After Atalanta

I have decided that Poetry Friday means poems can be posted on Fridays--not necessarily that they will. The blogging has been slow, but the dissertating has been progressing so...compromise. Anyway, I was looking for a poem about the start of school. I found this one instead and it amused me; so here it is. The Latest School G. K. Chesterton See the flying French depart Like the bees of Bonaparte, Swarming up with a most venomous vitality. Over Baden and Bavaria, And Brighton and Bulgaria, Thus violating Belgian neutrality. And the injured Prussian may Not unreasonably say "Why, it cannot be so small a nationality Since Brixton and Batavia, Bolivia and Belgravia, Are bursting with the Belgian neutrality." By pure Alliteration You may trace this curious nation, And respect this somewhat scattered Principality; When you see a B in Both You may take your Bible oath You are violating Belgian neutrality.

Making news internationally ( as far as China !), one of the world's most famous golf clubs, Augusta National, has finally admitted two women as members. Condoleeza Rice and Darla Moore, the VP of an investment company and major donor to the University of South Carolina (the business school is named after her). The controversy over the lack of female members has been been consistently cyclical. Every year when the Masters is played there, the issue is reinvigorated with various levels of vigor. Last year was a renewed burst of criticism/activism due to the then-recent naming of Virgina Rometty as the new chairperson of IBM--a position that has always come with a membership at Augusta. But Rometty was not one of the two women--because Augusta does things on its own terms. As former chairperson of Augusta, Hootie Johnson, said during the years when the controversy was highest (i.e. Martha Burk was protesting nearby), Augusta would make changes in its own due time and not "at th...

This is a brief follow-up--or in-addition-to--to the post about the lack of larger sized apparel for this summer's female Olympians. Apparently--and I had not been aware of this--several female athletes competing in London have been scrutinized and commented on because of their weight leading into the games. I think this is quite interesting in light of all the press about how equal these Olympics are; how the US team is comprised of more female athletes than male athletes; how every nation finally has a female competitor. US-based media call this the " Title IX Olympics"--somewhat problematically . But, of course, things aren't equal--on either concrete numbers (still more events for men) or in treatment. At the opening of the games Christine Brennan of USA Today declared "Finally--It's all about the women." Yep. It's still about how female they are (i.e., Caster Semenya and whomever else was secretly gender tested during these games or leading u...

This article features comments from US Olympic weightlifter Sarah Robles about how athletic gear is not made for larger women. One could argue that clothes in general are not made for larger women. But Robles point is that she, as a heavyweight lifter--an athlete, has to wear the clothes for men because Nike and whomever else is contributing to Team USA's uniform/gear does not make the women's clothes in her size. I know Nike makes "plus size" clothes for women. I just saw a tennis skirt in a 3X yesterday in a store. So they will make up to a certain size. But for the Olympics, one would think they could make whatever for the athletes so women like Robles, who don't want to wear "dude's clothes" as she calls them, don't have to. Because she's right--they don't fit the same. Interestingly, there are limited options for women who either do not want to wear traditionally feminine clothes but on whom menswear is too big and not tailored cor...

There was some concern over the cold weather in London and how it might prevent some women's beach volleyballers from wearing their bikinis. And it has. Looks like Getty though has been getting in as many photos of bikinis while the sun is out. This piece is a comment on the ways in which women's beach volleyball has been photographed and what such a frame might look like on other Olympic sports.

I had heard that Chick-Fil-A was not exactly pro-gay, but it didn't much matter to me since I hadn't eaten there since I was a teenager, have no franchise near me, and don't eat fast food anyway. In other words, I had no occasion nor desire to frequent them--an unintentional boycott. I had not made the connection, however, between the company and its sponsorship of a college bowl game. Now that the president of the company has come out and explicitly stated his position as anti-gay marriage (because he worries that god's wrath will be brought down upon us for defying Jesus's will) what will the NCAA do? Will Chick-Fil-A be prevented from sponsorship of NCAA events? We shall see...

Anti-gay tweets are not that unusual. Anti-gay sentiments among athletes are not especially surprising either. Regarding the latter, though, most public anti-gay statements have been confined to the world of professional men's athletics. (Though more straight male professional athletes are voicing public support for potential gay teammates these days. See Ron Gronkowski --or rather read his statements. You can see him--all of him--in the latest iteration of ESPN Magazine's The Body Issue.) But outward/overt homophobia in women's sports--especially at the collegiate level--is not as prevalent, which is why it is sometimes difficult to convince people that it still exists. It got a little easier recently when tweets from Florida Gulf Coast University student-athletes were picked up on. Three tweets from three different athletes within one month: “Golden rule of softball: ‘No bow, lesbo,’” an FGCU softball player tweeted in March while thanking a teammate for the advice. “...

The IOC would have looked quite foolish if, after all the negotiating, the Saudi Arabian government did not send any women to London this month. I am soooooo curious as to how the negotiations went down over this issue. What threats were levied? Retorts offered? Etc. Etc. But however it all happened, there will be two women on the Saudi Olympic team : a judo practitioner (judoist? what is the correct term?) and a runner (800 m). This is old news by now, I know--that's all I have time for these days. Old news but seemingly good news.

After a lot of feet dragging and failed attempts to keep the story quiet, the International Tennis Hall of Fame has said it will investigate the claims of sexual abuse made against inductee Bob Hewitt . This news came out last week, just as the HoF was getting ready to host its annual pro tournament and induct the class of 2012. Claims against Hewitt in South Africa are being looked into. The statute of limitations for alleged abuse that occurred in the United States have all passed. But concerned parties, including the women who allege they were victims of Hewitt's when he was a coach, asked the HoF over a year ago to address the situation. After saying they would draft a policy to deal with future similar situations, rather than addressing the past, the HoF received a great deal of criticism . Now they have hired a Boston law firm to do a confidential investigation. But no one from the organization has commented--apparently all the HoF powers that be were at Wimbledon last we...

So will Saudi Arabia be allowed (by the IOC) to get away with not sending any female athletes because they just can't find any? The top choice, equestrian Dalma Rushdi Malhas, cannot attend . Will the IOC allow Saudi officials to say "well, we tried." I hope not. So do others. This is a very strong editorial about why the IOC should ban the entire Saudi Olympic team if it does not contain any women. The author rightly notes that wild cards are available--and surely the IOC will grant them given their stake in this situation--to athletes who do not meet Olympic qualifying standards. But even if that was not the case--would it be ok for the Saudis to say--well, give us some more time? This has been an ongoing issue. It is not about time, it is about culture. On a related note, FIFA has (finally) said it will allow players to wear the hijab.

I have been watching (in the background, on my computer mostly) a lot of tennis of late. Wimbledon ends this weekend ("oh, good" the Girlfriend says) and I thought it would be a good time for a tennis poem. I wanted to publish all of Robert Pinksy's "Tennis" but I couldn't find it. (If anyone has it--send it my way). So I will just publish one of the sections of the poem. "Winning"   Call questionable balls his way, not yours: You lose the point but have your concentration, The grail of self-respect. Wear white. Mind losing. Walk, never run, between points: it will save Your breath, and hy pnotize him, and be may think That you are tired, until your terrible Swift sword amazes him. By understanding Your body, you will conquer your fatigue. By understanding your desire to win And all your other desirs, you will conquer Discouragement. And ...

The Gatorade commercial with Abby Wambach makes me cringe. Even her voiceover "acting" is bad. Part of it is probably the script, too. "She's lost a lot and water won't put it back." Who says that?? "Yes, she is easy to spot. She is also easy to break." Thankfully Gatorade has redeemed itself with this commercial about keeping young girls in sports: I liked the BP commercials featuring athletes who will (likely) be competing in London. Both able-bodied athletes and paralympians. Alas, it is a commercial for BP. And I think about how an oil company is using those differently-abled bodies to sell its product and improve its image. This one I believe is airing on Great Britain. I haven't seen it on US television. Couldn't find the one that is currently airing in the US, tough.

The Saudi female athlete most observers thought would be heading to London next month after Saudi Arabia lifted its ban on female athletes in the Olympics--will not. Equestrian Dalma Rushdi Malhas could not meet the Olympic qualifying standard after losing valuable training time when her horse sustained an injury. A reader pointed me to this article about the situation. There are, apparently, other unnamed female athletes under consideration.

Some people I have spoken with don't like Maria Sharapova because they think she's too pretty--and not much else (besides a good tennis player). I think she's pretty smart and has a good sense of humor. I love the way she deals with the corps of media folk who ask her largely inane questions. And Sharapova continued to handle herself well yesterday when asked to respond to Frenchman Gilles Simon's comments about how tennis should go back to the days when women got paid less than men at the Grand Slam tournaments. Simon thinks men's tennis is more entertaining; that the matches are more interesting. Of course he didn't offer any means of how to measure entertainment value. He didn't note that the rest of the year women earn less at their tournaments than the men do at theirs. And he was forced to acknowledge that his straight-set loss at Wimbledon was probably not that entertaining. Simon was recently elected to the ATP Players' Council, which seems to...

There is a tie for the third spot on the women's 100 meters (running) US Olympic team. No solution yet on how to determine which runner, Allyson Felix or Jeneba Tarmoh, will get the spot. Justin Gatlin, the men's 100 meter champion at the trials, suggested they two women wrestle in out--in either Jello or mud. I am sure they appreciated being given two options. Gatlin got a lot of crap for the comment which many have--not surprisingly--deemed sexist. But he said it was taken out of context. Oh--do you mean the context of patriarchy where you think all kinds of comments are permissible? The thing about dominant ideologies is that they all have a little bit of wiggle room; there's a lot of pushing and pulling; and hegemony has been known to spring a leak.

A lot of the recent chatter about women in the Olympics has been around 1) Saudi Arabia's ban on women's sports and 2) just how much testosterone a woman can have before she crosses the line into "man." But even "normally" hormoned women not from Saudi Arabia are having issues as thy prepare for London. Sania Mirza, who was chosen to by the Indian Tennis Federation to represent India, has been at the center of an odd argument about who shall play with whom. Apparently the men on the Indian team are arguing about who they want to partner with for doubles and for mixed doubles. And they are using Mirza to try to get their way. The father of one of the players wants Mirza to guarentee, in writing, that she will play with his son. Someone has said he will only play with someone else if Mirza plays with him in mixed doubles. It all sounds 1) a little but middle school and 2) a lot bit patriarchal. And Mirza calls them out on all this . It's an amazing ope...

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.

Saudi Arabia announced today that it will allow female athletes to compete in the Olympics under the Saudi flag (i.e. not invited by the IOC and under their "neutral" flag). The press about the decision contains a lot of platitudes from Saudi representatives about the spirit of the games. No word on which women will be there; Saudi officials have said they will allow any woman who qualifies to attend. Unfortunately given the lack of support (to put it mildly) for female athletes in Saudi Arabia, not many women meet Olympic qualifying standards. The IOC is likely to make exceptions just to get Saudi women to London this year. More of a sure thing is equestrian Dalma Rushdi Malhas who is a Saudi citizen who was born in the United States. There were no given reasons for the change of heart by Saudi administrators. The IOC had been working with government officials since the spring and kept reporting "progress," but in April the Saudis announced they would not be se...

So the NBA pumps weren't exactly offensive. These, however, are. Discomfort on so many levels! Adidas has reconsidered releasing these, though. No shackle sneakers for the consuming public .

Truly excellent column in the NYT about the IOC's proposed changes to rules regarding the testosterone levels of female athletes.