This and That from the Desk of Lolits
(little old lady in tennis shoes)

Title IX

             It’s Over!  Thank God that a new decade has arrived!

       As I enter this new decade, I am surprised that I am looking and thinking about the future.  For nearly all of the past decade, I literally withdrew from contact with friends of many years, having experienced an unexpected major setback whose ferocity sucked all of the usual resilience from my spirit.  For that, I have paid a heavy price from which I may not fully recover.

       My reawakening has been marked by hesitant and slow steps of outreach to those I abandoned by my failure to take charge of myself.  Writing an occasional article is a part of my recovery process. I may never become the Grandma Moses of writing, but I still have a point of view on a lot of things, including, of course, the main focus of Femmefan: sports in most of its facets.

       With that I will move to a personal concern that raises questions for me. I find myself wondering if I have let my forever-and-forever interest in sports as a participant and spectator become little more than an escape mechanism and a trivial pursuit.  Professional sports have spawned a multi-billion dollar industry in this country alone.  A few of them, mainly football, basketball (men’s), and golf (at least during the Tiger years) have come to dominate the psyche of the majority of Americans from infancy through senior years.

 Why are we so consumed?  In my working years I sought jobs in the helping professions, and so I ask what, if any, tangible contributions have professional sports added to our quality of life. My answer seems to be “very little”.  In terms of better housing, funding of schools and libraries, character and moral leadership, improved wages for low-and middle-class workers, health care for all, etc.  I see a select few garnering exorbitant salaries, while teachers, social workers, firemen, police officers, and the vast number of low-paid workers who do the grunt work for those that make mega-millions.  I see well-paid athletes spend money freely on material goods, for extravagant mansions, in gambling venues or on extravagant gifts (i.e., Shaq’s gift of a $400K car to a teammate) and wonder where the social justice is.

Is it likely that I and others invest so much energy in sports-related events to escape the reality of the serious and frightening events taking place here in the United States and across the world?  I doubt that we are indifferent or disinterested in (a) the sad plight of the large numbers of unemployed and underemployed, (b) the devastated individuals and families who bought into the American dream of homeownership only to lose it all because of the greed and immorality of others, (c) the plight of the ill-housed, ill-fed, and ill-schooled, and (d) the national scandal that millions in America go without health care because they can not afford health insurance.

I believe that our immersion in sports is driven in large part by our individual and collective belief that we have no answers to the serious problems hanging over us.

Despite the economic decay that has taken a strong foothold, we find a way to scrape up money for a ticket to a football game (the national average cost for a ticket is $78 but $160 for a Cowboy home game), or $100s+ for signature sneakers and jerseys.  We tend to believe outrageous greed is an entitlement of the privileged, so that when we read that the Washington Redskins sued over 100 season ticket holders for breach of contract when the ticket holders tried to opt out of the contract due to loss of jobs and income, we remain silent. This action from Dan Snyder, the multi-millionaire owner, who has led the Redskins to mediocrity and ridicule since he assumed ownership, is really ironic.

NOTE: At least, however, there was enough community-outrage in the case of Pat Hill, a Redskins fan since the early 1960s and a 10-year season ticket holder. She lost her job and was facing bankruptcy and foreclosure on her home. The Redskins won a default judgment of $5,000+ because Pat could not afford an attorney. Public response forced the Redskins to reverse their policy with her. As to the other 100 or so, it’s too bad they bought something that they couldn’t afford (just like the many homeowners who have lost their homes.) 

Actually, if anyone should be suing I believe that it should be the taxpayers who are paying for the stadium. I would think that a smart district attorney or attorney general could find an implied promise by the Redskins to provide professional performances in exchange for the provision of public funds.

As to morals, character and leadership issues, my mind is now filled with and befuddled by the likes of Mike Leach, Tiger, John Calipari, Marion Jones, A-Rod, Manny, and the numerous coaches and heads of colleges and universities whose actions belie their pompous and well-sounding comments about the sanctity of college athletics and the student athletes.

        All of this nonsense and hypocrisy is underscored by the NBA edict that high school basketball players can not enter the NBA draft for at least one year after the date of their high school graduation and are 19 years old.  This edict certainly protects and enables Division 1 college basketball programs to recruit the cream of the crop of graduating high school basketball stars.  One year of a basketball star’s performance has been enough to gain national championships and recognition (think Kevin Durant).

As to the quaint notion that the educational needs of the athlete are being addressed, this is as blatantly false as insisting that the earth is flat.  The only academic requirement imposed on the recruited player is that the athlete must take courses totaling SIX (6) credits in the first semester!  So, I ask, what is the basketball star doing the rest of the academic year? And, what ever happened to the policy that 30 credits equal a year of study?

 Another area of concern is my sense that fewer females participate in sports than did 10 years ago. The promises and reach of Title IX have been weakened by legal challenges; sports programs for women have been scaled back; and there are few female sports stars, due, in part, to the lack of media coverage of women’s sports at all levels.  If I am right in my observations, I fear that more women will be content to attend games and be cheerleaders.

I believe women should take a more active role in addressing significant issues that exist in amateur and professional sports and in local settings. There are public policy issues that involve public funding and tax relief; maintaining an active and expanding role of sports at all levels of education; safety and health issues; and recreational services.  More and more women have become visible in the corporate world, in the military, in public office.  Let’s expand their presence in the world of sports.

           In closing, I want to acknowledge the athletic contributions of two women who, in their own way, made positive contributions to women’s sports: Gladys Pauline Young of Tappahannock, Virginia and Gloria Graves of Converse, Texas

            Pauline, who died at age 79 in November, 2009, was a legendary softball player in Essex and Richmond Counties and throughout Virginia from the 1950’s until the 1980’s.  She coached and led her softball team, made up of her daughters, nieces, cousins and classmates, to winning season after winning season.  She was an exceptional fast-pitch pitcher and feared batter.  Up until her retirement after the age of 50, she was the team’s clean-up batter and a very effective one.  Because she no longer had the running speed she possessed as a young player, she would say:  “well since I can’t run as fast anymore, I’ll just have to hit a home run”.  And she did!  She is missed by many and leaves behind several generations of children who inherited her athletic genes.

            Gloria Graves excelled as a softball player at the University of Kansas in the late 1970s. Outside of field and track, she was the first African-American female on a KU team. She also was an intimidating pitcher (with a steely stare that immobilized many a batter) and a power hitter. Her pitching speed was clocked at the equivalent of 100 mph, when adjusted for the differences in the respective distances between the pitcher’s mound and home plate in baseball vis-à-vis softball.  When asked once whether her speed worried her at all because of the possibility that she might hit a batter, she replied:  “No, I ALWAYS knew where the ball would go”. Gloria has dedicated her life to teaching and in the last 15 years or so to students with special needs—a field in which she has earned many awards and accolades.  Interestingly enough, she also developed after-school basketball programs for under-performing students, which required them to maintain good grades in order to compete.  Gloria has found a new satisfaction and creativity as an artist.  Many of her paintings incorporate the themes of athletics and education.  Kudos and our deepest appreciation for a job well done are sent her way.