After Atalanta

In case you missed women's beach volleyball--but really, how could you given the near constant coverage?--let me tell you about some of the discussion centered around Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh. The discourse focused on two things: their dominance and their heterosexuality (with the occasional homoerotic turn when their victory "koala hug" from the previous Olympics--acceptable because it's "hot" and temporary). There were segments on each of their respective marriages to other male athletes. There was the lost wedding ring incident when Walsh's ring came off during one of the matches and they had to search the sand for it afterwards (a volunteer found it). And there was the discussion of their post-Olympic lives and impending motherhood. Overall there was a lot of family talk this Olympics. People with kids; athletes with mothers (Debbie Phelps's face is just as recognizable now as her son's size 14 feet); doting husbands and wives; suppo...

More good news this week about positive trends in sports. Some colleges have dropped the "Lady" from their nicknames of women's teams, and now, it seems, young athletes are coming out as gay in high school and college and not getting the crap beat out of them. The LA Times features the stories of a handful of young athletes who chose not to hide their homosexual identity and to continue to play sports. The article is not especially well-written, jumping from one athlete's story to the next with little transition, but it is important in that it showcases athletes who are challenging the norms set by sport and society about sexuality, gender, and athletic ability. I actually disagreed with a GLADD rep, a former football player himself, who said that he thinks a superstar will come out eventually (I guess he thinks of superstars as men given that Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King, Amelie Mauresmo, and Sheryl Swoopes all came out during their playing careers and have...