Women's College Basketball

Last year, I was a women's college basketball fan.  I watched the games and the championship, not faithfully, but with good interest.  I watched games from other conferences, games from championships, and tournaments.

This year, I was a Lady Raider Basketball fan, and lost interest in the team as they faltered, and lost some games they should have won. True, they made it to the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but even then, they did not reprensent themselves well. There were too many games in which the team did not play as a team, nor show heart and determination to win.  The NCAA tournament game was one such game.  They have not learned how to be a team.

I missed a lot of the NCAA tournament, but am watching the Elite Eight, and will watch the final four and the championship game.  There is a lot of reason to support women's college basketball.  First of all, it is a statement of gaining equality. Let's face it, men's sports still outshine the women in publicity, importance, and available resources, although things are supposed to be equal.

Second, it says something about women being team members. Young women are only now being more and more socialized as team players. So, promoting a team sport like basketball says something about building women's team skills.

Third, the women coaches are so collegial. They have such a sense of comraderie and supportiveness notwithstanding their rivalries.

Fouth, women support women. Most notably, women's basketball places a heavy emphasis on supporting women's breast health. During the basketball season, there are any number of promotional activities to raise funds to help support breast cancer awareness and research. How much more supportive can women be of women?

Go Coach

Geno Auriemma is the coach of the University of Connecticut's women's basketball team http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/w-baskbl/conn-w-baskbl-body.html, that, tonight, broke a UCLA men's basketball record by winning 89 games in a row.  At some time before the game, he gave an interview about that, and his comments reflected his obvious respect and belief in women.  He made comments to the effect that a certain amount of the media hype had to do with the fact that women were going to break a men's record.

Some time ago, I read a book, Brief Garland,  by Harold Keith http://www.oufoundation.org/sm/summer07/thams.asp?ID=249 about a man who was hired to coach boys basketball, but ended up coaching girls basketball, in a high school in Oklahoma. What he learned, among other things, was that coaching girls' sports had value, because the girls have value.

I think, from the comments I heard from Coach Auriemma, he believes the same thing.  Women are advancing in society to have more and more recognition in terms of capability and equality. 

But I live in a part of the world where women are still sometimes "the little women." There are even women in this part of the world (and maybe elsewhere)  who think we should be subservient to men, who like being tended to and kept by men, and are willing to subjugate themselves to men.  For what?  I guess maybe financial security, social standing, protection? I do not understand this, so I can not guess why women behave this way.

I am so grateful for people like Coach Auriemma or Jim Keith, the coach of the team in Brief Garland who understand that women are women and have intrinsic value as human beings, their gender notwithstanding.

Women in Africa

I went to a lecture tonight about "Women in Africa." It was given by Jane Nagy, wife of Tibor Nagy, who was in the foreign service, and deputy ambassador and ambassador to several countries in Africa. It was a most interesting lecture, and reviewed several issues: women as property, health issues, educational issues, women as workers, slavery, and some of the promising changes that are happening in Africa.