Remember back in the 90s some time when Bill Clinton was in office and Hilary Rodham Clinton was empowering some and causing great consternation to others? Wasn't there a Year of the Woman in their somewhere?
I guess when that year was over we went back to It's Always Already All About Men. I didn't get the memo which must be why I'm just kind of shocked by the announcement that Boston Breakers co-captain Kristine Lilly (I love the way she spells her first name--so unique!) is being inducted into the The Sports Museum under the special Traditions program which honors Boston athletes. Not surprised that she is being honored in this way. But definitely surprised that she is the first woman to be so honored.
I could not find the criteria for induction just that it honors the athletes who have helped make Boston a great sports city. Not sure if it has to be professional athletes or not. If not, how about hockey player Angela Ruggiero who played for Harvard (ok, so it's technically Cambridge) and went on (actually overlapped) to play for the US national team in four Olympics?
What about runner/marathoner Joan Benoit Samuelson who won the Boston Marathon twice and went on to win a gold medal for the US at the 1984 Olympic games? Or Kathrine Switzer who was the first woman to run Boston--though technically illegally. She wasn't from Boston but I think it qualifies as a moment that made Boston a great sports city. Nancy Kerrigan is from the Boston area.
I realize this induction is skewed toward men who have four longstanding professional sports teams in the area--in addition to professional soccer and lacrosse (I believe still). Other than the Breakers, there is no well-known women's team. But I have to believe there are Boston women out there--either who play individual sports, on for minor or semi-professional teams, or for national--who deserve the recognition
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