Uncertain future for Title IX under Obama

Read an interesting article on NCAA today by Michelle Brutlag Hosick about Obama’s new administration and the impact it will have on the future of Title IX.

Conclusion of the article: nobody really knows for sure.

Interesting to me, though, how it was said that Obama doesn’t want to lose support from women’s groups and young females – thats probably the most credit that female athletes have gotten in the policy world in about 30 years.

It’s promising to hear that the Obama administration would not support any change that would loosen the Title IX. It’s equally interesting to hear that Orleans wants to “encourage collaboration between parties on different sides of Title IX interpretation.”

I don’t think it’s an interpretation issue. The law is crystal clear. I think it’s an implementation issue, and it’s a conversation that needs to happen between college athletic directors and lawmakers.

It’s about the financial value that is placed on certain men’s programs.

Obama’s sister says “He is proud” of Kenyan runners at Honolulu Marathon

Kenyan marathon runner Jimmy Muindi shows Maya Soetoro-Ng, sister of President-elect Barack Obama, pictures of his family in Kenya on his digital camera during a reception for the Honolulu Marathon. RONEN ZILBERMAN | Associated Press

President-elect Barack Obama’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, met with Kenyan runners last week, before Sunday’s 36th Honolulu Marathon.

“He is proud of the Kenyan runners,” she said.

Soetoro-Ng, a teacher in Honolulu, met with the Kenyan runners at a private dinner on Thursday and told them President-elect Obama will be delighted to learn that she met with them, according to an article in the International Herald Tribune.

She greeted each runner, seven men and one woman, with a hug and posed for pictures with them.

Kenya’s male runners finished the top 5, and the other came in eighth. Woo hoo!

Kenya’s female runner Alice Timbilili (pictured left), who also met with Obama’s sister proir to the race, came in third, just behind second place finisher Kaori Yoshida and winner Kiyoko Shimahara (both from Japan). Shimahara won the Honolulu marathon on her first try with a time of 2:32:36.

Hat tip to Adam Jacobs from The Final Sprint for posting about this last week.

Women, Where Are We: After West Virginia

It seems only fitting that I post following today’s results in West Virginia. I have a few thoughts on the current Presidential race, a few of which were spurred by today’s headline.

New York Times headline: Clinton Wins West Virginia, With Race a Factor.  Interesting headline choice. Right below that headline is another article entitled ‘Almost Nominee’ Status Keeps Obama in Limbo. Shocker. As a paper that is very democratic and whose editors are pro-Hillary (because NY is her home state), it seems they, too are jumping on the Obama bandwaggon when it comes to reporting the “real” news.  And this is nothing new.

Why couldn’t the headline simply be, “Clinton Wins West Virginia”?

INSTEAD, the article reads, “Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s lopsided victory over Senator Barack Obama was fueled by strong support from white, working-class voters. ”

So, this couldn’t possibly be becuase SHE IS A QUALIFIED CANDIDATE. No, it must mean that the voters in West Viriginia are racist.

This is such crap.

HOWEVER, I must say, even though the reporting is AWFUL, there is some good that comes of this. It highlights the fact that if race is, in fact, a factor, then it means that Senator Obama will have quite a hard time defeating Senator McCain for the white vote.

However, I think we should give the citizens of the U.S. a little more credit. I doubt they’d vote for a candidate based upon race any more than they’d vote for a candidate based upon gender.

Or would they? (see my previous post)

Where is our country headed? If we let race and gender influence the way we elect or political leaders, then we have bigger problems than the war in Iraq or a dwindling healthcare system.

Sports taught me that it didn’t matter if you were black or white, boy or girl, good hair or bad hair, rich or poor. If you could play and you worked hard, you’d earn a spot on the court. The same should be true in our political system. Unfortunately, it’s becoming more and more clear that this is simply not the case.