If you're like me then going to the gym is a task where you want to get in, complete your workout, and get out.  I don't need to mingle with people, I don't need to show off to anyone, and I don't need to do twelve different butt lunges to feel like I got a full workout.  All I want to do is listen to my music, get my sweat on, and go home.

There's one other thing I love to do though.  I love to watch people.

I think most people enjoy watching others while at the gym.  You want to see how fast they're running, how much they're lifting, or what they're doing.  It's not really a competitive thing, just an intrigue thing.  If you're going to the gym then you're basically putting yourself out there for everyone to watch you in a vulnerable state anyway.  You might as well make the most out of it.

Some people at the gym are a little on the peculiar side to say the least.  These are the people that catch your eye every time you're there. These aren't fat people, these aren't weak people; these are the people who just can't act normal while at the gym. I don't care what you look like at the gym, I care more about how you act while you're there.

Here are the top ten types of people I see:

10) The Portly Friend

This is the guy that you randomly see walking around to every machine, following his friend who is the member at the gym. He's typically out of shape and thinks that this one workout is about to change his life. Usually he has no clue what he's getting into and you can tell this from the attire. Jeans, T-shirt, backwards hat are the normal garb. Sweat rag draping the shoulder to catch all the perspiration. You won't see the same guy again, but you'll see many just like him.

9)  The Senile Senior

Not to attack the elderly, but gyms these days aren't like the 1950's. Community showers are out-of-date and so is walking around with your balls hanging out. These are the men that clamor around the tight locker room butt naked rubbing all up against anything in their path. They'll seriously just stand in the middle of the walkway having a conversation with a friend or themselves just feeling the breeze on the nether regions. Everyone knows this guy. Hopefully people don't turn into it.

8) The Know-It-All Trainer

Trainers are fine when they don't bother me. Actually I hate trainers. This is a job that takes absolutely no brain power; stop acting like it does. There is nothing more annoying then finishing a set of weights and you see this tool looking dude start strutting over to you to tell you that your deltoid didn't hit a 90 degree angle. He then proceeds to hop on the bench to show you what a clean jerk looks like. If I don't ask for help, which I never do, then I don't want it. Go back to making protein shakes behind the counter.

7) The Gossip Girls

Typically these are middle aged women who think its BFF time while at the gym. They walk around the cardio area until they can find two treadmills together, since everyone needs a buddy while on the treadmill. They grab their People or US Weekly magazines and proceed to have a conversation for the twenty minutes that they are power walking. I don't need to hear about Brangelina and I'd rather not hear your voice either. Thankfully God invited iPods.

6) The Gay Guy

I'm not a homophobe. Not a fan, but not a hater. I understand gay people need to work out too, but just tone it down a tad. You can spot these guys from a mile away with their tight little shorts and their tank top on. They never come by themselves either. They always bring their entourage of one other guy. You'll see them chatting up a storm with a bunch of females as well, since females love gay guys. I guess they could be grouped with the gossip girls actually.

5) The Juicehead

Every gym has them; they all look ridiculous. I get it, you have humongous muscles and it's your passion in life. Congratulations son! All these brutes workout together, sharing supplement secrets and cycle stories. They're actually pretty entertaining to watch. If they add a single pound to their squat then the entire group rejoices and will reminisce about it for the whole week after.

4) The Anorexic Alien

I'm sorry, but someone needs to tell this girl that bony isn’t a good look. This is the girl that is on the elliptical for at least an hour everyday and she is already 80 lbs and thinning. I guess this is the reciprocal of the juicehead. I don't know what's worse, the muscular chick that could beat you in arm wrestling or this weird looking thing that is shriveling up day by day.

3) The Treadmill Tool

I never experienced this type of guy until recently. I'm on the treadmill doing my normal workout and a guy jumps on next to me. That's fine. This dude proceeds to turn the treadmill into his own jungle gym. He's running backwards on it, doing spin moves, running sideways. Seriously, what is wrong with some people? It got worse when his friend jumped on next to him and started doing the same moves. It felt like synchronized tread millers pulling off the worst dance moves I've ever seen. These are guys in their mid 30's too. I don't know what anyone could be training for that they would need to do spin moves on a treadmill. Maybe they're playing Madden football on the Wii or something.

2)  The Buterface

Everything is great but her face. So many of these girls at the gym. These are the girls that look great from the neck down. They are always working out and are always toned nicely, but their face looks like a constant fart is coming out of it. I know they can't control their facial features per say, but they also think they are queen shit. They're constantly just walking around the gym trying to chat it up with every dude that wants to give them attention, which there are many. They look like snots and probably are. Someone grab a paper bag, tell them it's Gucci, and have it become the new fad to wear it over your head.

1)  The Creepster

Nothing is worse than the creepy middle aged man at the gym. He's not just creep to the girls; he's creepy to the guys to. Typically I see this type of guy wearing some ridiculous sweat pants or windbreaker. Most of the time he will be working out at a machine and you'll see him at the same machine a half an hour later still staring down something. I always look for the guy who is wearing a watch on one hand and a bracelet on the other while he is working out. Don't know why that is the stereotype, but any guy I see with this combo is creepy. If I could rid the gym of any type of person, this would be the one. For my sake, your sake, and every girl or guy he is creepin on.

I woke up yesterday morning, grabbed the Erie Times-News (that's the local paper in Erie, PA for those who don't know about this editorial juggernaut), opened up the sports section and read the headline:

"Amid his giving, Sanders displays another side"

That's my city; where the front page of the sports section is lead by a column attacking a local sports hero for giving to charity.  I guess our NBA D-League team was off Saturday night.

You can check out the column here if you'd like, but I'll summarize it for you.  At least how I perceive it.

First of all, I'm not a Bob Sanders fan.  Never was, never will be.  I'm glad a guy from Erie, PA made it the NFL and was successful, but I could care less about his upbringing, his career, or about the money he's made.  After reading John Dudley's column yesterday, I did care what was said though.

In the column, John Dudley attempted to paint a picture of Bob Sanders as a charitable man, who should be a role model to all, except for his one flaw; he won't talk to John Dudley.  He lamented throughout the piece about how Bob wouldn't answer any questions about his amount of donations, his injuries, his salary, or anything else he didn't want to talk about.  The column stated how a local television station made a DVD for him in a rushed manner and how Bob wanted submitted questions when he requested an interview for him.  Dudley passed on the interview. I guess he had too much pride or his ego was too big to have an interview where questions were submitted.

What the piece was really about is that Bob can give to so many people; he just won't give to John Dudley.

Maybe I'm not in the media world so I don't understand the politics of it fully, but to write a piece making it sound like Bob Sanders owes us, the local people of Erie, answers to the questions you want answered is ridiculous.

Bob Sanders doesn't owe me anything.

I think too many people these days feel that all athletes should act a certain way towards the media.  People act like it's an injustice to society if an athlete doesn't want to answer questions or accept an interview.  Media members really think that they are partly responsible for helping an athlete get to where they're at and they should be owed something for it.  Do people ever just think that some athletes don't want the attention and others just want their private life to be private?

Bob Sanders was back in Erie, PA for Bob Sanders weekend.  During the weekend he provided money to start computer labs at two schools.  A reporter from the Erie Times-News asked for the amount donated and Bob got upset because he either didn't want to answer it or he didn't have the figure on hand.  Now Bob's a bad guy.

I think Bob Sanders doesn't want his charitable efforts to become publicized.  He gives money away and provides goodwill because of his character, not because it makes him look good to society.

Here's a little information that was never publicized about Bob.  A couple years ago a relative of mine was injured severely in a car accident.  He had brain damage and was in a coma for a long period of time.  Till this day he is still unable to walk, unable to speak normally, and he still has permanent brain damage.  Bob learned about his situation and found out that he's the favorite player of my relative.  When Bob was home in Erie he went and visited him, brought him a jersey, and spent a little of his time with him.  A year later he flew him and his entire family in a private flight out to Indianapolis for a game.  Was this publicized in the Erie Times-News? No.  Probably because Bob didn't want it publicized.

Just because an athlete acts like they're controlling the media and not providing all the answers that a columnist wants doesn't mean they're a bad person, it could just mean that they want to focus on who's receiving the goodwill, not who's providing it.

John Dudley ended his fit by stating that he'd probably be able to get over Bob not talking to him, but there's someone who may not.  He wrote,

"I'll get over it, I suppose.

Great role model for your son there John, way to stay classy. I hope his son reads his column, but I hope he reads mine too.

Sometimes what's portrayed by one individual isn't the same as what's portrayed by another. Mr. Dudley can continue to hold a grudge against Sanders because Sanders won't give to him like he does to others, but make your own decision on Bob, don't read either of our columns and think you know the real individual.

I hope John Dudley didn't sell his son's Sanders jersey on eBay or use it in a birdcage. Everyone knows that newspapers are a much easier cleanup.

The sports world has been awkward these past two weeks.  The Olympics have clogged everyone’s mind about the real sports that we should be watching.  I get it; the Olympics are fun, they're a spectacle, they have pride and tradition involved, but do we really have people praising ice dancing, curling, and speed skating?

What's wrong with you people?  How quickly has this NBC induced coma taken over your mind.  People are in a Vancouver frenzy for two weeks and it's like anything Canada related has taken over the news waves.  Even Boner from Growing Pains goes missing and its headline news because he traveled to Vancouver.  Do we really care where Boner from Growing Pains is at?  It's been almost 20 years since we heard from him, why do we care now?

I just don't get it.  I've watched my fair share of Olympics. They're enjoyable, but none of them except Men's hockey are events I'd want to watch on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Every four years; that's fine; I can live with that. I've heard people talk about wanting the Olympics to change to every three or two years. Please! No! It already ruins our normal television schedule for two weeks every other year, the last thing I would want is it to happen every year.

The biggest problem with the Olympics is that it takes away from every other sport that is going on. We haven't heard news, gossip, or anything of relevance from the NBA since the trade deadline. There have been some great games too. We've seen the introduction of Antawn Jamison to the Cavs starting lineup and Kobe came back with a 3 point dagger to win the game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Do we hear about any of this on the radio or in the newspaper?  Hardly. I would've never thought that people would care more about Lindsey Vonn's pinkie finger then Kobe Bryant's. What is the sports world coming to?

My biggest gripe is that nobody is paying attention to college basketball. College basketball always has a tough enough time as it is each year for people to get excited for it. Most people don't usually pay attention until March anyway, but this spectacular season needs to be viewed now. There are no dominating teams this year. Kansas and Kentucky are definitely leading the pack, but then we got plenty of others who could make a run at the title. Syracuse, Purdue, Duke, Kansas State, and Ohio State all have a chance to grab #1 seeds. I guess if you're a North Carolina fan then you should be happy that no one is paying attention.

Did you hear that Nike is coming out with special basketball shoes for March Madness?  They don't come with Heels!

Hopefully one of you got the joke.

March Madness is going to be special this year. It's special every year, but this year we will see an abundance of upsets. It just seems like this year, any team could beat their opponent on any given day, which means there will be lots of close games, upsets, and game winning shots, or at least game winning attempts. There's only one more week of regular season college basketball left and then we get into conference tournaments. I know the excitement will grow starting March 8th for those, but people need to be paying attention now because there's been spectacular games as of late.

Enjoy your Olympics that are shoved in your face for two weeks and act like it's the greatest thing ever for a few more days, but then jump back to reality. I just hope March Madness gets to some of you in time before you purchase your replica Johnny Weir outfit and hit the rink. The Olympics are fun every four years, but just remember that the greatest sporting event of the year is just around the corner.

Hockey always seems like its second fiddle to the other major sports.  Maybe it’s even third fiddle these days.  It just seems like whatever the NHL tries to do it never pans out for them.

They've had their problems; lockouts, gambling, Fox's puck highlighter.  For some reason or another they just couldn't get back over the hump into mainstream America's living room.  Some of the decisions they made after their year long hiatus didn't help their cause.  Signing up to be broadcast on the Outdoor Life Network (currently Versus) just didn't seem like the way to grab the much needed attention that they needed.

There are some positives.  Superstars have emerged that almost all American's know.  Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Evgani Malkin, and many others are now normal names that even very casual viewers of hockey recognize.  The Stanley Cup Finals were fabulous last year. A seven game series with a rematch of the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins definitely doesn't hurt the NHL's cause either.

The pinnacle for the sport was last Sunday night's game between Team Canada and Team USA.  The excitement, the emotion, the hatred for one another topped any other hockey game in a long, long time.  American's who haven't watched a hockey game in years tuned in.  Canadians who live and breathe the sport were ecstatic for the game until the conclusion of it.  It was the essence of what sports should be about.  That game and hopefully the games to come until this Sunday may help put hockey back on the American map.  The NHL needs to parlay the American victory into an NHL victory though.

The NHL needs to get rid of the West and East and start a North and South conference.  The North are Canadian teams and the South are American teams.  Make it a 28 team league with fourteen teams in each country.  We would have to get rid of some teams in the US, but that wouldn't be that big of a deal.  Do we really need the Columbus Blue Jackets and Phoenix Coyotes?  Americans could still play on the Canadian teams and Canadians on the US teams.

This would work out because what we learned from last Sunday's game was that it was about the name on the front of the jersey and not the name on the back.  Fans don't care who are playing, they care about their team and that they win.  All skaters could've been wearing full on green man suits with no names on their jerseys and we wouldn't care, as long as our team won.  This would be the same with the new NHL.  Canadians would love their conference and Americans would love theirs.  There hasn't been any other sport that has created a hated rival amongst conferences.  Baseball used to be close before interleague play was introduced.  Now when interleague play is going on we just care to see the other teams' players, not care about the American/National league rivalry.

The NHL would be different.  Every international game would be of importance to our country.  No one in American wants their team to lose to a Canadian team and vice-versa.  The All Star game would be fabulous and the Stanley Cup Playoffs would be unlike any other.  It would capture the atmosphere of an Olympic hockey gold medal game, except we would have a 7 game series to decide the champion.

It's an idea that is feasible and would work.  It would expand the audience of hockey to so many people and it would turn the sport around and catapult it past to where it once was.

For once the NHL wouldn't have to play second fiddle and could finally be an innovator instead of a follower.

Remember how entertaining it was to watch Dennis Rodman?  From the hairstyles to the antics to the nut shot on the cameraman; Dennis always gave you a reason to watch. He was definitely a peculiar fellow, but fans still gravitated towards him.  He was a bad guy.  He knew it, we knew it, and nobody wanted it any other way.

Things have changed now.  We no longer have bad guys.  Instead we have players with character issues and guys who should be privileged to be in the position they're in.  If a player acts out, they're labeled with the ranks of Adam "Pacman" Jones or Terrell Owens.  The problem is we have classified the two together, when they're not even near the same type of player.  Now if you act out, do anything that is deemed a detriment to society, or have any character flaw that doesn't fit with the norm then you're labeled bad, and that's never a good thing.

Back in the 70s, 80s, and even the early 90s we had teams like the Philadelphia Flyers and the Detroit Pistons who were considered goons or bad boys of their sport.  People knew what they were and loved them for it.  Being bad was an attitude, not a problem for the league.  Players who were considered bad guys had chips on their shoulder.  They showed it every day that they played and wanted to prove to the world that nothing was ever going to be their downfall.

I guess politically correctness has changed in the past couple decades.  No one can do anything anymore without being chastised or reprimanded for their behavior or something they say.  Everyone has to take the same path now to get where they want to go.  There's no individualism, and if you try to have any, you are put in your place immediately.

All sports have addressed these issues.  The NBA has enforced a dress code for all players, the NFL won't let you celebrate anymore, baseball won't even let players use steroids now.  It's unbelievable how far these leagues have gone.  No sport will let anyone talk negatively about the organization.  There are fines and suspensions for anything of that nature.  How did we get to this place?

It's the expansion of the Internet and media.  Now when something is said that’s regarded as derogatory it's blown out of proportion by the media, it's all over the Internet, and fans grab onto it and won't let it go it until it's run its course a million times over.  It's a shame that people aren't able to speak their minds anymore or express themselves, but we only have ourselves to blame for these extreme types of reactions.

I don't care about political correctness.  I'm going to say what I feel and hope you feel what I say.  What people don't understand is being political correct is a never ending process that is never going to be corrected.  The new accepting term today will be the disdainful term tomorrow.  You can't use the term midget anymore, you have to say dwarf or vertically challenged.  The word retard changed to mentally handicapped, and now it's intellectually disabled.  I guess the longer the word is the tougher it is to use it in a negative manner.  What's going to be the new term when people think calling someone intellectually disabled is demeaning though?

The point is that our society has just spiraled into a whole new realm of what's right and wrong.  We can't just be realistic and understand that no matter what word we use or what phrase we say, if it's used to be hurtful then that's it.  If I call someone a midget in a hurtful manner and I call someone vertically challenged in a hurtful manner then what's the difference?  Same context, different word.  We need to be able to look at the whole picture and realize there's no definitive right or wrong words, just like there are no definitive good or bad guys.

Sports organizations can try to control the perception of players all they want, but all they are doing is setting themselves up to fail.  By trying to create this utopian society of athletes we are just creating a situation where any problem is now considered terrible, when some problems should be considered minute and others severe.

Athletes have personalities; let them show it.  Why try to make someone into something they aren't?  We can keep pretending that these athletes are different people because they are dressed in suits or not celebrating, but all we are really doing is just calling them by a different word, one that just isn't as derogatory at the moment. We created this problem and there's really no way to fix it, except by understanding that our current fix is no fix at all.

Hopefully someday we can return to a society or at least a sports world where someone can show emotion and a $10,000 fine doesn't come with it. Maybe we can see players having fun and celebrating again when they score, even if it hurts the itty bitty feelings of the other team and their fans. Maybe we can finally let people just be themselves and not try to make everyone a good person.

Because even when you're a good person, sometimes it's fun to root for the bad guy.