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LET’S TAKE SEXUAL STEREOTYPING OUT OF SPORTS
In Canada we have a very good track record for all people to try and achieve at the very highest level. It matters not where you came from, the colour of your skin or your religion. If you make the grade you can be and do anything you want. Careers in Law, Medicine, Technology and Business are open to all.
Professional sports is the one playing field that stacks the deck in favor of men. Being created female makes you not eligible to compete with the premier athletes and make a good living from sports.
Think about it there is not one women stick handling her way in the National Hockey League. The CFL/NFL football players/coaches are all males. The National Basketball League dribblers/coaches are all men. Check out the Toronto Blue Jays roster and you will find there is not one female on the team.
If we look back in history (1927) the greatest team in baseball were the New York Yankees. Who could forget the likes Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat and Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig ,looking down at the pitchers daring them to pitch to them.
There was a seventeen year old pitcher, Mitchell, who took on the best of the “Murders Row” with a wicked dropping curve ball. The ‘Babe’ was caught looking at a strike three. Lou Gehrig followed along and swung and hitting nothing but air struck out. The Chattanooga Lookout’s coach pulled Mitchell who received a standing ovation from the fans.
I nearly forgot to tell you that Mitchell’s first name just happened to be Jackie. She was a very talented player who faced the best in baseball. The star athlete returned to college and was never heard from again.
Recently we have had two young twin sisters Jesse & Amy Pasternak age seventeen, who are taking on the Manitoba High School Athletic Association that has denied the girls the opportunity to play on the all male hockey team at West Kildonan Collegiate. They do not want to play girl’s hockey.
The young women athletes feel that they were talented enough to play on the boys squad. They feel that they have been discriminated against and have taken their challenge to the Manitoba Human Rights Commission.
The Association feels the move would put the girls program at the school in jeopardy. Sure!
I called CJBK’s “God Father of Sport”, Pete James and asked his opinion on women in professional sports. He gave me a very simple answer to the complex problem. “ Go for it. If a women is good enough to make the team she should have the opportunity to play on an equal basis with the men.”
Danica Rheaume played one game for the Tampa Bay Lighting Hockey Team. Michelle Wie has competed in golf’s Professional Golf Association and is an up and comer hitting the long ball. Casey Coleman is one of the best trainers in standard bred racing. Danica Patrick recently competed at the Indianapolis five hundred mile auto race.
I know I have opened a pandora’s box with the idea that women play alongside their male counterparts. What’s wrong with an egalitarian high school/university team approach with both sexes having equal opportunity to compete?
I am in favour of eliminating the sexual designation from sports. What’s your opinion?
Len Lesser