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The Golden Gophers were not obligated to give her a tryout because, under Title IX legislation, schools can prohibit women from participating in men's contact sports.

A high school or college women's basketball team has the advantage of being able to scrimmage against an equal or superior practice squad any time it wants--simply by recruiting some garden-variety guys to practice against them. Women's sports therefore discriminate against men, else men could dominate most of them.
In that context, to allow the rare exceptional woman to compete in sports which are not explicitly womens' or mixed (e.g., tennis mixed doubles) is to discriminate against men. And that unfairness is most egregious at the ages where the actual difference in development of boys and girls is least developed--middle school.

One of the true problems with trying to put politics in sports is that, in it's place, you just might get what you want.

Sports in big time schools have been a money generator for the institution to such an extent, that it becomes an expected part of the budget. When women won their right to equal funds through politics, they did succeed in drawing attention to the need for better programs for women. But, with the withdrawing of funds from the original budget for the new and increased programs, and their lack of draw, it has created a downturn in the vacumn of funds to some of the non-sports programs the universities needed.

Let's face it, women's programs, to include the highly displayed basketball programs, are not filling the cophers like the men's baseball and basketball programs. And none of these programs are near the funds grabbers as the football programs that constitute a huge piece of the pie for the athletic and other programs through our education halls.

So, any funds deterred to money losing, break even, or small gaining programs that cut from the earners, is a loss to the school. And that means higher tuition charges, program cuts, cheaper equipment, and other headaches that lead to a less qualified and complete education.

College life cannot be like you see it on television. It is directed by funds. And the more the football program makes, the more is available for the college to spend. It's called, "The bottom line." Life is not always politically correct.

Mary Nystrom: I applaud your approach to that goddess-given right which right now is the sad bone of contention in so many political dis(cordia)courses. I'd like to share a shout-ku with you that I composed for the 13th annual Womyn's Night of Bloodmoon, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

(to be shouted, with croud participation in brackets)

My child is my blood! [Afterbirth, ha!]
I spill my blood on the earth! [Afterbirth, ho!]
Blood that's mine to spill! [Afterbirth, afterbirth, ha ha ha!]

I have taken a vow against thanking, as it implies the servile submissiveness of anti-Rosie-Riveter 50's maternal figures, but accept that you are appreciated from a position of strength.

Rooted in vaginal heartiness,

C. F.

This girl was on a national sports talk show yesterday and she actually sounded very level headed: kicks 40 yard field goals, missed only 2 extra points in high school and made no big deal over not being able to try out---just thought she was as good as anyone else and wanted to give it a shot---and let the best kicker win.

Mercer claimed she was dropped from the team because she was a woman. She won a $2 million sex-discrimination lawsuit but lost the money on appeal two years later.

This is certainly a good reason not to let a woman onto a man's team. One of the unintended consequences of antidiscrimination legislation is that organizations can be reluctant to hire minorities or women because if these hires don't work out they can be impossible to fire.

Mercer lost on appeal, but I'll bet the lawyers' fees cost her school a bundle.