I was painfully shy as a child. So I never knew what to say when someone praised me.
But my father once told me that I should learn how to accept a compliment. I think it’s something that comes with age. And when you learn to accept a compliment, you’re more likely to give one, too.
But too often, those compliments seem few and far between. With the growth of social media and the Internet, everyone has found an unbridled need to share their anger, opinion and general negativity.
Compliments, however, are met with distrust, disgust, and general outrage.
So when sports commentator Brent Musburger complimented a pretty girl in the stands during a college football game, all hell broke loose.
A 73-year-old man calling the 23-year-old girlfriend of the quarterback “beautiful” was not to be had!
Apparently, nobody told Brent that there is a cut-off age at which men can look at women. Apparently, it arrives before the prostate goes.
And yes, Brent also identified the older woman standing beside her (QB, AJ McCarron’s mother) and included her in his overly-excessive diatribe (a whole 20 sec.) on the beauty of women in the QB’s life and how you too could get the girl (throw a football a lot).
But there was nothing happening on the field, Brent had time to kill, and the cameraman sure wasn’t moving from his spot.
And of course, it was proof positive that we live in a society where women are still subjugated to the role of sexual minion. No kidding.
However, I have to feel bad for guys who are trying to wade through the murky land of sexual roles.
At this point, I’d like to strangle a few women with their sports bras. Everyone’s confused and it’s not as if dudes have much to work with as it is.
But to call her “beautiful?” How dare he? Heck, I’m a heterosexual female and even I know she’s hot.
And forget the fact that as Miss Alabama, it’s her beauty queen job to be … well, beautiful.
Katherine Webb is more than her looks. She’s also good at strutting in a bathing suit and heels on a runway and she’s the girlfriend of the QB.
Okay, maybe she isn’t more than just her looks.
But she knows how to take a compliment. She was flattered. And she too has been confounded by the disproportionate reaction to a few comments between plays during a football game.
Musburger didn’t leer. He didn’t suggest. Nobody needed to shower afterward.
And if he went on a tad too long for some, just remember your grandfather or crazy Uncle Al who could tell a 10-second story in 20 minutes flat.
Fortunately, Musburger doesn’t seem concerned about the hoopla. He apologized – as directed by ESPN – and then promptly called a female reporter “smokin’” at the next basketball game.
Or maybe he said “IT was really smokin’ tonight.” Nobody’s sure and Brent isn’t saying.
Of course, it isn’t necessary.
