Being Smitten Does Not Necessarily Make You Sexist!

I remember as a young man I would be smitten by beautiful women I would never get to know. It was a resignation that it was a one-time thing to behold this marvelously impressive being passing through my life with grace and beauty. Often there was the knowledge that because of divergent circumstances, I would probably would never ever see her again. I remember I would sigh and say to myself, “Wow, what a beautiful person!”

Guys and girls in my youthful crew, would often vocalize to our friends these fleeting feeling of awe and appreciation, but very few of us would find ourselves in front of a live microphone and a room full of reporters when we utter those words of “deep adulation.”

This was the case for Wisconsin’s NCAA basketball player Nigel Hayes, who found himself in an embarrassing situation at the Wednesday night media session with his top ranked Badgers.

But Hayes and his teammates have a penchant for ribbing the stenographers. In the run up to the NCAA championship rounds, the sophomore forward would go out of his way to interject large polysyllabic words into his statements. Over the weekend Hayes began saying a bunch of unusual words like “catawampus” to mess around with the stenographer assigned transcribe the press conference. The pressers are transcribed for the benefit of sports reporters who cannot be present at the event.

Just moments before Hayes made the comment about the stenographer’s physical appearance, the very same woman was interviewed about Hayes’s penchant for saying words to throw the stenographers off their stride. In this interview, she said she was ready for him, but she probably was not ready for what actually transpired!

Hayes has fast become a favorite of the attending press due to his antics and good-natured fun. One sports writer confessed that he is secretly cheering for the Badgers to go deep into the brackets so he could enjoy more of Haye’s antics. As Hayes set up in the Staples Center for a Sweet 16 showdown against North Carolina, he noticed that he was assigned Kobe Bryant’s locker. He tweeted his reaction to that stunning bit of news! When it comes to this young player, the fun never stops.

You can follow Will on Twitter: @willjwright