[LouD]

Rowing!!!!!!! The most common added sport. Who the hell rows????

Crew is a huge sport at colleges in the Northeast, especially. Go watch the Head of the Charles Regatta, or sit on the banks of the Schuykill on any warm afternoon.

Most participants have limited rowing experience prior to college, simply because there are not many programs at the HS level. I suspect that this is why it is one of the most often added "parity" sports for women: All they need to do is find reasonably athletic, coordinated girls with good upper-body strength, and they've got a team.

There's nothing wrong with crew, just like there's nothing wrong with fencing, wrestling, track and field, or any of the sports that are getting killed off by Title IX. The problem is government interference in college athletics to promote this silly-*ssed social agenda.

[Conservateacher]

I watched a title ix debate on tv where a crew coach in the midwest said he went to the school cafeteria and watched the "large" women eat. Those who ate heartily were offered the chance to go to his weight room where if they could row for ten minutes they could get a scolarship. My son had the second highest all-time batting average in a fairly large city. Not a bad catcher either. He got virtually no offers because there simply aren't any baseball teams any more. Rowing might be a "good" sport but if girls who have never seen an oar can get a scolarship......?

[DmBarch]

Most participants have limited rowing experience prior to college, simply because there are not many programs at the HS level. I suspect that this is why it is one of the most often added "parity" sports for women: All they need to do is find reasonably athletic, coordinated girls with good upper-body strength, and they've got a team.

Not for much longer. Our nearby school, Michigan State, has finished top ten the last two years with mostly gals like that, including a black woman from Detroit. The scene is starting to change, as the members of foreign junior programs see a full college ride available in the US.

This is already the situation in tennis, where about 40% of the women Big Ten players are foreign. In the higher ranked SEC, it is more like 60%. Meanwhile, track programs are being lost.