Bob McCown doesn't stand for all of us

[Image: Prime Time Sports host Bob McCown]


Dear Mr. McCown,


I'm writing to inform you that your statements (go to 1:37) on yesterday's nationally-syndicated Prime Time Sports radio/television show are not only offensive and inaccurate, but are also potentially defamatory and libelous. 


For the record, you said, "The sole motivation for a man to watch any woman's sport is are they half-naked? Are they good-looking?" You then went on to say "Other than that, I don’t care if it’s a world championship or your next-door neighbour playing somebody. Guys are only interested in woman’s sport if it’s good-looking chicks."


Of course, it's mind-bogglingly stupid for a nationally-broadcast radio host to make those kinds of remarks on International Women's Day, but that's your own affair. What I'm more concerned with is that you're making a "statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group,government, or nation a negative image", that this statement is false, and that it was communicated to a large group of people coast-to-coast. I can inform you that your comments definitely have the potential to give a group (men) a negative image, and that they are untrue. There are many of us who watch and appreciate women's sports for the sport value, just as we do with men's sports. We appreciate the sports on their own merits, not just how attractive the players are. 


This isn't meant to seriously threaten a lawsuit, as I certainly don't have the time or inclination to bother with that, and I'm generally not a fan of trying to restrict speech. In my mind, you're perfectly welcome to express your troglodytic views on women's sports on your national platform; maybe that will help diminish your undeserved prominence. However, please don't claim to speak for all men while doing so; when you do that, you're ascribing your own misguided views to the rest of us and damaging our reputations in the process, and I don't think that's particularly fair. While you're stuck in the darkness and talking about leering at suggestive cave paintings, some of us have managed to move out into the light. It would be nice if you came to join us some day, but I don't expect that to happen any time soon. 

Whitecaps women - Pali Blues live blog

It's time for a bit of different blogging coverage today, as I'll be heading to Swangard Stadium to live blog the Whitecaps' women's team in their W-League Western Conference playoff clash against the Pali Blues. Alan Douglas has a preview of the game and who to watch over at whitecapsfc.com. The game's at 7 p.m. Eastern/4 p.m. Pacific, so come swing by then for the live blog!

Era of change continues for CIS soccer

Following closely on the heels of Paul James' departure from York, famed UBC soccer coach Dick Mosher announced his retirement this weekend. Mosher had been involved with both UBC's men's and women's programs since 1986. He won six national titles with the men, one in his first year in 1986 and another five between 1989 and 1994, then moved to the women's game and won titles in 2002, 2003 and 2006. He also won Canada West coach of the year seven times and CIS coach of the year three times. That's an incredibly impressive resume.

Losing a coach of the calibre of Mosher is obviously tough for CIS soccer, but this is perhaps less damaging than James' departure. There's no indication that Mosher wasn't getting enough support from the university or had too much on his plate, and this doesn't seem like a coach leaving to pursue other opportunities. Mosher is 65, and while he certainly could coach for several more years, it's not difficult to belive that he might want to retire.

The other thing to consider is that one of the most prominent jobs in CIS soccer has just opened up. UBC has a lot of things going for it; its location in the Lower Mainland, where there's a lot of focus on developing elite female players through club programs and high schools, the success the program has had under Mosher, the amount of support the program gets from the administration (from the outside at least, soccer at UBC seems to get more respect than it does at many CIS schools, where it's frequently overlooked in favour of football and basketball) and perhaps most importantly, the program's strong relationships with the Vancouver Whitecaps' women's teams and the Canadian national teams.

There are a couple of different paths UBC could take to find a new coach. One would be to promote one of the two current assistant coaches, Jonas Worth or Steve Baarts. Another would to be to bring back a prominent alumnus, such as Andrea Neil, who's currently an assistant coach with the women's national team. The third would be to hire a head coach from another CIS school, which would then set off a train of coaching dominoes like we've recently seen
in NCAA football. Either of the first two options seems more likely, but you can't rule the third one out completely.

Speaking of the NCAA, though, that may be a complicating factor in the coaching search. As The Province reported yesterday, things are still progressing on the UBC-to-the-NCAA front, albeit slowly. Athletic director Bob Philip was in Atlanta this week for the NCAA's general meeting, which suggests the UBC administration is still considering the move quite seriously. Now, the calibre of women's soccer probably isn't that different from NCAA Division II to the CIS (and I'd venture that CIS might even be better on the women's side, given the amount of national team players who have come from each), but that's still a lot of uncertainty for a coach to deal with. That also might be another factor that would make it easier for UBC to hire an assistant or an alumnus, whose loyalty would be to the program, not necessarily to CIS soccer.

[Cross-posted to The CIS Blog]

(Ski) Jumping the shark

It is a shame that the International Olympic Committee, the Vancouver Organizing Committee and the Canadian courts have denied female ski jumpers the chance to compete in the Olympics. In this day and age, it's ridiculous to hold a men-only Olympic event, especially when you've previously waived all the procedural and competitive elements you're citing as reasons. However, it's important to keep this in perspective; at the end of the day, it's a small number of people who don't have the chance to compete in one athletic competition. It's sad, but it's not a horrible tragedy. Thus, you probably shouldn't be comparing it to Hitler's treatment of Jews, especially if you're a prominent Jewish organization (talking to you, B'nai Brith Canada!).

Here's the offending passage in a B'nai Brith press release sent out Monday, as quoted by the National Post's Jonathan Kay (who called the organization to ensure this wasn't a hoax):

"The League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada, has called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) to reconsider the continued exclusion of Women’s Ski Jumping from the upcoming Olympic Games … In a letter to John Furlong, CEO of VANOC, the League recalled the 1936 Berlin Olympics when the OIC turned a blind eye to Hitler’s fascist regime, which was even then implementing discriminatory policies against Jews that impacted Games that year. The League asks the OIC and the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) to focus on its policies and practices relating to discrimination, 'and that includes eliminating discrimination against women now, just as it should have included resistance to discrimination against Jews then.'"

I'm no defender of the Olympics, and they certainly have a troubled past. The IOC deserves a lot of criticism for how they've acted historically, and the 1936 Berlin Games have to be placed right at the top of the list of their blunders (except for that torch relay thing! That's totally cool!). However, comparing the present-day treatment of women ski jumpers to Hitler's treatment of Jews is ridiculous and insulting, and it's an unfortunate application of Godwin's Law
. The use of reductio ad Hitlerum has become so widespread that it's begun to trivialize the Holocaust. B'nai Brith should be the last group that wants that, so I'd encourage them to avoid these ridiculous comparisons in the future. As Kay points out above, this is just jumping the shark.