After Atalanta

The Women's Sports Foundation has compiled a list of the top ten moments in women's sports . I just finished reading it so my comments here are somewhat raw. Here is what I noticed in a loosely chronological order that replicates my thought process: 1. Glad they listed Althea Gibson's win at Wimbledon. Also glad that Wilma Rudolph's accomplishments were a top-tenner as well. Tokenism can be a problem in women's sports. 2. Are you kidding me--the number one moment is Billy Jean King's victory over Riggs? I believe in the power of symbolic moments but I feel this moment was purely symbolic. Many people cite it as some kind of defining moment for women in sports but how many minds did it really change? Women's capacity and ability to play sports was still questioned after the event. If public opinion had really shifted so much because of the King-Riggs match then the passage and enforcement of Title IX in the 70s and 80s (and even today) would not have been so...

I haven't written too much about the Duke lacrosse scandal. I was going to say alleged scandal but whether there was a sexual assault or not the whole thing (party with stripper, violent emails, etc.) is pretty scandalous regardless of what else comes to light in the coming weeks and month. Anyway, I haven't written too much about it because the stories seems to change daily. I mean this thing is in the news constantly. I don't know how anyone is getting anything done down there at Duke. Even an alumni weekend was interrupted by a Q&A with Duke president Richard Brodhead who came under attack for scrapping the season, the coach, and suspending the two players charged in the event. My comments aren't about the suspensions, though, but rather an interesting remark by 1970 grad Joe Baden who bemoaned the fact that because lacrosse isn't as popular or as successful as Duke's NCAA-championship-winning basketball team they got cut apparently without some kind of...

[sorry for the lack of posts--I have been sick, sick, sick. But now seemingly on the mend so here is some stuff I have been meaning to post.] I was talking with my father on the phone the other day. He had sent me an article about my alma mater, U of New Hampshire, which is cutting more athletic programs due to a budget shortfall. When I was a student, there were a series of cuts: baseball and men's lacrosse. This was due to budget of course and Title IX compliance. UNH was a prong II complier back then--they intended to show a history of continuing expansion of women's programs. Not sure where they are at now. My guess is still at prong II given they just cut women's crew which is usually what schools with easy access to a body of water will add because you can have huge rosters (to counter football). I highly doubt they have achieved substantial proportionality. [4/21--see Ebuz's comment about how wrong I was about this.] Anyway--it's a pretty sad situation. Swimm...

As is its periodic custom, the White House hosted NCAA championship teams on April 6 . Maryland was well-represented with three teams: the recently crowned women's b-ball champions along with field hockey and men's soccer. Let's contemplate this event for a sec shall we? The White House meaning President Bush who makes a speech (including little quips about what the VP can learn from the championship rifle team) and takes a picture with the teams, wants to celebrate these champions. OK--that's fine. Too bad his policy doesn't support these teams who have triumphed in spite of Bush's attacks on Title IX. The initial committee Bush put together in 2003 (I might be off on the date) came in with recommendations to change Title IX to make it more "fair" to men basically. Committee members Julie Foudy and Donna deVarona dissented with their own report and the outcry from groups such as Women's Sport Foundation and other allies was so loud that the recs w...

It was a good weekend for former top performers in tennis and golf. Both Karrie Webb and Svetlana Kuznetsova won tournaments this past weekend. The bigger win was probably Webb's at the Kraft Nabisco (still known as the Dinah Shore to every lesbian in the U.S.) who had been in a title drought for over a year and a major drought for several. She very much deserved it and earned it winning in the first playoff hole against Lorena Ochoa. Alas I didn't see this momentous event because Ebuz pulled me off the elliptical trainer at the gym where I was very into both my workout and the tournament (which I was watching on the cardio tv) all because of a silly tornado that had been spotted in our county. So we left and by the time we got home it was over. I couldn't even find the results on the ESPN ticker (quel surprise!) and had to go online eventually. Oh well. I was happy for Ochoa that she came back from her deficit after leading for three rounds and faltering on the final day. ...