After Atalanta

Glam Gal over at A Glam Slam has posted about the controversy over Venus Williams's Australian Open dress which apparently is not quite a dress. I haven't seen all that much of the Open yet this year what with the odd hours of television coverage and the fact that I'm not all that excited about watching men's five setters. So I haven't seen Venus's attire. I'm generally not a fan of her outfits, but that just means we don't share the same fashion sense. Neither here nor there. But the commentators love to talk about them and whether they are inappropriate and/or ill-fitting. Glam Gal posted the commentators' discussion: John McEnroe: "I think that dress has distracted [Venus]." Dick Enberg: "It’s distracting you." McEnroe: "That’s a fair point." Enberg: "It sounds like it might be a distraction to her opponent." McEnroe: "Well, she’s tugging at it. She’s uncomfortable with it." Mary Carillo: "Sh...

A letter to the editor of the Montreal Gazette: Double standard The Gazette January 17, 2011 Re: "Pivotal year for Sharapova" (Gazette, Jan. 14). No sooner is the engagement ring on her finger and already we're wondering if this will somehow compromise Maria Sharapova's ability to play tennis? Not to mention the commentary on Kim Clijsters's talent remaining intact since she got married. I don't recall this concern surfacing when Mike Comrie of the Edmonton Oilers married Hilary Duff, or when Mike Fisher of the Ottawa Senators tied the knot with Carrie Underwood. No one wondered what effect the change in marital status would have on their hockey skill and capability. As well, it doesn't look like anyone is wondering if sporting a wedding band will affect Sasha's Vujacic's ability to play basketball. When will we ever get over the silliness of such double standards? Maria Algeri Pierrefonds

Luckily I am not a member of Red Sox Nation currently overflowing with schadenfraude nor am a disillusioned fan of baseball with hopes for some return to a state of purity in the sport. So the Manny Ramirez revelation (on top of the A-Rod thing and the Mitchell Report) was not really a surprise--except for the utter stupidity of it. But what I was surprised by was the lack of jokes around the whole thing. Everyone is treating it with such utter seriousness. The man was taking fertility drugs! Fertility drugs! No, "he's due after playoffs?" no "he's been trying for so long" type riffs. Not even stuff about the drug's off-label use to restimulate testosterone after a round of steroids. When women take steroids there is no shortage of commentary about manliness, man hands, growing balls, etc. Let's not forget the still on-going jokes about the female Olympians of the 70s and 80s who competed for Iron Curtain countries and were doused--without their know...

Are these the only choices for women's sports? It seems so. ESPN.com columnist Bonnie Ford has a piece from last week about the firing (or non-renewal of contract) of US national team soccer coach Greg Ryan and all the hoopla over the Hope Solo controversy entitled: Would a Hope Solo situation happen to a men's team ? Her conclusion--which you can probably guess from just reading the title--is that, no, men's teams don't deal with intrateam controversy by benching a player. One, I am not sure this is exactly the case. I seem to recall various clubhouse tensions with certain players over the years. Perhaps it is not that men handle it differently but that the media treats such situations differently when women are involved; relying on stereotypes of women's group behavior (Ford calls the situation a "slumber party gone bad") and conflicts (i.e. catfights). Essentialist beliefs about women as inherently nurturing or conciliatory and forgiving have framed thi...