Because I’m a nerd, whenever I hear the term “Ladyhawke” I think of a crappy 80’s movie featuring Matthew Broderick shot around the time he killed those two women in Ireland and only had to plead guilty to careless driving and pay $175. People find the best deals on vacation.
If I was more in tune with popular culture then I guess the word Ladyhawke would bring to mind the star of Perez Hilton’s music tour. Or maybe not considering that her concert was horribly attended in Kansas City.
Unfortunately, women’s basketball just never comes to my mind. The University of Kansas is trying to change long time neglect of female hoops with some nicely produced video promoting season tickets for the lady Jayhawks.
The effort is noble and I’m happy to see some students actually show up for these games intentionally, or at least for Women’s Studies Extra Credit. However, selling lady ball (?) is a tough proposition. No matter how tall or talented, women play b-ball below the rim and that’s just not that exciting to watch. And since there aren’t any reports of female beat downs or interesting Facebook chatter, even less excitement surrounds these KU lady athletes.
So while I’m not willing to go down the rhetorical route taken by radio legend Don Imus with stupid “Nappy Headed Ho” comments criticizing female scholar-athletes (whatever that means), I would like to point out a facet of lady b-ball that’s rarely discussed or promoted but might also make for some awesome Internet content.
Like it or not homosexuality in women’s sports has been a long running stereotype and a “down low” phenomenon that has defined ladies b-ball for quite some time. The subject of lesbianism surrounds lady b-ball because it’s one of the most high profile female college sports, and even close watchers of the game call it a “silent dilemma.”
My solution: The Internet is for breaking new ground not just featuring the same-old tired video that also appears on TV. I have no idea if there are any lesbians playing sports at KU, but the Demographics of sexual orientation according to the world’s most accurate encyclopedia suggest the odds are good. Who knows, if recent sporting news is any indication then maybe there’s also a hermaphrodite somewhere in KU sports as well, which should produce a celebration of diversity and not shock. So, my suggestion is to encourage diversity on the Lawernce campus when it comes to college sports and maybe deliver a homo calender akin to the Women of KU cheesecake fest. I know I would buy it and keep it on the month featuring b-ball ladies, and maybe it would quell all of that agression pent up between the male college athletes.
smartman
WNBA is short for Why No Big Attendance.
Mike Bowlin
Interesting point of view. Most colleges celebrate diversity of all types on the academic side of the equation. When it comes to sports, not so much. One article I read recently pointed out that women that participate in sports at the collegiate level are more likely to be lesbian or bi-sexual when compared to society as a whole. Men who participated in sports at the collegiate level were less likely to be homosexual or bi-sexual.