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...

 Watching the semi-final between Mirra Andreeva and Marta Kostyuk, I am struck by how they both have women coaches to whom they are not related (i.e., their mothers are not coaching them, though Kostyuk's mother was her coach until 2022). I wonder how often this happens? From my fairly faithful watching of tennis, I would guess not often. But I have not run the numbers. I am also watching the Women's College World Series the final of which pits Texas against Texas Tech. I am not rooting for either team (I am just in it for the softball which has been good. I stopped having a favorite when UCLA was eliminated.) Both those teams feature men coaches. And no one talks about this, that I have heard anyway. (I am less faithful watcher of DI softball until regionals come around every May.) I know Texas coach Mike White is a former softball player, so at least he has played the game at a high level.  And then there are the ongoing conversations in the WNBA this season about the behavi...

No, this is not about the former men's basketball coach at Rutgers. 'Cause really what else is there to say about that that wasn't covered in the fabulous SNL parody with Melissa McCarthy. This time the offending coach is a young softball coach at Seton Hall . Her players finally had had enough with her unreasonable demands (skip classes, forgo educational opportunities) and retribution when her orders were not followed. They have detailed many specific incidents (including calling her players aborted fetuses) which have reached the local newspaper likely because players' parents felt the administration was not listening to their concerns and had not delineated any kind of process for the investigation. Deliberate indifference and lack of policies/procedures is never a good position for a university to be in these days, but administrators contend that they do have a process and policies that they follow when complaints are made. Other than that, they would not comment ...

Word came out yesterday that the biggest names in women's softball will not be playing for the US National Team this year. They have all decided to play full time for the National Pro Fastpitch, which is the professional league in the US. Jessica Mendoza's blog explains the situation pretty well (more on this in a sec). The scheduling conflicts between the pro league and the national team schedule were going to be too great this year and the players had to choose. And basically the entire national team has chosen to play professionally. Mendoza writes about the need to support professional women's sports and the lack of Olympians on those teams hurts the effort to grow professional softball and professional women's sports generally. And she speaks of her discussions with Billie Jean King who spoke of the importance of professional athletic opportunities for women and the need to get critical mass among female athletes in these efforts. And that is the key to this announ...

American softball player Jennie Finch announced her retirement from softball last week. I have to say, I'm not too sad about this. I was never a fan of the pretty face version of softball she--and others--were promoting. Though it will be a real loss for the game as all those men who tuned in and came out for games to see Finch and her "toothpaste commercial" smile will now abandon the game as it loses its sexiest star. Oh wait...sex appeal doesn't sell women's sports...never mind. Maybe the loss of Finch will make the game a little less heterosexual? People are hoping that Finch will stay involved in the fight to get softball back into the Olympics, thinking, I would presume, that her "pretty face" will have some kind of wooing effect on the male-dominated IOC. Let's note that softball didn't get cut from the Olympic roster because the players were ugly. It got too closely associated with baseball and did not--allegedly--have enough of an intern...

I wasn't as invested in the Women's College World Series this year. I turned it on when I was around. I went to one regional game. But I left the bar where I was watching game 1 of the championships on Monday night because I cared more about eating leftover pizza than seeing who won. Last night I watched intermittently and had it on before I went to bed. I was pretty sure UCLA had it wrapped up when I turned it off in the bottom of the fifth. And I only went to bed because spin class on Wednesday comes early at 6:15 and since I am the instructor I kind of need to be "on." But it was an exciting game. There was a two-run homer in the first. There were pitching changes all over the place. There were bases loaded. One grand slam. Not too very long ago, in the days of Monica Abbott and Cat Osterman, scores were low and games were all about pitching duels. Commentators talked about potentially tired arms, conditioning of pitchers' legs, and techniques batters were usin...

Every morning I receive in my inbox a google alert for women's sports (along with offers for Viagra, Christian dating sites, and a chance to help out some former royal from Malawi). I scan the headlines and pass over things like BGSU women's lacrosse MVP banquet and most of the stuff published by the Bleacher Report (unless I am feeling ornery and in need of pointing out some ridiculousness). This morning, reading the headlines in my alert, I had a pang of blogger jealousy. Someone had come up with a title that was very After Atalanta-esque--and it wasn't me! And it was about softball--and lesbians. How could this be? Well because it was Dr. Pat Griffin who wrote the piece "Can Jennie Finch Even Say Lesbian?" and so I feel much better now. And especially so after reading it. Griffin calls out all (or most) of the people who have been speaking up in the wake of the astounding revelation that Elena Kagan once played softball--and the messages that sends. And Griffin...

I haven't written anything recently about pinkification, because I have said (probably more than once) before it places one in the not so pleasant position of appearing to be pro-cancer and maybe even anti-woman. Nonetheless, I find it difficult to refrain from infusing some critical commentary when the issue comes up. This one is not a diatribe. I just happened to come across news that the University of Alabama (whose softball team just won the SEC regular season and tournament and got a #1 seeding in the NCAA tournament) has renewed its contract with Nike . (This isn't even going to be an anti-Nike post!) As part of said contract (which runs through 2018!) Nike will provide 'Bama with apparel, equipment, coaching gear, and shoes. They will also: will allocate funds...for the athletic department's annual Power of Pink initiative in which the company will provide specific "pink garments" to be worn by each women's sports team at one contest per year. ...

Wow, this is the kind of post that just gets me so...excited! So I missed the whole Wall Street Journal printing pics of SCOTUS nominee Elena Kagan playing softball--on their front page! I did see said pics in various postings/blogs around teh internets. And of course I have been around for the remarkable silence around her sexuality--besides that whole denial thing by the White House. This situation seems to be getting stickier every day. And I could pontificate about political strategy and the ins and outs and in-betweens of the closet. But I'd rather talk about softball! And lesbians! And lesbians who play softball! Because you gotta love the New York Post chiding the more snooty and allegedly high brow WSJ by publishing an article about the connection between lesbians and softball. And even getting one my favorite (former) softball-playing lesbians and sexuality and sport scholar, Dr. Pat Griffin, to comment on it. Why yes, Virginia, there are lesbians who play softball! And ...

Maybe, according to this article out of an Atlanta paper, a city which will host three women's professional teams in 2010 (soccer, softball, and basketball). Chicago has just as many. [Not sure if they are counting football at all, though. I know there are at least two leagues for women's football but I do not know if they qualify as professional or how that designation is made.] Anyway, some are hopeful that it's a good time (recession notwithstanding) for professional women's sports. That perhaps people are getting a little sick of male professional athletes behaving badly. That fans don't always like to see their favorite athletes getting arrested (guess we better not look too hard at Diana Taurasi then!) and that female athletes are generally seen as more accessible and more willing to do promotion and hang out with kids, etc. While I would love 2010 to be a great year for women's professional sports that have no historically been so successful, or even thos...

I have to say that the more I read about ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue the more I am looking forward to its release next week. And I am not the only one. I think many are intrigued by whether and how this naked stars/serious message thing is going to work. Sure, many will be pick it up to see just how naked Serena Williams is going to be, or because they have pregnancy fetishes and want to see Jessica Mendoza's 8-month pregnant body. But I want to know if it's really going to work--the serious with naked that is. Not that nudes cannot be serious--I have spent enough time in famous museums with my hand on my chin pondering sculptures and portraits of the naked form. But can we take it seriously in the context of ESPN The Magazine? After all this project is not a new one. Annie Leibovitz has photographed naked and nearly naked athletes as well--with far less media coverage I am pretty sure. And as I mentioned previously, the co-ed aspect of the project does not make me any ...

I just read about the forthcoming issue of ESPN , The Magazine which is being called the "Body Issue." (Isn't every issue of a magazine that covers sports exclusively always a body issue given that they are talking about and photographing bodies?) The USA Today article makes it seem like a good excuse to get some athletes nearly naked. (Or at least that was my interpretation.) So I was really surprised to see that Mendoza, current president of the Women's Sports Foundations, was featured with some of her team USA colleagues. Plus I also knew that given the date of the magazine, Mendoza was likely pregnant during the shoot. And I was right. I headed to her blog where she wrote briefly about the photo shoot. She presents it a little differently than USA Today. Then last week I did a photo shoot with teammates Cat Osterman, Natasha Watley and Lauren Lappin for ESPN the magazine’s new “Body Issue”. I am really excited about this because I feel the “bodies” young girl...

I guess I shouldn't have had much faith that the IOC would do the right thing, and I actually don't know what the right thing was in this situation. But I am disappointed that the executive board got all excited about golf and that they are banking on Tiger Woods to play in 2016 (when he will be 40--not especially old in golf years but let's remember that he's already had one knee surgery). That's just kind of ridiculous reasoning, frankly. I still think they are silly to think that professionals will place the Olympics above other (paying) commitments or more prestigious events. So rugby sevens was the other sport nominated. As I have previously admitted, I don't know that much about rugby and a commenter the other day said it wasn't real rugby. I don't know. But I still think it will be interesting to expose more people to some version of the sport. And by some people, I really mean Americans. Both sports are going up for individual votes (as in each s...

From all accounts the IOC will vote on Thursday as to which two sports will be considered for admissions to the 2016 Olympics. And according to the NYT the top contenders do not include softball. Based on nothing concrete as far as I can tell rugby and golf are the favorites right now. This is disappointing. I am all for rugby getting in but golf should not be an Olympic sport. As some article (can't find it now) pointed out two of the organizations behind golf's bid are all-male golf clubs--one of which is Augusta National (the other is in great Britain). Not a great way for the IOC to prove its alleged commitment to gender equity. I had thought softball was doing a pretty decent job arguing its case and not showing any bitterness over apparently being booted out in the first place over a misunderstanding. Of course the misunderstanding itself was likely because so many IOC members are men who have no clue what softball--marked as a women's sport--really is. Anyway back to...

Every time I hear about saving softball, people invoke young girls. We're doing it for all those girls in the stands, commentator Michelle Smith says. I am so sick of this rationale. Why do women's sports have to invoke the future of girlhood as a primary reason for saving the sport? I agree that it is part of the larger argument. But it is almost always proffered as the sole reason--at least during broadcasts of softball games. I haven't completely dissected the rhetoric yet and this is not the reason behind this post, so moving on... Since these girls in the stands are the future of softball and Smith likes to talk about the skills necessary for youth players to develop if they want to play collegiate and eventually international ball, I think I should add that in addition to 1) becoming a leftie (seriously--lefties are ubiquitous on team USA); 2) learning to sneaky bunt or slap; 3) and making it to first in less than 5 seconds young girls are going to have to learn the a...

Next March when you issue your press release during Women's History Month about how much coverage you provide of women's sports, I hope you don't count the softball game you are airing right now in your list of accomplishments. Because when I saw that women's softball was airing during prime time on a Thursday, I was pretty psyched. But the World Cup final you are showing is from LAST YEAR. Last year! And that "previously recorded" you have in the upper right corner of the screen is a little bit misleading. Previously recorded shouldn't really apply to LAST YEAR. Isn't that what ESPN Classic is for? Previously recorded is for a game that was played this afternoon or even earlier in the week. Don't make me come down to CT and explain it to you. Sincerely (pissed off), ken UPDATE: Ok, so it turns out ESPN did end up airing the USA v. Netherlands game a little after 9pm EST. There was a power outage in Oklahoma. So I take back the harsh tone. Still ...

As I mentioned, softball made its bid this week for a (re)berth in the Olympics. But six other sports did the same: baseball, golf (Annika Sorenstam was part of that presentation), karate, roller sports, rugby, and squash. (Remember, women's boxing may be making its Olympic debut, but in 2012, because it is not considered a new sport because men's boxing already is in.) ESPN has a brief synopsis of each of the sports that made presentations to the IOC last week. PS According to Jessica Mendoza's Twitter page, the IOC was "wowed"--their words--by softball's presentation.

Making a pitch to get back in after an odd series of events got softball kicked off the Olympic roster, representatives of the sport were in Switzerland this week appealing to the powers-that-be. (You can read about some of the happenings at on Twitters--yes, I finally joined--by following Jessica Mendoza.) And they have the support of the Prince of Jordan . Prince Feisal has said he believes softball can help women's rights in the Middle East. He sees the game, which he played and enjoyed while living in the United States, as ideal because it is inclusive of all age groups, able to accommodate different dress codes, social, and not a contact sport. The group advocating for softball really stressed the international appeal and possibilities of the sport, especially in developing areas, and for Muslim women. Most believe the IOC will announce which two sports will be allowed into the 2016 Olympics in August in Berlin.

I love this weekend of the year, so many sports (but unfortunately so much yardwork that takes me away from the television). Anyway, I have been catching the Women's College World Series and noticed a few things: 1. Will we ever reach a day when women are not called basemen? 2. PAC-10--not so dominant any more. OK mostly it was this guy who noticed that; I don't usually pay attention to such things. 3. There are still a lot of men coaching women's softball. 4. Softball has an inferiority complex: One of the commentators noted the other day that in regulation softball they only play 7 innings. As compared to...? I will say it again: the softball/baseball comparison hurts softball. 5. In last night's elimination game, Alabama was down 2-0 to Arizona State (the reigning champion). The 'Bama coach pulled his senior star player for a first-year lefty pinch hitter with the bases loaded. She hit a grand slam! And it didn't make Sports Center! 6. But Georgia's Bria...

The WCWS is upon us. Check out ESPN's Graham Hays for an analysis of what to expect. I was surprised to see that Washington's Daniel Lawrie was one of the top two pitchers in the country this year. I saw her play in the regionals and opposing teams were definitely hitting off of her. Anyway, looking forward to seeing some of the tournament when I return. (Not big into softball here. But my father did sit next to a young English on the plane who said softball was big in England.)