After Atalanta

I have largely stopped posting about the (mis)gendered language in sports. But language still continues to fascinate me. And I was particularly struck by the incongruity I heard at Wimbledon yesterday while watching Kim Clijsters's match. Wimbledon refers to female players as either Miss or Mrs (last name) depending on their marital status. While the formality is quaint, the practice seems antiquated--especially in this situation: Clijsters is married. She gets referred to as Mrs. But she never changed her name. So she is called Mrs. Clijsters at Wimbledon. It sounds so odd.

So I am not, let it be stated for the record, going to discuss any of these best of the decade stories. It is a principled stand based on the fact that it's not the end of the decade. Not until next year. 'Cause you can't start counting at zero. That said I read one of those very pieces (I said I wouldn't blog about it, not that I wouldn't read them) that included some of the best or most interesting or ironic sport quotes of the years 2000-2009. Some indeed interesting, some not so much. But I was reminded of that incident with John Rocker in 2000 (which, as we know was not the start of the current decade or even century; I am being too nitpicky about this?) where he said to Sports Illustrated that he would never play baseball in New York because he didn't want to ride the subway with, among others, the queer with AIDS. That got Rocker a lot of press and a two-week suspension at the start of the season and a $500 fine. So I was thinking about this in light of t...

So I was prepping for dinner, washing my first batch of local green beans when I heard myself say aloud "don't do it, Alex. Don't make me blog about you--again." But here I am blogging once again about Alex Trebek's general chauvinism and how it seems to appear in the context of sports. Because as Alex moved his way down the row of teenaged contestants to the only girl, he asked her to smile (first moment of my wariness), and notes how pretty her teeth are (that's two), and that they are all her own teeth before noting that the reason for this charade (my words, not his) is that young Audrey is a hockey player. She's a goalie though so she has a face mask, he says. (Of course all players have face masks now, Alex.) And then he calls her "a brave little girl." *sigh* Thankfully my spirits were buoyed by the airing--live--of the Boston Breaker versus the Washington Freedom game. My two favorite teams!! Alas Breakers player Alex Scott got ejected wi...

So it's over. We can all get back to our lives now that March Madness has ended. But before I put an end to blog posts about collegiate women's basketball, I have a few things to say about...yes, feminism. I will start with what I am sure many would call the nitpicky: an article in the NYT about last night's championship game, the Big East, and the surprising appearance of Louisville. The men's team at Louisville, of course, did not make it to their Final Four as expected and so that meant, according to one player, that star Angel McCoughtry had become "the man"--a term she had no problem with because, as the writer notes, she's no "raging feminist." And she understands that men's basketball gets more attention, though she believes it's because men's basketball "has been around since the Stone Age." I don't mean to pick on McCoughtry here. My point is that a smidge of feminist leanings, or heck just a little bit of women...

The NCAA has been meeting this week . They decided that 7th graders are now officially "prospects." Only in basketball and only boys; but still. The organization was concerned that college coaches were attending camps for elite 7th and 8th graders, something the NCAA could not monitor or regulate because the former cutoff for a prospect was 9th grade. The DI Legislative Chairman noted that it was "just a sign of the times." What times? Apocalyptic ones? Okay, that's slightly hyperbolic. But, come on--7th grade? This seems almost like the futile performance enhancers war. Someone finds a loophole, an administrative body addresses it, then there's another loophole, another rule and so on and so on. And all the while we do nothing to address the underlying problem(s). Have we learned nothing from the Elena Delle Donne situation? So many times since I started this blog have I wanted to title a post "You big stupid head"--except that's the cleaned u...

So I am watching the Holy Cross at UConn game. UConn seems to be riding high after their resounding win over #4 Oklahoma last weekend which was aired on ESPN (or ESPN2--I don't remember). I only watched a few minutes of it at the end of the first half before I turned on the penultimate episode of Tru Blood* . Tonight's game is being aired on Connecticut Public Television which airs a lot of UConn basketball, which is nice. Of course they also use the games as an opportunity for fundraising with pleas for money at every time out and half time. As with most public television fundraising there are incentives for various donations. CPTV is offering the in-demand (the first printing is already gone) media guide. Also there is an auction for a basketball signed by members of the team. In describing these items the CPTV host keeps referring to the players' numbers; as in "featured in the media guide is #31" and "the ball has been signed by #30 who we just saw score ...

Yes, the title is a little crude. But frankly, I am so exasperated at women being called men I just don't know how else to draw attention to this issue. Because Hope Solo, SI.com . is a woman and thus cannot be your Sportsman of the Year. It's interesting that this column by George Dohmann is titled Hope Solo: Sportsman of the Year (the dissonance that creates...) but Dohmann himself refers to the award as Sportsperson. Glad that some of SI's writers are smarter than their copy editors. *Just for the record, I do not believe that genitals make someone a man or a woman. And actually many governing bodies of sport these days are not relying on genital identification either. So while I admit the title is somewhat reductionist--I think it makes the point.

Reader JB informed me of an interesting--but not entirely surprising--double standard in the world of sport journalism. At the beginning of the summer ESPN columnist Jemele Hill, a young black woman, was suspended from her job after likening rooting for the Celtics to thinking Hitler was a victim. She apologized and served her suspension. Last weekend, Lou Holtz, older white guy, also working for ESPN made a comment during a conversation about the not-so-hot record of Michigan's football coach saying something about Hitler was a good leader too. I assume facetiously though another commentator said "you mean, bad leader" and he said yeah, yeah, bad. Holtz was made to apologize --that's it. The racist and gendered double standard just smacks one across the face. Holtz just made himself sound stupid. Hill's analogy I cannot quite understand because I don't have the whole context (ESPN took down the column). But here's the thing, I guess I'm not sure when...

I went to yoga for the first time in a long while on Saturday. I have been through various phases in my fitness life some of which have included a lot of yoga. For example, when I was in school in Iowa I would go several times a week. In part because I liked building flexible strength and in part because I really needed those last five minutes of class in corpse pose where I imagined the faces of my advisors on apples that gently fell to the ground and rolled away. But that was pretty much as meditative as I ever got. No offense to all the yogis out there, but I just never got into all the Eastern philosophy. So I seek out classes that do not include this as a huge component. The class on Saturday fit this particular bill. It lacked a little bit of the athleticism I am used to, but my calves didn't care because they have been tight on the verge of snapping and thus anything was going to help improve that situation. Unfortunately my instructor probably wasn't as concerned about...

Here's an excerpt from the statemen t from LPGA commissioner Carol Bivens about the now rescinded language policy: The LPGA has received valuable feedback from a variety of constituents regarding the recently announced penalties attached to our effective communications policy. We have decided to rescind those penalty provisions. After hearing the concerns, we believe there are other ways to achieve our shared objective of supporting and enhancing the business opportunities for every Tour player. In that spirit, we will continue communicating with our diverse Tour players to develop a better alternative. The LPGA will announce a revised approach, absent playing penalties, by the end of 2008. Hmmm..."valuable feedback from a variety of constituents." Carol Bivens, have you been reading my blog?? More likely State Farm called her up and said they were not too pleased to be associated with such a xenophobic, reactionary organization.

...the LPGA "backed off" it's English-only policy. (Not that I really would have started an office pool in part because I don't have an office.) But it would have been interesting. 'Cause I was wondering how long this new policy would last especially as people who have a little more invested in the tour, like number 1 Lorena Ochoa and sponsor State Farm, started speaking out--albeit somewhat tentatively--against aspects of the policy. So now they will go back to the drawing board and come up with a new policy by the end of the year, according to tour commissioner Carol Bivens, who made the announcement this afternoon. The news came just before a scheduled press conference by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in which they were going to demand the tour rescind the policy. The center still believes the LPGA owes its players and its fans a huge apology though. No kidding.

LPGA commissioner Carol Bivens has spoken--just when people were starting to question her silence. Perhaps this was part of the impetus. Bivens today issued a memo/letter to "LPGA Constituents" of which I am apparently one because I receive the LPGA e-newsletter. But you too can read it in its entirety here before you check out what everyone has to say about it. I can't imagine it will alter anyone's current opinion (pro or con) of the policy. There is no new information. There are no changes. There are no new explanations of the organization's rationale behind the policy. Bivens does feel the need to point out that it is "something most players want and fully support." When you are the only game in town--at least the most profitable one--and you control an athlete's ability to earn money in her sport, and the athletes don't seem to have much power in your organization (for whatever reason), one cannot really expect they are going to come out pub...

I was reading Fat Louie's post about the LPGA policy and then the link to a post at Racewire where a commenter felt that part of the impetus behind the policy was complaints by male amateurs that their pro-am partners could not speak English well enough and thus were not entertaining. Commenter notes the sexism inherent in such a belief. Women are there for entertainment, including female athletes. But the racism is also incredibly scary. Everyone knows the policy is directed at the Asian golfers. And most are familiar with the stereotypes about Asian women as compliant and entertaining. And some, though probably fewer, know about the various histories of Asian women serving the needs of foreign men including as comfort women in World War II, as prostitutes--throughout time, as mail order brides, etc.

Here's the update: The LPGA is getting a lot of crap about their new language policy that threatens suspension to any player who cannot pass an oral English competency test. Other sporting organizations are taking the opportunity to boost their reputations noting that they don't have language requirements. That they provide translators. That their athletes will often learn English of their own accord; without pressure. Here's an example from the tennis world. This NYT piece discusses the business side of the decision and quotes a confused Libba Galloway, the tour's deputy commissioner, who is "puzzled" by all the attention the new policy is receiving. But it also notes that Commissioner Carol Bivens hasn't spoken up publicly in support of it. Methinks she is throwing Galloway, who has been the public mouthpiece for the policy, under teh bus. I had some concern when the story first broke about all the players rushing to show their (nearly) unequivocal supp...

In a move that truly indicates just how reactionary and afraid for their image the LPGA tour is, the powers-that-be announced the other day that tour players will all have to speak English within two years or face suspension. Newcomers to the tour get no grace period. It doesn't seem to be a secret that the new rule is aimed at large contingent of South Koreans (but also other players from Asian countries). Learning English is considered part of a player's "professional development" says an LPGA rep. The AP story I read this morning in my local paper and the one linked above both quote South Koreans, including Hall of Famer Se Ri Pak, saying that the new rule is a good thing for the tour. Though Pak believes players not passing the exam should be fined--not suspended. I was surprised that no one was registering any complaint. Christina Kim said the policy was a little surprising but that she believes 99 percent of the players support it. I was able to find, before I ...

Some Louisiana institutions of higher education are sticking to "tradition" and retaining the lady part of the sports teams' nicknames--the women's teams, of course. I feel like I have addressed this issue enough and I don't think I have anything really new and/or profound to add to the discussion. Helen over at Women's Hoops Blog talks about it smartly and succinctly when she employs her gender reverse test and replaces ladies with gentlemen and women with men. I wonder if such play with language would convince some of those women who want to be treated like ladies that this so-called tradition isn't really in their best interest. They cite history and tradition, but do they know what it really means--historically, traditionally--to be treated like a lady? Sure lady has a class (and race) connotation that would seem to suggest that women who qualified as ladies (versus working class women and many women of color) had a better life; were somehow less oppr...

Think sport; think coed. What do you think of? Maybe it's just me, but I think of mixed gender athletic activities. Because surely people don't mean to use coed as a noun referring to the antiquated (well not that old but still...) use of the term that describes female college students. But, yes, that still happens. The Title IX blog recently noted that in a suit being brought by a young woman's parents against her school the female student was referred to as a coed. First of all, you can check out their link to a post about the egregiousness of the term and its origins in the belief that women as students were add-ons. Second, the young woman who is experiencing discrimination in the school's apportioning of athletic resources, isn't even a college student. This, to me, illustrates the interesting mental intersections of women's sports and general sexism. Women's sports, like female students--once upon a time--are add-ons in many people's minds. Even Bi...

I love me a post about sport and language. Diane over at Women Who Serve has an excellent post about how tennis commentators demean their own sport by continually using non-tennis metaphors (one-two punch, out of the gate, etc.).