The Oracle

Issue date: 3/5/10 Section: Sports

Who's Hot/ Who's Not

Let me begin this week by saying that I like women's sports: basketball, soccer, softball, volleyball, etc. Sports are sports and, to me, they are all exciting-that is, within the sport.

With the recent retirement of Don Meyer, media outlets have been showing the list of all-time wins by NCAA coaches. My problem with this is that they keep showing Pat Summit at the top of that list. Pat Summit does not have the most NCAA coaching victories. To date, she has 873 NCAA victories.

Herb Magee has 1117. What about Don Meyer with 923 or Bob Knight with 902? How about Dean Smith with 879 or even Adolph Rupp who had 876? Why are these men being overlooked when their numbers are clearly better? Is it because of Title IX?

I'm not saying that she doesn't deserve any credit. She does. That credit, however, needs to be for her achievements as a women's basketball coach, not as a comparison to men's coaches.

No, I am not sexist. Hear me out.

When Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma reaches the ranks of the elite (he is only 157 wins behind Summit and has been coaching 6 fewer years), he deserves credit, but in women's basketball only.

Comparing coaches between sports disgusts me. To hear people saying Summit is a better coach than John Wooden should be considered blasphemy, but it is accepted.

Women's and men's sports are entirely different entities. Comparing Summit's record to Magee's would be like comparing baseball and softball records.

Summit and Auriemma are great at their jobs, but you cannot compare the two sports.

Let's delve into Title IX now. It states, "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance...".

If anything, the nature of sports has become sexist against men. More men play sports in high school than do women, yet collegiate men's programs must be cut to even out opportunities for women. How does that make sense?

Title IX proponents often argue that money is the reason women's sports are behind men's.

Yes, it is. That is because men's sports bring in more money than women's. Of course Tech's football program has more money for scholarships because it brings in the most fans. Title IX cannot make people enjoy watching women's sports more.

Sports are a great source of revenue for schools. Should a money-making men's program be cut to add a women's sport that not many people will watch? In my opinion, the answer is no. This is, however, the goal of Title IX.

Title IX needs some serious revision. Did you know that men's rugby isn't an NCAA-sanctioned sport, but women's rugby is?

According to the NCAA, there are 19 sports offered specifically for men. Women, on the other hand, have 23 sports. I guess Title IX doesn't work both ways.

"I'm glad you're doing this story on us and not on the WNBA. We're so much prettier than all the other women in sports." - Martina Hingis

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