The Ultimate Fighter: I am not amused

Since it is no longer a secret I showed up for a day of The Ultimate Fighter show, I guess I will write about it before I head off to the AAU National Judo championships, en route to a meeting with a charter school in Kansas City about our game, then to North Dakota to meet with more schools, give a keynote address at a conference and then head home before heading out to a software conference where I am a speaker five days later.

Which is to say, when Ronda called me and asked could I fly out there, on my way back from another business trip, I said,

"Aren't there lots of people with no job you could ask to come out there? I've got shit to do."

However, as in her whole life, Ronda can be persistent, so I ended up changing my flight last minute to go to Las Vegas instead of Los Angeles.

That being said, I only had one day to observe some of what went on (did we miss the 'shit to do' part). I'm trying not to be a hypocrite and judge someone (cough Dana White cough) on just a small bit of what I have observed, especially if Ronda gives them a good recommendation.

From the fraction of the entire time I observed, it appeared that Ronda was taunted quite a bit without being allowed to respond, with a deliberate intent to create  a certain image for television.  Maybe they'll show some of that on the episode, maybe not. For those of you who say she cries too much - she's always cried like that all of her life. Who the hell are you people  to enforce a crying quota? If she cries over sad movies, happy endings and losing her car keys, what's it to you? I'm the opposite of that. I've cried three times in the last twenty years, and one of those was when Ronda's father died. So, she can have my share of the quota and it averages out.

When people ask me,

Are you proud of your daughter?

Yes, I am extremely proud of all of my daughters.

Let me tell you a few things about the real Ronda.

Right before she left, she autographed some t-shirts to be auctioned off to raise funds for Frida Wahlberg, who was injured in a world boxing title fight. They raised $2,000. (I think it's actually still in the bank for Ronda to send her when she gets back from Bulgaria.)

She also gave her hoodie from the TUF show and autographed some other shirts so we could send four kids and a teacher to a tournament in Kansas City. We raised $2,400 auctioning the stuff on ebay and then she donated $500 of her own money so we can take a fifth student. So, this is what Ronda has been doing.

Incidentally, she started the program at Gompers Middle School and taught there as a volunteer for two years before her mixed martial arts career heated up.

This is just a FEW of the things she has done for charity, for the community. There are a lot more. And yet, she's not a nice person because she says, "Fuck". Are you fucking kidding me?

You know, of those thousands of people who were fed from her various free rice contests, I'll bet not one of them would have been happier to go without food unless it came from someone who talked like Strawberry Shortcake.

Since Ronda steals my lines all of the time, I'll take one of hers,

To be a champion, you have to be willing to let your heart be broken.

Ronda cares if she wins. When she loses it feels like the whole world fell in. She's extremely loyal to people and when they are hurt, it hurts her.

People are sometimes offended by Ronda because she does not fit how they think she should act. At Ronda's age, given the same degree of provocation, I would have punched out a few people, hit someone with a chair, told everyone to fuck off and walked out. This is why our family cannot do a reality TV show. So, no, I am the LAST person to ask don't I think she should behave differently.

Some of those same people will argue, "I don't care what the instigation, you should never  ---- " fill in the blank. They are entitled to their opinions. I am equally entitled to my opinion that they have their heads up their asses.