After Atalanta

View from Court 6--no rain . View from Court 6: the covers come off Given the forecasts we heard, and the flooding in other parts of Great Britain last week, things could have been much worse at Wimbledon, weather-wise, during the first week. But play is currently suspended across the pond so I thought I would share some pics of the rain delay process. Last Wednesday we experienced two rain delays. One was brief; the other ended play for the day. During the second one when the rain was heavier the grounds crew inflated the covers which takes a while but looks cool while it is going on. Inflating the covers.

Well I am kind of glad we left London yesterday given the bomb scare in the city's theatre district early this morning. Security at Wimbledon was tightened today. The security situation was interesting. Much more thorough searching of bags than at the US Open. They open them and take out things and look in all the pockets. My sister actually had to take the cap off her chapstick! But they let you in with almost anything--including one bottle of wine per person (or two beers). What was odd though was that we got onto the grounds the first day without tickets because ours we at will call which was located inside the gates. We did have to go through security before getting there, though. Still they seemed to be very on top of some things and quite lax about others. Anyway, today was probably the most interesting day in terms of match-ups. Jelena Jankovic was challenged by Czech player Lucie Safarova who I saw play Eleni Daniilidou on Tuesday. That was a very good match which I did no...

While I was away on vacation (more pics and discussion of what I saw on my second day of Wimbledon are forthcoming) Title IX celebrated 35 years of mandating gender equity in educational institutions. Here's what various media outlets had to say about it: Salon.com (mostly providing links to other stories, especially The Chronicle of Education which is subscription only for most of the Tittle IX tributes) The Honolulu Star Bulletin (Hawaii has a special interest in Title IX because Hawaiian congresswoman Patsy Mink was a major proponent of the legislation; see this article from the Honolulu Advertiser for more background.) Over at The Huffington Post, Rep. Linda Sanchez of California writes not only about sports but equal access to institutes of higher education and professional schools. (And she adds a cute story about being the only woman on the Democrat team in the annual congressional baseball game--her number is IX!) Earthtimes.org published this press release from Speaker ...

Not a drop of rain! Some of us are headed back tomorrow and probably will not be as lucky with the weather but we're going to persevere. It was an amazing day. My first time at Wimbledon and I got to see Amelie Mauresmo on Centre Court. It was wonderful. And I got to experience the atmosphere engendered by Tim Henman who has lived to fight another day--tomorrow in fact he is slated to be back on Centre Court. Navigating Wimbledon was not as easy as the US Open. First, Centre Court tickets only get you into Centre Court and outlying courts. So you miss all matches on Court 1 and can only stand on Court 2. This was disappointing, especially because Jelena Jankovic was playing there this afternoon and we were crammed into standing room space when there were more than half of the ticketed seats empty. But we did see some good outside court matches. Sam Stosur beat American Kristina Brandi. Megan Shaughnessy lost badly to a player I had never heard of before. Hopefully there will be som...

Internet access at the flat went on the fritz this weekend so I am posting from a neighbourhood pub where we just successfully purchased seats for Centre Court for tomorrow's matches. Hurrah! Fingers crossed about the weather which has been lousy. Here's a sport-related picture from the British Museum (it's a replica, not the real thing) to tide you over until more exciting pics and stories can be relayed. Cheers!

As previously noted, as part of their week-long celebration of women's sports and commemoration of Title IX, CSTV will be airing the Collegiate Women Sports Awards. The five finalists for Women Athlete of the Year were announced recently. The five were taken from a larger list that is comprised of an outstanding athlete in each sport. Oddly I did not see a representative from ice hockey. Not sure what sports get counted. There was no bowling or water polo either. Tennessee has two of the five finalists in b-baller Candace Parker and softball pitcher Monica Abbott. The winner will be announced June 25.

I made it. No problems. And there's wi-fi at the flat! Let the vacation blogging commence! Lisa Raymond, who has been writing a column at SI.com, previews the Championships , Wimbledon this week. Her top pick is Henin with Serena Williams running a close second. She talks about doubles as well but oddly writes about herself in the third person as a contender for the women's doubles title. Her column is only so-so, but she does try to convey the aura of Wimbledon during the fortnight and a good job describing the scene. It makes me very excited to head over the village.

Yep--I'm leavin' on a jet plane tonight and arriving in London at 6:30AM (their time--1:30 mine--uck). And yes, I am going to see Wimbledon when it starts next week. I'll be queuing up and all that. I have a brand new digital camera that has sport mode and hyper sport mode to take fast action shots--like Amelie Mauresmo's beautiful topspin backhand. And I will bring my computer and hopefully find some wi-fi and try to load pics and details as often as I can. That being said, it is vacation so my entries will not as regular as usual. Cheers!

CSTV which is an obscure station that very few people have access to--and those who do may not even know they have it--is calling the week of June 25th The Women's Movement on CSTV . They are airing stories about female athletes and those connected to women's athletics to mark the 35th anniversary of the passage of Title IX. CSTV claims it broadcasts more women's sports than any other station. This could well be true except that, again, so few of us have access to the station that it kind of becomes an "if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there..." situation. There has been a lot of press about the 35th anniversary already--some good, some "questioning the value of the legislation," and of course, some downright hostile. So it's good that CSTV is devoting next week to celebrating women's sports. But I am reminded of a Guerrilla Girls poster that reads: "Q: If February is Black History Month and March is Women's History Month, what...

I don't want to dwell on this Amanda Beard posing for Playboy thing but I just read an editorial by a former male swimmer which, although not that well-written, raises some interesting points. Most of the male writers and commenters I have come across wholeheartedly embrace Beard's "right to choose" to display her "healthy body." This writer, however, questions whether her posing actually diminishes the view of swimming most average Americans hold. Writer/former swimmer bemoans the lack of attention and respect he and his fellow swimmers received for the amount of work they put into their sport. But he backtracks a bit saying that maybe Beard has brought some otherwise uninterested spectators to swimming. (Probably not if you consider the results of Mary Jo Kane's study.) What I found interesting though was that the author thought that men and women would have diametrically opposed views on this issue and wondering why more women "have not express...

This feature about LPGA golfer LaRee Sugg is very good at chronicling her experience on the tour while also highlighting the absence of black women in the game of golf. Oddly (or maybe not) little attention seems to be paid to the lack of black women playing on the LPGA. There are many women of color playing golf given the international composition of the tour. We see women of color playing and winning and contending in every tournament: Se Ri Pak, Lorena Ochoa, Birdie Kim, and many more. There is the appearance of diversity. And to some extent there is diversity on the tour--a certain kind of diversity. Why aren't there more African-American women on the tour? Because class also plays a factor. When we look at socioeconomic factors alongside race and gender we see the black women in the United States have fewer opportunities to even access the means necessary to play the game, let alone be encouraged to play it. (This was actually not the situation Sugg was in as a youngster. Her ...

SEC talk two days in a row. What I should have added to yesterday's post about gender equity is that the SEC school tied with Tennessee for the highest mark (B+) in the recent Women's Sports Foundation study is Vanderbilt. Pretty darn good considering they don't even have an athletic department! Let me repeat that: Vanderbilt University does not have an athletic department. They eliminated it four years ago and moved control of intercollegiate athletics to their department of student life. I remember hearing about this, but that was pre-blog days for me so I hadn't thought about it since. But last week Sports Illustrated published a column on the university and the success they have seen since the change. Once seen as the most lackluster school, in terms of athletics, in the SEC, Vandy teams have had enormous success (over half of the teams made it their respective tournaments this past year). And the athletes have had success off the field too, which was one of the ma...

The other night during game one of the championship series of the WCWS (Arizona won the third game, by the way, to give them back to back titles) commentator Beth Mowins noted the growing depth of women's intercollegiate softball. No California team made it to Oklahoma City this year, for example. Mowins also noted that the SEC, of which Tennessee is a member school, has grown increasingly stronger in the past five years or so. SEC softball has been the beneficiary of SEC football, Mowins said almost in passing during this inter-inning chat. Wait, what? Did she just basically say that football pays for women's softball in the SEC. This is the kind of argument that gets thrown back at women's sport advocates when we kindly point out that football teams are too large and usurp far too much of the athletic budget. "But football pays for women's sports," we hear over and over again. And over and over again we must say "No, the majority of schools with footbal...

Amanda Beard's photo spread in Playboy has been in the works for a while but the issue must be hitting newsstands soon [UPDATE: it came out June 7] because it seems there has been a surge in press coverage of the issue--and not just the actual magazine issue but the issue of female athletes posing nude or near nude for alleged publicity. Out of the Canadian sports media we get this compelling question I pass on to you: American swimmer Amanda Beard recently posed nude for the July 2007 edition of Playboy Magazine. The 26-year-old, three-time Olympian's decision to drop her drawers comes at a time when women's sports look to be on the rise in terms of both visibility and popularity. Is this bold move a step in the wrong direction for women's sports, or is it simply an athlete marketing themselves and their sport to a broader range of fans? The question, for some of us was answered a long time ago with our answer confirmed by the Mary Jo Kane study I wrote about some tim...

NCAA president Myles Brand went to the Women's College World Series for the first time this year where he was able to observe firsthand the continuing decrease in women's head coaches . It's happening in all women's sports and was quite evident at this year's tournament where half of the head coaches of the eight teams were men--plus Ralph Weekly of Tennessee who is a co-head coach with his wife, Karen. Ten years ago there was only one: Arizona's Mike Candrea. Brand expressed concern over the attrition rate of female coaches; that many women begin as assistant coaches but do not stick around long enough to get promoted. Brand said the NCAA will be developing programs to help with the issue of retention of assistant coaches in the hopes of getting more female head coach role models. No specifics on what such programs would entail or who they will be targeting. It seems to me that an effective program would have to address everyone who is in charge of assistant co...

Justine Henin and Raphael Nadal are the women's and men's 2007 French Open singles champions. It's a three-peat for them both. Browsing through stories about Henin's win I found that the American media focused on two things: Henin's reunion with her estranged family members--all her siblings were at the final; and Ivanovic's nerves. The non-Americna media actually wrote about Henin's play and success. Despite the gushing over Henin's family situation, some commentators still take issue with her behavior. Mary Carillo, during today's men's final, chided her for not attending the International Tennis Federation Awards this past week. Check out Women Who Serve for an interesting story about the special presentation to the men's winner and the lack of anything special for the women--a situation remedied by Martina Navratilova. Navratilova and a Slovak artist are making art using paint soaked tennis balls . Pieces were given to the women's sin...

I haven't gotten a chance to see Gracie because no cinema in my area is playing it yet. (Shrek III and Pirates of the Caribbean (also in its third installment) are monopolizing the theaters.) But reviews and other articles about the film are trickling in. This review of the movie in which a high school girl tries to make the boys' soccer team (it's pre- or early Title IX years) to honor the memory of her dead soccer superstar brother is not so hot on the movie. [Sorry, I lost the link. I will post it when I find it.] From what I have heard about the movie, which despite my interest in the subject matter, seems fairly predictable, the review is probably not too far off. More of the back story about the movie is emerging. I learned from the above linked review that the "based on a true story" is actually based on Elisabeth Shue's, who plays the mother, own childhood. [And a sidenote on the note: according to this month's TENNIS magazine, Elisabeth Shue is ...

Twisty at I Blame the Patriarchy writes about the pornification of high school pole vaulter, Allison Stokke, that all started when a sports blog, With Leather, posted a picture of her and entitled a post " Pole Vaulting is Sexy, Barely Legal" in early May. (Actually where and when it started seems to be under debate; there were other blogs and websites posting pictures of her during her high school career. But it definitely exploded with this sports blogger's post, though.) The Washington Post and many other news outlets have covered the story which includes the extent of the internet fanaticism around this high school athlete. Above-linked sports blogger tries to keep saying that he wouldn't be interested in her at all if she wasn't so darn good at pole vaulting. I don't recall Lebron James, when he was an outstanding high school athlete, being sexualized at all--let alone at the level of intensity and perversity that Allison Stokke has faced. Despite the p...

...but a danger to kids. Heelys is the brand name of the popular roller shoes--sneakers with wheels built into the heels that pop out when kids shift their weight back. So obviously this post is not about organized sport but it does fall broadly under the category of physical activity so I am going to write about. And also because when I saw kids whipping around on sidewalks and in the malls and in the grocery store, I knew that it would not be long before these things caused injuries or even death. (I saw one kid wheeling down the aisle of the grocery store pushing his baby sister's stroller and just rolled my eyes.) In other words, this is my "I told you so" moment even though I didn't really tell anyone. The Consumer Product Safety Commission initially reported 64 known injuries and one death due to the shoes--which are starting to be banned in certain places I have noticed--in a 15-month period that ended in December 2006--the month where I am sure many more kids ...

I was up late last night watching a very tight game two of the WCWS championship series. Tennessee had won the first game and so this was an elimination game for Arizona. Tennessee pitcher Monica Abbott was on and though a few Arizona batters got hits off her, she was able to keep her no runs against streak going through regulation. She has not allowed one run in the entire world series. Arizona pitcher Taryne Mowatt doesn't have Abbott's velocity, but she does have a very effective change-up. And she, and her defense, got out of some sticky situations including a bases-loaded, one out, inning late in the game. Tennessee had more chances in extra innings (of which there were 3) to get a run across the plate and take home the championship--the first in school history. But they just couldn't do it before Arizona finally was able to execute their small ball game plan and use their speed on the base pads to get a runner across home plate. This is all to say that Game 3 is tonig...

Boston College announced at the end of May that former assistant coach Katie King would take over as head coach for the Eagles' women's ice hockey team. It seemed a no-brainer for BC--and probably more like a necessity. King, as an assistant, does a lot of recruiting and when former coach Tom Mutch left because of inappropriate relations with a current player my guess is that she spent a lot of time on the phone reassuring parents of future and current players. The situation has already left BC without a current player who chose to transfer and a recruit who only had a verbal agreement. She chose to go to Mercyhurst. It's probably not a coincidence that she played at Lawrence Academy for Mutch's wife, Laurie Mutch. That feeder system is probably over. As a three-time Olympian King also has a lot of respect in the hockey community which will continue to help her bring good players to BC. It's very exciting that there is another woman coach in Hockey East. But that wa...

Syracuse University announced the other day that they are adding women's ice hockey to their list of intercollegiate sports. They plan to start in 2008 and are still looking at which conference to join. Unfortunately they are cutting men's and women's swimming and diving which both have long histories (men's team began in 1915 and the women's in the mid-70s). This article off the AP makes it sound like a purely financial decision. The swimming facilities at SU are in disrepair and new natatorium would cost the university $35 million. Swimming isn't a huge sport in the Big East and Syracuse has had limited success in the pool. Women's ice hockey is an emerging sport and it is popular in that area of the country and Syracuse will have plenty of nearby opponents. Facilities will remain an issue, though. Syracuse does not have a men's team and thus no rink. Of course because hockey is so popular, there are rinks in the area. The university is looking into wh...

The other day when I wrote briefly about trans athletes and gender norms I forgot to mention that there is a documentary about mountain biker Michelle Dumaresq called 100% Woman . It follows Dumaresq's early career in the sport and the issues she faced when people, competitors specifically, found out she "used to be a man." Though she very easily got a license to race from the Canadian cycling body, her participation and wins were contested by competitors who appear and speak candidly in the documentary. It was filmed before the infamous winners' podium event where another biker wore a t-shirt, given to her by her boyfriend, that said 100% Pure Woman Champ 2006, so there is no footage of that event, that included taunts from the crowd, and how Dumaresq and others reacted to it. You can see most of the documentary at logoonline.com . (I had problems loading some of the parts but even what I was able to see was very good.) There's a very good piece showing Dumaresq...

1. Reminder: Sports Center will air fired Missouri lacrosse coach Kyle Hawkins's story tomorrow (Sunday) night at 9pm (eastern). 2. Bad news: Amelie Mauresmo is out of the French Open. I didn't see the match which is probably a good thing. I really didn't think she was going to win given her history of shaky performances at Roland Garros combined with her recovery time off due to appendicitis. Still I had hoped she would make it to the second week and at least lose to a higher ranked player. 3. It's a big weekend for Annika Sorenstam. She's hosting her first tournament, the Ginn Tribute in Charleston, South Carolina, and it's her first weekend back after taking time off to recover from a serious back injury. She made the cut and though she won't be in the hunt for the title on Sunday, she has held her own and is currently 1 over. Final round airs Sunday on NBC at 4pm (eastern). 4. Women's College World Series is in its championship weekend and this year...

Greg Garber at ESPN.com has written a column on the firing of Missouri's club lacrosse coach Kyle Hawkins. It includes a video clip of Hawkins. The column is a pretty in-depth and provides a lot of details of Hawkins's coming out process including how his parents essentially disowned him. (He was removed from the family trust fund and they haven't spoken since he told them he is gay.) There are also repeated assertions from players, the team's faculty advisor, and even Cyd Zeigler of Outsports.com that Hawkins's firing was not related to his homosexuality. Again, I believe them when they say the issue was not brought up in discussions. I even believe that they believe it had nothing to do with the decision. But I do not believe that the alleged negative coaching style was a recent development or that the concern over his poor representation of the university at away games was not influenced by his homosexuality. According Garber's column, which was written a we...