Quote of the Day

People rarely succeed unless they

have fun in what they are doing.

Dale Carnegie

Quote of the Day

One man practicing sportsmanship

is far better than fifty preaching it.

Knute Rockne

Quote of the Day

I like living. I have sometimes been wildly,

despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with

sorrow, but through it all I still know quite

certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.

Agatha Christie

Quote of the Day

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God

who has endowed us with sense, reason, and

intellect has intended us to forgo their use.

Galileo Galilei

Quote of the Day

As an individual who undertakes to live by

borrowing soon finds his original means

devoured by interest, and next no one

left to borrow from - so must it be

with a government.

Abraham Lincoln

I really shouldn't encourage this...

6'2" Bull

7'3" Lemon

Quote of the Day

Civilization begins with order, grows

with liberty, and dies with chaos.

William James "Will" Durant

Quote of the Day

Human beings, who are almost unique in having

the ability to learn from the experience of

others, are also remarkable for their

apparent disinclination to do so.

Douglas Adams

Quote of the Day

Freedom is not worth having if it does not

include the freedom to make mistakes.

Mahatma Gandhi

Quote of the Day

It's when you're safe at home that you wish you

were having an adventure. When you're having

an adventure, you wish you were safe at home.

Thornton Wilder

5' Ray!

Don't worry, they didn't cut it up for shark bait.

Quote of the Day

May God have mercy upon my enemies,

because I won't.

General George Smith Patton, Jr.

Quote of the Day

In modern America, anyone who attempts

to write satirically about the events of the day

finds it difficult to concoct a situation so

bizarre that it may not actually come to pass

while his article is still on the presses.

Calvin "Bud" Marshall Trillin

Quote of the Day

Wit is a treacherous dart. It is perhaps the

only weapon with which it is possible

to stab oneself in one's own back.

Geoffrey Bocca

Quote of the Day

I must learn to love the fool in me - the one who

feels too much, talks too much, takes too many

chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks

self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt,

promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries.

It alone protects me against that utterly self-

controlled, masterful tyrant whom I also harbor

and who would rob me of human aliveness,

humility, and dignity but for my fool.

Theodore Isaac Rubin

Beast-mobile

Quote of the Day

People who love soft methods and hate iniquity

forget this, that reform consists in taking a

bone from a dog. Philosophy will not do it.

John Jay Chapman

Title IX Reformers Get Another Boost

Getting on board with the Title IX reformers last week were John Naber, Peter Vidmar, Dan Gable, Cael Sanderson, and actor Billy Baldwin. Catch up here.

This week it's Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr.

Barr and his supporters are telling the government to stop wiping out men's sports with their descriminatory quota system (a.k.a. Title IX).

Here's what some of the recent signers are saying (I'll leave out most of the "Barr for President" comments):

5662. Chas I hope this goes thorugh. Common sense hasn't been seen on Capitol Hill in a while.

5619. Eva Kosinski When political correctness swings the pendulum past equality and into reverse discrimination, it's time to rewrite. I'll support Barr -- he'll avoid making political correctness a national epidemic.

5611. Michael Patry Reform Title IX today!

5607. Erik Lee Anybody else tired yet of reverse discrimination?

5595. Todd Singer The legislation in its current form has done far more harm than good.

5582. Jeffrey Lia This is truly a form of discrimination. Sure, title IX is acting with good intent, but is certainly going about achieving the intended goals the wrong way. There is no freedom in being told you can't participate in a sport regardless of the reason. This actually was a big problem at my University several years ago where the Male:Female ratio was something like 4:1, though many male sports were being cut back and female sports were gaining equal funding though there were no females who participated! It's a shame. Using the argument "the men have it so therefore the woman should to" is a cop out. When I was growing up and I wanted something that a friend had, my parents told me to earn it!

5565. Bob Booth End the discrimination.

5560. Becki Wrenn This seems like such a no brainer that there shouldn't have to be a petition.

5526. Cary Croft It is time for a change. It was a good rule 36 years ago, but much like affirminative action, it is no longer needed

5493. CHRISTOPHER ROBERTS title IX is another flawed government intervention!

5479. Eric Denison It never should have come to this, but the Law of Unintended Consequences always seems to bite Congress in the butt.

5473. Gerald J. Chimennti Title IX should be repealed entirely. Colleges should be free to decide what sports teams they want to offer regardless of gender. Propsective students will either support these institutions or spend their college funds elsewhere.

5440. Edward Gribben, Jr. Title IX reform is long overdue. Like many laws, it had good intentions, but has poor results.

5417. A. Hinch Title IX is ridiculous--SHAME ON THE ACLU and the other far left organizations that prepared and perpetuated this policy!

Read the petition here.

Sign the petition here.

See who signed here.

Here's the latest press release from the College Sports Council:

Bob Barr Signs Petition for Academic Sports Freedom

Presidential Candidate Urges Title IX Reform

Washington, D.C., Aug. 13, 2008 – Former Georgia Republican Congressman Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party’s Presidential candidate, has signed the College Sports Council’s petition calling for “straightforward and common-sense” reform of Title IX. On the 36th anniversary of the passage of Title IX, the CSC launched an online petition calling for reform of the unfair and inflexible regulations that govern Title IX.

“I am pleased to join the thousands of Americans including athletes, coaches, and parents and Olympic Greats who are calling for an end to Title IX’s gender quota system that has devastated so many of our collegiate sports programs,” said Congressman Barr.

Passed by Congress in 1972, Title IX of the Education Amendments 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.”

In 1979, the Carter Administration promulgated a three-point test of an institution’s compliance with Title IX. However, in order to avoid litigation, institutions have relied on the first prong, known as “proportionality.” In order to comply with the proportionality standard, the gender ratio of a school’s undergraduate student enrollment must mirror the gender ratio of the total number of athletes on its varsity sports. In turn, this has forced colleges and universities to either cut men’s teams or shrink their roster size in order to comply.

The Olympic sports of track and field, swimming, wrestling, and gymnastics have suffered the loss of hundreds of their collegiate teams since the passage of Title IX. These sports traditionally rank among the top medal earners for the US during the summer Olympics.

But if the Department of Education would carve a safe harbor for schools that would like to use online surveys to gauge student interest in athletics – one of the reforms called for in the petition – colleges and universities would be freed from complying with a de-facto quota system that has led to the elimination of so many men’s programs.

“As we watch our athletes compete in the Olympic games in Beijing, we can be proud not only of their tremendous athletic performances, but also of the uniquely American collegiate sports system that developed many of our Olympic competitors. It is a tragedy to see so many collegiate men’s teams that have produced Olympians for the US eliminated, like UCLA gymnastics and swimming, University of Miami diving, and Fresno State wrestling,” said Congressman Barr.

CSC President, Leo Kocher said, "Title IX reform is a big issue in the state of Georgia. There are tens of thousands of school age wrestlers in Congressman Barr's home state - but not a single NCAA wrestling program. In this case, the gender quota advocates in Washington DC, who have fought all reasonable measures to reform Title IX’s proportionality standard, are blocking the legitimate interests of the tax paying parents in Georgia. If the state’s schools were simply allowed to use online surveys to measure actual interest, they would be able to add wrestling programs without fear of running afoul of the law."

Recently the Georgia state House (House Resolution 246) and Senate (Senate Resolution 397) adopted resolutions urging the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and its member institutions to establish programs for intercollegiate wrestling.

As of earlier this week, the petition has drawn almost 4,900 signatures. The petition can be located online at:

http://www.petitiononline.com/csc2008/petition.html

The College Sports Council is a national coalition of coaches, parents, athletes, and alumni devoted to the preservation and promotion of the student athlete experience.

Quote of the Day

We do not believe any group of men adequate

enough or wise enough to operate without

scrutiny or without criticism. We know

that the only way to avoid error is to

detect it, that the only way to detect

it is to be free to inquire. We know

that in secrecy error undetected

will flourish and subvert.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Equality Just Isn't Enough

Two softball players from WVU Tech are suing the school under Title IX. They claim that the softball facilities are not on a par with the baseball team's.

They're probably correct.

In June, a mediator got involved and all parties seemed to reach an agreement that the school would make more than just facility improvements (see all they've agreed to here) and the players would drop their lawsuit.

Then greed kicked in.

It looks like the players want more than equality. They want big bucks.

They've ignored the advice of their attorney and have decided against signing the agreement that would bring about the changes they are supposed to be seeking.

Their attorney has asked to be excused from the case.

He must have thought the case was about equity.

Turns out it's about revenge and money.

Read more here.

Quote of the Day

I distrust those people who know so well what

God wants them to do, because I notice it

always coincides with their own desires.

Susan B. Anthony

Quote of the Day

Sooner or later I'm going to die,

but I'm not going to retire.

Margaret Mead

Quote of the Day

It's kind of fun to do the impossible.

Walt Disney

Florida Trip

Quote of the Day

He who would travel happily must travel light.

Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Quote of the Day

Think like a man of action and

act like a man of thought.

Henri Bergson

Quote of the Day

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that?

We must have perseverance and above all

confidence in ourselves. We must believe

that we are gifted for something and

that this thing must be attained.

Marie Curie

Quote of the Day

I don't like them fellas who

drive in two runs and let in three.

Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel

Why do the lefties fear Christina Hoff Sommers?

Probably because she makes sense!!



So, she's saying chivalry ain't dead? Radical feminists wish it were.

Hear what Hoff Sommers has to say about each by clicking on the topic:

Intellectual Diversity "We're paying a very high price."

Clare Boothe Luce "They denigrate and vilify us."

Muslim Women's Rights "Wouldn't it be useful to the women in the third world, to the women in the developing world - in the Muslim world - if we had a sane, healthy, balanced women's movement in this country?"

Feminism "We may not want to use the word 'feminism'. It may just be ruined by the eccentricities and the radicalism."

John Naber Joins Title IX Reformers

The Title IX petition has nearly 5,000 signatures.

While that's a very nice start, it probably isn't getting much attention from the folks in powerful positions in Washington...yet.

Now that John Naber* and friends have weighed in, we might be noticed.

Here's the latest press release from the College Sports Council:

Olympic Greats John Naber, Peter Vidmar, Dan Gable

and Cael Sanderson join with Actor Billy Baldwin

Calling for 'Common Sense' reform of Title IX

Washington, D.C., August 4, 2008 – Over 25 U.S. Olympians and over 35 NCAA Champions have endorsed a College Sports Council petition calling on the U.S. Congress to enact common sense reform of the federal regulations governing Title IX compliance.

As of today, U.S. Olympic champions John Naber (4x Gold, Swimming, 1976), Peter Vidmar (Gold, Gymnastics, 1984), Dan Gable (Gold, Freestyle Wrestling, 1972) and Cael Sanderson (Gold, Freestyle Wrestling, 2004) as well as actor Billy Baldwin, who wrestled in college at SUNY Binghamton, have signed the petition.

“I support the CSC’s efforts to reform Title IX, so that the law can continue to protect women from discrimination, but without harming men. If we don’t reform the current regulations that govern Title IX, we will continue to see more athletic programs eliminated, and that would be a tragic loss,” said Olympic swimming legend John Naber.

On June 23, 2008, the CSC launched a national petition drive on the 36th anniversary of the passage of Title IX calling on men and women to work together to effect “straightforward and common-sense” reform to the law’s enforcement mechanism in college athletics.

The text of the petition reads:

WHEREAS … Men’s collegiate athletic teams are being eliminated and rosters are being capped at an alarming rate in order to comply with the “proportionality” enforcement prong ...

WHEREAS … Women collegiate athletes are being robbed of their training partners, teammates and biggest supporters when men’s teams are eliminated ...

WHEREAS … Straightforward and common-sense fixes to the enforcement mechanism are already available – such as a simple survey that would allow any student, male or female, to express interest and be given opportunity ...

WHEREAS ... The law's current method of enforcement is discriminating against male athletes and artificially limiting opportunities to participate ...

WHEREAS ... The current tenor of the debate over the future of Title IX sets up a zero sum contest pitting men against women that hurts the collective cause of all college athletes ...

BE IT RESOLVED ... That men and women across the country come together to discuss and implement a set of common sense reforms to Title IX enforcement that maximizes the opportunities of all college athletes regardless of gender.

WE THE UNDERSIGNED ...

Add your name to the petition here.

View all signatures here.

Thanks for the info, EM.



*Naber was the 11th signer, right behind Keith Hill.

Quote of the Day

Just as iron rusts from disuse,

even so does inaction spoil the intellect.

Leonardo da Vinci

Quote of the Day

Executive ability is deciding quickly and

getting somebody else to do the work.

John Garland Pollard

Quote of the Day

No trumpets sound when the important decisions of

our life are made. Destiny is made known silently.

Agnes George de Mille

Quote of the Day

Even if you're on the right track,

you'll get run over if you just sit there.

Will Rogers

Quote of the Day

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.

Albert Einstein