The Top Ten Reasons Men Love Top Ten Lists

I was just surfing along when, once again, I hit another top ten sports list. This time it sits on the MSN home page - Top Ten Burning Questions for the NFL Playoffs. In essence, it really doesn't matter where the list sits or what it represents and, don't worry, nothing is ever really burning in sports. That said, the article will get readership and it will get passed along and so, my burning question is this - what's the point of these top tens anyway?

They say women use at least three times as many words a day when compared to men, a statistic that's been completely confirmed in my household (my poor husband - it's a ratio of roughly 6,000 daily words to 2,000) - But, what does this have to do with Top Ten lists, you ask? A lot.

In short, Top Ten lists give reason for conversation, debate and confidence among our male counterparts. Poor souls...there's only some many things our friends can truly comment on over three, four or fourteen beers. Unlike women, who will ask the most intimate and detailed of questions amongst their girlfriends, men tend to stay at the sports surface. They'd prefer to argue over the best NFL receiver of all time (in my household, that's Jerry Rice), the greatest sports figure of all time (too easy - Muhammad Ali). Occasionally, they'll branch to entertainment top tens (far better and less heated, in my opinion). Come on - who hasn't heard the debate over the best sports movie of all time. ESPN liked that topic so much, ten just doesn't wasn't enough. In case you have a burning desire to learn more, here's the top 20 sports movies of all time - http://espn.go.com/page2/movies/s/top20/fulllist.html

One night , I thought a fight over the top ten clutch quarterbacks of all time was going to put an end to childhood friendships. Who knew Johnny Unitas could conjure up such emotion? Who cares? The fortunate part is as heated as men get about their top ten comparisons, they can let it go just as easily. Give it an hour or simply suggest another top ten and they are back at it with no hard feelings.

So next time you are in the center of a top ten debate at your local pub, here's my recommendation: Stand by your man's suggestions, keep drinking and definitely leave the words to the men - save those 6,000 words a day for your girlfriends :)