Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Up the Bison

Brian Dobie has been the head football coach at the University of Manitoba since 1996. He's a 70 year-old man who's spent his entire professional career in football, one of the most male-centric cultures in American (or, as the case may be, Canadian) life.

Maya Turner is a first-year kicker for the University of Manitoba. On September 23, she became the first woman to compete for the Bison. She did more than just that. On the last play of the second overtime of Manitoba's game against the University of Regina Rams, Turner kicked a 21-yard field goal for the win. It was her fifth made kick of the day (three extra points and a another 21-yard figgie) with no misses.

We've seen female kickers before, even one who kicked for an SEC program, and I suspect we'll see more and more as women's soccer continues to grow and produce strong-legged athletes. But what made me pay attention to this story was Dobie's post-game message to his team. If you ever want a definition of what it means to be an ally, just watch this:

In Manitoba's next game, Taylor made two more field goals without a miss (from 26 and 32 yards) and converted all four of her extra points, making her perfect in 11 spot kicks this season. News about Manitoba football is a bit hard to come by, but it looks like the kicker who began the year as the Bison starter (Vinny De Rosa) is no longer on the roster, so Taylor may well be the starter for the rest of the season. 

At some point, she'll miss a kick. And I feel pretty confident in saying that her coach and her teammates will have her back. 

19 comments:

  1. The evils of socialism! I jest, this is very cool.

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  2. I encountered a needlessly large snake in the yard while taking zwoman's dog for a walk. Her dog is also needlessly large so she took me on a Nantucket sleigh ride when the snake fled the scene. I was going to say "when the snake ran away" but I don't think snakes run.

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  3. You want jokes? zson was helping me fold laundry and he held up a pair of zwoman's briefs and said "What is this?" and I said "Underpants." and he said "Whose underpants are these?" and I said "Your mother's" and we both laughed our asses off for 15 minutes or so. Nothing beats your mother jokes that involve someone's mother's underpants.

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  4. This is great. Didn't I see that there's a woman playing DB for Shenandoah U?

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  5. indeed, rootsy. she got into a game recently, made a play on the qb to disrupt a play. she looks a scrapper, but she's wee - like 5'6", 130 lbs.

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  6. mlb postseason really delivering the good stuff, eh?

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  7. just ran into peyton manning in the airport in denver. he says hey.

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  8. man of the people, flying commercial and all.

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  9. My taxonomic talents are most acute regarding insects and the half-dozen-or-so plants/trees around Millington Hall that Prof. Ware made us memorize in Ecology, however, I think it was a DeKay's brown snake or a brown garter snake.

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  10. ran into coach prime at a pregame pep rally this evening. he says hey.

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  11. I just sent this message to the Walgreens customer service abyss

    I’ve never seen ineptitude in a professional setting like at the Walgreens pharmacy on 21st Street in Norfolk, VA right now. The same car has been at the window for 48 mins and counting. People are getting out of their cars and yelling for their meds. Time has stopped. People have pulled lawn chairs out of their trunks. We anticipate cornhole boards and coolers will follow. There is no tailgate quite like the Walgreens pharmacy line. A cacophony of car horns fill the air. And yet… this is an experience superior to the one at the counter inside. Understaffed is one thing. The conversation at Walg-stock 2023 has turned to what is a more infinitesimal amount — how much the staff here knows or how much they care. Either way, it’s virtually nothing. When the riots come, and they surely will… this will have been the origin story.

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  12. That's some great, actionable feedback. "And yet ... this is an experience superior to the one at the counter inside" made me smile. Sounds a lot like the experience at my local TD Bank, America's most convenient bank (TM).

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  13. Looking forward to Walgreen's response...Someone probably getting ready to call you at this minute to offer you free film development for life. So ya got that goin for ya.

    Rob w/a couple of big brushes w/fame this week. Who's next? Mork maybe?

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  14. lexi thompson bogeyed 2 of her final 5 holes to shoot a two-under 71. she's currently one stroke off the cut line in a bid to be the first woman to make a cut on the pga tour since babe zaharias did it in 1945. pretty solid gowfing.

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  15. you are looking live…at folsom field on the campus of the university of colorado, where traffic is snarled and folks are hyped four hours before kickoff.

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  16. Solid College football weekend for G:TB. Whit, Mrs. Whit in waiting, and I just arrived in Columbia, SC. Meeting up with Mark tomorrow for SC/FLA.

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  17. this third quarter is one of the worst coaching efforts you ever want to see. buffs thought they had it won at the half, and they’ve played the third like it didn’t matter. snapping the ball with 25 seconds on the clock. very indifferent tackling. lack of attention to detail. interesting times.

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