Women’s sports going backward: February is supposed to be the celebration of women’s sports, but lately, there isn’t much to celebrate.
This month has been designated by several organizations, including the Women's Sports Foundation and the WNBA, as a celebration of America's achievements in female athletics. But few people have joined in this year's festivities.
Who should be partying anyway when women's sports have quietly returned to their niche status and become as forgettable as they were before their fleeting, decade-long dance in the mainstream limelight after the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta?
Softball, which has its talent hotbed in Orange County, is about to have its Olympic swansong, as the 2008 Beijing Games will likely be the last to include the sport – and the gold-medal dominant Team USA – on its program.
Women's college basketball remains largely confined to the bottom of the TV screen, its scores quickly running through the ESPN crawler without much accompanying highlight footage.
Who should be partying anyway when women's sports have quietly returned to their niche status and become as forgettable as they were before their fleeting, decade-long dance in the mainstream limelight after the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta?
Softball, which has its talent hotbed in Orange County, is about to have its Olympic swansong, as the 2008 Beijing Games will likely be the last to include the sport – and the gold-medal dominant Team USA – on its program.
Women's college basketball remains largely confined to the bottom of the TV screen, its scores quickly running through the ESPN crawler without much accompanying highlight footage.
Women's hoops, and nothin' but the hoops.
