After Atalanta

I remember a couple of years ago I was a regular reader of a fellow grad student's blog. When she got down to writing her dissertation, she took a blog hiatus. I thought then "well, come on. You must have time to blog even if you are writing your dissertation." Ok, so I get it now. Diss writing is in the (knock on wood) final stages, so blog writing--as you may have noticed--has become sporadic, at best. But I was recently encouraged by DrSportPsych to blog about the recent emergence at ESPN.com of a bracket to determine the best athlete EVER. We can start with the obvious: there are no women in the running. Perhaps ESPN is waiting until a month from now when we are in the midst of Women's History Month to bring out their women's bracket so they continue to tell us how much they value and respect women's sports and female athletes. But if they do I surmise it will be as compensation for this quite obvious absence. There is nothing on the page that notes...

I was getting ready for my day Tuesday morning and multitasking. I wanted to find out the score of the Caroline Wozniacki and Svetlana Kuznetsova match because I had fallen asleep Monday night in the second set. So I turned on ESPN. And while I was waiting I heard Stuart Scott issue an opinion on the Peyton Manning injury story and whether Manning would play Sunday. But he hedged his bets when he remarked "but what do I know? I'm wearing makeup." Because apparently makeup has some kind of mystical effect in which the wearer lacks sports knowledge. Now, who else wears makeup? Hmmm... Seriously. What a ridiculous statement. [In case you were wondering, Wozniacki won. I had to go look on the internet, because I shut off the television in disgust--and rushed to an appointment. ]

Pretty interesting interview with Kathryn Bertine over at the Huffington Post the other day. Bertine is a senior editor at espnW and is trying to qualify for the Olympic Games and has written a book about her attempt to qualify in 2008. ESPN sponsored her quest to do so, but she didn't make it for those games. So she's at it again looking to be a cyclist in London in 2012. Here's what impressed me: her clear recognition of the skewed treatment of female athletes with sport itself and, of course, the media coverage. She gives the example of the lack of prize money in women's cycling, but notes that so few cyclists will speak up because of fear of alienating sponsors. Because there's nothing worse, we know, than an athlete who speaks her/his mind. And it's especially bad if that athlete is a woman who is complaining. I mean, she could be a feminist. Horrors! So Bertine, being the only cyclist from Saint Kitts and Nevis (she got dual citizenship as part of her qual...

...and ESPN has slapped me down two times already. First, when I received my invitation to participate in a pool through ESPN's Tournament Challenge Website, I got two invites. (Because my pool organizer mandates that those participating in her pool do both the men's and women's brackets.) First invite: (Host name) is Challenging You to Tournament Challenge on ESPN.com. Second invite: (Host name) is Challenging You to Women's Tournament Challenge on ESPN.com. Le sigh. ESPN had being doing so (relatively) well. They changed the ticker to NCAAW and NCAAM. And then it was suggested to me that I download the ESPN bracket app on my iPhone, which I did as I was watching the women's selection show tonight. But there is only one bracket there! And only news about the men's tournament! Is there a separate app for the women's tournament? I haven't found it. Don't forget--it's women's history month. ESPN loves to roll out stats about how women-friendly ...

I've probably mentioned one of my favorite quotations before. But I find this morning an appropriate time to say it again. So from one of my favorite radical feminist groups, the Guerrilla Girls, this question: Why the cynical attitude on this only the third day of the month I, an avowed feminist (see Dr. LaVoi's recent post about what a feminist is), is supposed to revel in? Well I found this on ESPN.com this morning. Why is ESPN doing a piece on Title IX?, I wondered. It isn't the anniversary. There has not been any outstanding Title IX news of late. It's in honor of women's history month, Suzy Kolber, who is hosting these videos (this was just the first of three), tells me as she sits next to a group of women ready to discuss all that Title IX has done--and of course mention the controversy it has engendered. Last week I wrote briefly about the perceived excitement level in women's sports and its supposed connection to viewership. Well, this piece wasn't...

So because I usually give ESPN a hard time about...well everything, I thought I would give them a shout out for the little piece that aired during tonight's coverage (on ESPN2) of the Baylor v. Oklahoma game. There were interviews with a couple of NBA players (I don't remember who because I have next to no familiarity with current NBAers) who talked about how they tune in to watch Baylor's Brittney Griner play. One of them sets a DVR alert to make sure he doesn't miss it. They think she is exciting and talented. One even said she should come play for the NBA when she's done at Baylor. She can dunk; she can rebound; she can knock balls down like no one else in the college game. And she scores points too! I thought this was especially appropriate given that the Women Talk Sports network published a question on their Facebook page today: Agree or disagree: "People don't watch women's sports because they aren't as exciting as men's sports." It ...

This week ESPN suspended and then fired or "let go" 68-year old reporter/commentator Ron Franklin. Franklin called one of his colleagues, Jeannine Edwards, "sweet baby" during a meeting. When Edwards noted her displeasure with his condescending demeanor, Franklin called her an asshole. Franklin was supposed to work the Fiesta Bowl but was relieved of that assignment and was subsequently fired. Cheers from some on this matter. Jeers from others. Some (anonymous commenters) say ESPN is "to (sic) PC" and that Franklin is a far better reporter than little known Edwards who apparently needs bigger breasts in order for any of this to matter. (Seriously, there is nothing better for checking one's gag reflex than reading the comments on some of these stories. These are all from the above link.) A more thoughtful piece of writing came from Lori Heine at News Real Blog . Given that Ms. Heine describes herself as a recovering leftist, I knew what was coming. And,...

Just finished watching the Penn State volleyball team win their fourth consecutive NCAA championship. I only caught the last set. The second one looked close and interesting. Sports Center came on right afterwards. The story has yet to be mentioned and we're over a half hour in to the show. A team just won its fourth championship and no word--let alone analysis and highlights. I did find out about the latest trades in the NBA though and the football game between Wisconsin-Whitewater and Mount Union. Good thing we have ESPNW to click over to... Oh wait, ESPNW is only a website right now. Guess no one told ESPNN (normative) that they can't completely ghettoize women's sports--yet. Congrats, anyway, Penn State. Don't worry. The print coverage will be better.

I promised Dr. Pants I would write something about the calamity/catastrophe (depending on which source you read) in Cancun otherwise known as the US Women's National Team's loss to Mexico last weekend. The team placed third in the CONCACAF tournament ( Canada won earning a berth in the World Cup next summer) which means they must play on in order to get to Germany themselves. I watched the third-place game on ESPN3, after the fact, mostly because I was interested in the commentary. Pretty much the first words from commentators: "It is literally do or die" for the American women. No; because literally do or die means someone dies. I know Abby Wambach has a bunch of stitches in her head from the game against Mexico, but no one is dying. And of course, it didn't matter because the US soundly beat Costa Rica 3-0. It will play Italy in Italy and then in Chicago (who chooses Chicago in late fall?). Most goals goes to Germany. The US has strong competition whenever it p...

...she's talking about hot dogs. My friend, Dr. Pants, was kind enough to share this link with me. (I tried to embed the video but it kept shutting down my browser.) So Abby Wambach gets some air time on Sports Center to talk about World Cup qualifying. But she ends up talking about the hot dog incident. The hot dog incident occurred when Wambach missed the goal and sent the ball into the stands while taking warm-up shots before a game against China. She hit a fan who was returning to his seat, hot dog and other items in hand. Said hot dog was knocked out of his hand when the ball hit him in the side/back. You can check out the videos of Wambach looking sheepish. But she was later told that the hot dogs were $10, which apparently adds something to this story. Not quite sure what though. Not sure why this is a story actually. It did make Sports Center's Top Ten.* Interviewer thought it should have been higher than the 8 or 9 sport it earned. (Someone needs to explain to the Spor...

It's not an inaccurate characterization to describe me as a little bit cynical. I know it's a turnoff to some. I do have my hopeful moments, however, and I am not, despite recent opposing beliefs (can you tell I'm still not quite over this, yet?!) an extremely bitter, angry person. But I have to say when I read a column like this about Lebron James's teasing of the media, fans, and general public (hard to avoid this story if you have even a smidge of access to media) regarding where he will be playing next year (it's Miami, in case you missed it!), I do get a little more cynical about things. I couldn't care less about how and why James is making his announcement. Anyone who is shocked that there is so much hoopla about this one player...well, just shouldn't be. And now the backlash has begun about the prime time, ESPN hour-long announcement. And people are right to be critical and question aspects of this media extravaganza and ESPN's apparently enablin...

1. The moment, described as tender/nurturing/loving between West Virginia's Coach Bob Huggins and player Da'Sean Butler happened when the latter went down with a knee injury during the semifinal game against Duke. With Butler writhing in pain on the floor, Huggins came out and knelt down and cradled his head and kind of stroked his face and got really really close and was talking to him trying to calm him down. I read it is as quite a queer moment in men's basketball. Not a "that's so gay" moment. I just thought it was interesting, especially given that coaches often do not come off the sidelines when players get injured (I watched a women's hockey coach talk strategy with his players on his bench while one of his players was down on the ice for an extended period of time, eventually going off on a stretcher with a season-ending back injury.) And the ones that do come out to check on things don't kneel down and whisper comforting words while cradling t...

...we're going to get a lot of lip service about gender equity in sports. Yes, if you're an intercollegiate basketball fan, it's a good time of the year. If you're a basketball fan (or a quasi one like myself) and a fan of gender equity, it's kind of frustrating. The good news is that ESPN changed its ticker (a while ago) to NCAAM and NCAAW. The bad news of course that goes uncommented on during the tournament is that it is nearly impossible to find coverage of women's basketball on ESPN during the regular season. I'm not talking about game coverage. They do air games on a semi-regular basis. But on highlight shows such as Sports Center. There is no conversation about the games when the games stop airing. But this is just ESPN who has to make an effort because they actually air all of the women's tournament. The men's tournament is on CBS and ESPN. Other media outlets do not have the same commitment. This I realized once again today when I tried to ...

[Apologies for the lack of consistent posting of late. I have serious blogger's block brought on by a myriad of other things I need to be doing. I expect to be back into the swing of things in a little over a week.] So remember how, a while back, Carolyn Bivens was ousted from her position as LPGA commissioner? And remember how there was significant speculation about who her replacement would be? Yeah, they didn't choose any of those people. The LPGA announced this week that Michael Whan will be the new commissioner. And he will be all about "grow[ing] the global brand." No word on what that will entail or the methods he will use to do so. I have to say--and this has nothing to do with Whan specifically--that I am a little wary of how the LPGA plans to increase its popularity. The nearly uncontested view that it is ok for the women in the tour to sell their sport using their (hetero)sexuality is a little worrisome. The article in the recent ESPN Body Issue, accompani...

OK so I have tried several times this past weekend to buy the Body Issue so I can take a (good, more on that in a sec) look at it myself. But I cannot find it. Has my progressive town refused to carry it? More likely that I just haven't been to a big enough bookstore yet. Hopefully in the next few days during one of my layovers I can find it at an airport newsstand. I have seen it though. My gym subscribes to the magazine and the issue was in the magazine rack Friday. I quickly scooped it up and took it into the stretching area with me. Alas, I don't wear my glasses in the gym and saw while I could see the pictures just fine, I could not read much of the text without getting a little dizzy. The text, I think, is important for understanding context. Or at least for understanding what ESPN thinks the context is. Here's what I think so far: I think that Fat Louie at Women's Sport Blog is brilliantly concise in her assessment of the six covers. Also check out One Sport Voic...

I have to say that the more I read about ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue the more I am looking forward to its release next week. And I am not the only one. I think many are intrigued by whether and how this naked stars/serious message thing is going to work. Sure, many will be pick it up to see just how naked Serena Williams is going to be, or because they have pregnancy fetishes and want to see Jessica Mendoza's 8-month pregnant body. But I want to know if it's really going to work--the serious with naked that is. Not that nudes cannot be serious--I have spent enough time in famous museums with my hand on my chin pondering sculptures and portraits of the naked form. But can we take it seriously in the context of ESPN The Magazine? After all this project is not a new one. Annie Leibovitz has photographed naked and nearly naked athletes as well--with far less media coverage I am pretty sure. And as I mentioned previously, the co-ed aspect of the project does not make me any ...

I just read about the forthcoming issue of ESPN , The Magazine which is being called the "Body Issue." (Isn't every issue of a magazine that covers sports exclusively always a body issue given that they are talking about and photographing bodies?) The USA Today article makes it seem like a good excuse to get some athletes nearly naked. (Or at least that was my interpretation.) So I was really surprised to see that Mendoza, current president of the Women's Sports Foundations, was featured with some of her team USA colleagues. Plus I also knew that given the date of the magazine, Mendoza was likely pregnant during the shoot. And I was right. I headed to her blog where she wrote briefly about the photo shoot. She presents it a little differently than USA Today. Then last week I did a photo shoot with teammates Cat Osterman, Natasha Watley and Lauren Lappin for ESPN the magazine’s new “Body Issue”. I am really excited about this because I feel the “bodies” young girl...

Next March when you issue your press release during Women's History Month about how much coverage you provide of women's sports, I hope you don't count the softball game you are airing right now in your list of accomplishments. Because when I saw that women's softball was airing during prime time on a Thursday, I was pretty psyched. But the World Cup final you are showing is from LAST YEAR. Last year! And that "previously recorded" you have in the upper right corner of the screen is a little bit misleading. Previously recorded shouldn't really apply to LAST YEAR. Isn't that what ESPN Classic is for? Previously recorded is for a game that was played this afternoon or even earlier in the week. Don't make me come down to CT and explain it to you. Sincerely (pissed off), ken UPDATE: Ok, so it turns out ESPN did end up airing the USA v. Netherlands game a little after 9pm EST. There was a power outage in Oklahoma. So I take back the harsh tone. Still ...

I love this weekend of the year, so many sports (but unfortunately so much yardwork that takes me away from the television). Anyway, I have been catching the Women's College World Series and noticed a few things: 1. Will we ever reach a day when women are not called basemen? 2. PAC-10--not so dominant any more. OK mostly it was this guy who noticed that; I don't usually pay attention to such things. 3. There are still a lot of men coaching women's softball. 4. Softball has an inferiority complex: One of the commentators noted the other day that in regulation softball they only play 7 innings. As compared to...? I will say it again: the softball/baseball comparison hurts softball. 5. In last night's elimination game, Alabama was down 2-0 to Arizona State (the reigning champion). The 'Bama coach pulled his senior star player for a first-year lefty pinch hitter with the bases loaded. She hit a grand slam! And it didn't make Sports Center! 6. But Georgia's Bria...

A frequent complaint of mine is how American-centric the American coverage of professional tennis remains despite the international appeal of many top players. And with the French Open coming up soon, soon, soon (I board a plane in a week for France to go see it!) I was gearing up for another post on how the American media just can't seem to do right by international players. There's no telling what ESPN will do with its coverage. Whether we will see replay of some American's match during every rain delay (please cross your fingers that there will be no rain on the first Monday and Thursday of the tournament--thank you)--or whether we may actually get to see an interesting match with lesser-knowns. And remember that the less-knowns are only lesser known to Americans largely because of the lousy job ESPN and other outlets do in covering tennis. But I was pleased to see the NYT do a feature on Carla Suarez-Navarro . The article focused on Suarez-Navarro as the best hope for...