Daring to call it what it is

The lawsuit filed by a woman who says she was fired after complaining about being groped and fondled by ESPN on-air personalities is a necessary step in addressing misogyny and sexual harassment in the media workplace. Unfortunately, research shows that many women tolerate harassment and don't want to call it out for fear of losing their jobs or opportunities for advancement -- especially in the locker-room environment associated with big-time sports.

Title IX at 35: Attitudes can skew coverage

A new survey of sports reporters by the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism shows that about half of journalists who have written about the law think it hurts men's sports, and about one-third think the law should be changed. This could impact the way stories about Title IX are framed, and, ultimately, how the public sees the law. For the full report, click here.

And you thought this struggle was over

A female reporter who covers major league soccer posted about her experience in a team locker room where a player tried to chase her out. She stood her ground and got an interview but was understandably shaken. Her experience also points to the growing need for reporters who cover sports with Latino players to be able to speak Spanish.

Can't chew gum and walk at the same time?

Frank Deford's latest contribution to SI.com suggests changing Title IX in ways that would reward universities for continuing to allow football programs to devour their athletic budgets at the expense of low-profile sports.
Bad idea.
But what is worse about this column is the assumptions Deford makes about boys and girls. Apparently, boys can't pursue sports and academics at the same time, and the only reason girls "do better academically" than boys is that more boys are concentrating on sports. Studies show that when young people participate in organized sports -- boys or girls -- they generally do better academically than when they don't.

Even so, it is more about "info-tainment"

Denver Post sports reporter Adrian Dater goes on a long rant in his blog today about ESPN sports "reporters," whom he also calls leaches "or something much worse." Dater was apparentely infuriated by the comment from a friend about entertainment trumping journalism in sports. He accuses ESPN of ripping off stories and repackaging them.
No argument with his frustration about ESPN's less-than-stellar newsgathering practices (although the network has finally implemented a corrections column and has hired an ombudsman, to its credit). But Dater's frustration doesn't make it any less true: When it comes to sports, "info-tainment" is the name of the game.

Leave the press box?

In a follow up to the ejection of a Courier-Journal reporter from an NCAA baseball game for blogging in the press box, Poynter's Steve Klein suggests in an E-tidbits entry today that sports writers try blogging somewhere else: from the stands, for instance. That's the problem with the NCAA's policy: Wireless connectivity for anyone makes it possible for anyone, not only reporters , to provide Web-accessible play-by-play.

Zirin on the "athletic-industrial complex"

Dave Zirin, author of "What's My Name, Fool?" and who has been called the best young sportswriter in the U.S., was interviewed on Democracy Now today about his new book, "Welcome to the Terrordome." Zirin was especially critical of NBA Commissioner David Stern for turning the league and its players into "a spittoon for every racial anxiety." As always, the interview is worth a listen, and Zirin's book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand sports in U.S. culture.

Stifling coverage

A reporter from the Louisville Courier Journal was ejected from an NCAA baseball game earlier this week when he was caught blogging for the newspaper's Web site from the game. His editor said the paper is considering an official response because of violation of its First Amendment right to cover the game. It's too bad that economic interests in college sports have come to this -- I hope the NCAA's heavy-handed policy is challenged and eventually changed.

A boost for speedwalking?

A Patrick Healy column in today's New York Times discusses a decided disadvantage for Hillary Clinton in light of previous presidential elections: her lack of a strong connection to sports. As Healy points out, the images of presidential candidates in recent years has been crafted -- at least in part -- around their athletic resume. (Remember where the Bush and Kerry were seen on election eve in 2004? ESPN.) Healy points out the interesting predicament of Clinton -- "speed walking" listed on her MySpace page as her favorite fitness activity and a lack of a strong sports portfolio. Her opponents, on the other hand (including Obama)are already positioning themselves with footballs and hunting rifles. It will be fascinating to see how images of traditional athleticism play into the campaigns in 2008.

The making of another pseudo-event

ESPN2 televised the MLB First-Year Player draft today. In presenting the MLB draft (and others, such as the super-hyped coverage of the NFL draft), ESPN is able to secure cheap programming and use it to promote itself. Pretty slick. Of course, it also benefits MLB, which could use the help of some positive PR (the most recent comments by Gary Sheffield, for instance, expose growing racial fractures in the sport).

Sex and Sports

Two recent news stories point to the ways sexualized images influence coverage of men's and women's sports. The first: coverage of a female high school pole vaulter who has been the object of unwanted attention since a picture of her has made the rounds on the Internet. In a Sunday column, Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell discusses the Post's decision to identify the girl after several readers complained.
AJC ombudsman Angela Tuck's Saturday column addressed a column the paper ran in which it asked a woman who had run a prostitution ring out of her home to rate the "Top Five Sexiest Athletes." Readers had (rightly)complained to the newspaper about its editorial choices.
Images of sex and sports have always been closely aligned -- often in ways that denigrate women. As athletes in the spotlight get younger and younger, the issues involved in the sexualization of sports will increasingly become more complex.

Sex sells? ... Not.

Although conventional wisdom might tell us that female athletes who showcase their sexuality through magazine photo spreads are increasing interest in women's sports, a pilot study by the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport suggests otherwise. Apparently, such coverage doesn't draw men and alienates women's sports fans. As SI's Aditi Kinkhabwala suggests, at least part of the reason for sexualized coverage could be because of the prevalence of men in decision-making positions. Ultimately, the positioning of female athletes as pseudo-cover girls is a losing proposition because it diminishes the sporting value of these women and female athletics in general.

The dynamics of race, sports and journalism

ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski covered Morehouse College's Black Athlete Forum, an event this week to kick off the college's new sports journalism program. The forum brought journalists and athletes together to talk about the disparities in minority representation in sports departments and about the oftentimes-negative coverage of Black athletes. Although the most publicized moments of the evening came in a charged exchange between Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer and journalist Jason Whitlock, I hope the lasting impact from this forum is in igniting interest in sports journalism among the students who attended. A greater presence of dedicated, well-trained minority journalists will benefit sports coverage immensely.

Tip of the iceberg?

The cover story on USA Today's sports section addresses point-shaving in college basketball. The story reviews involvement of University of Toledo players in a scheme that involved working against the point-spread in games. The story recounts other major betting scandals in college athletics, including cases at Arizona State and Northwestern during the 1990s.
USA Today's story is a relatively rare look at the influence of gambling on college athletics, especially considering that a study published last year estimates point-shaving as a factor in 5% of games involving large spreads. On top of that, an NCAA study estimates involvement in gambling by male athletes at around 35 percent. Last year, Christine Brennan also pointed to NCAA documentation that about 5% of D1 players say they've taken money to play poorly or knew someone who did.
It was good to see the USA Today story today -- but the issue of point-shaving in college athletics needs a lot more attention.

USA Today on the trouble with Title IX

USA Today ran an op-ed in this morning's edition that considers whether Title IX should be changed (weakened). In an argument against changing the law, Title IX is neverthless charged with compounding the financial pressures faced by college athletics programs. A counterpoint piece written by the counsel to Equity in Athletics Inc. (an anti-Title IX group) challenges the proportionality test for Title IX, a common argument used to sidestep the real reason why Rutgers and other schools have recently cut their athletic programs: to feed men's revenue-generating (but usually not profitable) sports.

Implicit racism in sports: Who knew?

An unpublished research (and not yet peer-reviewed) report finds implicit bias among White refs against Black players in the NBA. The report, which experts hired by The New York Times say is more credible than the NBA's own research, has met a storm of protest from the NBA, journalists and athletes. But research has shown, time and time again, that implicit racial bias (see for yourself) is a reality. The mythology that sports is a great racial equalizer, however, is hard to shake.

Deford on Title IX: a Colbert-style salute

Erin Buzuvis and her colleagues' Title IX blog offers insightful analysis of Frank Deford's NPR commentary this morning about Title IX. Essentially, Deford perpetuates myths about the law but also offers useful insight about how schools could more fairly allocate money for men's sports.

Sports on the business pages

I wrote sometime back about the marriage of sports and business sections. According to an article in Portfolio.com, ProTrade is aiming to launch 'the first real stock market in athletes.' The article makes a good case that trends are pointing the way toward the viability of a financial market "trading in jocks." Truth be told: It really sounds like nothing more than a more sophisticated form of gambling, a practice as old as sports itself.

The (sporting) adventures of new Christine

LA Times sportswriter Mike Penner's column in today's paper reveals his new identity as Christine Daniels. Daniels will be one of the few -- if not the only -- transsexual sportswriters in a U.S. newsroom. Penner is trading in an privileged identity (male) for one (female) that has generally had a marginal status in sports departments. I hope Daniels will consider joining AWSM, an organization that has supported women working in sports media for the past 20 years.

Post-Imus reflections

Nike ran an ad in today's New York Times that opines about the Imus fiasco: "Thank you for unintentionally moving women’s sport forward. And thank you for making all of us realize that we still have a long way to go." Unfortunately, the focus on the racism in his comment almost overwhelmed the ubiquitous-yet-invisible gender politics embedded in it. The most cogent take I've seen on the issue was, predictably, by Edge of Sports columnist Dave Zirin, who writes that much of the reaction to Imus is in "how we are taught to understand sports"