Did you see the Army/Navy game Saturday?! The one in which Navy won? (American College Football reference for our non-US friends.) The Mister and I are both Brats (he Army, me Navy) so it’s a big deal at Temple of Hecate. We dress in our father’s old uniforms, make the Progeny choose sides and hurl insults and couch cushions at each other all afternoon. It was a good game too, but Navy won so The Mister had to do the dishes. It’s the only game that if my team wins (which they did, GO NAVY!) I feel horrible for the losers because they are also military and I only want good things to happen to members of the military. Fortunately, MMA fighter Ronda Rousey feels the same way. In August, Ronda was invited to the Marine Ball by Lance Corporal Jarrod Haschert. She accepted his invitation but suffered a crushing defeat at the feet of Holly Holm in her UFC title fight a month prior the Ball. There was much speculation as to whether Ronda would be able to attend, let alone if she would. She was and she did:
… as she was heading to the ball early Friday, Rousey told TMZ, “I promised I’d go. It’s an honor to be asked.”
In fact, she said, it gave her a reason to leave the house, as she continues to cope after her decisive defeat against Holly Holm in November.
(It was the rescheduling of that fight that freed up Rousey’s schedule in order to attend the ball, according to ESPN.)
“Honestly, I probably would stay on my couch crying and eating ice cream for like another month if he didn’t ask me to go,” Rousey told TMZ.
“After the fight, she never hesitated for a second whether or not she was going to attend,” a Rousey source told ESPN. “She made a promise to a Marine and was going to keep that promise. It was as simple as that. That’s Ronda.”
I love everything about this; I love that Ronda gladly honored her word, I love that she credited Lance Cpl. Haschert with helping her get over the fight and I love that she eats ice cream and cries like I do when life kicks me in the teeth (albeit it not quite as literally as when that happens to Ronda).
As you may remember, there was a rash of members of the military inviting celebrities to their Balls (I *should* be sorry for how that sounds). Mila Kunis was issued the first invitation and gracefully attended. This prompted her then co-star Justin Timberlake to take a vacation from Doucheland and accept his own invitation. Scarlett Johansson famously declined her invitation but offered to get everyone drunk as recompense. I am of two minds on this; on the one hand, military personnel deserve to have these sensational moments. On the other hand, sometimes it is impossible for the celebrity to reschedule or attend the events because if they say yes once, how do they say no to someone else? If they have to say no, that’s rough on everyone: the asker is embarrassed and the responder is vilified, deserved or not. Maybe we can set up a secret channel for members of  the armed services to ask celebrities to functions. The invitation/response will only go public once accepted – everyone saves face and gets the publicity they want! I think up solutions all the time, how am I not a mover and shaker in Hollywood?
I am inviting Scarlett Johansson to my Christmas party because I need someone to supply the booze.
Ronda Rousey is shown out with her boyfriend, Travis Browne, last week and at a media event in late October. Credit: FameFlynet and WENN.com
It’s great that she honoured her commitment, but I think she’s kind of an awful person. Confidence is awesome, but what she has is just arrogance and the attitude of bully. To be a champion you need to act like one, not once has she congratulated Holly Holm.
Her (own) Instagram comments before the fight are cringeworthy. She could learn a little about good sportsmanship…
+1
But this is a fight tactic. Have you ever watched videos of Muhammad Ali trash talking? Or Tyson? Or Mayweather? This is the game. Male professional athletes do it all the time and nobody bats and eye.
Uh, yeah I’m familiar. Did you see their face off tho? And did you read her IG comments? She went way too far IMO, and then she got her ass served to her on a platter.
Here’s a mashup of Conor McGregor trash talking prior to the title fight on Saturday. McGregor was relentless. Nothing is sacred, it’s a part of the hype. I don’t fault Ronda at all.
http://youtu.be/LY7r-DwtjD8
This is part of the UFC. 99 percent of the guys who fight do the same thing, but nobody ever has a problem with that.
Thank you. Holly Holm is a class act for sure. We’re super proud of her here in Albuquerque!
Google “most intense mma faceoffs”. Again, men do it all the time and nobody gives a damn.
I agree Holly is a class act but @Jae is right in saying men do it all the time but no one is giving them crap. Why is that?
Because it’s generally accepted that the guys are massive douches? People like watching a guy like Mayweather fight, but no one likes him. A big part of his success is down to the fact that so many people want to see him be beaten to a pulp someday.
Rousey was marketing herself differently, she put her personality centre stage, like a celeb not an athlete. People liked her and not just because of her work. So when it turns out she’s just another arrogant douchebag of course people are going to be turned off.
My friend actually was at the UFC fight against Holly Holm. And apparently we don’t see it, but Holly instigated first, and then acted innocent to make Ronda look like the ‘bad’ one and Holly the nice one.
And she said Holly was super rude to fans, wouldn’t sign anything, whereas Ronda spent like 1 1/2 hours signing and taking pics.
If you look closely at the video of the weigh-in you will see that Ronda rushes Holly, initiates contact, pulled Hollys arm into her own face and then throws a tantrum about it. She can dish it out, but she can’t take it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7sAtoQiz08
I get knocked down, but I get up again…
It’s good that she went. She’s got a little attitude problem and this could be a start to overhauling that.
I think that Ronda is an amazing person.She has been through A LOT and she came out of those challenges stronger ,so good for her.She donates a ton of money to charities .She is very emotional and also speaks her mind all the time which makes her look pretty bad.
She is crazy talented,works hard and she is brilliant IMO
She looks pretty bad when she speaks her mind?
WOW. I can actually remember a day when it was an issue of integrity to speak one’s mind. I can even remember a day when a woman speaking her mind was respected.
Emotional people who speak their minds are always misunderstood,thats why I said she looks pretty bad when she does that.
Your double-explanatin isn’t really helping. I don’t care for the notion that a woman “looks bad” and “is emotional” when she speaks her mind. It used to be cool to have passion and to feel strongly about your views – even if they turned some people off. Nowadays everyone is butt-hurt over a never-ending laundry list of real or perceived offenses, so anyone with an unapologetic opinion is deemed “emotional” and “sounds bad”.
She looks pretty bad when she speaks her mind because she is ignorant. It has nothing to do with her being a woman.
She has an IQ of 130+ and she was top of her class in all her science classes.
@snusnu – High intelligence does not equate to being a decent person… unfortunately..
She’s transphobic, she’s dating a woman beater, she’s made racist comments before and openly insults women who don’t live like her (and says she would love to punch them/break their nose). I don’t know how that makes her “amazing” tbh
I think her mum is more of the amazing woman. She’s done some incredible work with Native Americans.
And interesting fact about Ronda’s family though – her great grandfather was one of the first black men to go to medical school in Canada after he was rejected from schools in the United States
Agreed, not only is she dating a man accused of domestic violence , she also started dating him while he was still married.
“She’s transphobic, she’s dating a woman beater, she’s made racist comments before and openly insults women who don’t live like her (and says she would love to punch them/break their nose).”
I’m no Rousey apologist but she is hardly transphobic or racist. What she said about Fallon is probably what most women would have said if they had to fight her. Though Fox Fallen is transgendered she was still born with male hormones which in general would make her naturally stronger than you and me. That’s what Rousey was saying. Imagine you or me getting into a fight with Caitlyn Jenner. Though she is now transgendered she would still most likely kick our ass. How would that be a fair fight? The media took that and ran with it calling her transphobic. And please tell me how is what she said about Mayweather racist.
It would be said if she was racist being that her maternal great grandfather was a Black Civil Rights Activist.
THANK YOU. She absolutely is transphobic. Look up her disgusting comments about Fallon Fox.
I remember what she said and though she didn’t say it in the most politically correct way she had a valid argument.
Imagine Mayweather becoming a transgender and now he wants to fight as a woman in the MMA. Though he is now a woman would that be a fair fight against other women?
@V4Real – not every comment Ronda has made is about Floyd. she made some racist comments on TUF among other offensive things she’s said over the years.
With Fallon no one knows how long she’s been taking female hormones and she has been fighting against other women before and no ones had a problem. It’s just that Joe Rogan, Dana and many UFC execs are incredibly sexist and transphobic.
@Anna but you’re leaving out the part that Fallon was already fighting and had bouts before she came out as a transgender. No matter how many female hormones she had been taking she’s stronger than you and me, simply because she was weight training and working out as a fighter. She maintained some of her muscle mass from when she was a man. Right now Caitlyn Jenner could probably kick our ass because she also works out to some degree to maintain some of her muscle mass.
I love Ronda, even though sometimes she’s a pain in the ass. I’m interested on anything about her, guess I can call myself a fan. I also liked that she lost the fight, she was getting too used to always win and it’s not good for anyone’s character.
Ugh. I know this will be unpopular, but I think professional fighting is disgusting and should be banned. It exploits the poor and represents everything barbaric in our society. Now we have women in bikinis boxing as well. Great. What a huge step forward.
It’s not an unpopular opinion with me. Watching people beat each other bloody for sport does not appeal at all.
Agreed with everything you said. Good for her for honoring her commitment, but ugh on these matches. Someone described them as bar room brawls w/o the bar, and that about says it all. Find it curious that there continues to be more written about Ronda than the winner Holly.
+1 I don’t get it, never will.
I too find it disgusting and bizarre. I can’t understand the millions of people who enjoy watching this.
i totally agree with you GNAT
shallow note: i think her military date is adorable, 100% upgrade from her actual boyfriend
I take offence to this. Before I started training MMA, I was in an unhappy relationship, isolated, out of shape. Blah and boring. Training gave me strength and COURAGE, as trite as that may sound.
Guess what? I feel incredibly confident that I can walk around knowing I can protect myself from harm. So many women say stuff like, “I can’t protect myself, I can’t walk at night”. The feeling of knowing I can kick ass if I need to gives me something I can’t explain.
Instead of staying in my shit, I learnt to fight back and TRAIN my body. Hard. The confidence transfered to other areas. Martial arts actually encourages an incredible amount of peace and respect for others. I know fighters personally and how they are outside of the ring. Most are peaceful people.
You need to understand, fighting is fighting. Sparring is technique. We don’t fight like what you see on a three minute YouTube snippet when we train! If you take a fight in the ring that’s only a few times a year MAX. Otherwise, it’s headgear, shin pads, mouth guards. Lighter and much less intense.
Want to talk barbaric, look at football and the head injuries it can induce. Fighting is a sport and a technique which takes dedication, perseverance, sportsmanship and skill.
I’m glad it gave you confidence. I admit it takes skill. Every woman should know how to defend herself. But I’m sorry, it still sickens me. We should be beyond wanting to watch two human beings beat each other. And two women in bikinis beating each other up is every sicko’s fantasy. I’m not judging you for liking it, and I am glad, truly, that you found something to help you take charge of your life. I just can’t go there with you.
For what irs worth, I hate football, too. But, when the coaches do what they are supposed to do, football at least theoretically has built in protections and the purpose of it is not simply to beat the other person unconscious. I don’t see anything wrong with the training atmosphere you’re talking about with protection for your head, but once that comes off, I think it’s just too dangerous. Should that be my decision? Probably, no, it should be yours, since it’s your head. I just don’t like it for all the reasons I stated. I am sorry you take offense to it, but I can see how you would. We probably won’t ever agree on it, but thank you for sharing your point of view intelligently and politely.
GNAT
With you all the way here. The act of beating another person to serious injury makes no sense to me. It may require training, but hardly an honorable sport. Especially with how dirty some take it.
GNAT sorry if I’m being an idiot, but who’s fighting in a bikini?
I don’t generally watch it but I don’t have a problem with two consenting adults doing what they like with their bodies. Which, in the end, is what this is.
OMG. Thank you so much for saying this. I was eating dinner with my husband at Applebee’s (I know, please forgive me) and the women’s fights were on their T.V. It was the fight before she got KO’d. I asked the server to have the channel changed….to anything. I tried to watch the women fight but it was so barbaric and gross. I think that about any fighting and I don’t watch it. But seeing two women going at eachother was seriously disturbing. Why? IDK. I guess because we’ve seen men fight all our lives and even though I hate it, it’s been accepted by society for eons. I’ve never seen women fight like that and as much as I hate seeing men fight, this was even worse. I’ll never understand the fandom for violence for the sake of violence. I was mad at Applebee’s. I lost my appetite and I told them that.
I don’t care about boxing – actually, I hate it. But anyone who stands by a promise to a Marine is cool in my book.
Not a fan of the sport, but she works hard and is very open about how hard she has to work. Nothing has been given to her.
She makes bad life choices and has sad horrible things. I can think of a few celebrity women who have done the same, and we call them strong women.
Love the mental picture of Mr & Mrs Hecate in their dads’ old military uniforms — I assume not old football uniforms? — watching the game.
I know nothing about this woman other than she lost a fight or something? I don’t get why people think she should curl into a ball at home and never go out again. People fail all the time. The key is to pick yourself and move on. Which she seems to be doing. So yay Ronda, way to make some Marines happy.
Because Rousey was undefeated. No one could even get close to her and Holm, from out of nowhere, absolutely destroyed her in that fight. Plus, Ronda talked waaaay too much ish about Holly pre-fight, like took it beyond the regular hype and into just bad behavior territory.
I think Ronda is a fantastic athlete. But as a person, I have my reservations… That being said, It was fantastic she honored her invitation.
On other news… Temple of Hecate?! I think I want to know more about it…
I hope you can become a mover and shaker in Hollywood. But can you please gives us intel?
I don’t get “waching people suffer” as a sport either, but the ass kissing of MURDERS ?!?! Their good intentions -defendingtheir country-are clear, but the fact is they got duped by their country to risk their lives AND TAKE OTHERS so the US can be the Empire it wants to be, that is each person’s responsabilty as a citizen of the world, THAT PLACE WERE MILLIONS OF INNOCENT AND AS-BRAVE-AS-A-MARINE not only die but have shitty lifes because of the ignorance of the American people, YOU HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY (Uncle Ben would say) to not effing kill everyone so you can have all the water and oil. PS: Isn’t known that college football puts its students/employees in life jeopardy (like all American football does) but Without giving them the millions that would get in professional football, thus robbing them of their money, brain and future?? Not clicking on this Hecate person’s posts EVER AGAIN.
i believe you meant “murderers.” And “Uncle Sam.” Uncle Ben is the guy with the rice. Great post about how stupid everybody else is, though.
Yes, American football is dangerous. However, the post mentioned the football rivalry between Navy and Army. When I was younger, I dated a cadet from West Point and it was a big deal to watch the games. BTW, he was he was an athlete there and got an incredible education. I think you raise important points. However, the way you addressed them, in my opinion, closes the door for an open dialogue/discussion. Football is a dangerous sport, so are other sports, especially at a professional level. But we do not talk about them either…
What little sense you make is cancelled out by your offensive blanket statements that Americans are ignorant and we only wage war soley to be an empire and steal all the world’s water and oil. If that isn’t ignorant, I don’t know what is.
People who go into the armed forces know they will be fighting for this country should we go to war with anybody over anything. Just because sometimes soldiers fight for causes they don’t beleive in or may even think are wrong, does not mean they were duped. It only means they have taken an oath to keep their own political views out of it.
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly some foreigners are to call us war mongers, and yet if your country were being attacked, who is the first country you’d call on for help? The U.S.!!!