After Atalanta

{I was going to run one post about all the columns, articles, etc. that reflect on 2007 or predict 2008 but there are so many--not even including all the ones local papers are running about people and events no one outside these small towns and cities know or care about. So I am dividing this up into two posts.} 'Tis the season for trotting out predictions, reflecting on the past year and wondering exactly how current players, teams, athletes, conflicts, etc. will play out. In other words there are no shortage of sports writers (and others) playing Nostradamus and patting themselves on the back for how well they did as Oracle of 2007. I am not going to do that. [Well a little bit I am.] Mostly I am going to comment on what everyone else thinks will happen because it's easier to critique than to come up with some grand predictions on my own. (It's lazy, I know. But I have ^%$# to get done this break.) In the International Herald Tribune , Christopher Clarey has some thoughts...

...for bowl games. And especially let's give thanks for bowl game wins. I wonder if that's what the priest who was on Boston College's sidelines at Friday night's Champs Bowl game in Orlando said when the team returned to the locker room after their 24-21 victory over Michigan State. It's naive, I know, to be shocked to see, as the camera zooms in on the head coach, a smiling man in all black sporting a white collar close behind him. I would be smiling too--someone who takes a vow of poverty ends up with one of the best seats in the house. And all he had to do was pray. And I guess it worked--or at least that's what BC is preaching--because BC pulled out the win despite a 4th quarter touchdown by Michigan State. Ah, the glory of God descended on the school (along with millions of dollars and probably a hefty bonus for first-year head coach Jeff Jagodzinski--though some of his 4th quarter plays are being questioned). My area of study is not sport and religion, b...

I had to wait over a week to blog about this story I came across about hockey gear for girls because I was so irate about the ways in which people like to break gender barriers by reifying gender stereotypes. A mother in Maine found it impossible to find hockey gear for girls for her daughter, Bela, a kindergartner. "There was nothing but black - you know, boy's stuff," according to Anna Carol Alvarez Cloutier. She joined forces with another hockey mom, Justine Carlisle, who has two daughters who play the sport and they created a line of gear for girls called BelaHockey. Before I begin my rant, I want to say that gear that fits properly is of the utmost importance. Frequently, throughout history, as women have entered sports that have been traditionally masculine they have had to improvise the gear. While there are plenty of options for women these days who want to gear up for the gym, for yoga, tennis, swimming, etc., those who play sports where men still dominate (in te...

Guess who was cited at the Ninth Carnival of Radical Feminists hosted at unconventional beauty ? Yep, it's me. Blogger ladoctorita/lily liked my post, Viva Las Vegas!, about gender in the gym and included it in the carnival. I like to think it had something to do with my snarky writing that day which included the line that she pulled as a header "But hell hasn't frozen over yet, so I'll revert to my cynical explanation." Ladoctorita offers some gym anecdotes of her own--well actually those of her friends--and recounts the story of a man who goes to the gym, for hours, just to ogle. He never works out. He has been kicked out of one gym thus far for his staring and hitting on women but persists nonetheless. This situation seems more egregious and potentially dangerous than the one in my gym but since I have been irked by one particular guy twice already this week, I am going to take this opportunity to complain. "The Admiral" (nicknamed by RP) has been the...

It's nice having friends, lovers, family members, etc. who are athletically-inclined. Because athletically inclined people give other athletically inclined people very useful and fun gifts. And sure, some people, like a friend who uttered the above as she watched the gift exchange, don't quite get it--but that's ok. Given and received around here this year: A membership to the Women's Sports Foundation --and yes, there is still time to become a member and have your donation be matched by an anonymous donor. So my $50 membership is actually worth $100. Stuff to keep warm: ski cap, wind-resistant grippy gloves, toe covers for cycling shoes, wind-resistant reflector vest Accessories and necessities: tennis balls, handlebar wraps, bike odometer Workout stuff: "just the right length" shorts with pockets , Life is Good t-shirt Oh yes, the above mentioned "exercise food": trail mix and Shot Bloks . Not bad.

...by EB on a local radio station, a quite disparaging remark about women's sports and dealing with relatives. The DJ was giving advice about dealing with in-laws and said that all one has to do is find a sport on the television and sit down and watch intently, thus avoiding having to make conversation. And it didn't matter what sports. Any would do, he said-- even women's curling. It was disappointing on multiple levels. One, the radio station had become a favorite because it was the only one (besides NPR) that had not, once Thanksgiving had come and gone, decided to play all Christmas music, all the time. Two, it's stupid, unrealistic advice. If your in-laws are really that annoying, sitting down and watching sports is probably not going to deter them from pestering you. And it's insulting. How hard is it to make conversation with relatives for one afternoon or so? And third, of course, the choice of women's curling as the epitome of a just any sport will do ...

Not too long ago I mentioned briefly that Cassie Campbell was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame--the first female hockey player to "earn" that honor. I use the term earn cautiously because I am sure there were many other female hockey players before Campbell who were good enough and deserved their spot in the HoF but were never recognized because of the lack of attention the women's game receives--even in Canada. At that time I noted that the induction of the first female hockey player was long overdue. Also long overdue, the induction of female hockey players into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame. Three women will be inducted this year: two Canadians, Geraldine Heaney and Angela James, and American Cammi Granato. The IIHF website is touting the induction of these three women as barrier breaking. Hello? You set up the barriers! You never inducted women despite the fact that they have been playing since the late 1800s by some accounts. Hang...

With any luck, two years from now I will be very excited for an upcoming trip to Vancouver. And now, with the schedule of events out, I can start planning my 2010 Olympic experience. Let's see: place to stay, tickets to the events, warm boots, time off from a job I don't yet have... Good thing I have two years to get this all together.

Once upon a time I was a journalism major; and during this time I learned about the importance of the follow-up story. The "what ever happened to (pick issue or person or event)?" story that was especially good to trot out in the middle of summer when there was nothing going on, as I learned, once upon a time, when I was a reporter in a small town. Following up, as I hope to demonstrate here, is a transferable skill. So here goes. 1. Following up on my post about holiday gifts in the form of books, is the observation, made by my partner in the throes of last-minute Christmas shopping, that about 99.9% of the eff'in books in the sports section at Barnes and Noble are about men. I was told "that if aliens landed on earth and went to Barnes and Nobles they would have no idea that women played sports." I personally think that if aliens landed, we might have bigger problems, but point taken. Because even if the books seem gender neutral, they are not. Case in point, ...

This is the question asked by LA Times columnist Kurt Streeter this past weekend. Before I go any further, I have to say I don't have an answer. Streeter doesn't really have one either so I don't feel that bad. My first question from the column, though, is: does the WNBA need "saving"? We can trot out dismal statistics about attendance and television viewership but all those things do is put the responsibility firmly on the WNBA--and sometimes a little bit on the NBA--for failing to make the league popular. But the WNBA, over ten years ago, was established in a culture that 1) is not lacking in the number of professional sports; and 2) is pretty sexist and misogynist--especially when it comes to sports. Professional sport seasons seem to get longer and longer and no one is benefiting. Does the NHL really need to be playing in in April--especially given the downturn in popularity post-strike? When the WNBA began, the decision was made to have the women play in the...

'Tis the season for unabashed (well there is some bashedness--at least on my part) consumerism. Anyway, I thought it would be as good a time as any--if not better--to address some articles I have come across in the last few months about women's fitness fashion. This one [oops--I lost the link--sorry; this whole holiday thing has me a little discombobulated] out of Colorado has a "see how far we've come" theme that includes a timeline detailing what female athletes wore over a century ago to do things such as swim and play tennis. The author credits the passage of Title IX with the changes in women's fitness clothes though it should be noted that the jogging craze of the 70s had little to do with Title IX but apparently everything to do with the creation of the sports bra in 1977 when two women sewed together two jock straps for support during their runs. [A little bit it blows my mind that there was no such thing as a sports bra when I was born given that over...

I am always leery of giving gifts that allegedly benefit an organization. So I try to look into what exactly is being promised to said organization and what the organization does with the money. For example, I don't buy anything that is for breast cancer because I think most of it is a waste of money and provides more money to the companies that actually produce carcinogens and, as Diane has pointed out , research organizations that test on animals. But since this is supposed to be a positive seasonal post, I will move on to suggestions of how you can give this season and support women and girls in sport. Donations. I received an email not too long ago from It Takes a Team! the branch of the Women's Sports Foundation (WSF) that addresses homophobia in sports. Dr. Pat Griffin and her staff do an amazing job bringing issues related to sexuality to one of the most difficult places to talk about them: college athletic departments. But the organization needs your help . Think about ...

1. Last time I wrote about international events, I mentioned the report out of the UK about the decrease in the activity level of women that is causing some concern among health experts and proponents of women's sports and physical activity. This story offers a different angle on the report that other news outlets do not seem to be addressing: the physical activity level of Muslim women. Some of the reason for the disproportionate level of activity is attributed to the different constraints on some Muslim women. Those who wear the hijab and/or adhere to the rules of sex segregation have an especially difficult time engaging in sport and other physical activities once they leave school. But the issues are being addressed--including in Great Britain where more and more opportunities are being especially created for Muslim women as well as opportunities that would not preclude Muslim women's participation. These involve sex-segregated spaces in locations with Muslim large populati...

Here I am, two days in a row, writing about baseball though I care very little for it. And even though I don't feel the need to blog about major stories in mainstream sports, I try to address the ones that are relevant in ways that fall under the (somewhat abstract) purview of this blog. The mission of Sports Law Blog , from what I can discern from the title and description, is to write about issues that pertain to sport and law. Or as the authors put it "all things legal relating to the sports world..." This is what one finds when one does a search of the blog using the term "Mitchell." Seems reasonable. This is big news. The bloggers have some very strong opinions on it. They are adding to the growing discourse. It is certainly about sport and there are legal implications and analysis one can engage with. This is what one finds when one searches the blog using the term "Fresno." Don't bother scrolling all the way down; there's nothing there...

I was snowbound from about mid-afternoon yesterday until 8 this morning. National Public Radio was on the whole time (except during the few hours when I was sleeping). And in that time I heard the story (there was actually more than one version) about the Mitchell Report and doping in baseball at least a dozen times. The first time I heard it I said "Hey that's the guy that spoke my commencement, except he was talking about Ireland then." When I kept hearing it, I started thinking, "well dur--of course there was widespread doping. What do you expect will happen within an organization that only began drug testing less than five years ago and has pretty lax testing procedures and standards?" Come on. Did everyone really think that Barry Bonds was some kind of outlyer? Have we really wanted to believe so badly that 40+ year old Roger Clemens was doing it naturally that we refused to even contemplate the notion that he might be doping? If you're a baseball fan,...

Oh how I love to discourse about the gym. And this case in Nevada where a man has filed a complaint with the Nevada Human Rights Commission citing the Las Vegas Athletic Club for providing discounts to women and women-only spaces is a great place to start a conversation. It's the first gender discrimination claim ever brought in the state where the discrimination is against a man. According to lawyer Todd Phillips, who filed the complaint, when he was touring the LVAC with his wife he found out that women received a lower sign-up fee and also had access to areas of the gym men did not. The issue of a lower fee was analogized to those ubiquitous and atrocious "Ladies' Nights"--ever so-popular in Vegas apparently. I am not going to address that particular connection, though it appears some bars and casinos are concerned they won't be able to lure women in, ply them with alcohol, and then let the men in after them: an event that eerily resembles ones that took place ...

USA Today has a column on the best sports books to give as gifts this year. It's a little disappointing to see that only two are specifically about women. (I haven't read Dave Zirin's Welcome to the Terrordome, which is on the list, but I suspect he mentions women in there somewhere.) The first is Baylor basketball coach Kim Mulkey's memoir, Won't Back Down , which columnist Carol Herwig describes as "rambling" and most appropriate for young adults and young athletes looking for inspiration (at least she didn't say young female athletes!). Pat Summitt has written the foreword of the book. The second is Fast Women: The Legendary Ladies of Racing by Todd McCarthy. Herwig mistakenly refers to it as "revisionist history." Revisionist history is when one changes the "facts" of history to meet an agenda. Those of us who do women's history are not changing the narrative but rather adding to it the stories of women who have been ignore...

I had planned to do a more complete post about charitable giving oportunities related to sport this season, and I will, but I saw this brief in The Mercury News today about bikes for kids. This Saturday a group will gather at the San Jose Convention Center to assemble about 2,000 bikes to give to underprivileged kids in the area. Brandi Chastain will be there will some young female athletes from the Bay Area Women's Sports Initiative. The group sponsoring the event is TurningWheels for Kids who said they have plenty of volunteers for the assembly process but would like to raise about $6,000 more to buy more bikes. If you're interested in helping out in that respect call Turning Wheels at (408) 316-3497 or go to their website . It sounds like a good program, but I hope they're giving out helmets with all those bikes!

The movie Gracie about a high school girl who tries out for the boys' soccer team (inspired by the memory of her dead brother) came out last May. I finally got around to seeing it last night. It was bad. I wanted it to be good; but it just wasn't. It was very predictable. As my fellow movie-watcher noted, "when a movie starts out with a sentimental, touching scene between siblings you know one of them is going to die." And cliched: there was an injured bird in a cage that the (now dead) brother was trying to nurse back to health. Gracie, the devoted little sister, released it at the end and it flew away. And guess who scores the winning goal against the team they lost to in the previous season's championship? Well I won't ruin the movie for you. And a little unrealistic. Gracie was based loosely on the childhoods of Andrew and Elisabeth Shue, both soccer players/fans who have roles in the movie. The movie is set in the 1970s--Gracie evokes Title IX when argu...

Yes, doomsday has arrived in New York state because high school cheerleaders must cheer for girls too. The event that has brought about such travails began almost a year ago when a parent of a female basketball player in Binghamton complained that there were no cheerleaders at the girls' games but that they were always at the boys' games--home and away. This resulted in the decision to have cheerleaders at all home games--regardless of the gender of the players. Much outrage and a lot of discourse was engendered by the decision. Cheerleaders quit and complained about how awkward it was to cheer for other girls. The decision in Binghamton--which was a Title IX complaint (schools are required to provide equitable support and publicity for their women's teams and cheerleading falls under that category)--has lead all NY schools to make the same policy changes, at least according to this letter to the editor . The writer rails against Title IX and makes reactionary statements ab...

Last month , a Virginia sports editor wrote a column reflecting on the coverage of women's sports in her own newspaper and other local papers. This is Laura Clark's follow-up on that column. She interviews other editors and journalists, including Christine Brennan. What she heard from editors: more coverage goes to better-attended events; you have to give readers what they want. What Christine Brennan said: "If we only covered what people wanted to see it would be nothing but football and NASCAR. [...] We are trained professionals, and we make decisions about what news is." Specifically addressing the argument that more popular (well-attended) events get more coverage she said that a writer/editor who believes that is "abdicating their [sic] duty as a journalist." Clark seems committed to adding more coverage of girls' and women's sports to her own sports page. She does not believe she has lost readers because of too much coverage of girls' spo...

Title IX is always in the news (as you will see if you check over at The Title IX Blog ), but a few interesting things have happened this week: 1. Anson Dorrance, coach of the very successful women's soccer team at University of North Carolina, is heading to court in the spring of next year to answer charges of sexual harassment brought by a former player. This case began in 1998 and was initially dismissed before a Court of Appeals overturned the dismissal. Unless there's a settlement, a jury will hear all the stories of how Dorrance kicked soccer balls into the backsides of his players and other such egregious behaviors in April. 2. Down in Florida, former (now fired) assistant softball coach Gina Ramacci at Florida Gulf Coast University has filed a complaint with the university alleging Title IX and Title VII discrimination in her case. Ramacci was accused of having inappropriate relations with a student-athlete on her team. A sexual relationship was never proven and Ramacci...

I was excited to find out that a Massachusetts girl was playing in the Pop Warner Superbowl this week down in Florida. She didn't make it to the Today Show like Holly Mangold (high school player) or Katie Hnida (DI collegiate player) but her story made The Boston Herald . The short story tells us that 15-year old Jane Peters has been playing football---just like her brothers--for 6 years. She plays both offensive and defensive end and her favorite part of the game is "hitting the boys." This kind of information makes one feel good. But then this kind of information makes me cringe: According to mother, Trish, "her daughter still primps off the field, wearing make-up and doing her hair." Yes, don't worry, folks, she is still a girl. Because god forbid a female football player not care about her hair and lip gloss. Peters may be younger than Mangold and Hnida but there are similarities in the way the stories are presented; mainly that there is attention paid-...

If you live and ride a bike in Massachusetts please consider emailing your senator and representative to ask them to support a pending public safety law that would mandate that police officers know more about bike safety, specifically the rules of the road in regards to cyclists. It would also impart fines on drivers who injure cyclists by pushing them off the road or opening car doors into them. [Please, please get into the habit of looking back before you open your door when you're parked on a street--any time of the year.] Mitt Romney vetoed a similar bill last year (of course!). Check out the Action Alert issued by MassBike which is asking concerned folks to help get the new bill out of committee. And check out their website if you want to know how to be safe on a bicycle and if you want to know how to be a safe and conscientious driver when you're around cyclists. Of course being safe--as a driver and cyclist--does not eliminate the harassment cyclists face from drivers, w...

The Women's World Cup held in Canada last weekend prompted this very good article addressing the lack of female coaches in the sport. With the 35th anniversary of Title IX and the continued work of scholars like Vivian Acosta and Linda Carpenter, we in the US hear about the lack of women coaching fairly often. I probably see at least one article on it a week these days. But according to the reporting out of Canada, the situation in international women's skiing is far worse. There was only one female coach present at a meeting of coaches that took place during the World Cup. And most every skier the reporter spoke with said she preferred a male coach. I had flashbacks to my master's degree research on gender and coaching in women's ice hockey where no player said she preferred a female coach and only a few said they had no preference. This was despite the fact that the majority of them had been coached by very successful women. None of the skiers interviewed could give v...

The latest update from It Takes a Team!, the arm of the Women's Sports Foundation created to address issues of homophobia in sport came out earlier this week. Usually featuring stories of athletes and teams, this issue from director Pat Griffin is an update of the organization's progress over the last three years. Check out what they have done to combat the subtle and not-so-subtle discrimination faced by gay athletes (and those suspected of being gay). And how you can help. And for more frequent information and news about homosexuality and sport you can check out Griffin's blog.

Did I really make it through October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, without blogging about the connection between sport and physical activity and breast cancer activism? Apparently I did. Luckily this story out of Canada has come along and provided me an entry into this discussion. And actually, these days, most pink/breast cancer campaigns are not October-specific. For example, I could pick up a can of pink tennis balls to take to the court with me any time--and probably a pink racquet bag as well. And in Toronto this weekend, proceeds from ticket sales from the games of University of Toronto's women's team are being donated to Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. It is the first Varsity Blues Think Pink weekend, the slogan for which is "Cheer Blue, Think Pink." Many schools are being encouraged to host Think Pink weekends. I find it interesting that it's women's teams that are being asked to host these events. But, of course, I also have a problem with the ...