The Uneven Playing Field

New York Times ^ | May 11, 2008 | Michael Sokolove

[reaganaut1]

This casualty rate was not due to some random spike in South Florida. It is part of a national trend in the wake of Title IX and the explosion of sports participation among girls and young women. From travel teams up through some of the signature programs in women’s college sports, women are suffering injuries that take them off the field for weeks or seasons at a time, or sometimes forever.

Girls and boys diverge in their physical abilities as they enter puberty and move through adolescence. Higher levels of testosterone allow boys to add muscle and, even without much effort on their part, get stronger. In turn, they become less flexible. Girls, as their estrogen levels increase, tend to add fat rather than muscle. They must train rigorously to get significantly stronger. The influence of estrogen makes girls’ ligaments lax, and they outperform boys in tests of overall body flexibility — a performance advantage in many sports, but also an injury risk when not accompanied by sufficient muscle to keep joints in stable, safe positions. Girls tend to run differently than boys — in a less-flexed, more-upright posture — which may put them at greater risk when changing directions and landing from jumps. Because of their wider hips, they are more likely to be knock-kneed — yet another suspected risk factor.

This divergence between the sexes occurs just at the moment when we increasingly ask more of young athletes, especially if they show talent: play longer, play harder, play faster, play for higher stakes. And we ask this of boys and girls equally — unmindful of physical differences.

[reaganaut1]

The playing field is not "uneven" -- the sexes are different!

[goldstategop]

Political correctness means denying boys the chance to play football to spare the girls hurt feelings.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[JeffChrz]

So you’re telling me that boys and girls are different? And it’s due to nature, not nurture?

[GOPJ]

The ideas is 's to level the playing field - not to give one team submachine guns and break the legs of the other team.

This horrible "act doesn't level the field, it trys to equalize the teams. That's sick. Level the field - not the teams.

[muawiyah]

Real political correctness would force young women in colleges to undertake participation in sports programs equivalent to those of the young men. Instead, school administrators are prone to drop equivalent male sports that women simply don't want to do themselves.

Congress needs to tinker with the law to bring about this beneficial change ~

[The Woim]

Abolish sexism in professional sports. Combine the WNBA with the NBA - after all, we fans want to know who the real champ is!

LOL!

Yours truly,
The Woim

[Spacemonkey1023]

Yes, they can ask the East Germans what happened when they tried to even their playing fields.

[Luke21]

I ticked off a whole room full of feminists back in college when I pointed out that no woman had ever played linebacker for the Chicago Bears.

My emasculated prof replied “Women do not choose to play for the Bears.” I told him that was correct as far as them choosing not to walk in front of trains also. I was beloved in that class. A chorus of one.

[Spacemonkey1023]

Haha, reminds me of the time when I took that class back in college (go figure it was a requirement. Anyway, this was during the Kobe Bryant trial, so you can imagine how that went. Luckily for me, two other guys decided to back me up, and we argued our professor into admitting that her criteria for Kobe’s guilt (her say-so) was invalid and could only be verified if we kept tabs on everybody at all times. Needless to say, she backed down. Logic get’s ‘em every time.