E98: What Makes an Athlete?

Show Notes

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Questions for Reflection

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1. What do you think makes someone an athlete?
2. In your opinion, is competitive eating a sport?
3. What’s the weirdest sport you enjoy watching?
4. Do you identify as an athlete? Why? What’s your definition?

Transcript

Beth Demme (00:04):
Welcome to the Discovering Our Scars Podcast.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (00:06):
Where we share personal experiences, so we can learn from each other.
 
Beth Demme (00:10):
Our mission is to talk about things you might relate to, but that you don't hear being discussed in other places.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (00:15):
Our hope is that you're encouraged to have honest conversations with people in your own life. I'm Steph.
 
Beth Demme (00:20):
And I'm Beth. On today's show, we're going to have an honest conversation titled, "What Makes an Athlete?"
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (00:25):
Then we'll share a slice of life, and the show will close with questions for reflection, where we invite you to reflect on the conversation in your own life. All right, Beth, number one, where are you right now?
 
Beth Demme (00:37):
I am in my office at home, which is like my little room under the stairs, it's my Harry Potter room.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (00:43):
Yes. Love it.
 
Beth Demme (00:45):
Remote podcasting, remote recording, whatever.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (00:48):
Yes, because I am at my house. This feels so 2020, Beth. Oh my gosh. So just FYI, pandemic is not over. And so we're just doing this because it's getting a little crazy here in Florida.
 
Beth Demme (01:02):
Crazy in Florida. Lots of COVID everywhere. I've gotten tested twice in the last week or so, negative both times. But just feeling a lot of exposure. We can remote podcast, so we will.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (01:23):
It's interesting. Do you feel, because I know you're big on like A's and passing things. So how does it feel when you fail a COVID test? Like, is that a good feeling or is it an odd thing for you, to fail?
 
Beth Demme (01:38):
Okay. So I actually did think about this, and to me a negative is an A-plus.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (01:42):
Yes. Yes. Okay. Okay.
 
Beth Demme (01:44):
So I feel like I've gotten to A-pluses recently, so actually I feel pretty good about that.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (01:49):
You feel good, okay, great-
 
Beth Demme (01:49):
And it helps that on the reports, if it's negative, they put it in green, which is Good. So that's helpful.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (01:58):
Yes. Okay. I've never had a COVID test, so I haven't seen that, but I think I would feel the same way. I was just curious, like, was that hard for you? And obviously, it was something you thought about, so there was a brain thing that happened there. It's like, "Wait, I want to be negative, okay-"
 
Beth Demme (02:13):
You totally pegged me on that one. I did actually think about that. Like tests matter, you guys. Tests matter. My performance on tests, it's important to me.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (02:22):
Well, today we are having an honest conversation. It might sound a little silly and who knows, we haven't actually recorded yet, so it might be a little silly, but this is something that we literally wrote down weeks ago on our schedule, as this could be a good topic. And today we're like, "You know what? Let's do it."
 
Beth Demme (02:41):
Because we don't agree about this.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (02:43):
We don't.
 
Beth Demme (02:43):
We have different ideas about what makes an athlete.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (02:47):
And obviously, me being the most sporty of all of us, because I was on the basketball team in high school, so this is something where I probably is eminent expert in, with my sporty past. And just to clarify, this is more of a joke because I was on the basketball team for one year. And our claim to fame was we never won one game. The closest we came was beating Maclay. And if you are in Tallahassee, you know that is just sad, that we couldn't even beat Maclay.
 
Beth Demme (03:21):
Well and they are a arrival, right. Everybody at Chiles wants to beat everybody at Maclay at everything. Sure.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (03:26):
They are a rival. They were just as bad as us, so it was just sad. We weren't good. We were the JV team. But anyways-
 
Beth Demme (03:35):
You're making it sound like I didn't participate in any sports in high school, and that is actually not true.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (03:40):
Okay. I realized I had no idea. So I was hoping I was right, but it sounds like I was wrong. What sport were you on because you probably will be more of an expert now.
 
Beth Demme (03:48):
Well, there was a time when I was part of the bowling team. They never actually let me compete.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (03:55):
This is good information. Okay. Keep going on. Okay, bowling team.
 
Beth Demme (03:59):
They didn't let me compete, but they did let me practice with them.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (04:01):
Okay.
 
Beth Demme (04:03):
And one time I got three strikes in a row and I thought, "This is my chance. They're going to let me compete." And they still didn't. And I also was in the marching band.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (04:15):
Okay.
 
Beth Demme (04:16):
So we're going to suss that out today. And I'm just saying, are people in the marching band athletes? We're going to see.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (04:22):
That is great. I'm so glad this came up because that goes along with some of my points. So this is great. I'm not going to even touch those right now. If we were putting on a scale of athletes; bowling team, marching band, versus basketball star. Which would you say is more athletic?
 
Beth Demme (04:44):
Basketball star. I mean, by my definition, I think someone who's on a basketball team is an athlete.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (04:51):
Okay. All right. So how did this even come up? Why were we even talking about this, Beth?
 
Beth Demme (04:57):
Because you think that competitive eaters are athletes, and I don't think so. How can someone eating, be athletic? I just don't get that.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (05:08):
All right. So I, during the pandemic... So no one can judge it, and we're still in it, but during the height of the shutdown, I-
 
Beth Demme (05:18):
Wait, wait, wait, pause. Pause. Are you saying that no one can be judged for anything they did during the pandemic?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (05:23):
No, for the hobbies and things they took up during, or things they watched.
 
Beth Demme (05:28):
Okay, all right.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (05:29):
Things they watched or like hobbies they took. You can't judge that because we were all you know... so I started watching people eat large quantities of food on YouTube, which sounds way worse than competitive eaters. That's why I said it that way, because it sounds crazy. But I started watching... YouTube recommended it to me. Thank you, YouTube. Also, why? But I started watching people eat large quantities of food, against the clock. So not against each other.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (05:59):
There's a ton of restaurants out there that have these challenges, where you have to eat a lot of food within a certain timeframe. And if so, you either get the food free or you get a shirt or both, or all these different things. And so I watched one, and then I watched another one, and then I watched them every day. And it's just so fun to watch. I don't know why, it is weird, but it's fun to watch. And my mom is totally into it now. She's a freak. We enjoy watching it, especially when we're eating, which is kind of funny, because we're not eating large amounts of food, but we'll usually like at lunch, we'll watch somebody eat a ton of food.
 
Beth Demme (06:37):
I used to watch a show on the Food Network called Man Versus Food.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (06:40):
Yes. So those restaurants that he would go to, a lot of these food eaters will go there and they'll say like, "This was on Man Versus Food." I've never actually seen one of those. I saw like a clip on YouTube of the guy doing it, and he really annoyed me.
 
Beth Demme (06:55):
I really liked him. I thought he was entertaining. He always wanted to like honor the people who had the restaurant and honor their history. And he did a good job telling their story, but nothing about him struck me as athletic.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (07:07):
So what I saw, I was not a fan of that. This is different, I feel like, based on having seen that. But I think-
 
Beth Demme (07:18):
Didn't you tell me I have to watch like eight episodes of something before I can judge it. Was it seven or eight?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (07:22):
Oh-
 
Beth Demme (07:23):
Kevin Can Go F Himself.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (07:24):
Kevin Can F Himself, and there are eight episodes. And you said you watched one, and you were kind of like, "Eh," and I saw, I said, you have to watch eight because there's eight episodes. That's why I said that. Because I was basically saying you have to watch them all. It just depends on what we're talking about, then I'll tell you how many episodes do you have to watch to get in to it.
 
Beth Demme (07:42):
Oh, okay, good. Okay.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (07:44):
I would say three. I would say three of anything is the best. Somebody told me that about Veronica Mars, back in the day, when that was on. Somebody told me, "You would like that show, but watch three of them. You watch the first three." And I was like, I saw the first one, I was like, "Eh?", I saw the second one, I was like, "Eh," I saw the third one, I was like, "Okay, I got to watch like four seasons now." So I would say three. That would be my opinion.
 
Beth Demme (08:08):
Well, I want to say, I don't judge you and your mom for watching the competitive eaters, because I do think that it is entertainment. And I do get that it could even have a sense of competition, but I don't think that's what it takes to make someone an athlete.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (08:21):
So I'm going to explain why they're athletes. So they train. They train with lots of different things. So they're really training their bodies to be able to take a certain poundage of food. Like if they're going to do a five pound food challenge, then they train their stomach to be able to hold five pounds of food.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (08:41):
And so sometimes when it get there and it change to like seven pounds, they're not prepared for that, and they might be able to do it, they might not be able to because they haven't actually trained for that. And what's cool is some of the people we watch, will actually show some of their process of training. And also it's just so... like they have to exercise a lot too, because they're eating like 10,000 calories, like crazy amount of calories. And so they are training their bodies to be able to do this.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (09:10):
And this is not something that just any regular person can do, because they will sometimes compete against a regular person that doesn't do this all the time, and they fail miserably. So if you ever are like, "Oh, I could do that." It's like, "Mm, no, you can't." So they are training. And I would say an athlete is somebody that trains and prepares themselves for their sport. And I think food eating is a sport.
 
Beth Demme (09:36):
I feel like that was very circular. They're training for a sport, therefore they're athletes, they're athletes because food eating is a sport. Foo eating is not a sport. What makes something a sport Steph?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (09:48):
Something that not everyone can do, and you have to train for it, in an athletic way. Like your body is involved in some way.
 
Beth Demme (09:58):
In that case, preaching is a sport. It's something people have to train to do, you have to have stamina to do it-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (10:01):
Go Beth. Go Beth. Go Beth.
 
Beth Demme (10:04):
So I don't think that that can-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (10:06):
I don't think that that is the same context because you're not putting on a performance for entertainment value, you're putting on a meaningful, religious experience. I don't know what you call your pastoring, but it's different than a sport. People are food eating for the pure entertainment of people to watch and marvel at their athletic skills. Like people don't marvel... well, I mean, people do probably hold you in a like, "Wow. Like she has made an impact on my life," but not how they would when they watch a sporting event. Okay, what is your number one sport, Beth? That you enjoy watching?
 
Beth Demme (10:51):
The sport I watch the most is, football.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (10:54):
And why is it a sport? And why do you enjoy watching it?
 
Beth Demme (10:59):
It's a sport because-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (11:01):
Actually, why are they athletes?
 
Beth Demme (11:03):
They're athletes because they're competing in a sport, and it's a sport... I don't know how to define it. But I think football is generally accepted as a sport.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (11:15):
Okay, well there's no debating that. Yes, a 100%, football is considered a sport, but it's had so many years of being defined as a sport. For me, I personally have never enjoyed watching football. I feel very uncomfortable with the whole concept of football, and the fact that it's very dangerous for the people playing; how much head injuries happen. I personally have never been into it. Also, it is so big where we live, that I also am like, "Why do we all have to love this thing?" I've just never been into it just because everyone else was.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (11:57):
So I'm not obviously debating that it's a sport, but how do we get new sports, if not... Oh, you know what? A while back, we talked about, I might've cut it out, we talked about something, and I told you that Quidditch was a sport, and you made fun of me. And Quidditch is in fact, a sport. There are teams, Quidditch teams in colleges, and in fact, the school I went to, UCF, has the very best name for their Quidditch team. It's called The Nearly Headless Knights, which is so cute because it's a play on the Harry Potter ghost, Nearly Headless Nick-
 
Beth Demme (12:31):
Nearly Headless Nick
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (12:32):
But Knights is their mascot at UCF. So I thought I was like, okay, proud, proud of that, of my school. And guess what FSU steam's name is?
 
Beth Demme (12:44):
I have no idea.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (12:45):
FSU Quidditch. Really?
 
Beth Demme (12:47):
There you go.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (12:47):
Could we maybe be a little more clever with that?
 
Beth Demme (12:50):
Simple, direct, clear.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (12:53):
Nearly Headless Knights is the most clear, cute name on the list. I will say.
 
Beth Demme (12:58):
I actually agree. I think Nearly Headless Knights is a really cute name. And my point when we brought up Quidditch, and I don't think that you cut it out. I think it did stay in, is that it can't be played in the same way as described in the books. It has to be modified.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (13:12):
So how was that not a sport? It's inspired by a book series, but it became real life.
 
Beth Demme (13:19):
Quidditch is more of a sport than competitive eating.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (13:21):
Your point is these are sports because we have accepted them for years, decades, centuries, as sports. That is your definition of a sport, which is, how are we ever going to create new sports, if that's your definition? It's a sport because it's always been a sport because that's what we've always accepted is sport. I'm saying, let's look at what these people are doing; how they're preparing their bodies, how they are mentally preparing. This is now a new sport. How do sports come about? You have to start them, and you have to start getting competition in them. And there is competition in food eating.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (14:00):
Sometimes they do compete against each other, but they're competing against the clock. And people are watching. I went to a food eating thing in Tallahassee, and there was a ton of people just watching people eat food, which seems really weird. And again, it was a little weird, but it was entertaining. People were watching them and cheering them on, like they would a traditional sport like football or baseball.
 
Beth Demme (14:25):
I agree that it can be entertainment. I even agree that it could have a competitive element. I just don't think that it is a sport. I don't think that competitive chess playing, as much as I thought that the show Queen's Gambit was amazing, and chess competitions, I have a new appreciation for them. I don't think of them as sports.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (14:45):
Is Curling a sport?
 
Beth Demme (14:47):
It's in the Olympics, so I think I have to say, yes.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (14:51):
But literally someone just boop, throwing a little thing and there's nothing athletic about that. And yet you're considering that a sport just because the Olympics consider it. So when the Olympics has competitive eating, then you will agree that it's a sport?
 
Beth Demme (15:08):
Sure. I feel like I can agree to that because I feel like it will never, ever happen.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (15:13):
There were so many sports in the Olympics. When you really look at it, there are so many things that you would be surprised are in the Olympics. So there's no doubt in my mind that one day it will be a sport. Because it's mind blowing what people can do with their bodies.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (15:30):
And that's what people, when people watch people play football, it's like, “Wow, the athletic skills they have.” It's the same thing with somebody eating a giant amount of food. They prepare, they have spent years perfecting this, they've gone through all this training, and it's something to marvel at, is to see what they can actually do with their bodies. Is rock climbing a sport?
 
Beth Demme (15:54):
I do think that rock climbing is a sport and it was in the Olympics this year, so that counts. What about, because I was trying to think of examples of this, like where people have to train their bodies to do something that most bodies can't do or that a body can't do without training. So martial arts, is that a sport?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (16:16):
Okay. We are getting away from the, “Are they athletes?”
 
Beth Demme (16:19):
Okay. Are martial artists athletes?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (16:22):
Yes.
 
Beth Demme (16:23):
Okay. Are boxers athletes?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (16:25):
Yes.
 
Beth Demme (16:27):
Are fire breathers athletes?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (16:29):
Yes.
 
Beth Demme (16:30):
No.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (16:31):
Yes.
 
Beth Demme (16:31):
How can fire breather be an athlete? They could be a performer, but a performer and an athlete, that's two different things.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (16:38):
It's actually very similarly the same thing. It's not exactly the same-
 
Beth Demme (16:42):
In your definition it is.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (16:43):
No it's-
 
Beth Demme (16:43):
But in mine it's not.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (16:45):
No. A athlete is an entertainer. Is an entertainer always an athlete? No. I wouldn't consider a standup comedian and an athlete.
 
Beth Demme (16:54):
Right. I agree.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (16:55):
I wouldn't consider a pastor an athlete. I wouldn't consider-
 
Beth Demme (16:59):
A what?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (17:00):
A pastor.
 
Beth Demme (17:01):
Oh, okay. No, I wouldn't either.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (17:02):
I wouldn't consider an actor, an athlete. There is training, but it's not the same as a physical act like rock climbing, like food eating, like-
 
Beth Demme (17:16):
Well, Opera singers have to train their bodies. They have to develop their diaphragms, have to develop their lungs. They have to do things that most people cannot do. I don't think of them as athletes. I do think of them as performers.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (17:30):
There is a fine line, but there are certain categories, like an actor puts a ton of… I mean, they do a lot of classes and a lot of training. They do a lot of emotional work because that's part of being an actor is like, spreading those emotions, but I wouldn't consider them athletes. I would consider them, actor, singer, whatever, I think those are their own categories because we've already categorized them. But I would never consider a food eater, an actor, or a singer, so I think there are things that belong in categories, but then when you have someone that is eating a lot of food, that's a athlete.
 
Beth Demme (18:11):
But I think they're doing it for someone else's entertainment, which makes them a performer.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (18:15):
They're a performing athlete. What is the Harlem Globetrotters?
 
Beth Demme (18:20):
Performers. They're athletes who have transitioned to being performers.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (18:27):
They're athletic performers.
 
Beth Demme (18:29):
Yeah. I would probably say they are athletic and they are also performers. I don't know that there's a category of something that is an athletic performer.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (18:36):
No. And that what I'm saying though, is they are an athlete and a performer, but you don't have to be both. You can be just an entertainer. You could be, well, I think most probably not every single athlete is also an entertainer, but I think that's a big element of being an athlete is entertaining. Is an athlete somebody that has a crowd watching them? Is that what makes an athlete or is that an element to an athlete?
 
Beth Demme (19:02):
Yeah, I don't think so. I'm thinking now about, isn't her name Naomi Osaka? The tennis player who withdrew from the open because the requirements to do the press conferences and things was… Just where she was mentally and emotionally that wasn't possible for her? Wasn't that Naomi Osaka?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (19:22):
I don't know her name.
 
Beth Demme (19:23):
She is an athlete, but she does not want to be a performer. Whereas I don't think food eaters, I think that is strictly about performing. So I would put them more as performers than athletes, and I would put a dancer on Broadway, I would say is more of an athlete than a competitive food eater.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (19:45):
Well, I just don't think that that's a defining characteristic of an athlete is, entertaining people or not entertaining people. I mean, do you consider skateboarders athletes?
 
Beth Demme (19:56):
That's a hard one for me. That's a hard one. I mean, I think that there are some people who can do amazing things on skateboards, and so if I think about the X Games or even again, the 2021 Olympics, I guess it became the 2021 Olympics, right?
 
Beth Demme (20:10):
But maybe because, I don't know. I don't know if it's the competition element. I'm not sure. I'm not sure what the distinction is. I just know that there are athletes who also are performers and there are athletes who are just athletes, and then there are performers who are just performers.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (20:33):
It feels like a very minded view of athletes to say, “I cannot open my thought process to a broader definition of athlete until the community at large tells me that they're an athlete.” That's what you said about curling. If it wasn't an Olympic sport, it sounds like you would be like, “That's not a sport.” Until someone of authority tells you that, “This is a sport,” or, “This is an athlete,” that you will not accept that.
 
Beth Demme (21:05):
I'm not sure. I'm not sure what you're saying. I mean, all I know is that I feel like if it's in the Olympics, it must be a sport. Do I think curling is a great sport? No. Do I think they're super athletic? No. But I would concede that if it's in the Olympics, it's a sport.
 
Beth Demme (21:24):
Because that is an international sporting event. I'm not sure that shooting is a sport, but it's in the Olympics, so, all right. I'll concede that that's a sport. But I don't think I can concede that eating is a sport.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (21:41):
Until it's in the Olympics and sports people tell you it's a sport, you won't open up that door.
 
Beth Demme (21:50):
Right. Because that's how it words work. Words have meaning, and so what a sport is, has meaning what an athlete is, has meaning, and if everyone is an athlete, then no one is an athlete. If everything is a sport, then nothing is a sport.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (22:08):
Who's saying everyone is an athlete and everything's a sport? Because I think competitive eaters are athletes, you're taking that to, I think everybody's an athlete?
 
Beth Demme (22:18):
No, I'm just saying that to me, the word has a different meaning and it's not as expansive as the way that you see it.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (22:27):
What is the harm in seeing specialized skills, physical specialized skills in someone? What's the harm in calling them an athlete?
 
Beth Demme (22:40):
There probably is no harm in it, other than it just degrades language. Because then the language kind of doesn't mean anything, but that's not necessarily a harm.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (22:50):
Okay. We got to be able to agree on this. Can animals be athletes?
 
Beth Demme (22:56):
Animals can be animal athletes.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (22:58):
So animals can be athletes?
 
Beth Demme (23:01):
I think in general, when someone says the word athlete, I think of that as a human, that they're describing a human, which is why I would say animal athlete rather than just athlete. I think of athlete as a person, as a human being. But I recognize that there are animals who are athletic and animals who compete in animal sports for the entertainment of humans, so I think I would just say there are animal athletes. There are athletes and there are animal athletes. That's how I would say it.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (23:33):
I mean, I think if you're talking about an animal athlete, you would bring up the context that they are a dog, so you wouldn't need to also add they're an animal athlete front of it. You would just be referring to a dog and say, they're an athlete. Like for example, I live with two athletes, they are racing greyhounds, and Mack was a very good racer, a very accomplished athlete.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (23:59):
And you can even see in their build, the different builds of their bodies, and you can just see how Mack is so much more athletic looking in her… When she's running, she has that defined, greyhound, all of those motions that you see, and when she walks, she walks very, her spine slithers like a snake. It's very cool to watch.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (24:24):
And Tosh just happy to be in the room. She doesn't really have all of those qualities and she was not the best racer, but she is spunky. She's like the underdog that got into the Olympics at like the very… Maybe someone got sick and that's how they got in, and she's just excited. She would be cheering everybody on, she would be so excited. Even when she wasn't racing, someone else was racing, she would be running alongside.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (24:51):
She would be so excited, but she wouldn't win because she just doesn't… Sometimes you could be so excited and have all the training in the world, but you just don't… There are people that are just born with the body type, they're just everything you need to be that athlete.
 
Beth Demme (25:08):
Yeah. A natural athleticism.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (25:10):
Exactly. And that would be Mack.
 
Beth Demme (25:13):
Yeah, I agree. And I would say that Mack is especially elegant. I totally see what you're saying. That there's something about her build that is especially athletic, especially elegant. Yeah. And I'm sure that it was amazing when she was racing.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (25:31):
Yeah. And I think same thing with a human athlete is you can just see that. You can see their body type is… There's people you look at and you're like, “I bet they're an athlete.” They have that particular build. And I think they're-
 
Beth Demme (25:50):
Yeah, and there… Sorry to interrupt. There're also people you look at and you're like, “Okay, they're probably a swimmer,” because they have very broad shoulders or gymnast are usually smaller people or basketball players are usually really tall people. So there is definitely something about body type that speaks to athleticism.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (26:12):
So it sounds like you have a very traditional view of athletes, sports, all of that. So I'm curious though, what's the weirdest sport you enjoy?
 
Beth Demme (26:23):
The weirdest sport that I enjoy watching is probably bowling. I really like to watch people bowl. I don't know. It happens pretty fast, which is interesting. Oh my gosh, but that makes me think of this. Okay. Do you think that poker players are athletes? Because that's something that people like to watch on TV now, and I don't think of them as athletes at all. They're competing-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (26:44):
Yeah. I don't think… No.
 
Beth Demme (26:44):
They train, but I don't think they're athletes.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (26:47):
I don't think they're athletes. No. Because again, it's still more of like a brain thing than, you're not really training yourself in a physical way, and you literally sit on your butt the whole time. I have a hard time thinking… I don't think bowling is a sport. I don't think those are athletes. I assume it's in the Olympics? Bowling?
 
Beth Demme (27:09):
Actually, I don't think it is.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (27:10):
Okay. Well, then there you go with your definition. It is not a sport, they're not athletes.
 
Beth Demme (27:15):
No. I said that if something is in the Olympics that I think I have to defer to the idea of it being a sport by definition.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (27:21):
But if something weird like bowling is not in the Olympics and it's definitely not a sport. Or they're not athletes.
 
Beth Demme (27:26):
But I think that there are things that are not in the Olympics that are also sports.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (27:30):
So you're just opening your viewpoint. You're opening the door so that you can get what you think are sports into your definition, but you won't open it enough to the things that you disagree with.
 
Beth Demme (27:45):
I think it's the opposite of that because I think what I'm saying is, there are things that I might not think of as sports like curling, but by definition, if it's in an international sports competition, then I guess it is a sport. Bowling is definitely iffy. I don't know that bowlers are athletes. Maybe that would fall more into performance.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (28:09):
It just seems more of a game. Is a game a sport? I don't think so.
 
Beth Demme (28:14):
Not every game is a sport, no.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (28:15):
Yeah. I don't think so. Because like monopoly, are monopoly players an athlete? No. That's just a game.
 
Beth Demme (28:23):
No.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (28:23):
I think there's games that you do for entertainment value for yourselves, and that's what I would see bowling as. I mean, maybe in the sense, maybe you have to do arm exercises to be a bowler, but I don't know.
 
Beth Demme (28:35):
I think that race car drivers are athletes and there's no racing in the Olympics as far as I know. Not auto racing. There's obviously foot races and swimming races.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (28:48):
Yeah. I don't think there is, and now I want to look at a whole list of all those… because there's probably so many that we don't even ever see, that are in the Olympics. Racing, yeah. I think racing, I think those are athletes. I don't enjoy watching it, someone driving around in a circle all day, but I mean, okay. Bowling, is that what you were saying, that was your weirdest sport?
 
Beth Demme (29:09):
Yeah. But now I'm not sure it's a sport, so I don't know.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (29:13):
Well, what's your favorite sport to participate in?
 
Beth Demme (29:18):
I like to play corn hole, which there is competitive corn hole now, and I don't think of it as a sport.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (29:25):
Okay, I was going to say, that's not a sport.
 
Beth Demme (29:28):
Yeah. But it was on. When there were no other sports on, during the shutdown in 2020, that's what they played on T.V.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (29:34):
Oh yeah, and some kind of a marble thing, there's some kind of marble thing, they also were… Yeah.
 
Beth Demme (29:41):
Yeah. Where they were on the tracks, and yeah.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (29:44):
I think there are somethings that are also just fun to put the terms to. I think the marble thing, that seems so silly, but it just was fun to call them athletes and to have it as a sports thing. So I think there's also things that are just fun to put the terms on, but it doesn't necessarily, exactly what they are and it doesn't really muddle the waters of athlete. I think is just fun.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (30:16):
It's just a fun entertainment thing to call them athletes. It's like the Puppy Bowl or kitty bowl or something, where they have cats, kittens, play in games and they call them athletes and stuff. And that's just for entertainment and they're calling them athletes, but they're obviously not. They're just a kitten in a big basket, getting out.
 
Beth Demme (30:40):
Did I tell you about the time I went and saw a circus that was all cats. Did I ever tell you that story?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (30:45):
Real cats?
 
Beth Demme (30:47):
Yeah. It was on our second trip to Russia and we were there over the Christmas and new year holidays. And circus is a big thing in Russia, and they have these dedicated buildings that are called to tsirk, which means circus. So there's purpose built buildings for these small circuses, and it was all cats. It was cats on trapeze, it was cats walking through fiery hoops, it was all sorts of trade cats doing all sorts of things. And the crowd went wild, I mean, it was such a unique cultural experience, but yeah.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (31:30):
Was it hard to see them? Weren't they small?
 
Beth Demme (31:34):
They're small, but the way that the building is built, it's a very small ring and everyone is sitting very vertically around it, so it actually was not hard to see.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (31:44):
Okay.
 
Beth Demme (31:44):
And there's a ring master, who's a human, who's guiding anyway. Yeah.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (31:49):
Did it have a pungent smell?
 
Beth Demme (31:51):
Not that I remember, but they had, I don't remember exactly the snacks, but it was the Russian equivalent of popcorn and cotton candy. It was just like going to some sort of event here. They just called it circus. So we went in and it was cats, we were like, "Oh."
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (32:10):
You didn't even know.
 
Beth Demme (32:12):
No, we didn't know.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (32:13):
That's great. That would be even better when you don't even know what you're getting into.
 
Beth Demme (32:18):
Yeah, somebody was like, “Do you want to go to the circus?” And we were like, “Yeah, that sounds amazing.” We went in, “Oh, that's what you meant?”
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (32:24):
Is that what they all are? Cat circuses? Or they just have all types of circuses and you just happened to go to a cat one?
 
Beth Demme (32:31):
I got the impression that they're all animal things. Small animals. So Steph, is there a weird sport that you enjoy watching other than competitive eating, or is that kind of the pinnacle?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (32:43):
Well, I'm so glad you asked it that way, because by the way you asked it, you actually acknowledged that competitive eating is a sport. Can't take it back it is recorded, oh, boom. Yeah, that's my weirdest sport.
 
Beth Demme (32:56):
I acknowledged that you think of it as a sport.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (33:01):
That's not how you asked the question. I really don't enjoy watching sports, that's not anything I've ever really been into, although recently, I was talking to an adult that was born in 2000, and she was saying that she wanted to go to Tampa to watch a ice hockey team play. And I was like, “Oh, well the Tiger Sharks, you could go watch the Tiger Sharks.” Then I was like, “Oh wait, I don't think they're around anymore,” and she's like, “What?”
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (33:31):
So that's when I realized that I'm old, because only a small amount of people know what the Tiger Sharks are, and you would have had to be in Tallahassee in the 90s during that, early 90s, I think. But anyways, it was reminded me, I did use to go to sports games when I was younger, like the Tiger Sharks, which was a hockey team. Hockey, right? Hockey?
 
Beth Demme (33:55):
It was ice hockey, and it was part of a league that I don't even think exists anymore.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (33:59):
No, it wasn't around for very long. Anyways, the whole story, my favorite thing about watching sports is the food. That's why I went. My dad would buy me the fun cotton candy and stuff, so that was enjoyable. So not really into sports. My favorite sport to watch would be currently, competitive eating. Other than that, I don't really think I watch any kind of sport. I enjoy skiing, I enjoy hiking that is probably not a sport, I enjoy doing it though. I enjoy kayaking, that could be kind of a sport, I don't know, is it in the Olympics?
 
Beth Demme (34:43):
I don't know. I mean, rowing, aren't there... Isn't there.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (34:47):
I think so. Well, the-
 
Beth Demme (34:48):
Which I know is different than kayaking.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (34:50):
That long thing.
 
Beth Demme (34:52):
The long skinny boats.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (34:52):
That's for sure.
 
Beth Demme (34:53):
Yeah.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (34:53):
Yeah. I don't think I would enjoy that.
 
Beth Demme (34:56):
I actually like watching those. I like the way the boats move through the water. Maybe that's the weirdest sport I like watching.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (35:03):
What do you call-
 
Beth Demme (35:03):
There a lot of sports I like to watch. I love to watch figure skating, I love to watch women's gymnastics, I don't really like men's gymnastics, sorry guys. I really love watching lacrosse, that's a sport that my son played when he was in high school and it's a really fun game. It's not often televised, so it's kind of hard to watch, but I mean, there are a lot of sports that I think are fun to watch.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (35:34):
We have so much fun making this podcast and we've heard from some of you that you're wondering what is the best way to support us. So we've decided to expand the podcast experience using buymeacoffee.com. You can go there and buy us a cup of coffee or for staff, a cup of tea, or you can actually become a monthly supporter, and that will give you access to PDFs of the questions for reflection as well as pictures, outtakes, polls, and more. The kinds of things that we would put on social media if we had a social media channel, but we actually don't for the podcast, because we decided from the beginning that we didn't want to add to more white noise in your life.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (36:09):
So one of the great things about Buy Me A Coffee is that you'll be able to actually get an email when we post new content. You can go straight there and you don't have to deal with ads or being bombarded with other content. You see exactly the content you're looking for without a bunch of distractions. We plan to post probably once or twice a week, and we're excited to get your feedback as members on our, Buy Me A Coffee page, which we are lovingly calling our B MAC page. So you'll be able to find a link in our description to find out more and to sign up.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (36:40):
Slice of life. What have you been doing in life lately?
 
Beth Demme (36:43):
You mean, other than going for COVID tests?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (36:45):
Yes. You have one. How many COVID tests have you had now in the whole pandemic sphere?
 
Beth Demme (36:51):
Three.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (36:52):
Three. Okay, I've had zero, but I was close to getting one.
 
Beth Demme (36:57):
You were. If I had been positive, you would have needed to have gotten one.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (37:01):
And I would have been positively angry at you, but-
 
Beth Demme (37:05):
Yeah.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (37:05):
Well, you were negative.
 
Beth Demme (37:07):
Yes, because the vaccines work.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (37:12):
Yes, they do.
 
Beth Demme (37:12):
So that's good.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (37:13):
They do work, but you can still get COVID.
 
Beth Demme (37:16):
Yes. Yeah. For sure you could have a breakthrough infection
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (37:20):
And you really won't get that sick. Yeah, I actually know a handful of people now that have been vaccinated and have gotten COVID, but had very limited to almost no symptoms. They were pretty much asymptomatic. Actually, one of the… We also watch... me and my mom watch Disney vloggers that go to the parks and share their experiences, and one of them actually just got COVID, but he's been going to Disney since they re-opened, and he just went to Jacksonville for an outdoor concert and that's where he got it. And he's fully vaccinated, and he said, “Get vaccinated. I know I'd be way worse off right now if I wasn't vaccinated.” So I think I applauded him for even sharing all of that.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (38:05):
But he was supposed to go to Disneyland in California the day before he got, or the day after, he had some COVID symptoms just a little bit. And he was about to travel, he's like, “Hm, I think I should go get tested.” He got tested and it was positive and so he pushed his whole trip back by two weeks. And he said it was no problem to change his hotel and the flight. They changed everything for him. So that was good to hear, but I very much applauded him for saying all that and doing all those things. Because I know there's lot of people that probably would be like, “I'm coughing, it's fine. Let's go to California.”
 
Beth Demme (38:41):
Well, it was interesting, you said he went to Jacksonville because that's definitely a hotspot. But also, just the way the world is working right now, it's hard to know when to get tested and it's hard to get tested when you're not having symptoms. And that's probably how it's spreading, Is asymptomatic spread, like what we had last year. So it's hard to know what to do, but I'm thinking specifically about schools just restarted here recently and-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (39:14):
In Florida.
 
Beth Demme (39:16):
Yeah, and there's no, at least in our school district, there's no digital academy. So if a student is asymptomatic, does do the right thing and gets tested, they will miss a week or two of school with no access to the instruction. It's a problem.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (39:37):
Yeah, and school hasn't even been open a week and there's already 22 COVID cases.
 
Beth Demme (39:42):
Yeah. 22 known COVID cases.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (39:45):
Yeah.
 
Beth Demme (39:46):
That's the thing, it's that the asymptomatic-
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (39:48):
Because some high schoolers could be vaccinated and be spreading the virus and have no idea.
 
Beth Demme (39:53):
Yeah. Right.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (39:54):
Well, I'm excited to see what next week brings.
 
Beth Demme (39:59):
Wouldn't it be great when the colleges here are back in session and all those folks are back in town and [crosstalk 00:40:05] they all had COVID last year, but they can get it again.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (40:07):
They get it again. Yeah. Second year, second case.
 
Beth Demme (40:13):
Well, speaking of things that should go away, but haven't, I like to bring you weird news sometimes, right?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (40:18):
Yes.
 
Beth Demme (40:18):
So did you hear about the chipmunks at Tahoe that have the plague?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (40:25):
No, what?
 
Beth Demme (40:25):
The bubonic plague.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (40:28):
No.
 
Beth Demme (40:29):
Yes. They had to close down some national parks and it turns out that this is a thing, and that they know they have to regularly test the rodents in the park, including the chipmunks, because the bubonic plague, which should have gone away, is apparently still a thing.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (40:45):
Because-
 
Beth Demme (40:46):
I thought of it because of the, you remember seeing the rat in New York city, and rats really, it's the fleas on the rats that spread the plague, blah, blah, blah. Made me think of it.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (40:53):
Did the chipmunks not get vaccinated? Why did the chipmunks not get vaccinated? Is that why this continues to spread, because there are ignorant chipmunks that think that they will not be that ill, and they just continue to go spread their chipmunk ways, and then the plague never goes away? Is that what's happening here?
 
Beth Demme (41:11):
It's all about personal rights for the chipmunks.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (41:13):
Okay.
 
Beth Demme (41:15):
Apparently the plague is a bacterial infection that just naturally occurs.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (41:20):
Oh, in chipmunks?
 
Beth Demme (41:22):
And so that's why they have to continue to test for it.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (41:26):
And what do they do if they test in the chipmunk has the plague? They give him medicine and they get better and go out into the world, and then everybody's fine? Is that what happens?
 
Beth Demme (41:35):
It kind of sounds like they don't do anything with the animals themselves, but what they do is they use an insecticide to try to get rid of the fleas. Because the fleas are actually the ones who spread it.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (41:50):
Interesting.
 
Beth Demme (41:51):
So they trap the animals, in this case, chipmunks, they anesthetize them and then they comb them and they take the fleas that they find when they comb them and they test the fleas. And if the fleas turn out to have the bubonic plague, then they go and they use an insecticide in the area. And they say, this is no danger to humans as long as you don't get bitten by a flea or a rodent that has the plague.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (42:27):
Okay. Well, that sounds like a big danger to humans. I get bit up all the time here in Florida. There's bugs everywhere.
 
Beth Demme (42:37):
I'll put a link to this in the show notes, but it sounds like this is sort of limited to the Sierra Nevada mountains, but honestly, I don't know.
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (42:48):
At the end of each episode we end with questions for reflection. These are questions based on today's show that Beth will read and will leave a little pause between, and you can find a PDF on our Buy Me Coffee page.
 
Beth Demme (42:59):
Number one, what do you think makes someone an athlete? Number two, in your opinion, is competitive eating a sport? Number three, what's the weirdest sport you enjoy watching? And number four, do you identify as an athlete? Why? What's your definition?
 
Stephanie Kostopoulos (43:21):
This has been the Discovering Our Scars Podcast. Thank you for joining us.