An old college buddy sent me a text message today and asked me if i was able to give him any advice on women. I chuckled to myself and texted him back that I could use some as well. This is a hard one. In my old age, I know two things.

One is that when it comes to women and affairs of the heart, I'm just guessing. The second thing I know is that things have changed.

Now I am going to say something very prophetic here. This all ties in with women's lib, the independent woman and the fact that there are a lot of men out there these days that feel emasculated.

Are you ready ? Can you handle it?

Women are the new men.

For all you macho guys out there that can bench press 300 pounds, what I just said is absolutely true. If you think you are a match for today's woman, think again. They live longer and when it comes to head to head competition, they've got you beat hands down. It's just a simple fact. Let me go back to my high school track days. I had just finished running the 500 meter dash and my coach was "none to happy" with my uninspiring performance. I wasn't exactly happy either, but it was over. I would live to run another day. Anyway, my coach and I were watching the girls or should I say young ladies run? They were running extremely hard. In fact, a few of the participants were on the verge of tears from having run so hard. My coach turned to me and said, "you know those girls really give it their all." Little did I know that I would be writing about it twenty eight years later. Maybe my coach was trying to tell me something. Maybe he was trying to tell me women are tougher than men and that I need to watch myself.

Even my man Starkey realizes the futility of the macho man. Starkey categorically refuses to chase women. At first I thought he was out of his mind, but never underestimate someone who is cooler than the other side of the pillow. Now then, Starkey and I were out one night and he refused to move from the spot he was sitting in. I would have stayed and joined him, but the good looking women were on the other side of the room. As far as i was concerned, Starkey was off his proverbial rocker. I was going to where the action. I'm sure that night i was as persistent as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. However my efforts were to no avail, as Starkey was soon joined by the woman I had so foolishly walked across the room to pursue. Needless to say, it took me a several nights out with the master to realize I just didn't get it. Starkey knew what I didn't. That's right, they hold all the cards.

Case in point, I was out having a drink with a couple of my thirty year old friends. We went to a bar on Capitol Hill for a quick drink. In my mind, I was getting out to have a beer. In other words, I wasn't in girl chasing mode. Anyway, we were sitting around a wood table taking about, of all things, women. Imagine that, huh ? My friend was relaying the sordid details of an old relationship when two girls who couldn't have been more than five years removed from college approach me at my table. The girls were smiling and bubbly not unlike some of the women you see in those "Girls Gone Wild Videos." Naturally I smiled and imagined myself on "The Girls Gone Wild World Tour." After I woke up from my short lived dream, I got their names and introduced them to my much younger colleagues. I asked them if they were enjoying themselves. It was a stupid question, because obviously they were. Well the Bobsey Twins informed me that they had to run upstairs for something and that they would return to our table. Needless to say, my younger cohorts were amazed and thought I had the magic touch. Now I could have lied and told these guys I was a chick magnet but that wouldn't exactly have been true. Instead, I was honest.

"Gentleman," I started out. "Times have changed. These girls are too strong out here for you to think that you are in control. You let the game come to you. Gone are the days when the doe eyed girl waited in the corner for the star quarterback to ask her to dance. It's the year 2010 and women are doing the asking."

Now to get back to the advice my friend originally wanted. Let's just say my advice to him was to do nothing. Nobody likes banging their head against a concrete wall. When it comes to women, they are going to do what they want to do. No amount of cajoling, scheming or maneuvering is going to help. Just let them decide.