Here at the sports desk located somewhere below decks of the Good Pirate Ship RedState, as strange as it may seem, our interest in the Ivy League swimming championship is somewhat lower than our interest in the Super Bowl. Or World Series. Or Stanley Cup Finals. Or NBA Finals. Or allergies. You get the idea.

However, this time around, the Ivy League swimming championship is of note due to participation by Penn swimmer Lia Thomas and Yale counterpart Iszac Henig. As to why their participation raises an eyebrow, we’ll let ESPN explain. Warning: you may need a couple of aspirin and a lie-down session to decipher this.

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas made her Ivy League championships debut on Wednesday night, leading off for the Quakers in the 800-yard freestyle relay. Thomas finished her leg in first place, 0.15 seconds ahead of Yale’s Iszac Henig, but Penn finished third behind Harvard and Yale. Both Thomas and Henig are transgender. Thomas is a transgender woman, and Henig is a transgender man.

It must make for some interesting locker room moments.

Now, almost all of us at some time in our childhood played Let’s Pretend, in which we assumed for ourselves the role of a superhero or some such. Most all of us laid such fantasies aside as we grew into adulthood, although far too many among us believe we are who we perceive ourselves to be as opposed to our actual persona. But that is a discussion for another time.

Most of us also figured out somewhere along the line that boys and girls are built differently. Literally built differently, and not solely in terms of plumbing. Even in our emasculated society, boys have a far easier time being faster and stronger than women. There is no equity between the sexes, and basic biology precludes it from ever happening. For proof, ask even your best female athlete to passblock Aaron Donald.

Regardless of how one identifies, no one can escape the reality of who they were born. Acceptance of inherent and inherited limitations is an act of actively embraced wisdom. You cannot make yourself into someone you are not made to be. Certainly, you can and should work on being the best possible version of yourself. But you’re still you. “Wherever you go, there you are” isn’t strictly the one memorable line from an otherwise forgettable science fiction satire. It is absolute reality.

Why, then, do so many abandon all logic, reason, and grasp on reality regarding transgenderism? If someone was born a man and decides along the line they’d rather be a woman, that is their concern and none of mine. Have your sex-change operation, and I hope you’re happy. But don’t insult our intelligence and insist that a biological man does not have an inherent advantage over a woman in athletic endeavors involving speed and strength. They do. And all the bleating about rights and individuality does nothing to negate that advantage and its corresponding unfairness to female athletes.

Enough about that. On to our detailed analysis of the upcoming WNBA draft and … hey, where’d everybody go?