After Atalanta

OMG! I'm watching sand volleyball. Right now. Collegiate sand volleyball. Pepperdine versus Long Beach State.  This is the first ever national championships in the sport. Not NCAA sponsored. I think, actually and somewhat perversely, Jack-in-the-Box is sponsoring these championships. I was curious about uniforms when this sport was proposed. Pretty modest (compared to what we will see from most women's teams in London, where it's not going to be super warm, btw). Pepperdine has tank tops and what looks like running shorts. One of the Pepperdine assistant coaches is the coach of famed American duo Misty May and Kerry Walsh. Long Beach is wearing tankinis. It looks like most of the other teams in the tournament are doing the tank top/shorts combo. Pepperdine has already won the team title. Now they are looking to win the individual title. I love having a girlfriend who has more sports channels than she even knows exist!

So says the sport's international governing body . * Out of respect for cultures and for women who like more clothing when playing sports, the International Volleyball Federation has said that participants in the Olympics can wear shorts and long-sleeve shirts. Cultures in which female athletes "choose" to reveal more skin while playing competitive sports are welcome to continue to do so in London this summer. Just out of curiosity--what are the collegiate sand volleyball players wearing? Are there uniform regulations for this sport yet? *check out the photo accompanying the article. Kerri Walsh and Misty May Treanor look a little odd--and freezing--next to the other women on the podium who are wearing full body suits.

Until yesterday morning, I had not read anything about how Brittney Griner of Baylor has been treated by the fans and by the media. And I don't mean the reaction to her punching a Texas Tech player a couple of months ago. We all know that. I meant the reaction to HER as a very tall, slightly androgynous, deep-voiced, woman of color with a so-called aggressive style of play. But I knew that similarly situated players, like Courtney Paris, experienced racialized and sexualized taunts from the crowd. And I heard that from a fan, not from the media. This recent NYT article reported that Griner has been the subject of web chatter over her sexuality and gender (which is tied up in her race as well, though the NYT fails to note this). (Little aside: check out Dr. Lavoi's report on the experiences of two high school players on their meeting with Griner down in San Antonio last weekend.) But despite this information, the writer seems to think that Griner is part of a group of female ath...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

The NCAA's announcement that sand volleyball (we all know it as beach volleyball) will become the latest "emerging sport" has generated some news. Several schools are actively considering the addition which is being touted as cheap and fairly easy to implement, especially if schools already have an indoor team (the thought is that there could be player and even coaching overlap). But this dude in Utah thinks this is just another of the evil implementations of Title IX. Because sand volleyball is only being offered for women. He calls the move an attempt to "inflate" the numbers of women playing intercollegiate athletics (implying of course that their interest isn't real, or that the sport is somehow inferior) just like when those "silly NCAA-sponsored crew teams" were sanctioned. Mr. Robinson, I wouldn't mess with female rowers if I were you. They're fierce--in the best way! He bemoans the lack of scholarships for male athletes--well for no...

You think I am going to say wrestling, right? Because there was that article earlier this week in the NYT about small colleges adding women's wrestling . But no, the NCAA has not even added women's wrestling to its list of emerging sports. This is unfortunate. Especially in light of the sport the NCAA has been considering adding: beach volleyball. An NCAA committee is investigating the possibility of intercollegiate beach volleyball. There definitely seems to be interest in places like Florida--where this article is out of. But one has to wonder at the viability of a sport that can only be played in certain areas of the country. (I know there are other sports like this--the issue is whether we want to add another.) And one also has to wonder why the NCAA is investigating this sport as a potential emerging sport but not seriously considering wrestling. Hmm...could there be an image problem with women's wrestling? What else is on the list of emerging sports? Well there's...