Storyline: Achievements in women’s achievements are dismissed too frequently, while similar achievements on the men’s side are often viewed as historic.
A tweet last weekend didn’t go viral (fewer than 300 retweets), but it certainly caused a firestorm.
Courtesy: Cleveland.com
Dan Shaughnessy @Dan_Shaughnessy Mar 26 UConn Women beat Miss St. 98-38 in NCAA tourney. Hate to punish them for being great, but they are killing women’s game. Watch? No thanks
Shaughnessy say that he’s “big on competition” and UConn obliterates the opposition in women’s college basketball. For that reason, he reasons, UConn is bad for the game.
His declaration prompted a rash of responses, including commentaries covering consecutive days on ESPN’s Outside the Lines. Overall, many analysts responded with dismay, while others defended Shaughnessy’s right to express an opinion.
While everybody has the right to offer an opinion, and Shaughnessy certainly has a right to express his, his declaration exemplifies the subtext associated with women’s sports in this country. It undercuts. It devalues. It dismisses.
What if he had tweeted this instead:
Courtesy: indystar.com
Dan Shaughnessy Did NOT Tweet This Apr 1 Golden State Warriors are 68-7. Hate to punish them for being great, but they are killing the NBA game. Watch? No thanks.
Wouldn’t happen. Yes, the Warriors are dominating competition, but they aren’t being punished for being great. And they certainly aren’t killing the NBA, either. It’s theater. Golden State is going after the wins record set by Michael Jordan and his ’95-96 Chicago Bulls.
But standing right next to the Warriors–at exactly as the same time–are the UConn women. They’re the best the women’s game has ever seen, including the great Pat Summitt’s teams at Tennessee.
UConn’s numbers stagger the imagination:
Winning games this year by an average of 40 points (regular season) and 45 points (post-season)
Lost only 5 games over the past 4 years
Have appeared in 17 Final Fours, 9 in a row, including this year, and
Have won 10 National titles.
Courtesy: teamwork-quotes.com
For me that record conjures up memories of John Wooden and his UCLA Bruins of the ‘60s and ‘70s, winners of 10 national crowns—a record that’s never likely to be duplicated. Wooden was feted for being a master coach, a genius, widely known as “The Wizard of Westwood.” As John Feinstein put it: Wooden had an untouchable record and was an incomparable man.” Ever heard that said about the UConn stage master, Geno Auriemma?
And, back then, nobody I can recall said that the UCLA victory string was ‘bad’ for men’s college basketball. To the contrary, we marveled at UCLA’s capacity to fend off rivals, year after year after year.
UConn’s accomplishments today rival UCLA’s cage dominance then, each program dynastic. But the UConn women just don’t have the same cache. It’s not because they don’t deserve it. It’s because some people simply won’t give UConn its due. And the problem is generic. Achievements in sports women’s are dismissed too frequently, while similar achievements on the men’s side are often viewed as historic. And, bluntly, men do most of the interpreting.
That needs to stop.
Courtesy: hawkcentral.com
But the underlying problem is more severe and onerous than what some people may think about women’s sports. Women athletes are treated poorly in other ways. Take, for example, pay for play among professional athletes. To wit, this week U.S. women’s soccer filed a formal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against U.S. Soccer, the sport’s oversight organization. The complaint alleges wage discrimination.
As Christine Brennan of USAToday reported: “the pay disparity … is shocking.” Here’s why: “A male player receives $5000 for a loss in a friendly match and as much as $17,625 for a victory against a highly ranked opponent. A member of the women’s national team receives $1350, but only if the USA wins. Women’s players receive no bonuses for losses or ties.”
The bottom line is this: excellence and fairness must be evaluated uniformly. UConn is great. So are the Warriors. Neither is “killing their sport.” UConn’s record equals, if not exceeds, what UCLA did years ago. And pro players, who are on salary or being paid per game, need to be compensated equitably.
America, stand up against the nonsense that’s plaguing women’s sports and women athletes. It’s time to resolve our unsettled relationship with women’s sports. We need to do it now.
