How Should ESPN Cover LSU Story?

Selena Roberts was happy to get her digs in on Rene Portland but nary a mention of this.

I guess my real problem is what seems to be the "don't ask don't tell " policy in womens college basketball. Why the need to hide the fact that many of partipants are gay? It makes it appear that there is something wrong with that fact.

 

Boom, that's exactly what I'm talking about. You're jumping to the conclusion that Chatman lost her job for the same reason Portland lost hers. From what has been said, Chatman had an inappropriate relationship (whatever that means) with a player. Portland apparently showed intolerance toward one, or more, of her players. Sexuality was involved in both, but these are completely different situations.

You sound as if you're living in the 1950's with the "don't ask, don't tell" line. Why does a women's basketball player need to reveal their sexual preferences when men don't? Oh, I know what your answer is: Because there are more gay women athletes than men athletes. But we really don't know that, do we? And what difference does it make, anyway? This isn't some "dirty little secret" that you seem to think.

 

Don't ask Don't tell I believe was a term coined in 1992 by George Bush sr in relation to a policy he instituted in Military to deal with gay soldiers.

Did you read the Merril story?

But nobody wants to be under these lights. Why? Maybe because behind this story is an element that women's basketball has grappled with for years -- the gay-straight question. And while that question permeates everything from recruiting to team chemistry, it's a topic coaches and former players and anyone remotely related to women's hoops would rather not touch.



"We've got a very significant gay element in our game," says a Division I coach who, like most others interviewed, doesn't want to be named in the Chatman story. "The reason people don't want to talk about it on the record is because it's not just about the player-coach relationship thing.



"It's about the gay thing, and that's too much for any of us who value our jobs and value our standing in the women's business. That's too much to have our names attached to."

 

I know when "don't ask, don't tell" came out, Boom. I'm saying you sound like you're from the 1950's. I read the Merrill story. It was a good story about the topic in general, and why it's so sensitive, but it didn't have anything more in it about what happened between Chatman and the player than anything else I've read.

All I was asking for here was some scuttlebutt as to what might have happened, but I don't think anyone knows. What's happened is that there are assumptions being drawn that the relationship was improper because it was gay, not because there might have been another element to it. I guess it will all come out -- ha, ha, no pun intended.

 

We really don't know if there are more gay women's basketball players then men?

Um, yes we do. Anyone who has had to cover ANY significant women's event, be it the Final Four or the coaches meetings, and went to have a drink at the hotel bar - or any bar in the town -- can attest to that fact.

Not that there is anything wrong with it, just don't make ridiculous statements to try and prove your point. I know entire teams of women that are gay, but I am still not sure why it is relevant to this discussion.

The sexual relationship/contact was obviously being labeled improper for this reason -- it was between a coach and a player. Not a woman and a woman. Not a man and a man. Not a man and woman -- but a coach, a teacher, a faculty member -- with a player, a student --- that is wrong. Period.

When Stephanie Gaitley's husband was fucking St. Joe's players, it was a big story locally, a major issue and she was sent packing. Oh I am sorry, she resigned......

And the only reason it wasn't a bigger story is because St. Joe's was mostly a non-descript, nice little program of little national acclaim while LSU is one of the top three or four programs in the country and has been to the Final Four four consecutive years.

Any time a coach is invovled with something scandalous involving a player, it is news. The amount of national coverage it receives has everything to do with how high profile the program is.

And one other thing -- Bill Clinton, not George Bush, instituted the "don't ask, don't tell" policy for the military.

 

You seriously need this explained? If a coach starts dating/screwing one of his/her players it's a massive breach of trust and is grounds for firing at any campus in America if it's discovered. Just because it's happened before doesn't mean it's ok.

 

I knew that but just wanted to see someone else write it. Yes indeed the first major act of Bill Clinton was coming up with the "don't ask don't tell policy.

I think we all understand that women's athletics has a gay element. What I don't understand is why they want to cover it up. To do so makes it appear that there is something wrong with it.