When will they get it right?

The answer to that is a resounding zero.

A more curious question is how many GAMES --- not sets, just GAMES --- the 128 women would win.

I say < 10.

And at the risk of threadjack, the men/women dichotomy is good evidence of why golf cannot stand with the other sports as a pure test of athletic ability.

Serena Williams, Candace Parker, Sanya Richards, Natalie Coughlin, etc., CANNOT compete with their male counterparts in their sport.

But Annika Sorenstam can enter a men's golf tournament, and while she may not make the cut, she WILL beat some men.

Golf is unique in that way. And I do not say that as a compliment.

 

And given the fact that we're talking Bobby Riggs, here . . . won't be shaken out of my belief that given his status as a marked favorite in that match, he simply proceeded to take the substantial odds -- and bet against himself.

 

True, but it's highly unlikely that Sorenstam would win the entire tournament.

Now, on the other hand, if you take a guy ranked No. 100 in the world among the men and allow him to enter an LPGA event, he immediately becomes the favorite.

To me, it's a silly argument. There is a niche for women's sports --- and it's grown tremendously in the last couple of decades. But aside from gymnastics, I can't think of a women's sport that outdraws it's male counterpart at the gate, on television or in marketing.

 

Perhaps figure skating.

And it is interesting that the U.S. Open women's tennis final is held in prime time, whereas the men's is still a late afternoon start.

I guess CBS' Sunday prime time lineup has been so strong for so long that they don't want to risk screwing it up for a tennis match that could conceivably be David Nalbandian vs. Nikolay Davydenko. Saturday is pretty much a throwaway night for TV ratings, so the risk is much less.

 

I'm willing to bet a small amount of money that women's beach volleyball outdraws men's.

And in addition to the possiblity of Davydenko making a major final, men's matches last longer. So that might -- might --play into why the men's final starts earlier.