Women Talk Sports Blogderby: Round 1

Intro: Welcome to the very first Women Talk Sports (WTS) Blogderby, Round 1.

Every few weeks, we will “pass the torch” to a different blogger in our community who will be responsible for rounding up the best blog posts about women’s sports.

If you’re interested in accepting the torch someday, contact us and we’ll put you on the schedule. Jane from Pretty Tough will be posting Round 2 of the Blogderby on Saturday, March 7. Archives of the Blogderby will be located at Women Talk Sports. Thanks, and go female athletes!

In women’s basketball news, we learned that Lisa Leslie is now retiring form the WNBA. Lyndsey D’Arcangelo from B5 Media’s Girls Dig Sports reports on the story. Certainly sad to see her go.

ESPN columnist Mechelle Voepel discussed (on her personal blog) how Iowa State’s “super fan” Wild Bill Yungclas has decided to retire. Her perspective on super fans is quite unique – as she mentioned she’s a reporter – someone who doesn’t have the “emotional investment” in teams.

In tennis news, Ken from After Atlanta discusses Shaheer Peer’s denial into the United Arab Emirates to play a tournament. Peer was supposed to play in Dubai at the Barclay’s Dubai Championships, but the UAE would not grant Peer, who is Israeli, a visa. Will be interesting to see how this develops. Women Who Serve also wrote about this issue.

Track Mom posted about how Angela Williams has become a youth track & field icon.

Nolachick from Chicks In The Huddle gives us a little reminder of who they are – true fans of the game of football.

Soccer fan Jennifer Doyle at From a Left Wing recently discussed some research behind finding a balance between runner’s high and overtraining syndrome, a form of athletic depression.

Erin Buzuvis from the Title IX Blog discussed an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education which suggests there will be increased Title IX reinforcement under the Obama Aministration. Would be great to see that happen!

Gamechangers launched a “Beat the BS” video. Gretchen from Girls Can’t What calls it a “fantastic promotional video.”

Similarly, Rob Mars from the Athletic Women Blog said “Sometimes the best way to demonstrate the absurdity of a baseless viewpoint is to give it an unfiltered airing, a tactic used here to great advantage.”

Apryl Delancey at Women Like Sports also posted the video with little commentary, but it looks like she’s supportive. I have a different point of view about this video (I think it just reinforces what everybody already knows). But props to Nike and Ashoka for reaching out to the blogosphere community! (below is the video)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhhinmLurOM

Talking about a different campaign – Jane from Pretty Tough tells us how we can star in Adidas new “Me, Myself” campaign, which seeks to find the “new face” of Adidas.

Chris Grant from Jetty Girl took five minutes to interview Tammy-Lee Smith, the surfing professional from South Africa. We learned that her “perfect day” is one where she’s surfing in her hometown, followed up by “flow riding session and skate sessions.”

Char from Sports Girls Play posted a video of Alicia Sacramone interviewing Dwyane Wade, Jordin Sparks, hip hop star Common and Alonzo Mourning in conjunction with the NBA All Star weekend and Gatorade’s Quest for G. Interesting to see how Alicia is making a name for herself outside of being an incredible Olympic gymnast (and knocking guys out at parties).

Ann Gaffigan at Steeple Chics discussed whether there will be gender equality at the 2012 Olympics in London. As a finalist in the Olympic qualifiers for the steeplechase, Ann has the authority to say, “[There are] 40 more events are offered for the men than the women at the Olympics? That’s 120 medals the women are not allowed to chase.”

Black Tennis Pros posted a great interview between tennis star Ahsha Rolle and USTA.com. We learned that her role models growing up were Serena and Venus Williams, as well as Lori McNeil.

Lara from Running in the Bike Lane discussed how caffeine can help post workout recovery. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I could down a cup of coffee after running 3 miles.

Helen at the Women’s Hoops Blog announced that the high school women’s basketball McDonald’s All Americans have been announced. Unsurprisingly, Brittney Griner, the high school dunking phenom, will represent the East.

Marie Hardin from Sports, Media and Society discusses how Alex Rodriguez called Selena Roberts “this lady” throughout an interview with Peter Gammons on ESPN. Hardin said he was “lobbed slow-pitch softballs instead of probing questions.”

Sara from Rock Climber Girl discussed trading injury rehab and treatment tips with fellow climbing blogger friends, including Tom, Narc, and Jon.

Patricia from Right Fielders wrote about Sarah Blewden, a former model turned amateur boxer in Great Britain.

Pat Griffin from the LGBT Sport Blog wrote about how Brooke Heike, a former basketball player at Central Michigan State University, has filed a lawsuit against CMU coach Sue Guevara for benching her and revoking her scholarship because she wore make up and because she was not a lesbian. Griffin said these allegations are “wildly improbable” because lesbian coaches do not want to call attention to their sexual orientation, as they’re afraid they will be targeted by negative recruiting.

Drag racer Erica at Horsepower & Heels discusses the significance behind signature Black & Pink racecar paint jobs.

Kim from Total Female Hockey wrote about why it’s important for girls to play multiple sports.

Hanne Lyngstad recently switched her blog, I Run Therefore I Blog, to English and wrote about sports bras.

Sheila Weaver from She Loves Sports talks about why fewer women are coaching in sports.

If you’re interested in accepting the Blogderby torch someday, contact us and we’ll put you on the schedule. Jane from Pretty Tough will be posting Round 2 of the Blogderby on Saturday, March 7. Archives of the Blogderby will be located at Women Talk Sports.

Also, if you’re a women’s sports blogger and would like to join the WTS community, please contact us.

Sacramone knocks guy unconscious. Costas loves it.

I just finished watching Bob Costas’ December 17 show of CostasNow on HBO, where he highlighted the best sports moments of 2008.

It is a 90-minute show (dominated by men) includes Michael Phelps, Tiger Woods,  Ryan Howard, Michael Strahan, Charles Barkley, John McEnroe and Rocco Mediate.

It also features Dara Torres, Alicia Sacramone and Nastia Liukin.

It’s obvious that one of Costas’s favorites is the below YouTube video of Alicia Sacramone who was dared to punch a guy in the face. She followed through with the dare, knocking him unconscious.

Take a look:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QA6s7p-zU8

Hahaha. This is pretty funny. Great job, Alicia.

Maybe next year Costas will (instead) point out how incredible you are as an athlete.

Her Sports Rounds… The Best of Women’s Sports

Below is my roundup – hope you enjoy!

Lauren at Feministe discusses the beauty and power displayed in the image of female bodybuilders – an image that “isn’t that of a delicate orchid.”

Jane from Pretty Tough gives a great recap of what’s happening in the women’s figure skating industry. I know I’ve said this before, but I think Jane probably has the best coverage of women’s sports out there.

Diane from Women Who Serve talks about “who’s hot and who’s not” for women’s tennis in ’09. This is a very interesting read, and a great blog – I’m so glad Diane decided to start this blog – a life-long fan of women’s tennis… what a great way to express her passion.

Rob from the Athletic Women blog discusses the importance of strength training for female athletes.

Apryl Delancey from Women Like Sports discusses how Lisa Guerrero from Inside Edition and TV Guide has decided to become a sports blogger!  I hope she takes the lead in covering women’s sports!!!

Ted and Sara at the Women’s Hoops Blog give great recaps of what’s happening in college hoops – check out their post from November 23 – what great coverage!

Lyndsey from Girls Dig Sports (B5 Media) says that Alicia Sacramone, from the Olympics gymnastics team, is considering a reality show with Lou Reda Productions.

Erica Ortiz discusses what she’s thankful for at Horsepower & Heels.

Keri Mikulski heads back to Texas for a book signing at The Ronald McDonald Tournament which benefits the Ronald McDonald House in Houston.

Our Bodies Our Blog linked to me this week – blogger Christine took a liking to a YouTube video I posted this week about five year old basketball phenom Milan Simone Tuttle.

Sara from Rock Climber Girl is attempting to bring together the rock climbing community by to making a directory of climbing-related Twitter-ers.  I think Twitter is awesome – I’d love to see a community of female athletes raising influence on Twitter.

Stanford FBC gives us the back story on how a musician (Bud Anderson) and a graphic artist ( Sarah Boruta) are the new videographers for the Stanford women’s team.These two seem to be responsible for Stanford’s viral videos and possibly a music video for the team.

Adam Jacobs at The Final Sprint discusses corruption at the top of the track and field industry. He came out with Part III and Part IV of his Dysfunction Run Amuck series. I highly recommend you read them – very, very interesting.

USA Women’s Gymnastics: What Happened?

On Tuesday night, we all watched in anticipation: could the USA women’s gymnastics team clinch the gold from China, to win their first since 1996? Apparently not. Instead, the girls walked out of National Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Tuesday with the silver. So what happened?

Earlier in the night, USA’s chances looked pretty good. They entered the final two routines with an excellent shot at snatching the gold from the Chinese. But their hopes came crashing to the floor as captain Alicia Sacramone fell off the balance beam, and subsequently fell in her floor exercise.

And the Chinese won, 188.900 to 186.525. This is the first Olympic gold medal for China’s Olympic women gymnasts.

But we can’t truly say that the gold isn’t tainted. Every athlete knows that there’s nothing better than a home court advantage, and now we all know that this is especially true when it comes to presentation of passports at the Olympics.

The Chinese continue to face questions about the age of three of its six medal-winning athletes, and Beijing Olympics officials are assuring critics that they turn 16 this year, as required under Olympic rules. This was all spurred from a report by the New York Times last month that showed online records that indicate two members of China’s women’s team, He Kexin and Jiang Yuyuan, may be only 14. Personally, I think they look like they’re about seven or eight years old. But maybe that’s just me.

In a sport where many of the athletes are under the weight of 80 pounds, I’m not so sure what goes on in women’s gymnastics is all that healthy.

Many experts say that the reason women’s gymnasts’ bodies look so small is due to the huge amount of stress they undergo at such a high level of competition. That’s precisely the reason they reinstated the rule in 1997 that athletes must be 16 during an Olympic year in order to compete in the Games.

But really, let’s think… these girls train for many years before they get to this level (as is common for most elite athletes), so what’s the rule doing for their overall well-being anyway? It’s still destroying their bodies.

Interesting quote from Helene Elliott of the Tribune Olympic Bureau…

“It’s difficult to write about female athletes who compete in sports that put a premium on small, compact body shapes. Calling them tiny seems disrespectful and sexist. They’re athletes who happen to be small, no less an athlete than a basketball player or swimmer. These Chinese gymnasts are tiny. Pre-teen tiny. Haven’t-lost-all-their-baby-teeth-tiny.”

Yes, they’re tiny, which is different. And Lord knows we don’t (especially in America) accept anything that is different.

At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that these women work very, very hard. And it has to be difficult for Sacramone, especially as captain of the American team. They should be congratulated on their hard work, shake hands with their (possibly younger) opponents, and keep their heads up in pride.

After all, the “honor is in competing,” (not winning) right?