Girls Basketball Before Boys? That's a Civil Rights Violation
Fred Schwarz is well worth quoting at length:
It has come to this: Federal bureaucrats are telling colleges when to start their basketball games:
A recent Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action to reverse the order of its men’s and women’s basketball games during conference doubleheaders this year in response to an inquiry from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is generating attention from other conferences.Many colleges schedule men’s and women’s basketball games as doubleheaders, often using a “ladies first” policy in which the women’s game starts at, say, 5:00 and the men’s game at 7:30. Patriarchy! Oppression! Somebody filed a complaint about this and, as often happens, no formal ruling was necessary; a mere inquiry from Washington was enough to make colleges scurry to eradicate the dreaded curse of game-time discrimination.
One complicating factor is that there’s no consensus on whether playing first or second is better:
In its inquiry, the OCR cited a complaint filed against the GLIAC stating that scheduling the women’s games first made them appear as “warm-up” contests for the men’s games. While not necessarily agreeing with that assessment, the OCR nonetheless reasoned that each gender ought to have equitable opportunities to have its games seen, which leads some to believe that games close to the dinner hour may not be desired.
But a sampling of Division III members reveals some sentiment for the lead-off spot. Even though “prime time” is often viewed as the nightcap in a doubleheader, many coaches and administrators from a logistics perspective like the certainty of the opening game.
Quick -- to the army of social scientists! Alas, no one can afford more social scientists than the government, whose ability to force compliance with single lift of the eyebrow obviates all this nonsense about facts.
- Comment (6)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (1)
Comments :
Jun '10
Re: Girls Basketball Before Boys? That's a Civil Rights Violation
How about, the team that wins the dunk contest gets first pick?
May '10
Re: Girls Basketball Before Boys? That's a Civil Rights Violation
The bureaucrats will insist on their way because that's what they do, but the sad truth is that the people who really suffer are the female athletes, who will likely end up with fewer viewers and an undeserved resentment from fans.
The girls deserve better than to have the Feds acting in their name.
Aug '10
Re: Girls Basketball Before Boys? That's a Civil Rights Violation
James Poulos, Ed.: Fred Schwarz
And if the women's games were afterwards, the women would have to suffer the indignity of being walked-out on, no doubt.
May '10
Re: Girls Basketball Before Boys? That's a Civil Rights Violation
Part of healthy government is a citizenship with the courage to challenge political threats and resist injustice.
Jul '10
Re: Girls Basketball Before Boys? That's a Civil Rights Violation
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
And if the women's games were afterwards, the women would have to suffer the indignity of being walked-out on, no doubt. · Aug 13 at 10:47am
Obviously, the court would then have to mandate everyone who attended the first game stay for the second to spare anyone's feelings. And if concessions dipped, there would be a bailout fund available.
May '10
Re: Girls Basketball Before Boys? That's a Civil Rights Violation
Nobody cares about D-II or D-III basketball. But if the Justice or Education Departments set their sights higher, it will be, if nothing else, amusing.
ESPN is not going to show a Division I men's basketball game at 5 on a weekday afternoon so the women can play to an empty house at 7:30.
And that will directly impact revenues. And when you start talking that happy cabbage, that green salad of salvation, that stuff that talks when everything else just walks...