all threads about women and tennis must have Anna pics in them.
Posted on 07/10/2002 10:16:02 PM PDT by Big Bunyip
Why are netballers called "girls", why can't they wear shorts and why must they be "ladies" on court?
It's all part of the netball holy grail - the sport's attempt to strive for the idealised feminine sportswoman. But the tired old stereotype is now under pressure.
The latest edict from netball's keepers of the image is that mouthing the "f " word on court is out. Sent off the court out, that is.
Not only that - apparently the ABC has agreed to edit out pictures of stray "f" mouthings so the audience doesn't get to see what the girl has done to get sent off. It's a censorship designed to bolster an image our elite netballers are relentlessly deconstructing on court. Femininity, netball-style, is also about cover-up - to save a girl's reputation, not to mention that of her sport.
Why is netball a straight girl's game? Maybe because even kicking a ball, or hitting it, isn't ladylike. Soccer and cricket are for dykes. As for contact sports - heaven forbid!
Netball's ideal woman nods and smiles and suffers in silence, and she hasn't changed since the game made a serious tilt at going professional.
Does "a lady" make sport her top priority, for instance - rather than a pleasant hobby to keep fit and get together with the girls? Does a lady want to earn her living from sport? And does a lady put so much effort into winning the game that she drops the "f" word when she "f---s up" or the umpire's "f---ed up"?
If ladies don't do those things, there's no ladies playing top netball. They're sportswomen. They're super-fit, aggressive, focused, elite sportswomen. Elite sportswomen, just like elite sportsmen, and men and women generally, exhibit diverse behaviour under physical or mental stress.
Elevating the grin-and-bear-it anal types above the expletives-deleted oral stress-relievers is bad form, girls. It's also bad for the game. In elite sports, part of the appeal for spectators is getting to know the personalities of the players on the field/court/ground.
Unusual behaviour or actions stretching the limit of the rules trigger interesting discussion on fair play and what people like and don't like in their sports stars.
Netball's old-timers will destroy the professional game if they don't set their "girls" free of the old chains. The ABC will destroy it if it censors out the hot moments. Both should butt out, stop blocking the view and start letting their top players get on with the game.
Here we are, Wall Street collapsing, sand goblins rage against the Great Satan when they're not going BOOM!, and Margo sees the right of young lady netball players to say "!@#$" on national TV as the great moral crusade of the age. It's good to know some things never change.
Even for Freepers not interested in Australian politics, Margo makes a great universal case study in the modern newsroom's lefty lunacy. She runs a blog for the SMH and is always rabbiting on about "Bush, the Warmonger," "September 11: The Chickens Roost". etc. Her other current passion (apart from that cute copygirl. Yes, inevitably, she's a sapphist, too) -- is a bizarre theory that the Prime Minister, his cabinet, the heads of the Australian armed forces, and the customs and immigration authorities, conspired to drown 353 illegal aliens on their way to Australia.
She can neither spell nor punctuate, lacks a single humorous bone in her body, and writes with the flair of minor Soviet bureaucrat penning tractor-repair manuals in 1964.
all threads about women and tennis must have Anna pics in them.
In which case, this...
Why is netball a straight girl's game?
...makes even less sense. Tennis a straight girl's game? Better alert Martina. And Billie Jean King. And that French chick, whatshername...
The bloggist Tim Blair has hundreds of Margo entries and absurdities, all worth checking out. If you like this, "tim blair"+"blog"+"margo" will provide hours of mirth.
Why does the SMH pay her a salary to make their mastheead ridiculous? Ask Fred Hilmer, the CEO, who has an awful lot to answer for. One of the paper's reigning pseuds was quoted the other day as saying he wanted jopurnalism from "outside the normal political framework." I guess this nonsense is what he meant.
Incidentally, did you see the New Yorker's recent report on the Obit writers convention? You might enjoy it.
Looked it up - Amelie Mauresmo. In addition, I also discovered that Wimbledon is the "lesbian Superbowl" - amazing the things you can find out with Google...
The govt.-owned ABC network must be trying for gender equity by pushing netball, no doubt to balance the coverage given to the more avidly followed male sports like rugby, cricket etc., Or, probably more likely, there is a female ABC programmer whose girlfriend plays the sport.
Margo's reference to "expletives-deleted oral stress-relievers" makes me lean toward the latter. A veteran Margo-watcher recognizes it as a Freudian slip, which is just one more example of why Margo's daily load is such a weird joy.
Incidentally, did you see the New Yorker's recent report on the Obit writers convention?
No, but I'd like to see it. Have you got a link?
Yes, I see that...now.
Which leads me to ask, why not just play basketball?
Which also leads me to ask, what the f*** is that noise playing in the background of the Netball Australia website? The netball song?
Which further leads me to ask, people watch this when it's on television? Really?
Whoops, I can be more helpful: Just found a link for it:
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?020708fa_fact
The story is interesting enough in its New Yorkery way, but there are a couple of Web references that should be worth checking out when I have a spare moment.
Judging from Margo's ratbaggery, the Australian-Lesbian Netball community is just such an underserved minority.
In general, and as a reflection of its deep integrity, the ABC would consider a show to be a roaring success if nobody watched at all. That's certainly the philosophy behind their Radio National, whose coast-to-coast listeners sometimes number in the high double figures.
Yes, the LPGA has that reputation, so I would have agreed with you myself. But, as I was looking up the name of this French tennis player, I discovered I was quite wrong.
For Americans: substitute PBS for ABC and NPR for Radio National.
Did the same, and checked the archives, too with the same result. Have you checked out this site?
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