Women's Sports Blog

Separated At Birth?

Bad hair crosses all cultural boundaries. 

   

Open Course Destroying Golfers At A Clip

Only five golfers shot below 70 in the entire field yesterday, and just one player, Cristie Kerr, remains under par going into today's final round.  Amateur Jean Reynolds is now officially a story after having held on for two over, which is good enough for a third-place tie.  Eun Hee Ji heeded my call for a South Korean to uphold the country's golfing honor and sits in second at even par.

Mysterious Ochoa Happenings At Open

Live scoring reports she shot a second-round 79? She must have either caught Pettersen's flu from the last major or have injured something.  Cristie Kerr currently leads by a stroke over Paula Creamer.  Be still, the organizers' hearts.  One of the South Koreans may yet pull through in the clutch, but Choi's 74 is not helping there.  Lindsey Wright would be an acceptable alternative.  The leaderboard also has its random figures, with rookie Alexis Thompson holding on to a gutsy top-ten performance for a second day, and Italian Guilia Sergas tied for fourth.  Oh, and there's an actual amateur tied for second, but since she's only working through round one on the back nine I don't know that it's worth reporting on yet. 

Philly Pool Denies Access To Black Children

No, really.  Elon James White tells the tale on a This Week in Blackness quickie.  It's going under 'The Body' but I'm thinking we need a 'WTF?' category. 

Three Days Notice: Local Journalism Continues To Die Out

The return of Aditi Kinkhabwala to the Sports Illustrated website after a nine month absence made me wonder how she supports herself the rest of the year.  In addition it made me wonder what a 'kinkhab' is because a 'wala' is somebody who does something for a living (I suspect even now someone in India is coining the term blogwala).  Anyhow, a quick search confirmed that she has been the Rutgers beat writer for the Bergen Record.  But in the middle of that search came the news that last month she was unceremoniously fired laid off, to be accurate.  Another writer close to her native community loses out, and we move one more step toward a media which simply reprints the same national stories.  Let's hope SI gives her more chances for insightful commentary.  She has also blogged Rutgers sports here.

Serena Makes Her Case

With every major she wins, Serena moves closer to being a choice for Greatest of All Time (or GOAT, as Wertheim's crew would so elegantly put it).  We'll be working on a series on the other contenders, but it's hard to argue against the proposition that the competition is better now: a greater number of talented players who are stronger and fitter.  That includes the psychological challenge of playing against her own sister, who happens to be among the top ten best players of all time as well.  In facing this depth of field, Serena has a career 80% win percentage, and holds the 'Serena Slam' of all four majors in a row.  The only thing holding her back is that she's played somewhat less than she could have, both because of injury and by choice, and that in its way makes her results even more impressive. 

WSB's All-Star Ballot

There are a number of gimmies on the ballot as provided, but there are also opportunities for slightly lesser-known players with great stat lines to get some attention.  I appreciate the league's giving the write-in portion a player listing. 

West
Forwards- Lauren Jackson, Cappie Pondexter
Guards- Diana Taurasi, Becky Hammon
Center- Nicky Anosike (second highest efficiency rating at her position)

East
Forwards- Tamika Catchings, write-in Sancho Lyttle (also an EFF sleeper)
Guards- Katie Douglas, Jia Perkins
Center- Sylvia Fowles (yet another LSU success story in the league)

Has Tiffany Weimer Committed A Felony Of Some Kind?

Must she be within sight of the bench at all times?  There is no other reason for Montoya's stubborn refusal to put her into yesterday's eminently tie-able match, to the point of calling up the Over-Forty brigade rather than the former league leader in assists.  Granted, Sissi played quite well for those few minutes.  But if the only reason was to celebrate the 99ers, with Chastain going in slightly earlier, that's not a productive use of the field for more than ten minutes in a tight game, especially when there are players available.  If she's injured, none of us saw her on the official list.  If she's in the doghouse, well, the Pride are in last place, so maybe it's time for her to be given another chance. 

In good news, Comcast Sports Bay Area will be broadcasting the game at the Red Stars live next Sunday at 5 p.m. 

The Myth of the Myth of The Hot Hand

Savvy stats-watchers will tell you that the idea of a 'hot hand' has been discredited.  A shooter is no more or less likely to hit the next shot just because she's hit her last four.  Now economist James Kwak of the excellent Baseline Scenario is taking another look at the paper which 'disproved' the hot hand theory.  It's a nice introduction to statistics as used in sports and an important check to received numerical wisdom. 

How about the Augustus-less Lynx and their rise to the top of the West?  Grandmama's got some coaching chops, methinks.  Although Charde Houston just wants to play volleyball (photo:Scott Cunningham/Getty):

 

Well, That Was A Let Down

You wait through 200 or so floats and none of the actual players from FC Gold Pride choose to walk in the parade.  There wasn't a game yesterday or anything.  Don't tell me everyone was at home watching the U.S. men self-destruct against Brazil.