A letter to the local birdcage liner, written by a former Athletic Director of a local college, called attention to the recent "game of the century" in college womens' BB, in which Connecticut and South Carolina played before a packed house of about 10,000 fans. Isn't this, the (female) writer asked, proof of the efficacy and value of Title IX?
Title IX is a Federal Law that basically requires colleges and universities to spend as much on wimmin's sports as they do on men's sports. It is seen mainly in the area of scholarships: football, baseball, and basketball programs, particularly at Division I schools, provide oodles of scholarships to male athletes, and Title IX forced the schools to either provide a similar number to female athletes or to reduce the number of male scholarships AND dramatically increase the number of female athletic scholarships. The law quickly resulted in many less-popular male sports like wrestling and soccer to be dropped or the number of scholarships to be reduced.
Like all Federal laws, Title IX does not really give a shit (1) whether there was any inherent injustice in the status quo ante, (2) whether it makes any sense to add this number of female athletic scholarships, or (3) where the money will come from to pay for these female athletic scholarships.
In the classic college sports paradigm (not always the case, but work with me), the men's football and basketball programs are "cash cows" for the colleges that generate sufficient revenue to fund the other Real Sports programs that are not generally revenue-producing. Thus, those two programs "pay for their own" scholarships, as well as the scholarships for the other sports teams.
But the unpleasant truth is that most Div I college sports programs LOSE MONEY. They are in place to placate the alumni, which, it is hoped, will keep them donating to their Alma Mater. But in most cases, the football and basketball programs do not generate enough revenue to pay for everyone else. Everyone things in terms of Penn State and Notre Dame, and schools like that, but those are only a few of all Div I schools, and not representative of the average Div I school.
Be that as it may, the colleges then had to decide, in particular with scholarships, how they would even USE the number of scholarships that Title IX required. There simply were not enough "female" sports or enough participants in those sports to give this cornucopia of free tuition to. So they started soccer teams, and field hockey teams, and volleyball teams, and whatever they could think of, just to use all of the scholarships that Title IX demanded. And the "athletes" who were getting these scholarships, unlike the athletes competing for male scholarships, were just girls who happened to be willing to play the sports. It was and is a fucking joke. It is gradually becoming less of a joke, as girls are playing HS sports in the hope of getting these scholarships, but the fact that remains - the kids competing for baseball, football, and basketball scholarships are superior athletes who have survived a Darwinian competition just to be in a position to fight for a scholarship, while the girls are...just girls who are willing to play.
And nobody comes to see any of these sports except for the friends and families of the participating players, which is why the attendance at the CT-SC game was so happily trumpeted in the Letter to the Editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Title IX was a stupid law that merely serves to promote the ridiculous diversion of attention on college campuses from education to entertainment. Just one more factor driving up tuitions and student debt.
Title IX is a Federal Law that basically requires colleges and universities to spend as much on wimmin's sports as they do on men's sports. It is seen mainly in the area of scholarships: football, baseball, and basketball programs, particularly at Division I schools, provide oodles of scholarships to male athletes, and Title IX forced the schools to either provide a similar number to female athletes or to reduce the number of male scholarships AND dramatically increase the number of female athletic scholarships. The law quickly resulted in many less-popular male sports like wrestling and soccer to be dropped or the number of scholarships to be reduced.
Like all Federal laws, Title IX does not really give a shit (1) whether there was any inherent injustice in the status quo ante, (2) whether it makes any sense to add this number of female athletic scholarships, or (3) where the money will come from to pay for these female athletic scholarships.
In the classic college sports paradigm (not always the case, but work with me), the men's football and basketball programs are "cash cows" for the colleges that generate sufficient revenue to fund the other Real Sports programs that are not generally revenue-producing. Thus, those two programs "pay for their own" scholarships, as well as the scholarships for the other sports teams.
But the unpleasant truth is that most Div I college sports programs LOSE MONEY. They are in place to placate the alumni, which, it is hoped, will keep them donating to their Alma Mater. But in most cases, the football and basketball programs do not generate enough revenue to pay for everyone else. Everyone things in terms of Penn State and Notre Dame, and schools like that, but those are only a few of all Div I schools, and not representative of the average Div I school.
Be that as it may, the colleges then had to decide, in particular with scholarships, how they would even USE the number of scholarships that Title IX required. There simply were not enough "female" sports or enough participants in those sports to give this cornucopia of free tuition to. So they started soccer teams, and field hockey teams, and volleyball teams, and whatever they could think of, just to use all of the scholarships that Title IX demanded. And the "athletes" who were getting these scholarships, unlike the athletes competing for male scholarships, were just girls who happened to be willing to play the sports. It was and is a fucking joke. It is gradually becoming less of a joke, as girls are playing HS sports in the hope of getting these scholarships, but the fact that remains - the kids competing for baseball, football, and basketball scholarships are superior athletes who have survived a Darwinian competition just to be in a position to fight for a scholarship, while the girls are...just girls who are willing to play.
And nobody comes to see any of these sports except for the friends and families of the participating players, which is why the attendance at the CT-SC game was so happily trumpeted in the Letter to the Editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Title IX was a stupid law that merely serves to promote the ridiculous diversion of attention on college campuses from education to entertainment. Just one more factor driving up tuitions and student debt.
