President Obama: Draws up women’s basketball bracket

President Obama acknowledged the female basketball community today by actually FILLING OUT A BRACKET!

Step in the right direction, and certainly sets an example for the rest of the country. There are TWO championships going on people!

Hat-tip to Christine Brennan at USA Today for writing about the story.

To get involved in a bracket challenge, join us at WomenTalkSports.com (there will be giveaways!)

2016 Olympics in Chicago? Nastia Liukin, President and Michelle Obama say “yes”

Personally, I think it would be cool to have the Olympics in Chicago in 2016. Nastia Liukin thinks so (click picture below), as well as President and Michelle Obama – they’re traveling to Copenhagen today to pitch Chicago’s bid to the International Olympic Committee. 

Will it work? We’ll see!

Will Obama create opportunities for high school girls to play sports?

Today is a day of change.

…Or at least that’s what President Obama has been preaching for the past year.

And if what he says is true, there’s a chance he could create many more opportunities for high school girls who want to play sports.

The issue: The High School Sports Information Collection Act -  a piece of legislation which would extend Title IX reporting requirements from colleges to high schools. It’s expected to be reintroduced and voted on by Congress this year.

Over the past eight years, Title IX has been treated skeptically by the Bush administration. This act was introduced and neglected in 2007.

And now is a time for change.

During his campaign, President Obama promised a lot of things. Among them, he promised to support the reintroduction of this Act, and women’s sports leaders are now challenging his administration to follow through on their promises.

The law would require high schools to collect and share information about whether their athletic programs serve both sexes equally, as colleges must do now.

According to the National Women’s Law Center, high school girls get 1.3 million fewer participation opportunities than boys do. Unlike colleges, NWLC says high schools are not required to disclose data about the degree of equality in women’s sports programs.

The rest of this article on GameChangers.net is really, really good. I highly recommend you read through it.

For more information on this and other legislation, check out the Women’s Sports Foundation.

Why haven’t I posted lately? I live in DC.

The reason I haven’t posted lately is largely due to the pomp and circumstance that is surrounding the Presidential Inauguration.

While I am definitely off-topic (this is a sports blog), I figured I’d share a bit of this experience with you.

Below is a video I took during President-Elect Obama’s speech at the We Are One Concert at the National Mall on Sunday. I’m headed there early in the morning for round 2. Here’s to hoping I don’t get trampled…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPK3V2yy7Z4

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

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.

Hillary Clinton is Willing To Be VP

Senator Clinton announced that she is willing to take the vice presidential slot on a Barack Obama presidential ticket, New York lawmakers tell CNN. (Check out breaking headlines)

If this happens, it is BY FAR the best thing to ever happen to Barack Obama. And is the 2nd best thing that could have happened to this country. (I’m sure you can figure out the first)

Clinton’s Remarks About Kennedy

As for the recent comments Hillary made about Robert Kennedy’s assationation, they were completely blown out of context (as usual). 

Defending her ongoing presence in the Democratic nomination — in that anything can happen, she said, “We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.”

These words were met with quick criticism (as they always are) by the Obama campaign. She quickly apologized and expressed her deepest sympathy for the family, including an expression of sympathy for current Senator Kennedy’s recent diagnosis with a brain tumor.

But, as Bronson pointed out on his/her comment yesturday, the press is quick to turn on you when you say something strong and impulsive. The reason: because it was deamed threatening to Senator Obama’s safety.

But, let’s all be adults here and remember that her comment was an expression of REALITY.  I mean, it was a bit harsh, but hey, let’s get real. We all know what she really meant. Anything can happen. She simply used the Kennedy situation as an example. Unfortunately,  the American public has a particularly hard time with dealing with reality.

Unfotunately (Obama supporters) these remarks will NOT be the end to her political career. It’s only the beginning. And if it doesn’t happen now (which would be unfortunate for our healthcare and economy), it will happen in 2012.

I’d like to thank Bronson for posting a great comment on my article yesturday about Hillary’s numbers. I always apprecaite it when readers leave comments that are both interesting and helpful. (And I’m always ready to post, accept, and respond to criticism).