You have to hear it to know it

In Hollywood women that have a lilt to their voices and curves like an hourglass have always been popular. In reality the average guy likes, marries, and has children with a woman that is more realistic and sexy. But there is an aspect of a woman in reality that mirrors those of Hollywood. Their voice.

To actually be more specific, women tend to have a higher pitch to their voice just as they enter and peak with their ovulation. Thus when a woman is most fertile her voice will have its highest pitch. And research seems to indicate that this is also incredibly attractive to men.

Now I realize at this moment that some women, and men, are reading this and saying, I never heard a difference. In fact I’m sure that a few guys will be tested by their better half to see if they really pay attention. But there is a bit of help in this report for them as well. It seems that this is not a constant pitch in a woman’s voice. It’s only in short simple sentences.

“The closer the women get to ovulation, the greater the increase in their pitch," Bryant [psychologist at the University of California involved in the report] said. The recordings revealed that the increase in pitch only occurred when women spoke a meaningful, introductory sentence, such as, "Hi, I'm a student at UCLA", and not when they simply made the sounds of different vowels. According to Bryant, this suggests that the effect may only arise when women were using communicative language.

Two years ago, Haselton published another study into female fertility and the monthly cycle, which suggested that women "dressed to impress" when at their most fertile, favouring skirts over trousers and showing more skin.”

The reason for all this is the same as a woman’s heightened sexuality at this time. It’s an intuitive sign for men to know that she is fertile. Nature is better than makeup, and works better too. The higher pitch is believed to be an effective signal, likely occurring as small talk (and a bit of flirtation) is on-going. So if you are debating which is better, Beethoven or Tchaikovsky, it may not occur.

Still I have to wonder about this. I can think of a few women that hardly have high-pitched voices yet are quite sexy. Marilyn Monroe is one that comes to mind, but she may not be fair as she was Hollywood (back when women were not required to be the equivalent of twigs). But Debra Harry had a sexy voice as well, and she is definitely feminine and sexy. There are others too. Though I’m not sure if they are the exception or not. Then again I’m just thinking of Fran Drescher, can you imagine how high her voice gets?

Oh and here is another clue for the guys out there. It seems that a study in Australia showed that women sway their hips more at this same time too. So if you are in a committed relationship, and a man in the true sense of the word, you now know when to plan for Jr. If you aren't please remember that condoms will not only prevent an unwanted situation, but they prevent HIV and AIDS as well as othe STD's.

College football: Tennessee vs. UCLA

For those that watched the UCLA – Tennessee college football game, I imagine the question in your mind right now is

“What was the Tennessee coach thinking?”

For those that were not watching the game here is a quick recap.

With about 3 minutes left in the game, in the 4th quarter, Tennessee had the ball. They were around the 20 yard line. And in the next roughly minute and a half they rolled down the field to score a touchdown bringing the game to a 21 – 17 lead. The game looked in the bag.

But UCLA was far from done. In roughly 40 seconds UCLA had a huge set of passes, the most critical being a 20 yard pass (as I recall) that was taken out of bounds and stopped the clock. In the next 2 plays UCLA muscled over to the get an expected winning touchdown with a score of 24 – 21.

But Tennessee was not done. With all of 34 seconds on the clock they came back up field to the UCLA 37 yard line. Now at this point they had 1 timeout and 5 seconds on the clock. The choices in front of them were simply a Hail Mary pass – which rarely works - or a field goal attempt. The kicker has a record of having 48 yards as his longest attempt. So there is a risk no matter which you choose.

There was no wind on the field. The Tennessee kicker looked like he wanted to pass out from the pressure. And nailed the kick, from about the center of the field, with enough height to presumably make the kick from at least another 5 yards back.

Tied game 24 - 24 and here comes overtime.

UCLA starts off and just romps on the Tennessee defense. They barnstorm across the field with little trouble, till the 20 yard line. They decide to go for a field goal and take the lead. From about 35 yards, and somewhat to the right, they nail it. Score now 27 – 24.

Tennessee takes the field. From the kickoff it’s apparent that they are being busted up. There was hardly any movement once they got up to the mid-field. So with 2 yards to go on 4th down and a timeout available the decision was made without a hesitation.

This is where I disagree with the coach. I think everyone would disagree with him if they ever watch football. I can’t imagine a single team in the NFL that would go this route. Football is about winning, making the tough plays – and the coach decides to go for… the tie.

In comes the same kicker that just made a huge kick to put the game into overtime. In my opinion he had performed well enough to up his value to any NFL scouts. Without question he had just pumped up his adrenaline to overdrive, and focused intensely to get his team into an opportunity to win. Without question he was at the bench catching his breathe and trying to cool down. And now he had to go back out and do it again.

So in one fell swoop the coach had stated he had no confidence in his offense that had been winning the game for about half the game. An offense that in the 4th quarter played hard to try to win the game. And no confidence in an offense where just the play before the quarterback had just had enough time to sit in the pocket and then decided to run, gaining 5 yards.

But the coach decided that a tie was the best plan. Because football is about ties. Because the offense doesn’t want to win. Because quarterbacks can’t throw and running backs are slow. Hell let’s be honest, 2 yards is just too far and a timeout is useless.

So from the far-right, at 34 yards, after having sweated his balls off on getting his team into overtime the Tennessee kicker came back onto the field.

As you might imagine from my tone I’m not pleased with the decision.

And the result bore me out. The kick missed and UCLA won the game.

I don’t blame the kicker I blame the coach. You go for the win. But if you disagree I’d love to hear your thoughts.