ESPN and women's sports

I was watching the NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four Championship on Sunday. I had been looking forward to this all week. The men's finals were on a major national network, I believe CBS. The women's championship, however, was put on the less mainstream ESPN network… Well I shouldn't complain about this, at least women’s sports were finally featured somewhere. During the main part of this season, you would find men's basketball on almost every national network and sports dedicated channels buat you only find an occasional women's game.

 But I laid aside my disgruntlement, and settled back with my chocolate covered raisins and my one third of a bottle of beer, the allotment the doctor allows me because of my pain medication, to watch the games. Of course first, there is the pregame show with its little interviews of coaches and players and discussions of team strategies. What came next stopped me in mid-chew. They were interviewing the coach of the Baylor team, the team favored to win the whole shebang, and she is one of the top women's coaches in basketball. I was expecting the interviewer to discuss game day strategy with the coach, Kim  Mulkey. My fourth grade teacher at instilled feminist sensibilities in me and what came next plucked every nerve and I started yelling at the TV. Instead of respecting her as a great coach and strategist, the interviewer began discussing her great fashion sense and how wonderful she looked on the sidelines. Then the camera pulled back and a series of approximately 30 pictures of her wearing different outfits was featured. Another five minutes was spent discussing why she wore pants instead of skirts or dresses. To her benefit, Coach Mulkey approached the whole thing professionally and answered all questions respectfully. I would've ripped the interviewer a new butt-hole.

I decided to breathe deeply and try and enjoy the rest of the evening's entertainment. Right before the game started, as is customary, they had the players introduce themselves. Let me explain how this usually happens. Each player states their name and their position, quite often looking stern to intimidate. This is what always happens at the men's games and at previous women's games I've watched on TV. Now let me tell you how team introductions occurred during the Final Four women's games. Each woman smiled sweetly for the camera, gave her name, her position and told something cute about herself, such as liking puppies or enjoying playing video games on her iPad. There was a lot of simpering and giggling.

 After the feminization of the coach and the players, the games went on and they were very enjoyable. The final championship game took place several days later. I am pleased to say that apparently someone or several someones complained to ESPN about the Coach Mulkey fashion segment. Although they repeated several interviews from the previous presentation, this one was cut out. But they did still include the silly player introductions. My take on ESPN's presentation is that clearly they felt the need to feminize the players and at least one of the women coaches. Why? I don't know. Maybe they felt their viewers would find strong women threatening or intimidating. Maybe They found them threatening or intimidating. I find it so frustrating that strong women often are not celebrated … The Baylor team did something that no women's OR men's basketball team had ever done, going 40 –  0 in a single season.

 Well faithful reader, give me your honest assessment. Would you have been scared of Coach Mulkey if you only knew about her game strategy, rather than her clothing preferences? And would any of the games be less satisfying if you didn't know the players liked puppies, kittens or sleeping? I don't know about you, but I'd like ESPN to approach women's sports as seriously as men's.

Dissatisfying conclusion to the research project

I approached my research with every intention of writing something worthy of the New York Times. To refresh your memory, that I was going to I last wrote that I was going to look on the websites of all candidates to check their platforms about their positions on disability issues. I was also going to go through several databases and find articles from journals, magazines and newspapers that discussed these issues. That looks pretty clear-cut doesn't it?

 Well, I started with Republican candidates and checked the Gingrich, Romney, and Santorum platforms. Since they were quite long, I limited myself to the health-care portion of each figuring that both myself and blog readers would be more interested in the health care related disability issues. I scanned about 30 pages worth of information and became frustrated when I could not find any mention of disability.

I decided to switch to the databases. I used InfoTrac and a newspaper database to start. I searched the candidate' s name linked with the wildcard version of the word disability so that all forms of the word would be found, such as disabled and disability. The search string looked like this:

 Gingrich AND disab$

 When I found very few articles that were relevant after trying each Republican candidate, I have to reach certain conclusions. Other than an article about Santorum's claim that contraception is a way to cull the disabled at birth, I found very little. I started out on this research quest because I thought that I had a mistaken belief that the disabled community seemed inconsequential to the candidates. Although I may be inclined to revisit this project again at a later date, and in spite of the fact that I didn't get to the Democratic side of the issue, I have to say that the assumption that I went into this with seems to be correct.

  The next question is what do we as a community want to do about it? Feel free to comment on this blog post about your thoughts. I gave you mine…

Planned article in the works

I am currently working on a research article. As a disabled person, I sometimes feel as if politicians don't think I count for much and the issues that affect disabled people are not anywhere near a priority. With that in mind, I've decided to check the websites of the major politicians, Republican and Democrat, running for president and any articles about their platforms to see where they stand on disability issues. I will be checking the major players, Obama, Gingrich, Santorum and Romney. I'm skipping Ron Paul since I don't see him having a major role. Keep a lookout for my groundbreaking exposé. Maybe it will bring that radio guy… I forgot his name… How refreshing. Well anyway maybe it will bring him out of hiding.

My mental reset button

Sometimes when dealing with people who don't know me well, I can sense questions that they are too polite to ask. The questions remain in the background; but I don't like the unacknowledged elephant in the room. One of the questions that no one ever asks but many people want to is: What physical thing do you miss the most since MS tried to take over? Would it be driving, running, walking, using your hands, etc.?

 It's definitely walking. I used distance walking as a way to deal with my teenage angst. I hated my first two summer jobs… I worked at Gino's Fried Chicken and later at my uncle’s seafood restaurant. Gino's was bad enough, and I was happy when I started at my uncle’s as bus help for  a change, but then I was promoted to waitress because I did so well. What they didn't understand was that I did so well because I didn't have to think about it. I could zone out but I couldn't do that as a waitress and I hated it. So when I started at Gino's, although I rode my bike 3 miles to work, between shifts I walked for miles along the beach. I continued this activity while I worked at my uncle's. I would walk 3 miles before my shift, run around in the restaurant for five hours and then walk another three or 4 miles when I got home. I walked fast enough to get the endorphins going and also was able to work on my mental health. I think walking kept me from going crazy with those jobs. I can still feel the cold wet sand under my feet and the numbingly cold water splashing up my calves when I think back.

 Then after I graduated from college and got a real job, I was disappointed to find that real work at the beginning levels wasn't much better than those summer jobs I left behind. Then I rescued my friend Kelly from an unhappy situation in Rhode Island. She soon moved on but left me with her dog, Mattie, and I had a reason that made me have to walk. Mattie and I walked for miles all over Delaware and once again I was able to get my brain passed my mundane customer service type jobs. I out – walked two dogs and I kept walking distances as long as I physically could even though I no longer had unsatisfying employment. It became a way for me to deal with the gradual encroachment of the MS into my life.

I actually kept going longer than I should have, in the end I was using a walker and dragging my lower body along. I was going on sheer upper body strength and stubbornness. It definitely was not mentally cleansing and I'm still looking for something to replace walking and where it took my mind. Writing seems to help. It doesn’t trigger the reset button in my brain like walking did, but it does provide a needed outlet when my frustrations reach the boiling point. I’m a work in progress…

You asked Mr. President

Today I got an e-mail from Pres. Obama asking me for my healthcare experiences after the Affordable Care Act was passed. Not being one to miss an opportunity, this is what I wrote:

I have had multiple sclerosis, a chronic progressive disease, for over 17 years and I've worked almost the entire time. However, two years ago the disease flared up to the point that I could no longer work and was confined to a hospital bed in the living room of my home. Of course I took advantage of COBRA and it took care of me for quite some time.

A few months ago, I was horrified to figure out that the existing COBRA ran out in February but the Medicare did not begin until September. I was at wits end. I knew that if I was uninsured for six months, I would have over $10,000 of prescription medications alone, not counting any doctors appointments or medical emergencies.

But then a series of remarkable, beneficial coincidences occurred. In January 2012, the State of Delaware legalized civil unions. Janet, my partner of over 20 years, found out that her employer’s insurance allowed her to add a partner after a civil union. Thanks to Pres. Obama's Affordable Care Act, there was no pre-existing condition clause and I am once again fully insured.

Mr. President, although I have benefited from this Act, I don't feel that your work is done. What if I didn't live in a state that allowed civil unions? What if I didn't have a partner who could add me to her insurance? What if her insurance did not allow partners to be added? I feel as if there is to much unsurity.

I was very lucky, but there are still too many gray areas where a disabled or sick person could fall through the cracks. I've checked with many healthcare professionals and have been told that this is just the way it is. Please continue your work on the healthcare issues. It's a good start, but it's not done.

Don't forget you've got a voice too.  If you get the opportunity to  rant or raise the roof, don't be shy. I used to be, it's really boring .

Voting, a heads up

I was watching Rachel Maddow a week or so ago and one of her topics particularly concerned me… Well they all concerned me but this one seemed relevant to this blog. She was discussing how a lot of states have enacted laws expanding the amount of identification required in order to vote. But I mentally shelved the issue because I didn't think it was a factor in the states in my area. But I was wrong. I was watching the news last night and was horrified to see that the very type of law that Rachel was warning about was about to be passed in Pennsylvania… That's a little close to home for me.

Apparently, a lot of Republican controlled states are changing the identification requirements for voting. Picture IDs will now be required contrary to previous years and the change is not being well-publicized. Other forms of ID that have been accepted previously will not be sufficient and potential voters will be turned away. It's anticipated that the majority of people that will be affected are the elderly and low income communities, because many people in these communities do not drive or have other reasons for these forms of ID, they don't have them. Why am I concerned? Well a lot of disabled people are on a fixed income and could possibly have a similar identification problem.

 And surprise, a lot of the people who will be affected by this legislation are Democrats. This new legislation is seen as the latest way that Republicans are blockingg Democrats from the polls. The political pundits are saying that if voting is made to difficult, people just won't come out or will be turned away at the polls for insufficient ID.

I'm just doing my part to spread the word. Pass on this information please.

Childhood fantasies… Fear the bird!

As a kid, I had fantasies… I was a superhero, I was a star athlete, I was on TV etc. The closest I could get in my reality was trying to be a jock. As a little one, basketball was the easiest. My dad had put up a basketball hoop at both our homes, one in the driveway in Cherry Hill and one in the back alley at our summer apartment in Ocean City, N J. In Cherry Hill, I would take shots with my brothers or on my own but in Ocean City, I had several friends who were boys, not boyfriends, that I would play games against. I got to be pretty good in a 4 foot tall, 11-year-old kind of way and I really enjoyed taking it to my slightly taller friends who were boys. They thought they should be better than the little girl.

 With adulthood came reality. I stopped playing long ago, long before I no longer could. But the game never lost its magic for me. My father and I went to see Big 5 Basketball at the Palestra in Philly for several years. This year for Christmas, Janet bought me season tickets to the University of Delaware women's basketball games. I love it!

 There is one standout player on the team… Mind you, the players are all good but she is excellent. Her name is Elena Delle Donne.

 She was the top high school player in the country and I heard that she was going to go to the University of Connecticut, one of the top women's teams, as one might expect her to. Then the rumor mill started… She disappeared, she quit University of Connecticut, she quit basketball entirely. It seems as if all the rumors were true, she appeared at the University of Delaware and started playing volleyball for a year. Then she got her head together and started playing basketball and the team has had the best season ever. I'd heard rumors that there was more to it but I never followed up on finding out.

 Then I watched a little ESPN exposé about her and it changed my opinion of her totally. She isn't just a great basketball player, I think she's a great person. I've attached a link to the ESPN story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkWHrjdn5PY

 The reason she left the University of Connecticut wasn't that she went from being a top high school star to being one of many great players… She missed her older sister who has cerebral palsy and is autistic, blind and deaf. Her sister can't see her play, actually she doesn't even know she plays. But to see the two of them together, how they interact with each other is absolutely magical. And it's not just her sister, the segment showed Elena with several other people with CP and her connection with them all was amazing. She didn't hold back anything because of the cameras and she seemed to bring out that sense of caring in her teammates as well.

 I'm sure there'll be people who will say that you can't tell anything about a person based on a short news clip. I don't think those people are right, and it's surprising because I'm usually the cynical one. I don't think basketball will be enough for her to be fulfilled.

Maybe I'm gullible, but I do see the potential for her to serve as an advocate for the differently – abled in the future. Watch for her, and see what you think.

But right now, I have to change the subject…we need her to concentrate on basketball. The conference championships are this weekend and if they win, it's on to the NCAA championships. Wow, who would've thought that little Delaware could make it to the Big Dance!