Female MMA

I watched a couple female MMA clips online, especially on Lisa Ward. She was a more superior fighter than most of other fighter she fought. Usually during a match, she and her opponent displayed same level of skill but she had more physical strength and that was the main factor of her victory. It’s very interesting to watch female MMA because it’s a sport that was growing and I would like see how female MMA evolve. I hope that I would see more skilled and stronger female MMA fighters in the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQkeYNB40Ro

Yo Hsieh

Female MMA

I watched a couple female MMA clips online, especially on Lisa Ward. She was a more superior fighter than most of other fighter she fought. Usually during a match, she and her opponent displayed same level of skill but she had more physical strength and that was the main factor of her victory. It’s very interesting to watch female MMA because it’s a sport that was growing and I would like see how female MMA evolve. I hope that I would see more skilled and stronger female MMA fighters in the future.

Yo Hsieh

IndyCar Winner

I was driving to school last week when I decided to turn on my radio. I tuned in to 102.7 Kiss FM when Ryan Seacrest was doing his “On Air with Ryan Seacrest” show. I was about to change to another station when I heard him introducing Danica Patrick, who just won her first Indy car race. She won the Indy Japan 300 and became the first woman to win an IndyCar race. One of the first questions that Ryan Seacrest asked her was “do you put more pressure on yourself than the media put on you?” In which she responded, “Yes, because at the end of the day, if I give everything I got, I don’t care what anyone else say”. I thought her response really showed how courageous she is. The pressure the media and others put on her has been well documented and quite outrageous at times. I found an article with the title, “Danica Patrick First Woman To Win IndyCar Race, Proves She’s Not Just A Piece Of Meat” I thought the latter part of the title was quite offensive, but I feel extremely happy for what she has accomplished. Other comments that she mentioned during the interview that really caught my attention were “I’m in a male dominated sport” and “the people who are not convinced before are not convinced now, I’m sure”. I thought it was interesting that she was able to be aware of the type of situation/sport that she is in and at the same time defeat the odds while excelling in what she enjoys doing. I believe that her success is not only historical but will also encourage other women to excel in sports, even if the sport is considered “male-dominated”.

http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/18227/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/18227/podcast/LOSANGELES-CA/KIIS-FM/danicapatrick042208.mp3

http://jalopnik.com/381837/danica-patrick-first-woman-to-win-indycar-race-proves-shes-not-just-a-piece-of-meat

Nehemiah L. KIN 338I Sec. 6

Tu/Th 9:30am

Women-Only Gym Controversy in Afghanistan

After listening T-Bird’s story about teaching athleticism to young Nicaraguan girls, I came across a similar situation that occurred in Afghanistan online. In 2005, the government sponsored the first women’s-only gym to the Afghan public. The gym holds up to 200 people and is located in the Women’s Garden in southwest Kabul. Unfortunately as beneficial as this is to the women it has sparked a lot of controversy within the community. Many people are worried about the modesty issue and how the gym could corrupt the young girls. One woman even commented that she didn’t like the gym because working at home and raising children was a good enough sport for Afghan women. Yet regardless of all this controversy many young girls and women still continue to flock to the gym. All the classes are free and some sessions are even taught by instructors from a French organization called “Athletes Without Frontiers”. Also, even though they don’t have that much equipment to work with the instructors are determined to get some more in the future. I know this story is a bit old but I thought that this was a perfect example of what T-Bird was talking about.

http://www.iwpr.net/?apc_state=hdriwpr2005&l=en&s=f&o=257680


Tabitha Komathy


KIN 338IS.6

Men are gay if they do Gymnastics or Join a Cheer Squad?

As a gymnastics coach, it is nice to see more and more guys participating in gymnastics. Just because it wasn’t a common thing for men to do gymnastics, it is becoming a little more accepted. Men are excellent gymnasts. They are extremely strong and it would be a waste for a guy who likes gymnastics and is good, to give up his skill. That is a common belief with male cheerleaders as well. Guys who are straight might want to participate in gymnastics and cheer, but don’t because male gymnasts and cheerleaders are said to be gay. I wish I had a guy on my old squad. At work a lot of the coaches are cheerleaders. Some of which are male. When we get breaks it is fun to stunt with the guys. They are much stronger, sending me shooting high into the air. Usually we had 3 or 4 girls when it came to basket tosses (toss flyer high as can, while flyer does stunt like a back tuck). When the guys fly me in a basket toss, there are only 2 guys. The power is just as intense if not more. With a mix of males and females in cheer, it makes watching more interesting. More stunts could be formed, because less people are needed in each stunt. More guys should join cheerleading gay or straight. Guys could show off their strength and muscles in cheer too!

April Buckley

DISABLED WOMEN IN SPORT

Disability is difficult to overcome wither you are a average human being or an Olympic athlete. Disability or injuries and happen to anyone and all it takes it one bad step. It does not matter what status you are you may still have disabilities. The media prefers to show off men overcoming their disabilities than to show women overcoming such and obstacle. Perhaps it is because it is seen as okay if women have disabilities and men have to overcome them because they are the bread makers in the family. I believe both women and men are equally determined to overcome disability because who wants to live their life not being able to do 100% physically of what they can do

Disabled women in Sport

Disability is difficult to overcome wither you are a average human being or an Olympic athlete. Disability or injuries and happen to anyone and all it takes it one bad step. It does not matter what status you are you may still have disabilities. The media prefers to show off men overcoming their disabilities than to show women overcoming such and obstacle. Perhaps it is because it is seen as okay if women have disabilities and men have to overcome them because they are the bread makers in the family. I believe both women and men are equally determined to overcome disability because who wants to live their life not being able to do 100% physically of what they can do

Women in ads

This article comments on how athletic women are advertised. Although women are more commonly seen in sports magazines they are not portrayed as sport symbols as is expected to be seen if men were in a sports magazine. Women are mostly seen in sexual poses that are similar to playboy magazines and enhance their bottoms and breasts. Because of this women are influenced to get implants since most athletic women have small breasts due to the low fat in their bodies. Athletic women live in this hegemonic state where they have to stay true to their species but however they have a desire to overcome their femininity by being competitive and building muscle. Instead of muscle being embraced as something to strive for from the rest of Americans, it is hidden and just seen as a shaping line and is carefully not shown through the pictures taken of the female athletes. It is unfair that men can be taken pictures of and advertised in their sport while women are not. The main concern is that eyes are always watching women and us women ourselves critique other women and most women find the muscular appearance unappealing. But perhaps if athletic women were advertised in a natural pose showing off their muscles the rest of Americans would become accustomed to seeing muscles on women. Advances have been made due to many celebrities getting into fitness and women being involved with yoga and weight lifting. Many female celebrities are seen with a muscular shape on their arms with strong biceps and triceps that is seen upon as sexy. Hopefully there will be more acceptance levels made soon.

WNBA

The WNBA is about to celebrate its tenth anniversary making it the greatest professional women’s sport league in the world. The WNBA started its process of becoming a professional league in April of 1996 when the NBA board of governors approved the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). Who better to be the president of the WNBA than a woman, so on August 7, 1996 Val Ackerman was appointed president of the WNBA. This is a great step in equality in women sports showing that women can be successful in a position of power. The first sixteen athletes assigned to teams in the WNBA were incredible athletes together they held 11 Olympic gold metals and 9 NCAA national championships. The first game in the history of the WNBA had an attendance of over fourteen thousand which is by no means great but today there have been over ten million attendees which is a great number of supporters. As the WNBA continues to grow so does its fan base and appreciation for the necessity of this monumental sport league as well. In a short ten years the WNBA has done incredible things to help women in sports, to show that there is possibility for women and that it doesn’t take a man to be successful. Also it shows the younger generations of males that women can and deserve the chance to be an owner, coach, player, to respect women, and to see them as someone who is greater or equal to themselves.

J.S. Kin 338I S6

Is Cheerleading a Sport

I was a cheerleader in high school for 3 years. A common question discussed was, “Is cheerleading really a sport?” Usually, it was the guys who disagreed with cheerleading being a sport. Well, I was thinking about doing this topic for my paper. I looked up a couple of articles on this topic. I have always felt it was a sport. Cheerleaders for the most part are athletic. There are squads who do not do athletic things, as stunts and tumbling. Many of them do though. The question is what does the word “sport” mean? In a dictionary it is defined as “a physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively." Cheerleaders compete against other teams in competitions. These are the athletic ones who stunt and tumble (gymnastics). The competitions are governed by rules which explicitly define a time, space and purpose of the contest and conditions under which a winner is declared. It is a comparison of the relative skills of the participants. It is a competition against another opponent. Well, cheerleading is a group of girls tumbling and stunting (lifting and throwing). They are teams. College and high school cheerleaders compete between several teams for national championships. They get and risk bad injuries. I tore the ligaments in my ankle from stunting. I came down from a stunt and landed on my ankle full force. They get recruited for college scholarships. At times, they put in more practice than foot ball teams. I bet most people wouldn’t be able to do what cheerleaders do. It is not just yelling and dancing, it is hard work.

April Buckley

Brooke Turner SP

Im really happy to see that everytime I turn around and pick up the Daily Forty Niner or go to the Long Beach State Athletic Website, Brooke Turner, the amazing pitcher for our LBSU Softball team is being mentioned. I think there is a great amount of coverage going towards her and her success as a Softball Pitcher. She is really tearing it up on the diamond and a lot of times its easy for the media to ignore Women's Softball. But i really hope that some of the local outlets really continue to try and bring the spotlight to this area of Long Beach Athletics because it is good to see that someone other than the Men's Baseball team is getting some recognition. And thats no knock on the baseball team, Im a huge fan of our Dirtbags but its been a nice change. Is anyone else noticing the increased coverage of some of the lesser known teams on campus?

David Richter Kin 338I

Pat Summit- Future NBA Head Coach????....

As I surfed the net I came across an article entitled Pat Summit-New York Knicks Head Coach? As I began to read the article i found that it was not an actual story but an idea thrown out by a journalist... DAMN good idea I would have to say!!! Lets face it, the New York Knicks have to be one of the most disappointing teams of the year and after firing their head coach they are in dyer need of leadership, why not one of the greatest coaches to ever coach the game of basketball (male or female). Lets take a look at some of Summits stats.. record 947-180 (.840), SEC Championships- 14 out of 28, SEC Titles 12 out of 28, vs ranked teams 382-148 (.721), NCAA tournament record 98-19 (.838), 7x SEC coach of the year, 7x NCAA coach of the year, 8x NCAA titles second only to John Wooden, not to mention Summit was awarded the Naismith coach of the century in 2000. Now these are not all of Summits accomplishments I simply listed a small portion. Some other amazing stats include 70% of those having played for Summit have gone to be decorated Olympians, All- Americans, USA national team members, All SEC performers, Academic All Americans, Academic All-SEC etc. Now If Summit cant resurrect this franchise who can?!!! But on a serious note Its amazing how men coaches are able to coach and lead female athletes yet Women's coaches are rarely considered for any openings in men's sports. I believe this goes back to our societies perception of women as maintaining secondary roles. Women have always been considered "weak" in our culture but how can this be so when we have coaches such as Pat Summit who have exemplified near perfection. Maybe someone should call The New York Knicks and inform them about a great candidate residing in Tennessee. I don't know am i making sense or am I crazy? What do you think??

by Francisco Aguirre

Lorena Ochoa wins Ginn Open

For all you golf fans out there. This past weekend there was alot of golf been played, either in the PGA, LPGA, or The Champions Tour. What I really want to focus on is how much air time the women's golf tournament got even though, Tiger Wood's was not playing since he is having knee surgery, and he will be out 4-6 weeks. I would have say that the LPGA only got about 2 hours and it started at 10:00 PT. What really made me laugh was that Lorena Ochoa was going for her forth win in consecutive weeks. But to cap it off Lorena Ochoa would become the first LPGA Tour player in 45 years to win four in a row. Let alone it would qualify her into the Women's Golf Hall of Fame in 2012 if she continues to play golf professionally. The only publicized article or even the only news of this record was in the Orange County Register on Monday following Lorena's win. I love golf women's or men's it doesn't matter, I like to see what these athletes can do on the golf course, its pretty sick when a women can out drive me. This made me pretty upset to see this mockery of women's sport. That the media doesn't care about a woman breaking a huge record in golf. What isn't not Barry Bonds hitting another home run, What a waste of God given talent he was!

by Jason Luevano 338I section:7

First woman to win an IndyCar race

I was on the ESPN website today and I found it exciting that Danica Patrick became the first woman to win an IndyCar race in LONG BEACH, Calif. It was the final weekend of the American open that Danica Patrick took her win. This was considered front page news, in fact I can easily say it was the first thing that caught my eye. I opened the link and read the article only to be disappointed. I realize that ESPN is focused to the male audience but why do they always have to put a damper on every woman article? Within the first three paragraphs they were turning a victory into a scandal. The third paragraph began by saying,” Patrick led only three of 200 laps, and she certainly didn't have the fastest car on the Twin Ring Motegi oval nestled in the mountains northwest of Tokyo. Her win was the product of a disciplined final stint that allowed her to stretch a 22-gallon tank of ethanol further than anyone else. But a win is a win is a win. "I believe that this is an excellent legal strategy preformed by a talented racer. Although, due to the tone of the writer and words chosen, ESPN seems to be angry that it was founded by a woman. Anyone disagree?

Jennifer C kin 338I

Thoughts about past controversy...

I would love to touch on a past event: The media controversy that surrounded Imus since his infamous comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team (when he referred to the women of the team as ‘nappy-headed hos’). For those of you that remember this incident, the controversy was not over the comment itself, but over the mainstream media that had not let this story die down. It was argued that despite increasing numbers of casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, further indications of climate change evidenced through bizarre spring weather, and a historic peace agreement in Northern Ireland, the North American news cycle seemed perpetually stuck on the Don Imus incident. Meaning, the story should have died sooner---wouldn’t that imply that this was not as important as other current events taking place in our country? If that’s the case, how do we put a rank on current events? Well, stop me if you don’t agree, but Imus’s comment was hurtful to the women’s basketball team, and they deserve to express their hurt and frustration to the media over this situation. Women in sport face an incredible amount of sexism on a daily basis, and Imus’s comment is indicative of a culture that does not do enough to create equality between the sexes when it comes to recognition in sport. It’s not difficult to see how comments like Imus’s are a hindrance to the overall breakdown of racism and sexism in our society.

LGBT Week @ CSULB

On Tuesday, April 15, 2008, Angela Madsen came to CSULB to speak about her struggles and accomplishments as a lesbian, ex military, paraplegic. In September of 1993 Angela Madsen went into back surgery at a veterans hospital where they fused the wrong disks, drilled through the spine and grafted more bones than originally needed. Multiple mistakes were conducted throughout the surgery leaving Madsen in a hospital bed with metal rods inserted in the lumbar spine 10 and a 1/2 hours later. She was then diagnosed as a paraplegic (having lost feeling in the lower half of her body) and "a waste of human life". Minimal physical therapy was administered or offered to her. Since then she has undergone a bilateral mastectomy for breast cancer and a surgery for carpal tunnel and ulnar nerve. She has also been diagnosed with myasthenia Gravis.
Despite all these obstacles she reached the top. One year after her surgery mishap, she motivated herself to continue to surf and picked up rowing. She has accomplished more in her life as a paraplegic then she ever did before hand. She has received many awards, medals and honors all over the world involving surfing, swimming, wheel chair basketball and rowing. One of her greatest achievements yet, was rowing across the Atlantic ocean through wind, rain and enormous waves in 67 days. The Race across the Atlantic started 12/02/07 in La Gomer of the Canary Islands with a distance of 2,250NM. At age 47, Angela Madsen and Franck crossed the finish line in Antigua in the west Indies at 7:24 AM on 02/07/08 making Angela the first differently abeld, lesbian woman to row across the Atlantic ocean.
This woman is an amazing athlete! Having faced so much she still managed to overcome the obstacles set forth. This woman achieved a goal that most people would never think of or try. I thought that she is an athlete that everyone should know about. If you would like to read about Angela in more detail her website is www.rowoflife.net.

Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and Vivian Stringer on Oprah

As I was studying for a test late on Tuesday night Oprah Winfrey's late night show came on television. I was not really paying attention until I heard them talk about two of the greatest tennis players Chris Evert and Martina Navartilova. This caught my attention and I put aside studying to listen to their story. I'm not much of a follower of tennis, but I do appreciate the sport. Therefore, I did not know that these two athletes had a huge rivalry for years. It seems as if attitudes back then were very different from that of athlete's today. When they were playing tennis they were able to respect good competition and really pushed each other to excel and strive to be the best. However, in todays sporting realm it is hard to find athlete's who appreciate good competition and take away something beneficial from it rather than just disgust and the idea that they cannot be friends with their greatest rivals. These two ladies went back and forth in competition, one never really winning more than the other. Although they had a great rivalry, after the matches they always hugged in the locker room and showed each other a great deal of respect. Oprah asked Navratiolva how being one of the first openly gay professional female athletes affected her. Martina explained that at times it was hard because everyone would cheer for people like Chris Evert, but when she walked out there would either be silence, whispers, or booing from the crowd. It did not matter much that she was just as good as the other tennis stars, she was gay and thus seen as an outcast. Oprah made a comment that she was sort of the first female to pave the way for celebrities and other professional athletes to come out such as Ellen, and Rosie O'Donnell. I was just curious to see how many people in our class watched this episode and their reaction to it. How do you think you would react if someone close to you told you that they were gay? Would it change your overall opinion of who they are as a person? Would it matter that they are successful in many areas of their lives? I am glad that Oprah has episodes like this where we can take people who impacted women in sport in general. It was great to see that these two ladies are still really close friends and still have the amount of respect for each other as they did on the court. I only wish we could see more women able to step out of the closet in a respectable way so that awareness and acceptance will reach a greater audience. I know we live in California so for most people this is not really much of an issue, but on a larger scale other states still think of homosexuality as a controllable mental defect that is somehow correctable by simply abstaining from homosexual relations. 

Nicole G 338I

No love from ESPN in promoting women sports

ESPN runs round-a-clock broadcasts of sports results and stories with little of that coverage being geared towards women sports. Why? The viewing audience is composed primarily of men and thus those interests covered in the media will reflect the male audiences' preference. Ill bet that 95% of the women in the United States have no idea who Peter Gammons, Jim Rome, or Mike Mayock are. Why would a television station broadcast news directed to an audience that isn't interested in watching? Thats horrible marketing and the current ESPN broadcasts understand and reflect this. Unless there is a huge change in sport viewing culture amongst the women population, mainstream sports media will continue to accommodate their viewing public, males.

Andy Jones, 338i

HBO Hits an Ace with Tennis Documentary

I was watching TV the other night and I found a documentary in HBO about Billie Jean King. The documentary explores the personal and professional life of this tennis legend, using rare footage, archival photos and interviews with King's partner Ilana Kloss, Rosie Casals and sports journalist Frank DeFord. For those that don't remember who she is, here is a little of history. She was the first female athlete to earn $100,000 in a year, which got her a congratulatory phone call from President Nixon. She was winner of a record 20 Wimbledon titles. An ardent feminist who had an abortion in 1973. Best buds with Elton John, who wrote "Philadelphia Freedom" in her honor. Founder of the Women's Tennis Assn., which pushed for bigger paydays for women players. Married for years before being outed in 1981 in a palimony suit, and named by Life magazine as one of the 100 most important Americans of the 20th century.
This documentary not only talks about what we watched in the video "Dare to compete". They also talked about her childhood, how her life change after being outed, all the things she had done for women in sports, and what is she doing lately.
I think this documentary helped me to understand more about women in sport history, and to learn more about this great women and athlete.

Video Games

So my friend and I were talking about video games like NBA 2K8 and Marchmadness 2008 and he joked about there being a WNBA 2k8 coming out soon. I thought he was serious at first, but then realized it wasn't true. Then I realized there aren't any women sports video games. They have MLB games but no softball games. They have NBA games but no WNBA. They have men's college basketball, but no women college basketball. I was wondering if they dont do it because video games are more marketed to boys or do they think people would have no interest at all in them. I'm pretty sure they could make a women's volley ball games, it being college or beach volley ball. Softball could be college or olympic game. I thought this was interesting because i never realized that all sports games are just mens sports. What do you guys think? Would a women's sports game be marketable?

- RJ Velasco KIN 338IS. 7

Sporting event or lesbian retreat?

Since we have been discussing homosexuality and sport, I thought that this was an interesting subject to blog on.

Every year, the LGPA hosts a championship golf tournament in Palm Springs, CA. And every year, 1000’s of lesbians make the pilgrimage to Palm Springs to partake in a week of sun, pool parties, and night life. Some people even tear themselves away from all of the socializing to watch a little golf. My point being that this tournament has become less about golf and more about being the vacation of choice for a myriad of lesbian party animals. The significance of the tournament has been overshadowed by the social aspect of seeing and being seen http://www.dinahshoreweekend.com/. Most of the information available had to deal with pool parties, night clubs, BBQ’s, and musical performances. I personally know three of the bands that are booked to play. (They don't follow golf either.)

The LGPA does not promote this tournament as a lesbian event, but it is one of the biggest lesbian vacations must-do’s. When I Googled the tournament the results were overwhelmingly geared toward lesbian vacations, with only a few hits supplying any information about the golf tournament. http://www.lpga.com/tournament_microsite.aspx?id=13668

I don’t follow golf and can’t stand the weather in Palm Springs. That being said, I maintain a neutral stance. So, I pose this question to the rest of you. Does the sport suffer or benefit from the fact that this tournament has become a uniquely lesbian event?

S. Stallmo

Audition for the Slam Dunk Contest

I was looking at the McDonalds All-Star game for the high school girls on Espn.com. I came across this article regarding the Slam Dunk Contest. Apparently, Ashley Gayle of Las Vegas and Glory Johnson of Knoxville, Tenn had to audition for the Slam Dunk Contest! Ronnie Snook, sponsorship and events coordinator for Sports America, said that it was standard procedure to have all participants audition. However, three boys who participated in the Monday's event all said they never had to demonstrate any dunks to anyone! This is a violation of Title IX. I can’t believe the injustice these high school girls experienced. Last year, the girls that auditioned didn’t make their dunks at the audition but said that a lot of guys don’t make their dunks either. But, only the girls weren’t allowed to compete in the Slam Dunk Competition. This is unfair and they should either make all the participants audition or don’t have any of them audition for the competition.

-Courtney W. 338I.S6

Growing Sport, Big Bucks....Nowhere Near Perfect

While channel surfing the other day, I ran across the Kraft Nabisco Championship which is one of the four largest LPGA majors today held annually. I was watching one of my favorite players Natalie Gulbis (Sacramento Native) as well as a number of the other incredibly talented lady golfers when I found myself wondering, "How much prize money is each major worth and where do they compare to the PGA purses, is it even close?"
I searched some interesting articles and forums and found what you would expect (unfortunate but true) that the top ladies took home less prize money than the men overall. On average, the amount of money that the top place lady golfer can win on a single major event is around $1.77 million, which is still certainly is a sizeable amount. But what I further found was extremely dissapointing. If you take the total purses for the LPGA majors and pit them up against the four majors of the PGA, the ladies of the LPGA are competing for a staggering 30% of the prize money that men compete for. 30%! I realize that most sporting events are similar to this outcome but that seems very unfair.
Even with the recent growth that the LPGA has undergone this past decade, a 100% increase from 14 tournaments in 1995 to tournaments in 22 different countries alone with a 400% increase in prize money and expanded media coverage, the ladies of the LPGA along with most if not all other female sporting events face an uphill battle to close the income disparity between them and their male sporting event counterpart. Any thoughts?

D. Kirk
Kin 338I T/Th 2-3:15pm

NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Game

Earlier this evening, I was watching the NCAA Basketball Championship game between Stanford Cardinals and the Tennessee Lady Volunteers. It was a great game to watch, and I love to see my favorite College Basketball, Candace Parker play. Tennessee is one of four teams in womens college basketball to ever win back to back championships in college basketball. I found the emotion in the game to be great. They contested shots, they show emotions on fouls, even one of the players Nicky Anosike, a senior, started crying a little when one of her underclassmen got hurt during the game. Candace Parker, did something that most women college basketball players do not do, she is declaring for tomorrow's WNBA draft a year earlier then she had to. Even though WNBA players are not really recognized. I feel that Candace Parker, who will likely go to the Los Angeles Sparks, will help the WNBA tremendously. Her presence and domination in college basketball is unlike any I've ever witness. She will probably be one of the highest paid players in WNBA. She is also playing in the Olympics for Team USA. While it is going to take more then one player, I feel that Candace Parker in the Olympics and playing in the WNBA (hopefully in LA so I can see her) will have more people watching womens basketball.

Donovan S.

Discovering the Billie Jean King International Women's Sports Center

The Sports Museum of America located in Manhattan is hosting the first women’s sports hall of fame and will be the home of the Billie Jean King International Sports Center which opens in May 2008. The exhibit showcases women athletes such as Angela Ruggiero, Laila Ali, Gretchen Bleiler, Julie Foudy, and Dominique Dawes to name a few. It is an interactive exhibit that also has a virtual pool that changes into a soccer field. The exhibit has stories of incredible athletes, coaches, and individuals who fought to keep women sports alive. The museum also houses the Billie Jean King gallery. This exhibit has everything related to Billie Jean King from her Wimbledon tennis racket to her iconic blue addidas shoes.

I feel that this recognition of women in sports will open new doors for every woman in sports. Women are finally getting the recognition and support that they deserve. This shows great progress towards equality for women in sports. Women in sports have come a long way, and they are finally their success will be revealed for the whole world to see. These exhibits will inspire all to continue supporting and participating in sports. I am really glad that the Sports Museum of America is housing these exhibits. I cannot wait to go and visit them. I hope all will do the same.

Pamela Jasmin Kin 338I TTh 9:30 - 11:45 am

Anaheim Ducks Practice

On Wednesday April 2 I attended a Anaheim Ducks practice. I have never seen a hockey game or watched any type of hockey activities, but my best friend is obsessed with the Anaheim Ducks and goes to all their games and actually plays hockey too. So when she took me to the Anaheim practice facility, it was whole new experience. First off, there wasn't even a lot of people watching them practice, I thought that was a little weird, because I know if the Lakers had an open practice where anyone could come and watch, the whole gym would be full. This just shows here that a lot of smaller sports don't receive as much credit or visibility through the media or being more commercialized. This goes back to the whole Title 9 topic and how many people think that Title 9 just has to deal with equal rights with women's sports. But a lot of the bigger sports such as football and basketball affect the smaller sports such as hockey and wrestling with their budgets being cut and not a bigger fan base.

~Kimberly Williams KIN 338 Tues/Thurs 9:30-10:45

BCA releases first hiring report on women's basketball

I was reading an article on espn.com where the BCA released a hiring report on women's basketball. A record of seven black head coaches were hired, yet minorities still represent less than 10 percent of all coaches. I found that information surprising, because of everything that has been going on in the world especially all the advances that women and minorities have received. As far as in politics we have a woman and a minority running for Office, that shows you we have come a long way. But if a woman and a minority are able to run for office, why are there still not a large or even an equal amount of minority coaches in women's basketball? In the article it says that forty-four percent of the athletes are minorities, but there is only a 9.6 representation in the coaches. Although there is only a small amount of minority coaches, they have come a long way. Many of the minority coaches have said that they actually got to interview in front of a committee, and got their foot in the door. It also said that this year has been a record in hiring minority coaches 11 of 19 schools that replaced coaches in 2006-2007 were minorities. That right there just shows that we are slowly progressing. It's sad that race actually still matters when it comes to coaching in our society. But who would have thought that today we would have a woman and a minority running for office?

~Kimberly Williams KIN 338 T/Thu 9:30-10:45

Women In Sports vs. Men In Sports

http://youtube.com/watch?v=UW001QH7ovU

The link of the video clip above discusses why women’s sports are less popular than men’s sports. Why is this? One reason is that women’s sports are not as exciting and are definitely not at the same level of intensity as men’s sports. People like to see the best of the best, and men are constantly raising the bar of expectations in most sports. Men are also more recognized for their accomplishments in the media than women. In terms of names and statistics, we hear more about men than we do women. This is a big problem because as a society we always want to know who and what. Many times when researching women’s sports we tend to hear about the need to grow or improve women in sports. Instead, we need to hear more names and statistics of talented and successful female athletes rather than how women in sports need to grow.

Kin 338 - TuTh 9:30-10:45- Sabrina M

Athletes coming out and how the media responds

It is rare to see any professional athlete "come out" as lesbian or gay. So when someone does, it is usually a huge deal. But I noticed that when a female athlete comes out, public response is not as large as when a male athlete comes out. It is almost as though the public expects it a little more when a female althete comes out. For example, former NBA player John Amaechi revealed to the media that he is gay after his career in playing basketball. Response to this was mixed around the NBA but I noticed that the media was covering this story very thoroughly. This was about a year ago, and I can remember every channel covering this story at the top of thier headlines. And all because a man "came out of the closet." On the other hand, Cherryl Swoops, three-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA MVP, also revelealed to the media that she is lesbian. However, public response was not as large when this occured. The news barely coverd this story and it seemed to be a minor headline compared to the Amachi case. Also, she was a much more recognizable and successful athlete than Amaechi. I think this shows that people are much more surprised when any male athlete comes out and not so surprised when a female athlete comes out. When Amaechi came out, it stirred up a lot of controversy and opinions, but when Swoops came out it seemed to be stated as a mere fact. It's sad to say, but I think it is more expected from female athletes, which makes no sense at all.

- Huy KIN 338

Since it is MARCH MADNESS...

I have to talk about the coach with the most NCAA wins, Pat Summit. She has about 981 wins under her belt with the Lady Volts. In class we were talking about women coaching men's sports and how we rarely see that. We brought up the point that they would not get respected as much because they are women, but if they know their stuff then there should be no problem for them to do so. I think Pat Summit is one who could bring a men's college basketball team to a winning season. If she wasnt so dedicated to the Lady Volts I guarntee she would be coaching a men's basketball team right now. The players would respect her as well because she has so much experience. Not only is she an incredible coach, but she was also an All American basketball player when she used to play. She has won 14 SEC championships and has given the Lady Volts 7 NCAA championships. What else can you ask for...If a women coach has the capability to coach a men's team, then they should be able to. Pat Summit can be an example of that. Not only is she a great coach, but she also has a great sense of humor...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=na791Ty97sY&feature=related



-RJ VELASCO