“Yeah,” she replied. “Dolls.”(Blumenthal 57)

Pink rooms for girls, blue rooms for guys. Dolls for girls, and sports for boys. Such was the attitude held for women and men before Title IX passed in 1972 giving women equal rights as men in just about all school activities including sports.

Was it really a success though?

To answer this question, perspective must be given on the issue. For example, in Waco, Texas, $250,000 was spent on the 7 male sports teams. To the  contrary a measly $970 dollars was spent on the only womens team for tennis. (Blumenthal 66)

That being said, great and necessary movements for humanity are ALWAYS met by opposition and trials.  Civil Rights, “Going Green”, Womens suffrage, Separation of Church and State, were all necessary movements that met extreme opposition.

This movement for full rights for women definitely faced its share of adversity. “Barring discrimination on the basis of sex just might convince a majority of legislators to reject the whole idea.” (Blumenthal 15) This senators’ view epitomized the feelings of women and the struggles they went through.  If a senator thought he could shut down civil rights for minorities by also adding rights to women, then what much the rest of the country believe behind closed doors?

Also even after the law passed, the group supposedly enforcing the law from the U.S Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, called HEW, didn’t have it as much of a priority. When the people who are supposed to put the laws into effect and enforcing them and making sure they’re followed aren’t even doing that, it makes for a difficult time for those people the laws are for.

However after some difficulty, women finally have gotten what they wanted from Title IX in the most symbolic and public forum… Sports. From 1971-1976, girls participating in varsity sports in high school increased by over %400.  More importantly however, is the fact that women were receiving almost the same amount of Bachelor’s degrees as men. Not as far in the public view in sports, but whether forced or not, women were getting their opportunity for an advanced education to be able to do whatever they wanted to do.

Obviously mindsets at the time weren’t changed by all men, but it was a successful foot in the door that has allowed women to be where they are in today’s society.

My grandma had gone through the times from World War II, Civil Rights, and Title IX, so she’s seen and told me about all the consequences and many pros about it. She wasn’t able to play competitive sports as a kid and says that this opportunity for women is a great and necessarychange that America had to go through.

Marcia D. Greenberger, co-president of the National Women’s Law Center was interviewed on the 35th anniversary of Title IX passing. This is part of what she had to say. “First of all, there’s still a lot of discrimination against women, plain and simple, in all areas of education, including athletics where the discrimination is the most overt and the least subtle.” She also talked about a survey done where %22 percent of people had said they have recently seen some sort of gender discrimination.

Plain and simple, we NEED Title IX. There are no ifs ands or buts about it. That %22 is an incredible improvement from what it used to be in the past where if people were honest,  it would be probably 95-100 percent.  However that doesn’t change that there’s still %22 percent who see the unfair play. If it’s taken away there’s a chance that people will revert back to the old ways. You wouldn’t let the south take out the civil rights laws, and in a male dominated society, taking out Title IX would have grave consequences for the treatment of women.

Liz Tchou was an aspiring field hockey player and was a freshman 3 years after they implemented the tournament to women. She views Title IX as a great and necessary law that helps protect the rights of women to be involved in whatever they want to.

Donna Lopiano is an Italian woman who wanted to play softball but wasn’t allowed to at her time. Her parents went on a 5 year trek to get her to play softball, and found a scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates who sent her on the track to play softball. She views Title IX as an essential piece to keeping men from getting all the power and allowing women the same rights.

On the other hand, Ralph Bailey believes that Title IX has gone too far. It has gone  so far that any inkling of not following, even if they clearly do, will put whatever high school or university in jeopardy. He believes the intention and beginning was good, but has now been implemented improperly.

Title IX is a meaning of equality for people who are for it, and it bears the meaning of trying to gain extra power for those who oppose. Title IX has helped women get into positinos they have never been in before. This has allowed women to feel more accepted in today’s society if only by the laws.

As we have seen with other rights movements, you must change the laws to accept people before they will actually be treated with the same respect. Therefore it is extremely relevant today. Not only because women now have rights, but because the views of women have slowly but surely changed into acceptance now. I believe if only for a symbol for women, Title IX needs to stay. However I think it warrants enough merit to ensure it never gets overturned because of what that would do to our society.

Case number 1. Dancing with the Stars. He isn’t the first football player to do it and he won’t be the last. However with the season not even started he’s already making a splash. He says he wants his costumes 50% Lady Gaga and 50% Rhianna. With Lady Gaga being the Ozzy Osbourne weird/alternative symbol of our generation, and Rhianna the sex symbol, i’m sure his costumes will give use plenty to talk about for a long time.

Sports, dating shows, and reality t.v don’t normally mesh. However when you take Ochocinco, a dating show, and a tournament to find love; How can you not want to watch that?

Lastly, to throw it in all the skeptics faces, he has come out with his own condom line with an incredibly catchy title. “Catch everything YOUR Johnson shoots.”

Just remember, Ochocinco is a genius that is misunderstood and doesn’t care what you think. However… If you appreciate what he’s doing, he will never leave you disappointed and always will give you something to talk about.

That being said, the numbers aren’t always staying up. The good thing about this though is that it isn’t skill that’s the reason they aren’t staying. Brian McBride decide to come back and play for the Chicago Fire and less money because he has school-aged children that need to be in the school system they’ll be in for the long-haul and make friends. This is the case for more than just one American.

That last part also being said, they haven’t performed at as high of a level that they should. Jozy Altidore and Landon Donovan have as of late, started adding some stats to their name. However overall they have just not performed well.

Some may want to discredit the significance of the Americans playing in the Premier League because of that. That is a valuable arguement, but that still leaves that fact that PREMIER LEAGUE COACHES ARE STILL ACTUALLY LOOKING AT U.S. SOCCER PLAYERS!!!!!!!  This never would’ve happend in the past. Altidore is a lazy bum who doesn’t always show up and Donovan is on the bottom end of his career and had already been accustumed to the level of play in the MLS. Now that they are grabbing players before being sucked in to the Mostly Lame Soccer league where they are clearly the stars, we actually have a shot at having succeeding players in the Premier League.

As a U.S. citizen who loves soccer, this is incredibly exciting for me. The Premier League is what almost any knowledgeable young soccer player aspires to. And for the U.S. to finally becoming prominent enough to get players into the league, shows our push into becoming a factor for the World Cup.

Tim Howard on Everton's football squad

World Cup 2010

It’s incredibly impressive to win 71 games in a row no doubt. However this unfortunatley goes to the fact that it is girls basketball and it’s girls basketball in UConn. There is just not as much competitiveness and drive as there is in male basketball. This is why the UConn girls teams are always so dominant. If you are a high school female star going to go pro, you are likely going to UConn.

That being said, they are an amazing team. Their win over Notre Dame has capped off an amazing run in college basketball that is still going. Now they may not be the best team, but they are up there in the top. The best in manys view is the 88′ Bruins coached by John Wooden. In my opinion to surpass them as the top team, they would need somewhere around 115 wins in a row. If they got to that point, then I think that their difference level of woman in sports wouldn’t play as much of a factor.

Now my point isn’t to say that girls suck. I’m merely going to the point that there isn’t nearly as close of competition making it not quite as impressive as when a male college team reaches that point.  They are an amazing team that possibly could become the best team ever, but have to go through a lot more work and actual trials to earn that title.

UConn Vs. Seton Hall

Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky had never hit a home run in her softball career. She played outfield but on an extremely deep roster, only started parts of the season. She was hitting less than .100 for the season which in it of itself poses a great story when she hits her first home run, but that part gets quickly overshadowed by what happend after she made contact with the ball.

She knew it was out of the park when she made contact and gave her that elated feeling of the 1st homerun of her career. However the next seconds would wipe that all away. When she got to 1st base she tore her ligaments in her knee and was laying on the 1st base bag unable to move. Since she can’t run, the rules state that she would need a pinch-runner and the at-bat would count as a two-run single instead of a 3 run home run. Left with no choice, the coach gets the pinch runner ready to take her place… when star player Holtman of Central Washington says “Excuse me, would it be okay if we carried her around and she touched each bag?”

Her first playoff appearance hopes hinged on who won this game. An extra run could make or break it. She holds almost all of the Central Washington records and the only accolade she needed was a playoff win. You look at today’s sports players and that’s a moment of weakness when a player goes down and you punish them for it. If a cornerback pulls a muscle and lets a reciever go by it’s a touchdown play. When a guard gets knocked down after a lay-up and stays on the floor, it’s a quick fastbreak that’s taken.

In a remarkably “unrealistic” act of self-sacrifice, Holtman and teammate Liz Wallace picked up Tucholsky and touched her to each base giving her her 1st, last, and only home run she will ever get in her career and giving Western a 3-0 lead in a playoff impactful game. We can learn from these players. If a player is TRUELY hurt (Truely being emphasized because of European soccer and non-US basketball players flopping in their games) we should do what Holtman did no matter what negative implications it may have on the team.

In almost any Special Olympics event, if one player falls down, EVERY OTHER player, opponent or teammate will go to them and make sure they are okay. That is what we should see and use as role-models. Sadly these events only happen when the spotlight is not on. These are the stories that need to be published.

That next inning Central Washington rallied for 2 runs which would have tied the game giving it EVEN MORE meaning that all of the earlier story lines this created. Western ended up winning the game 4-2 and leaving Central Washington out of the playoffs. However Holtman doesn’t think of that when talking about the event. She talks about how anyone would’ve done it on the team and that that’s what she’ll remember for the rest of her life.

Maybe our spotlights need to be taken away from the stars, and put where the stories really happen.

Rudy Fernandez,  Nicolas Batum, Patrick Mills, Joel Pryzbilla, Greg Oden, Travis Outlaw, and of course Brandon Roy are all players who have missed, and are large parts of this season. This doesn’t even include the fact that McMillan himself has suffered an injury and has been sick.  And even if after you skim that surface you still find Blazers owner Paul Allen who has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (cancer) which in itself can be a big enough distraction and obstacle to overcome.

The Trailblazers sit at the bottom of the Western Conference playoff race tied with San Antonio for 7th place and 4 games ahead of the 9th place Memphis Grizzlies. With a team that has lost this many key players, they should be well out of the playoff race. The reason they are still in it is Nate McMillan. No other coach has done anything nearly impressive (Unless you count the New Jersey Nets coach keeping them from a winless season). If the voters can get over their anti west coast bias, McMillan will win Coach of the Year.

Old-school receivers would maybe do a little jig in the end zone and that’s that. However Ochocinco and even Terrell Owens have made it spectacle when a touchdown is scored. This keeps it fun for them, and America loves it. It’s even gotten to the point where Ochocinco is receiving suggestions for possible future celebrations.

Some of these require past knowledge of Ochocinco and his antics. His celebration with the letter telling the NFL to not fine him again or his hall of fame jacket. However any person can enjoy most of his other celebrations. Putt-Putt, posing as Santa Claus, doing a touchdown dive into the opponents fans, and doing a riverdance all are family-friendly celebrations that bring a great energy and fun to any stadium and home game room throughout the country.

Aside from that he also has had some funny antics that are really harmless but haven’t always gone over well. He has sent Pepto-Bismol to the Cleveland Browns because of the stomach problems they’d have after guarding him. He also sent deoderant to the Baltimore Ravens DB’s saying they’d need the whole stick when defending him. Another one he wanted to do but wasn’t allowed to, was sending mustard to the Pittsburgh Steelers who play in Heinz Field.

The media has torn him down for this seeing it as a distraction and unprofessional. HE’S JUST HAVING FUN! He isn’t having a sex boat trip, he isn’t abusing his wife, he isn’t involved in a dog-fighting ring, he isn’t even cussing out teammates. So what’s the problem here? Nothing. Absolutly nothing. The problem is the media trying to find something wrong in everything

The media is searching for anything and everything they can to make a star athlete look bad. However the bad thing for them is that he has talked to Marvin Lewis about his “antics”. Marvin has told him to go for it, and why not? It gets the team publicity and he isn’t doing anything that could convince kids to do something illegal or will get them in trouble. This is what’s wrong with all media. They will only try to tear people down and not try to bring people up.

The ironic thing is that Ochocinco is one of the most involved players in the media themselves. He owns the Ochocinco News Network, is on the news all the time, and is one of the most involved facebook and twitter althletes in the world. His news network wasn’t only interviewing players, but also was interviewed by ESPN. This guy is a media gold-mine and clearly a fan-favorite. That leads to a big controversy he is causing however. Roger Goodell, the Commissioner has said that tweeting during a game isn’t allowed, but also at one point wanted to put a twitter policy in place of what can/can’t be said on there.

Personally I would love to read Chad’s thoughts during a game. Lewis could make it so he can only do it when the coaches aren’t talking to him, and limit it to lets say… 4 tweets a game. I understand the concern with that, but that would be a huge boost that the NFL needs.

The “twitter policy” however is ridiculous. It didn’t go through, but just the policy being thought of seems to almost shut down any player from expressing themselves. The media should’ve been all over that piece. Instead they focused on Ochocinco wanting to tweet in a game, distracting the team, and tearing him down as a person. The media needs to be more like the Ochocinco News Network. Fun, entertaining, and showing what the people really want. People watch negative news because they like to know what’s going on. However they don’t know that there are positive stories to be found.

Those positive stories are really what America wants to see. They want personal stories on the athletes and fun interactive things to do. The Ochocinco News Network and Ochocinco’s twitter account will soon be one of the most sought after sources of information because that’s what Chad is going to show and tweet about. America will finally get what it wants, whether the media and Goodell like it or not.

We’ve already seen our country value stopping performance enhancing drugs when our senate put that issue on the table rather than looking at important issues like, healthcare, gay-marriage, gun-control, or the economy. Shouldn’t cheating automatically be outlawed?

Then comes the good ol’ phrase “It’s not cheating if you don’t get caught “. That is exactly where HGH lies. It’s obvious that everyone doing HGH knows they shouldn’t. Otherwise their union wouldn’t be making such a big deal about it being put into effect in the major leagues. Now that it’s shown that there is an effective scientific method for proving it, the union is scrambling to make sure it’s not implemented right away into the major leagues.

That in itself is almost as suspicious as Barry Bonds growing four hat sizes. Obviously they know that the use of HGH is wrong. That’s not the issue here. The issue is that the union has too much power, and they are able to do things that obviously they shouldn’t be able to do. When the Senate meets to stop the use of performance enhancing drugs, that sends a clear and unrefuseable message that you can’t do it no matter what. The union supporting those players makes them as guilty as the players themselves.

The union officials should get fined and suspended if their players are found to have used HGH. If the commissioner and the Senate want to be taken seriously, that needs to happen. Otherwise the union will feel they hold all the power; which they shouldn’t be able to feel that way. Unions have their place for the players. There are issues where the players need to have their best interest in mind by a union. However when it comes down to an illegal activity, NO ONE should have the power to stop people from checking into those activities now matter how much supposed power they have. There is a difference between keeping American rights of freedom, and due process, and abusing and taking advantage of a system that’s afraid of losing money to a strike because of the unions.

So what is to be done? As I see it, there are 3 possible routes to go about this problem. No matter what, at some point HGH is to be taken out of baseball so just letting them keep taking it isn’t in option.

A) Punish the unions for being an accomplice to the players taking HGH illegally, while also punishing the players for taking HGH

B)Bypass the union and immediately implement the rules for testing HGH

and C) Allow the unions to slow down the process to give time for the players to ween off of their HGH and basically give them a pardon.

The most likely of these is going to be C. The commissioner is scared of the union and what would happen if he did any of the other options. Greed has taken a hold of both the unions and the commissioner. And unless this changes, this problem will cause a riff between the american public, and the Major Baseball League.

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