After Atalanta

Did you know the Paralympic Games began in Vancouver last Friday? OK, I forgot too. Though I knew they were forthcoming. On March 7, the Globe Magazine ran a Q&A column about American sled hockey player and UNH student (woo-hoo!) Taylor Chance, who plays for team USA. I haven't seen where there might be television coverage of any of the Paralympic events, but if you know of any, please share.

See, I knew I would be back to critiquing someone this week. And how appropriate that is the anonymous columnist from my alma mater's student newspaper. (In my day, when I wrote for The New Hampshire , they didn't allow anonymous columnists.) Anyway, anonymous Joe (he admits to being male), has a holiday wish list for the University of new Hampshire that includes a few sport-related things. First he wishes for a new football stadium because the current one is "small" and "ugly." I never thought it was that bad. He said that because the team has done so well recently they deserve a less-embarrassing facility. Perhaps. But it clearly has not affected recruiting. After all if you can make it to the second round of the post-season, you must be getting quality players who come in spite of the allegedly crummy stadium. And, of course, it costs a lot of money to build a new stadium. Anonymous Joe said that a new stadium, though, would bring in more revenue. But a...

It was a sweet weekend for University of New Hampshire hockey. The women hosted #1 ranked (and two-time defending NCAA champions) Wisconsin. And they won 2-1 each afternoon . [ Being there is great but hearing it broadcast also provides some insight. For example, Martine Garland, who was easily the today's MVP scoring UNH's two goals, was called a defenseman. I have bitched about this before, but I find it so interesting that others don't find it jarring to hear something along the lines of " She's a great a defense man ." But not necessarily surprising. Last night Wisconsin earned what I like to call the "learn how to count" penalty when, in the course of a shift change, they wound up with 6 players on the ice. From the stands I heard fans yell--before the whistle blew and the penalty was called--"too many men, too many men." And they were not talking about the gender composition of the US Congress. But I was pleasantly surprised when the...

As a member of Friends of UNH Women's Hockey I receive the regular updates of how the team is doing. [They're doing well so far this season, thanks for asking!] This week's update mentions the usual accolades: good wins, players reaching milestones, rookies winning recognition, etc. It also previewed the week's coming contests. Tonight UNH travels to Boston to take on Boston College, a team that has finally come into its own. [They did have that whole coaching scandal last spring with head coach Tom Mutch resigning after it was revealed he was involved with a freshman player on the team. But former Olympian Katie King has taken over and it looks like promoting her to head coach from her position as an assistant was a good decision.] Fans attending the game have a couple of things to worry about. Last week's contest between the men of BC and UNH was called after two periods because they couldn't keep the arena, Conte Forum, cold enough as the weather outside was ...

I know everyone's watching college football, or professional football, or the pennant race. Some of us are watching the World Cup. But it's hard not to think about college hockey which is gearing up for season openers. The Boston Herald ran a brief column today on the Hockey East conference, in which my alma mater UNH plays. Both the men's and women's teams have been voted first in the coaches' pre-season poll. (The men tied with rival BC.) Alas, reporter John Connolly called the women's team the Lady Wildcats. Grrrr.... I have written previously about the problematic use of the term Lady to designate women's teams and expressed my continued disappointment in Tennessee basketball coach Pat Summitt for her support of the practice. But at UNH, we don't even use the term. (I would have to look into whether we ever did.) So that means Connolly is just using to distinguish--and by distinguish I mean demean because of course "Ladies" can't play...

Feminist scholar and activist Dr. Gail Dines has been receiving some vicious hate mail after her appearance on CNN's Paula Zahn Show. She recounts and analyzes the past few days in an article at Common Dreams . Dines, a sociologist, was asked to comment on the Duke lacrosse case and the media coverage of it (her area of research is racism and sexism in the media). Her five-minute segment has generated many emails from disgruntled men attacking her and her views and defending the members of the lacrosse team, presenting them as the victims of the black female "stripper." At the end of fall semester, a female student at University of New Hampshire (my alma mater) wrote a letter to the editor of the university's student paper, The New Hampshire , that a poster on safe sex, displayed in her dorm, was offensive.* It featured a male pitcher and a female catcher with the tag line: "whether you're a pitcher or a catcher, always wear a glove." The student made ...

When I went to Salt Lake City in 2002 my prime motivation was to see women's hockey, not just because I am a huge fan but because University of New Hampshire, my alma mater, had quite a few former players on the team. Well at least it did when I bought my tickets. By the time the games had rolled around most of the UNH contingent had been cut--all of the players who were my contemporaries had been axed. Later I heard that the whole cutting process was pretty contentious and actually led to a lot of team tension that could have possibly affected the team's overall performance. Since that time, UNH players have been shut out of places on the national squad. And I had thought that trend was continuing when I heard at the UNH-Harvard game that Harvard coach Katey Stone, a UNH alum herself, and also coach of the U-22 Select team had cut quite a few UNHers from her squad in August. [The US squad ended up losing 2 out of 3 games to Canada in their series.] But I recently discovered (a...

I saw my first women's hockey game in over nine months last night and it was wonderful. UNH, after being down two goals in the third, came back to tie Harvard 3-3. It was great hockey, great skating, and in what other venue can you can see an Olympian (Harvard's Julie Chu) for only $8? (And probably some future Olympians too!) Bright Arena in Cambridge was more crowded than I thought, but I still don't understand why more people don't come to watch women's intercollegiate hockey. You don't have to know someone on the team--you don't even have to be an alum. Just find a team and go. You can even be non-partisan and switch seats every period--trust me there will be plenty of seats for you to do so. And if you have some or know some--bring the kids in your life. Most arenas are pretty intimate and kids like to press up against the glass where they can really experience the action. And did I mention how economical it is? You can take your whole family to a game ...