After Atalanta

 My niblings both play youth sports. I do not live nearby so I do not get to see them do so that often. But even though they play at a pretty recreational level, the vibe is still pretty intense. Though it is nothing close to the awfulness I hear some of my students describe or things I have seen in the media.  And though it is not perfect, there are some good practices. Some of the sports that are more cost-intense have programs to help with accessibility. Neither of the leagues my niblings play in really keep score (the parents may and I am not sure which ones share that info with their children). The coaching I have seen seems good and I have not witness any parent or coach yelling at a ref/official (who are all teens).  Still I was surprised--pleasantly--when I heard what happened at the lacrosse jamboree my niece played in earlier this summer. One team was short a few players and so players from my niece's team played for the short-handed team--including my niece--wh...

I'm in crazy research mode these days, hence the lack of posts. But I have been holding on to this link for a while. It's a radio show out of Canada and addresses the issue of Indian mascots. The show is called ReVision Quest and the episode aired on June 30. It's good. I recommend it for personal information; it would probably work well in the classroom, too. Also a story I have been meaning to mention that is (somewhat) related: a lacrosse team comprised of young men from the Iroquois nation were denied permission to travel to Manchester, England for the World Lacrosse Championship. The players hold passports from the Iroquois Confederacy and England would not accept these as legitimate travel documents despite assurances from the State Department that the players would be allowed back into the US. In mid-July when this story was breaking, US Representative Dan Maffie (NY) said that if Great Britain refused to allow these players into their country it would be an "in...

Alternate title: Why I shouldn't turn on the TODAY show while still in bed. Not just because I hate the TODAY show, but because I hear more about stories I had kind of been avoiding, like the murder of University of Virginia lacrosse player, Yeardley Love by her (ex?) boyfriend, George Huguely, also a lacrosse player. Not avoiding because I am indifferent to the murder of a young woman, but because the more I listen to and read the coverage, the more irate I become. This column was particularly bad. I do believe writer Les Carpenter had the best of intentions in trying to both memorialize Yeardley Love and bring attention to the issue of bad behavior by student-athletes. But in attempting both, he succeeded in neither. First, I found it highly problematic that in describing the vigil for Love held on UVA's campus, he wrote only of women holding candles in their "flowing summer dresses" and sandals coming to the vigil site from all over campus. It was kind of Greek tra...

If you're sick of hearing or depressed about the economy and the myriad of effects--stop reading here. Because there has been a lot of talk about how the recession is affecting sports. I've already mentioned it here . But it seems sports and the economy are the hot topic so I thought I would run down what I have seen so far. Schools, of course, are going through budget cuts (though doesn't it seem that public schools are always in a budget crunch?) and some of the cuts are in athletics. Title IX Blog has a post about how parents are ensuring that female athletes do not receive the brunt of those cuts. USA Today has a piece about the problems non-major sports are having and includes: some concern over how the WPS will fare in this economy; news of Arena Football's suspension; and the loss of the Houston Comets. Of course not everyone is suffering. Men's professional soccer in North America is expanding. The National Lacrosse League had a soldout crowd at it's cha...

Need a decent-paying part-time gig? Are you a former female athlete? Try refereeing. This article from an old Baltimore Sun addresses the need for refs at the junior and high school level because of the growing number of girls playing youth sports. This piece focuses on the lack of refs in lacrosse and field hockey but the overall trend is a lack of female refs in all sports. Because the pay might be good and it's a great way to stay involved in a sport you grew up around, but the work conditions are not always ideal. The article speaks to "the increasingly hostile environment for officials at games" and related the story of one new referee who quit after a season because of all the bad language directed her way. And one has to think, and there seems to be some research to back this up, that female refs get more crap than their male counterparts. A good example was Celtics commentator Cedric Maxwell saying that NBA ref Violet Palmer should "get back in the kitchen ...

ESPN.com has done a series on DIII athletic programs. This part of the series focuses on schools that have one successful DI program that benefits the other DIII sports in the program and the school as a whole. The article points to the value of such a configuration within the athletic department and there are definitely good things to be said for running one or two big programs. You're only a little bit into the craziness of big-time programs; a little less influenced by alumni dollars; a little less likely to compromise the welfare of your student-athletes and the reputation of your school for the sake of a win. But some of the bonuses the article cites include greater diversity because the larger programs will recruit across the nation and sometimes in foreign countries. What is meant by diversity is ambiguous. If your big program is hockey your foreign recruits are most likely Canadians and sometimes Scandinavians. These players bring a certain amount of cultural diversity but ...

Greg Garber at ESPN.com has written a column on the firing of Missouri's club lacrosse coach Kyle Hawkins. It includes a video clip of Hawkins. The column is a pretty in-depth and provides a lot of details of Hawkins's coming out process including how his parents essentially disowned him. (He was removed from the family trust fund and they haven't spoken since he told them he is gay.) There are also repeated assertions from players, the team's faculty advisor, and even Cyd Zeigler of Outsports.com that Hawkins's firing was not related to his homosexuality. Again, I believe them when they say the issue was not brought up in discussions. I even believe that they believe it had nothing to do with the decision. But I do not believe that the alleged negative coaching style was a recent development or that the concern over his poor representation of the university at away games was not influenced by his homosexuality. According Garber's column, which was written a we...

I was so pleased last month when I read about the University of Missouri having a gay (club) lacrosse coach for their men's team. There was a little bit of controversy but at the time of the article it seemed that most of the team was on board, along with the university. Not so much anymore. Hawkins has been fired . The article's sub-headline reads: Student-run lacrosse team lets gay coach go, says sexuality was not an issue. Yeah, right. The team asked Hawkins to resign and when he refused they fired him. Because lacrosse is a club sport the team has the power to make these decisions. Apparently they wanted to do it last year but because Hawkins had just come out they felt it would have looked like they were making the decision based on his homosexuality. A year didn't really make that much of a difference--it still seems pretty clear from the weak reasons they provided, that there was discomfort with Hawkins being gay. Karen Mitchell, a graduate student who serves as one...

This feature on Kyle Hawkins , a lacrosse coach at University of Missouri, who recently came out makes it seem like things are getting better in college athletics--even for gay men. Although there is plenty of sadness and struggle in the story about Hawkins who started coaching the club team at Missouri several years ago, the story presents Hawkins's coming out as a success and an event that has changed the lives of some of those involved. I am glad for Hawkins and his team and pleased that the University of Missouri did not waiver in their support of Hawkins. I am glad that the referee who called him a faggot and equated gay men with child molesters got suspended for a year. And I am glad this story was done by the AP and picked up outside of Missouri. I am a little concerned with some of the things Hawkins said about gay players--three actually who have decided to go to Mizzou to play for Hawkins--being short-sighted in choosing the program because the coach is gay. Hawkins stres...