Christine Brennan's column

[runningman]

Didn't see this one anywhere else. Any comments? I guess I'll jump out there, give the announcers the benefit of the doubt and say - contradictory to Brennan's claim - they were correct in saying Florida was the first school to hold the national title in basketball and football.

I don't have the complete quote available or the announcers' names. Would they have been more correct to include the word "men's? Yes, I suppose. Were they wrong in what they said? No, I don't think so. Is this a(nother) case of PC gone too far - or am I being closeminded and shortsighted.

I'm a Maryland fan - and a Maryland native; I didn't take the comment as being disrespectful to the Terps. If the Terps repeat and Maryland also wins the football national championship, the school would be the second to hold the national titles in both basketball (pick one) and football at the same time. What's wrong with that picture (other than, of course, thinking the Twerps can win in football)...

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From USAToday.com, by Christine Brennan, 1.11.07
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/brennan/2007-01-11-brennan-womens-game_x.htm

 

[DyePack]

How people milk an entire column out of something like this is beyond me.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

You might have to be a woman to understand why it seems like a lack of respect to hear people talk as if there are two sports: basketball and women's basketball.

Like if you went to a hospital that has doctors and "woman doctors."

 

[buckweaver]

And technically, she's got a point: Tennessee was the first school to hold Division I football and basketball championships at the same time, in 1998.

Florida is the first to hold men's basketball and football championships at the same time.

So if you're not going to make the distinction ... technically, you're wrong.

 

[zeke12]

J_D --

Here is where that argument gets hazy -- if there was a woman physically good enough to play against the men, could she?

In that case, it is basketball and women's basketball.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

Sounds like nitpicking to me.

 

[Beach_Bum]

Column would have been more impactful if she had noted Tennessee actually was the first to do it and she had talked to Pat Summitt about the "slight" instead of the Maryland coach, whose school doesn't factor into the discussion except to be the reigning women's champ.

 

[buckweaver]

J_D --

Here is where that argument gets hazy -- if there was a woman physically good enough to play against the men, could she?

In that case, it is basketball and women's basketball.

No, in that case, it is still men's basketball and women's basketball.

That argument is irrelevant.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

I think he proved her underlying point, buckweaver.

 

[zeke12]

J_D --

Here is where that argument gets hazy -- if there was a woman physically good enough to play against the men, could she?

In that case, it is basketball and women's basketball.

No, in that case, it is still men's basketball and women's basketball.

That argument is irrelevant.

Respectfully, I disagree. I know many high school sports that qualify themselves as "Youth Varsity" and "Girls Varsity" for just that reason. Girls can compete in the boys league. Thus it is not boys basketball, or hockey, or whatever.

 

[ondeadline]

We inserted "men's" into our story to make it clear.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

The point is, the reference to Florida being the first Division I school to hold national championships in "basketball" and "football" at the same time was wrong.

 

[buckweaver]

I think he proved her underlying point, buckweaver.

You are correct, sir.

And beach_bum is right: she should have used Tennessee in her column. Not exactly the hardest research to find, considering you're only looking from 1982 to the present.

 

[dooley_womack1]

I'm sorry, I'm usually fairly PC, but this is PC run amok, over a technicality hardly any reader would give a darn about. And I think Pat Summitt is secure enough about her program's place to not have a problem with giving Florida its props.

 

[zeke12]

Well, perhaps it was. I'd certainly feel bad if i had made it.

But that doesn't change the fact that, as Brennan's column points out, the ESPN ticker still shows NCAAB and NCAAW.

Not that I'm advocating deferring to The Leader, but there might be an element of technical correctness to referring to the sports as college basketball and women's college basketball. Certainly enough correctness to outweigh the anti-political correctness.

And it certainly wasn't worth a column.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

She's not demanding reparations. She's simply pointing out a mindset that clearly, as this thread proves, still exists.

 

[heyabbott]

You might have to be a woman to understand why it seems like a lack of respect to hear people talk as if there are two sports: basketball and women's basketball.

Like if you went to a hospital that has doctors and "woman doctors."

Unless there is some reason that the 1998 Tennessee Women's Basketball team was better than the 1998 Men's Kentucky Basketball team, Florida is the first team to hold both the Football and Basketball Crowns.
The better argument against Florida is that the basketball won it's tournement in 2006. The football team won in calender year 2007.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

I don't understand your argument about 1998, abbott, unless you are saying that the NCAA regards the men's basketball championship as more valid than the women's basketball championship.

 

[zeke12]

She's not demanding reparations. She's simply pointing out a mindset that clearly, as this thread proves, still exists.

And what "mindset" is that, J_D?

Spell it out, and I'm afraid that you'll find the argument isn't actually there.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

It's so self-evident as to be unnecessary to point out.