Should women and men play on teams together?

Squid, the 47.84 and 8th fastest all-time in our County.
County record is 47.17.
Surprisingly, 47.84 is fastest in the State this year as far as I can tell.

 

I've seen some elite women's basketball teams scrimmage against "regular" guys (not men's college basketball players), and it's been fairly even.

So it's hard to believe some female superstar won't come along one day who could hold her own... probably not at the NBA level... but at the major college basketball level.

But the system just isn't set up for that right now-- for a men's team to want or need to take a woman-- and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

Diana Taurasi, who learned the game playing against guys, is said to "play like a guy." She does handle the ball like a guy. If she were a pure point guard who could shoot just a bit better... maybe somebody like that.

 

Women might be able to do certain things better than men in some sports.

Putting in golf? sure
Shooting free throws? sure
Driving a car? sure

Everything else? No (or that I can think of quickly)

The greatest female player would never be able to play professional baseball, football, golf, basketball, hockey or soccer. I don't care about the position, either.

 

Might be? Theoretically, it seems plausible. Do they? The numbers don't really indicate they are.

Putting: In 2009, Inbee Park led the LPGA with an average of 28.36 putts per round. That would have tied her for 22nd on the PGA Tour. The PGA leader was Jarrod Lyle at 27.25. There were 9 LPGA players doing better than 29 putts per round in 2009; 68 PGA players did so.

Free throws: These are hard to compare at the pro level since the NBA plays so many more games (and, thus, the players shoot a lot more free throws) than does the WNBA. It appears that the two are pretty comparable. The top WNBA player last year who shot 10+ free throws was Nicole Powell, whose .979 would have also placed her atop the NBA. Of the men who shot, say, 30 or more, 9 hit 90% or better. Of the women who shot 10+, they had 12 at 90% or better.

Driving a car: I'm pretty sure Danica's still the only woman to win a race at the Formula One, Indy or NASCAR level. And she's got one. Not that women can't drive cars just as well as men, but we haven't seen it yet. Perhaps we will.

 

I know it's shady business using magazine articles citing science as an actual citation, but this article argues that women are inferior drivers because testosterone makes for better 3-d visualization skills. I would imagine that would apply to shooting free throws, too:

http://www.cracked.com/article_18529_6-absurd-gender-stereotypes-that-science-says-are-true_p1.html

 

The Kansas men's club soccer team recently beat the Kansas women's varsity team 3-2.

I played for the KU men's club team for awhile. Practiced 1-2 times a week after tryouts. It was semi-serious, meaning for some guys it was life and death but for others it was just a way to keep playing soccer on a regular basis. Most of the players were, at best, Division II caliber. Most of us were good juco players or former NAIA players. Division I players? Not even close.

Like I said, maybe the team has changed and now they have a bunch of Division I transfers who were burned out or whatever. And the KU women's team is a very good Big 12 team now, routinely finishing in the upper half and challenging for a spot in the NCAAs.

http://www.kuathletics.com/sports/w-soccer/recaps/032910aaa.html

 

I was going to go to that, but Roger Morningstar wouldn't budge on his ticket price, so I just went to a bar and watched it instead.

 

Ragu, also add into the equation the regulation sized ball.

 

I suspect this one has far more to do with nurture than nature. There are very, very few women who go into auto racing compared to other sports.

For F1 and Indy strength and endurance are a necessity -- the g-load on some turns is absurd -- but you could argue that women would have an advantage based on their typically smaller size and weight. Not sure if it's still this way, but Indy didn't consider the driver in the minimum weight, giving a smaller driver an advantage. In F1 driver weight does include the driver, but a smaller driver allows the team to distribute the weight as ballast in more strategic parts of the car.

 

I could see a world-championship-MVP-level women's softball shortstop being able to play 2B in the majors as a banjo-hitting defensive-specialist type of player. That's the only position in "major league" team sports a woman could play -- along with football placekicker.

 

All fair points, PC.