After Atalanta

Today is National Girls and Women in Sports Day. There are thousands of events going around the country today and in the coming days and weeks as part of the celebration. Organizations like the American Association of University Women and the Women's Sports Foundation, college teams, and local community groups sponsor various activities and speakers or offer admission to games. Before I get critical, I want to say that a lot of these are great events exposing girls to higher levels of competition as well as the different types of sports available. Often events include interaction with older female athletes creating a role model/mentoring relationship. But some of the rhetoric around this day is a little troubling. For example, in Syracuse, NY this weekend the Orange are turning pink . Yep, the women's basketball team to celebrate NGWSD along with engaging in a breast cancer awareness campaign will be wearing pink t-shirts during warm-up and pink shoelaces throughout the game. W...

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...