After Atalanta

I've decided to start compiling incidents of "bad behavior" by and among athletes (and the peeps that surround them, too). I don't know why exactly. I imagine I might I want to draw on them at some later time. I will probably establish some parameters as I go along because if not I would be adding installments every day. For now I am going with things I witness and things that seem to have created a stir. I am not including doping incidents--that's a beast unto itself and amateur already covers it and in a much better way than I ever could. I imagine I might break these rules and redefine the terms as I go. But for the first installment I have 2 transgressions: The first is mentioned over on The Dees Diversions where I also commented. In her win (due to retirement because of injury) over Tatiana Golovin last night at the Nasdaq-100 Tournment in Miami, Maria Sharapova took some very convenient bathroom breaks seemingly in an attempt to disrupt Golovin's concen...

So I was pretty happy when Ebuz told me our gym was rectifying its former oversight of the NCAA women's basketball tournament by doing a women's bracket this year as well. We filled out our brackets (I am doing fairly well by the way, 3 of my 4 final four picks made it) and turned them in. The men's bracket results were posted the day after round 1 finished. Because the women's round 1 finished a day later I waited to inquire where our results were. When I did, I was told they would be up in a few days. It's over a week later--no results. Neither EBuz nor I have ventured near the front desk again to ask. We're a little bit afraid we are the only ones who filled out a bracket. Still---I'm pissed. We wonder, when members went to the desk to ask for their bracket, if the staff even bothered to ask "men's or women's?" Because there wasn't a women's bracket last year it's possible very few people even knew it was an option. Certainly...

Just back from the Twin Cities, the site of this year's Frozen Four tournament. It was a great weekend of hockey. Though my beloved Wildcats lost in the semifinals on Friday night, it was a great game and I think this marks the beginning of a few good years of being a contender. They had an amazing season, an incredible 25+ no-loss streak, and really developed their rookies, two of whom started on Friday night. I was somewhat disappointed in the crowd size. My father, who flew out from MA to meet us there, said there were more people at the UNH-Harvard match-up in the regional game last weekend. This was surprising given that Minnesota, though marked the away team because of their #4 seeding, was UNH's opponent. They had home-team advantage. It was their stadium and not as many MN fans came out to support them as I would have figured. Sunday's championship match-up between the Golden Gophers and Wisconsin however produced a lot more people. Fair weather MN fans perhaps? It...

The article about the validity of Candace Parker's two dunks and their effect on the game (and its naysayers) included an interesting--yet brief--comment about the audience of women's basketball. Here is the paragraph from Milton Kent's article : Truth be told, there's a market for women's ball, namely families with young children, older fans, African-American families, that may not be the standard, listen-to-talk-radio, live-for-SportsCenter sports fan. Um--Mr. Kent--you forgot the lesbians. Lesbians form a significant portion of the fan base for women's basketball. I know you know that--the WNBA knows it. It's just that no one wants to talk about it. Did Swoopes's (whom Kent mentions in the article) coming-out this year do nothing to show that it's ok to talk about lesbians and basketball? Apparently. It's disappointing. Sure all of us with toasters know the score--know the high numbers of closeted players and recognize one another in the stand...

In the first round of the NCAA tournament Tennessee wiped the court with first-time tournament participant Army. The highlight of the game though--at leat according to every commentator and story that followed--was the two-dunk performance of Candace Parker . Indeed, it was a history-making performance--the first woman to do it in the tournament and she did it twice. What I kept wondering what it all means. Before I begin my musings I want to say that in no way do I think that Parker or any other woman shouldn't be dunking. So that being said--what does the emergence of a female dunker say about the women's game? Certainly it is a sign that more women will follow. The proverbial bar has been raised. Seems like good news. But on the other hand, I frequently hear people say they appreciate or enjoy the women's game because it doesn't have players doing flashy dunks ever other shot--that the women's game is more strategic, more thoughtful, etc. (Note this is also the a...

After Martina Hingis's upset of Lindsay Davenport the other day, she fell in straight sets to Maria Sharapova in the semifinals of the Pacific Life Open. The 6-3, 6-3 match was allegedly closer than the score indicates and writers and commentators hail Hingis's comeback efforts. Indeed, kudos for Hingis for putting in the time and incredible effort than has allowed her to rise rapidly up the rankings. One article I read noted though that Hingis is still without a title in her post-comeback. Well seriously--she's only been back since January--there are plenty of people ranked above her who are without a title too. But it reminded me of how Hingis went out--no not with ankle and foot problems but with a consistency (arguably brought about by her determination and excellent strokes) that kept her in tournaments until the quarters or semis. So pretty much the same place she is in now. She can beat almost every time those ranked below her but can beat only some of the time thos...

...well you know the rest of that cliche--one that I found to be very appropriate yesterday when I was casually reading the sport section of the Chicago paper (I don't remember which one however) while waiting for lunch at my favorite downtown wrap establishment. With March Madness upon us (it even got a reference in last night's episode of ER! ) I expect I will hear--as I do every year--about the increasing depth of the women's game. And a hearty Rah! Rah! Rah! to that. This year it seems any one of the number 1 or 2 seeds could take the whole thing--though it seems fewer upsets are likely (I may be eating those words after this weekend of course which I would be more than happy to do). But back to Chicago--or rather their sport section--the growing depth and popularity (marked by--if nothing else--the cost of a first round ticket $60!) does not seem to translate into better media coverage--or print coverage since that was the medium I observed yesterday. The paper had 5 p...

The other day as I was reading a post over on sports babel about Cinderella stories in sport. Of course I had heard the fairy tale reference applied to sport before--most recently the movie Cinderella Man--but I hadn't really pondered the reference until now. (Why now--who knows.) Admittedly I have not gone searching out the etymology of the phrase. Maybe I will later but right now--untainted by actualy research--I am curious as to how such a very feminine reference came to be used favorably in men's sports. Usually anything feminine is used in a disparaging way in men's sports (and some of this has carried over to women's sports now too--yeah progress?!) For example, I frequently hear and hear about coaches calling players "girls" or "sissies" and other misogynist and homophobic lovelies. So has Cinderella been so well-received or at least never questioned? Like I said, I don't the answer because I don't know the history of how it came into ...

Well my gym came through and did a bracket for the women's tournament. Of course I found out that my girlfriend had written a note on the comment sheet a week or so ago imploring them to do so. But I guess it's good that they listen to members. So now I actually have to fill it out! All my planning had been how to get them to do a bracket in the first place--I hadn't really thought about who to pick. Anyone have any good tips?

March madness that is. I am not really a basketball fan. I know next to nothing about the game but being at a Big Ten university one has to acclimate. So we have been going to women's b-ball games for a while now and even before coming here paid some attention to the women's tournament. So I am pretty excited that the women's selection gets its own night tonight on ESPN rather than playing second fiddle to the men's. The big question though is whether my local gym will have a draw sheet for those of us wanting to do picks. There is a sign up that says to pick up your draw sheets today--the 13th--of course the women's wouldn't be ready until tomorrow. Last year we asked and they didn't have the women's tourney at all. We were aghast. I mean women's basketball has been a tradition around here since (to use my students' common phrasing about anything historical) "way back in the day." At the high school level, it has been more popular than...

In honor of the Oscars I thought I would take a survey of 1) your favorite sport movie and 2) the movie you want to see made. I realize the first part isn't really a new concept. You can check out E!Online's top ten here . Or Sports Illustrated (organized by sport) and ESPN's respective countdowns here and here . My favs do not fall on these lists though. Not suprising considering how testosterone-filled these lists are. My list also includes documentaries, though. Here are my top picks. I'll get back to you about the best sport movie not-yet-made (right after I pitch it to Paramount!) ken's favorite sport movies (in no particular order) 1. A Hero for Daisy : an amazing documentary about the early days of Title IX. 2. Hockey Mom --a little known but very sweet Canadian movie about female hockey players. 3. Girl Wrestler : documentary that follows one teenage girl as she attempts to enter the male-dominated sport of wrestling in the very patriarchal state of Texas. ...