- and I promise I'm not secretly paid to solicit for them. The pieces don't break, and when they fit just right, the website gives a satisfying CLICK. 

Hi, my name is Carolyn Mazanec, and I am a Jigidi addict.

For those of you who are athletes out there thinking, "what the...", expecting another blog post about turf or Gatorade, I would like to point out that a jigsaw puzzle is another form of challenge. Jigidi does you the favor of timing how long it takes you to finish a puzzle, and so each new jumbled picture becomes an opportunity to beat your PR speed of completion. While I don't think jigsaw-ing is ready to be an Olympic sport, it is definitely an okay hobby to admit to as an athlete (or at least, thats what I tell myself).

In addition to being a soccer player, track runner, and high school student, I am also a jigsaw puzzler.

What It Takes

About a month before each high school soccer season, I get this horrible dread that pits in the bottom of my stomach. This is not to say that I don’t like playing soccer, or that in every second of every game I don’t spend 110% of my energy trying to outplay, outrun, and outsprint my opponent, leaving them sputtering in a cloud of turflets. However, just before my first practice each year, I have that same recurring nightmare of my coach saying “On the line” in a thick, Russian accent.

Although my usual approach to this dread is to ignore the problem and pretend that I’m not even going to play soccer until that first day (which is hard to convince myself of considering I haven’t gone a year without playing soccer since I was three), this year a Nike advertisement helped get me pumped for the season (and yes, you can click on the words “Nike advertisement” to watch the commercial).

Firstly, I am not trying to solicit for any brand nor am I saying that my sole motivation for playing high school soccer is the sports gear that comes with it. While the Nike logo is visible throughout the entire sixty-one seconds, this advertisement also promotes the power and strength that one can obtain by simply being an athlete. Despite the inspirational song that plays in the background, I am not fooled by their attempt to depict working out as fun. Running sprints, doing ladders, and crunching those abs is not fun. So why do I do it? Why do I endure the horrible dread that pits in the bottom of my stomach or get on the line after each practice? The answer is simple: Because I’m an athlete. Because I want to win and if running sprints, doing ladders, and crunching those abs is what I need to do, then I’ll Just Do It. And while I can’t say I’m looking forward to all of the stress and the pain, at least I’m ready for it.

A Good Sports Movie is Like a Designer Handbag.

A good sports movie is like a designer handbag. Each scene needs to be stitched together ever-so-seamlessly in order for the movie to flow naturally. While designer handbags are stitched with silvery thread, a good sports movie must be sewed up with quotable lines that are both unique and of high quality. They must also have a central theme, and aggressively stray from the plague of too many morals of the story, just as a purse should not have both zebra stripes and rainbow polka dots on it at the same time. And while you want there to be a moral of the story, you also want to avoid any cheesy lines that can make the underlying emotion in the scene seem false. Similarly, you want to avoid the knock-off Gucci bags in Chinatown, seeing that it will never be able to give you the satisfaction that the original can.

Although there is more than one bag or purse that fits this criteria, everyone has a favorite. Some people just simply like Juicy over Prada, with no rhyme or reason to it. As for me, I have simply always loved the movie, Coach Carter, directed by a Mr. Thomas Carter. While I love the movie for its brief shirtless scenes of Channing Tatum, I watch Coach Carter instead of Google-imaging Channing Tatum because of the knockout quotes that steadily stream from the screen.

"I came to coach basketball players, and you became students. I came to teach boys, and you became men." ~Coach Carter

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." ~Timo Cruz


These are just a few of my favorite quotes from Coach Carter, the moments when I get a chill from just from watching someone else say these words. Unlike a designer handbag, a good sports movie can have a lasting impact on you that can change the way you think about things. If there are any other sports movie quotes that inspire you, I'd love to hear them! And if you haven't seen Coach Carter before, I strongly encourage you to buy it on Netflix or Demand; it's much better than a designer handbag, and much less expensive.

Soccer Girl Probs

"Those who can celebrate Cinco de Drinko today, go drink your faces off....however, God be with those who have a game tomorrow #SGP."

After our annual pre-pre-preseason soccer meeting, one of my friends showed me a twitter account called @SoccerGirlProblems. With 93,600 followers, you know that her tweets must be hilarious, relatable, and under 140 characters. The account stemmed from a popular YouTube video called, "Sh*t Soccer Girls Say". In just under five and a half minutes, these girls are able to say all of the things that every soccer player has thought at some point or another. I would put this video right up there with the YouTube sensation, Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen or Jenna Marbles's videos. 

@SoccerGirlProblems is able to hit you on all electronic fronts... accessible on twitter, YouTube, and even on http://www.ourgamemagazine.com/?p=7057 . With so much to say, they need all the web-based outlets they can get. I would really recommend watching the videos linked above and checking out their blog and twitter account. If you're in the mood for a quick laugh, check 'em out!

The Benedict Arnold of the Twenty-first Century

Although its a name I can barely get my lips to mouth, a sore subject that I rarely like to bring up, I think it's time to talk about LeBron. Now nearing the end of the NBA season, there are a few things that no Cavaliers fan likes to bring up. With a term well-known to most Cleveland sports fans, this was a"rebuilding year" for our hometown Cavaliers.

So instead of succumbing to the disappointment of a weak season without LeBron, many Cavaliers fans have switched their focus to watching the Heat. As avid as we all once were in cheering for LeBron's victory, we now are just as avidly cheering against him, if not more so. LeBron has made himself, at least in the eyes of many Cleveland-ers, the Benedict Arnold of the Twenty-first Century.

I'm sure you reading this have heard of the many LeBron jersey campfires that ensued "The Decision" broadcasted by ESPN. In the video below, another fan finds a small hometown victory in the Mavericks victory over the Heat. In what little ways we can keep ourselves sane as Cavaliers fans, we find the glass half-full when LeBron is defeated after his betrayal of Cleveland.

Crazy Fan Reaction

The Silence of the National Anthem

I think my favorite part of a soccer game would be the National Anthem played at the beginning. Although it's mostly considered the one part of a two hour activity that could be cut in order to get us home before 10 on a school night, I would like to disagree.

No, I don't think that a girls highschool soccer game in Northeast Ohio is played in order to honor one's country. And I don't pretend to take it that seriously. However, I think the National Anthem serves a purpose each time its played as the men take their caps off. For me, it pumps me up. Standing there with my team, staring at the flag and humming under my breath, I silently prepare for my game. It gives me those 90 seconds to think for myself, without the constant stream of voices from my coaches, teammates, and parents. Its the time I take to breathe. In 90 seconds, I look ahead at the next 80 minutes of soccer I have to play, and think, I can do this.

So clearly, to me the National Anthem is not about the quality of song. Whether its a tape recording or the entire Cleveland Orchestra strumming along, I think regardless. And so, when a singer tries to make the National Anthem about them, I get annoyed. At the championship March Madness game between Kansas and Kentucky, The Fray sang the National Anthem for two college basketball teams, their coaches and staff, and a completely sold out arena. When I watched this video (linked below), I was floored by their confidence to think that they could rewrite the National Anthem, a song sung since 1889, and somehow think they could make it better. Although I am a huge fan of The Fray, I was definitely disappointed by their over-complication of a song beautiful for its simplicity. At best, I would call this a mosquito-like distraction to an otherwise exciting game.

The Fray National Anthem