After Atalanta

 I have many thoughts on the news that the Harvard women's ice hockey team was a space of abuse, intimidation, humiliation, bullying, and general badness. I am having trouble organizing them and figuring out where to begin. There is so very much to say. My organizational strategy is to create multiple posts. This first one is about my interest in this particular case and a little bit on Katey Stone, the Harvard head coach who unapologetically created this toxic culture and women as ice hockey coaches more generally.  There is a lot to say about every revelation of dysfunctional and destructive team cultures. They exist far more widely than most people likely believe--at all levels of sports, and they are all multi-faceted (i.e., emotional and physical abuse, racism, other forms of discrimination and violence). This one for me, though, was especially provoking because I did my master's thesis on coaches in DI women's ice hockey in the early 2000s. I interviewed players from...

It's never great to be outed. It's probably worse to be outed because you have been arrested for aggravated assault against your ex-girlfriend. That is the situation former WNBA and Tennessee Vols player Chamique Holdsclaw finds herself in this week. An arrest warrant was issued for Holdsclaw who turned herself in today. She allegedly fired a shot into the backseat of Jennifer Lacy's SUV which may or may not have had gasoline in it. Lacy is a current player for the Tulsa Shock. Nike never said anything about whether letting girls play sports would decrease their risk of becoming abusers. What else is going to happen this week?

I'm pretty sure there was something I was supposed to blog about in the wake of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) annual meeting in New Orleans last night. But I can't remember what it is. So instead thanks to one of my NOLA roomies, Dr. Pants, I will blog about Hope Solo instead. Dr. Pants is a big fan of Hope Solo; she even read her auto(ish)biography Solo: A Memoir of Hope. I personally am not a Solo fan and though I considered reading the memoir for scholarly purposes, I couldn't get past the title. I might be interested in some version of a sequel, however, given the latest news about Solo that I received from Dr. Pants. Hope Solo is married! She also hosted a party of a small group of friends a few days ago which resulted in the arrest of her then-fiance Jerramy Stevens. There was some alcohol, there was fighting (apparently over where the happy couple was to live), there was pushing and shoving and maybe some hitting. There was blood...

These pictures show the unbelievable amount of destruction and violence after Boston's Stanley Cup win over the Canucks.

Yep--it's true. Girls wrestle. But girls who wrestle made news this past week (yes, I am late to post on this) when a boy forfeited a first-round tournament match rather than face female student-athlete Cassy Herkelman. Herkelman thus became the first girl ever to win a match at this particular state tournament. The big deal is not so much that girls wrestle. This we know. The big deal is that this is IOWA. IOWA has produced many an elite wrestler. This year marked the first time a girl had ever qualified for the state tournament (2 girls achieved that mark--Herkelman and Megan Black). But girls have been wrestling in the state for about two decades according to the article linked above. I haven't seen much anti-girl rhetoric in the coverage of this event--which is good. The defaulter, Joel Northrup, cited religious convictions in his statement about why he chose to forfeit his match. He did not believe it was right for a boy to engage in a combat sport against a girl. Not bein...

This story crossed my desktop earlier this month: A women's sports club in Darebin, Victoria, Australia has been (it seems) targeted by vandals and thieves for about a year now. The club has been broken into and graffitied. Money has been stolen (along with alcohol). And once, the windows were broken by marbles tossed at the Darebin Women's Sports Club. I couldn't find much info in this article but I was surprised that the tone of the short piece was on the calm side, even as interviewees expressed concern over the repeated attacks. Some were thinking it might be because it is a women's club, but the fact that graffiti has been described as "fairly derogatory to women" (though no examples were shared) makes it more than likely. I do not know that much about the climate for women's sports in Australia. I do know that interest or adeptness in men's sports like rugby and football are nearly essential components of Australian masculinity. But I know there...

Saw a very good article today by Jerome Solomon in the Houston Chronicle about the spate of alleged and actual violence perpetrated by male student-athletes against women. It was inspired by the allegations against Baylor student and basketball player LaceDarius Dunn. Dunn allegedly punched his girlfriend, with whom he has a child, in the face possibly breaking her jaw. Solomon notes that while the justice system, in such a case, might see this as a misdemeanor and issue a fine and/or community service, Baylor has an opportunity to send a message about what it thinks about domestic violence and suspend Dunn for the season. I'm a little doubtful the administration (and, hello? when did Ken Starr become president of a university???) will take such a (what I am sure they see as a) drastic step. Solomon reminds us that October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. I know, you probably forgot what with every woman on Facebook telling you where she likes it in an attempt (I guess?) to ...

This post is inspired by the 38th anniversary of Title IX which occurred last week. Actually it's "inspired" by this column by a sportswriter, blogger, and basketball fan. Wendy Parker believes it's time to get beyond Title IX. Me, too. But not in the way she means. She means it's time to move beyond enforcement. Because she doesn't like the proportionality prong. And all those men have suffered at the hands of us "dogmatic" activists with our "life-and-death rituals." Who knew we were all satanists, too? I thought I was the only one! Clearly Ms. Parker's editorial triggered the snarky button (not that it takes much). Seriously, though. the day we get to move beyond Title IX is the day after we've gotten beyond patriarchy. So in the vein of Ms.* Parker's piece I bring you some reasons about why it might be a good idea to move beyond patriarchy--in a sporting context. I could of course go on and on about patriarchy and things lik...

...and apparel and equipment and a lifestyle. It's the last part that seems a little off when we think about--or when Christine Brennan makes us think about--Nike continuing to sponsor Tiger Woods, Ben Roethlisberger, and Kobe Bryant. Sure "image is everything" is Canon's slogan. (Of course it was famously spoken by one-time Nike client, Andre Agassi.) But clearly, as Brennan points out in a very good column* (and sometimes I think Brennan is a little too easy on certain aspects of sportocracy so I was pleased by this one) Nike does not think it's image will be harmed by continuing to be associated with these men. Conversely, Nike also sponsors out US soccer player Natasha Kai, so I guess their devotion to their stars cuts in many different directions. Former Women's Sport Foundation CEO Donna Lopiano felt that Nike's refusal to admonish their athletes sends a clear message to consumers about the image of the company (macho, edgy--Kai certainly fits the la...

Well I haven't blogged in a week even though we are in prime women's sports time with the NCAA basketball tourney, an amazing women's Frozen Four, the beginning of the LPGA season in the US...so the immediate answer is yes. But the question was actually inspired by the interview with Brittney Griner by ESPN's Holly Rowe that I watched last night after the Oklahoma/Notre Dame game. And it struck me as I watched her speak so well (granted the Baylor PR people probably have been spending a great deal of time with her) about "the incident" that is still practically a child. Granted she's a 6'8" child who is now one of the most-watched and discussed female basketball players in the country. I know she's a legal adult and one who is responsible for her actions. And she has certainly taken responsibility for them--good and bad. But as someone who is known for a certain acerbic cynicism often directed at athletes, and coaches, and administrators, I pa...

...on the Brittney Griner "incident" here, I thought I would at least point you toward a thoughtful column on the issue of violence in women's sports.

I hesitated to write this post because I did not want to be part of the continuing media coverage of the BYU/UNM soccer game in which rough play all around and particularly that of defender Elizabeth Lambert has gotten a lot of negative and other suspect attention. But this article, not a big one in the grand scheme of media coverage, set me off and lead to the above mentioned ponytail epiphany. It's not what was in it, as it was not adding anything particularly new; it was the title: "On the Lambert scandal." Scandal? It's a scandal now? Christian politicians living in communal environments in DC and sleeping with mistresses on the side engender scandals. Hiding information about alleged threats of terrorism from elected officials and the general public is a scandal. A collegiate soccer player engaged in on-field acts of violent behavior is not a scandal. So once again I was forced to ask myself, "What the heck is up with this story?" Seriously, when I was ...

I have to say that I, despite my deeply entrenched cynicism, am surprised at just how viral this whole Elizabeth Lambert thing went. It's everywhere I turn. I feel--and this is just a feeling not backed up at all by evidence--that this situation has gotten more attention than Serena Williams's outburst at the Open. I could be wrong. I haven't sat down to chart the You Tube hits or count the articles, editorials, or blog posts but there just seems to be something about this story that makes it keep going and going and going. I don't think I have anything else to say about it myself but here's some of what others have been saying: From Christine Brennan, a column on how coaching factors into this situation. Coaching--or lack thereof--has been listed as one of the incredulities in this case. Brennan got the interview with Kit Vela, the UNM head coach who was questioned for her decision to keep Lambert on the field despite her actions. But Vela hadn't seen any of i...

A study out of Canada about the gendered nature of fandom reveals that women are not huge fans of professional sports. Not a shocker despite the plethora of popular media accounts of women forming fan clubs and becoming the latest target demographic for fan apparel. Some women just don't like professional sports, some go just for the social aspect, and some like sports other than professional sports. In other words, it's not that women don't like sports. Studies like these--or rather the way they are reported on--always worry me because of the generalizations that often manifest. Otherwise I don't find the results startling in the least bit. I mean did anyone see the Cardinals game a few nights ago when that women got a beer spilled all over her? Who wants to pay (a lot) for that privilege? I personally used to like professional hockey. But I stopped going to games and watching on television (for the most part) because it was just getting too violent. Too gratuitously v...

So some of the news out of professional football this week is the return of Michael Vick to the NFL. Where exactly he will end up--and he will end up somewhere--is still unknown though word is he's getting close to signing with the Seattle Seahawks. Vick's return to the NFL after serving nearly two years in federal prison for running a dogfighting ring comes with conditions . Interesting, eh? As Dave Zirin says , it isn't likely that the NFL is a huge proponent of animal rights. They are all about appearances. And given the public outrage over this incident, the NFL is playing the PR game with the conditions and all the statements. And, of course, Vick is too, having met with the president of the Humane Society of America. So the question over how the public will react to Vick's return lingers. And it's all a little disturbing. Because, as Zirin also notes, the NFL is full of people who have done something wrong including domestic violence and sexual assault. Some h...

It's the first full day of fall, people. You know what that means for sports fans. No, not football. Hockey! It's right around the corner. My Wildcats take the ice soon soon soon. That's the good. But I have come across some not-so-good regarding hockey in the past few days. First, I was listening to an old episode of Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me in the car on Sunday and in the segment in which a caller has to tell truth from fiction there was a story about a hockey school that teaches kids--kids!--how to fight. I know hockey is pretty violent, but that was not the story I picked. I was wrong. It's true . A former NHLer has a one-day camp in Canada that teaches pee-wee hockey players how to fight on the ice. Lovely. Also lovely is the continued practice of the University of Kentucky men's hockey team that promotes itself with posters featuring models or actresses posed in only a hockey jersey. Former models include Ashley Judd, who was the first and wanted to do som...

I thought I could just subtly overlook this story and let bloggers like Diane take care of it, but the story about Justin Gimelstob's sexist, misogynistic comments seems to making more news a week after it broke somewhat quietly across the pond. I didn't have anything profound to say when I read about Gimelstob's trashing of female tennis players generally, his sexualization of a few specific ones, and his violent comments toward Anna Kournikova (all his comments, in my mind, inflict a certain amount of violence, but his one about hitting Kournikova was most explicit). And I don't suppose I have anything especially profound to say about it now either. Am I surprised a male athlete who only had a so-so professional career by modern standards and has been given a mouthpiece by the media so easily dispenses with misogynist rants? Nope. Am I surprised that the apology he issued (or Tennis Warehouse issues--hard to tell) wasn't really an apology? Nope. Am I surprised th...