March Madness: Hoop Dreams

I have never been to a Cirque du Soleil performance, even though I've seen plenty of videos or TV broadcasts of many of their acts. Although I could do without the satellites of Eurofreak "extras" who serve, in my opinion, as little more than a constant distraction of weirdness to the many really amazing acts, I really do enjoy the really amazing acts. I suppose it would be nothing more than an uncharacteristically great episode of "America's Got Talent" if they didn't have their trademark freakishness, but I could still do without the gender-confused Frankensteins.

Back to hoops. Even when I was in my fittest condition (fast becoming a distant memory), I could never quite master the act of "hula-ing" a hoop for more than about three revolutions as it accelerated at 9.8 meters/second squared toward the ground. I have always been convinced that you had to have "girl muscles" to do that, sort of like that trick of bending at the waist, putting your head against the wall, picking up a chair and attempting to stand up...typically, only females can do that. So, when I stumbled upon this video, it was clear that the hula hoop was made for women to hula and men just to watch.

Trust me, men, don't try this at home. This hooper, Elena Lev, is a professional...and she's definitely got girl muscles.