Women's Sports Blog

Hockey WNT To Be Announced Today

At the Mall of America.  Nothing says hockey like Best Buy.  The nats surely need to get some things settled because they were handled by the Canadians in the last match-up and the situation is starting to look serious. 

Role Models

A lot of male hockey fans dismiss Manon Rheume's play in the NHL as a marketing gimmick, and perhaps it was.  Then again the power of one person's visibility is not something most young boys have to think about.  It mattered, a lot, to young girls. 

Sucker-Punched

For those among my readers who aren't woman-identified people, you may not know what it's like to be reminded at least once a day that a good portion of the population hates your guts.  You're just going along, minding your own business, attempting to read what you think will be a witty explique of what the hell is wrong with the Blues this year even though Jon Hamm is a fan, and you get socked in the gut with such gems as: "They need to start hitting like Ike Turner on his wedding night."  Ha Ha!  Oh, and a really long page of equations that ends with this conclusion: "Paul Kariya is a pussy." 

The worst part is that the author probably has no idea that what he's doing here is totally denying women's humanity.  He's just being funny!  If you weren't a PC feminazi, you'd think so too!  Except that 'humor' which relies on violence against a group as its punchline, and then uses a comparison with a part of their bodies as the ultimate insult, is an expression of hatred toward that group.  And quite frankly it's fucking painful and exhausting to constantly be reminded that it's out there, and be subject to it for no reason at all other than that you exist. 

Thank You, Ryan Kennedy

He must have read the same comment I did in his online publication, the comment which caused me to spontaneously register to rebut it, the comment which said that women aren't good at hockey because they don't play in the NHL.  That was the actual argument.  In some ways it's a bit flattering that the commenter thinks there's so much parity between the sexes that the fact that women aren't competing on an equal footing with men who are a hundred pounds heavier and a foot taller, and who have been trained in elite leagues since they were in primary school, signals that they can't play the game. Ryan points out that maybe sports have some other value to impart to participants.

The Hockey News is an extreme example of a problem in sports journalism: its writers are often somewhat progressive (Kennedy, Proteau, Campbell), and so many of its readers are troglodytes.  It must be frustrating to have to get your message out to people you know are just going to tell you that you're a girl who wants hockey to be like figure skating for opposing, say, head shots. 

Former Hockey Player Speaks Out About Homophobia

Justin Bourne wrote a courageous piece for USA Today about the continuing anti-gay culture in pro hockey.  Sadly, the NHL is always rated the most gay-friendly of the major sports leagues, which means players aren't seeing the connection between their stated attitudes and their behavior.  Though as Bourne admits, they also know the way they're supposed to act in public about these matters so they put up a good front.

Winter Sports Season In Full Swing

Figure skating, speed skating, and skiing have all held competitions within the last few days.  It's an Olympic year (YAY! SO VERY EXCITING!) so there's an excuse for people to pay more attention than usual.  I think it's odd how most Americans seem to presume that these sports only take place during the Olympics and then go away for four years.  That's a lot of obscurity for a few minutes of attention and then obscurity again for many American athletes.  At least some other countries stay involved over the long haul. 

*Ice Skating World Rankings As of Oct. 26th (via Ice Network):

1. Yu-Na Kim
2. Mao Asada
3. Joannie Rochette
4. Carolina Kostner
5. Miki Ando

*I am at work at finding dates/results for the latest adaptive skiing events, but they are difficult to pull together because the material is scattered and I have to leave the house shortly.  Rest assured it is on my mind and won't be left out. 

*The ski-jumping saga, diligently reported on by After Atalanta lo these many months, is still dragging on.  The shameful development that caught my eye is some official-type dude  (apparently a member of the VANOC board, but not identified until the middle of the article b/c WSR edits and doesn't link to the original) is complaining that the contretemps may cause Canada to lose the games in the future.  Not because Canada is actually oppressing people and that will look bad, but because the uppity women are making trouble.  Boo-hoo.  It's not like the IOC cares about gender equity, anyhow, since Jacques Rogge has decided that the inclusion of women's boxing means they can't possibly be sexist about anything ever.  To support the cause, click here. 

*US Snowboarding continues to have the most confusing, annoying web presence.  I think there's something happening on November 12th, and Olympic qualifying kicks off in early December, but who the hell can really tell.  The Burton Open Series resumes again in January.  Three women, including China's Liu Jiayu, are tied for the lead in the FIS World Snowboarding standings, and the next competition takes place in Switzerland November 5th. 

*As alpine skiing began its world cup season, Lindsey Vonn became only the tenth woman to be awarded the Golden Ski, bestowed by the International Association of Ski Journalists.  Vonn finished ninth at the opening event.  The leaderboard is currently topped by Finn Tanja Poutiainen.  The next set of races will be held in Levi, Finland, on November 14th-15th.  

Poll Position

It's really annoying that the NCAA still doesn't have the latest poll information up every week.  Isn't intercollegiate athletics basically its only job?  I know the site is behind because the individual coaches' associations have new polls up today.  Sigh.  Here's where the top three teams stand as we are deep in conference play for most sports.  Sorry about the format, but vertical lists are still a problem for Typepad.

Cross Country: Washington, Villanova, Colorado

Field Hockey: Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia

Golf (Golfweek/Sagarin): USC, UCLA, Arizona State

Hockey: Mercyhurst, Minnesota, New Hampshire

Soccer: the NSCAA has a broken link up to its national poll, but I'm guessing it remains Stanford, North Carolina, UCLA.  However, The Soccer Times has moved Portland up to third following the UCLA loss to Stanford on Sunday.  

Volleyball: Penn State, Texas, Hawaii

Americans Need To Invigorate Power Play

The U.S. went an astonishing 1-9 with the woman advantage in yesterday's loss to Canada, while the Canucks were 2-5, including a goal on a 5 on 3.  The fact that the Americans were in that particular situation means they lacked defensive discipline (likewise the Canadians, though, nine penalties).  With a rough game from WSF's Athlete of the Year Jessie Vetter, they need to find other ways to win.  Canada is now on a two-game streak, and the U.S. doesn't want to have to back into the Olympics. 

Canada Gets One Back

I am contractually obligated to report that USA Hockey doesn't win all the time (though they are winners in the game location, Victoria B.C., which has some great restaurants).  They dropped this one 3-1, but will play a rematch in Spokane in 10 days. 

Photo of the Week: "Ooh, I Can Put This On My Facebook"

I don't quite understand how this blog became "women's sports plus Evgeni Malkin" but here's another photo of the goofball.  There's also a cute one from the same shoot of him raising his hand as the President mentions him by name (see more pics from the event here). 

In other hockey news, I have to say I'm pretty pissed off with the Flames organization.  They couldn't let Fleury play a couple of games and finish his career in Calgary?  Let him go a week into the season, not now, and you'd have made the guy's life.  Lord knows he's gotten himself into enough trouble over the past few years.  Give him a chance to redeem himself.