Saturday, December 31, 2011

Closing out 2011...

...with just one more Title IX post.

Eric McErlain wrote on the Pittsburgh public school policy that will punish the boys if girls don't want to play Pee Wee thump-thump.

Confused? Catch up here.

Read Eric's latest on the subject here.

2012 will mark the 40th anniversary of the passage of Title IX. Next June, as the mainstream media turns its attention to the milestone, I seriously doubt many reporters will pay much attention to stories like these. That’s a shame, because the real story about Title IX is that a law that was intended to promote equal opportunity for all has turned into a cudgel to force equality of outcomes.

...and to you fifteen loyal readers: Have a safe and Happy New Year!

Don't know how so few of you managed well over a hundred thousand page views in 2011...

Quote of the Day

Each moment of the year has its own beauty...
a picture which was never seen before
and which shall never be seen again.



Ralph Waldo Emerson

Friday, December 30, 2011

Quote of the Day

When a sinister person means to be your enemy,
they always start by trying to become your friend.



William Blake

Thursday, December 29, 2011

D-II Cuts Revised

A few changes in NCAA Division-II cuts came out on December 15:

Revised Men's

Revised Women's

Looking for a smaller snorkel? Buy one through The Swim Store.


Confession:

The note on the cookies in the office said they were "for the world's greatest coaches" but I went ahead and ate one anyway.

The Sliver of Perception:


via Abstruse Goose

Read Wasting a Precious Resource: Our Boys by Carrie Lukas here.

The difference are so blindingly obvious, and clearly stem from more than choices of pink and blue, that the whole idea of a gender-neutral world becomes absurd.

The UIL Lone Star Cup standings are here. Football has not yet been included.


via Indexed

Purdue is hosting a fundraising event for breast cancer on January 14. Learn more about Breaststroke 4 Hope here. Thanks, SZ!

Sort of a surf sound from The Bangles (1981):


Check out the most read March-April Swimming World articles here.

Number two? Relay Touchpads Stirring up Controversy:


With just fifty-six days to go until high school state meet, you may be wondering if any national records will fall in Austin. Public school records via NISCA:

Male

Female

Since only a handful of coaches sent in votes, this is a very unscientific poll. Thanks to those who participated. I hope you'll understand that I can't send this out to the mainstream media, as our "n" was so danged tiny.

5A Boys

1. Southlake Carroll
2. College Park
3T. San Antonio Churchill
3T. Humble Kingwood
5. Katy Seven Lakes
6. Fort Bend Clements
7. Westwood
8T. Klein Oak
8T. Katy Taylor
10T. Allen
10T. Tyler Lee

Also receiving votes: Dallas Jesuit, Klein, S.A. Reagan

5A Girls

1. Southlake Carroll
2. Kingwood
3T. San Antonio Churchill
3T. San Antonio Reagan
5. The Woodlands
6. Katy Seven Lakes
7. Judson
8. Houston Memorial
9. Allen
10. Klein

Also receiving votes: Cypress Creek, Katy Cinco Ranch

4A Boys

1. Stratford
2. Alamo Heights
3. Kingwood Park
4. Frisco
5. Summer Creek
6. Highland Park
7. Texas
8. Huntsville
9. McKinney
10. Wakeland

Also receiving votes: Lake Travis, Pearce

4A Girls

1. Highland Park
2T. Frisco
2T. Magnolia West
4. Alamo Heights
5. Kingwood Park
6. Texas
7. Stratford
8. Montgomery
9T. Smithson Valley
9T. Magnolia

Also receiving votes: Centennial, George Ranch

COPS BB

Texas Gold Christmas Classic

Northside Winter Wonderland

SASA Christmas Invite

Brownsville ISD Pre-Region Showcase

Richardson City Champs

Quote of the Day

I passionately hate the idea of being
with it; I think an artist has always
to be out of step with his time.



George Orson Welles

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Quote of the Day

Women and cats will do as they please, and men
and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.



Robert Anson Heinlein

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Is discrimination okay...

...if you're given advanced notice?

You'd be outraged if the apartment ad read "Ready for move-in! No ___'s allowed!"

A job listing that said "Immediate opening! ___'s need not apply!" would make the blood boil, wouldn't it?

How about this one? Boys wanting to play pee wee basketball in Pittsburgh are being told up front:

If the girls' league doesn't make, the boys won't play either.

Don't believe it? Read more here.

Now, K-5 boys and girls will be split as the district revamps its program to remedy years of "Title IX equity issues," or unequal opportunities for girls.

But there's a twist.

If a school can't field enough players for both a boys' and a girls' team, neither team will be allowed to compete in the eight-game season that begins in January.

The district says the new rule is intended to force schools to make more vigorous efforts to recruit girls and offer equal opportunities.

One person familiar with Title IX issues says the all-or-nothing approach could potentially limit opportunities and do the opposite of the federal law's intention to provide gender equality.

That's right, Johnny - you're in line to be punished for something you had nothing to do with.

We know you're only six years old, buddy, but we're through sheltering you.

Welcome to the real world, pal!

Unfortunately, this is exactly what many Title IX radicals are all about.

They don't really care about equal opportunities - our country's on the right track there.

No, what they want is revenge. Not up to speed on the revenge thing? Below are links to some older posts on the topic.

Title IX Rant

Christina Hoff Sommers

A Title IX Advocate's View

Equality Just Isn't Enough

Time for Clarity on Title IX

The "R" Word is Back

Unintended Consequences

Quote of the Day

I made a game effort to argue but two things
were against me: the umpires and the rules.



Leo Ernest Durocher

Monday, December 26, 2011

Quote of the Day

I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me.
He said I was being ridiculous -
everyone hasn't met me yet.



Jacob Cohen, a.k.a. Rodney Dangerfield

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Quote of the Day

I wanted an electric train for Christmas
but I got a saxaphone instead.



Clarence Anicholas Clemons, Jr.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Quote of the Day

No one wants to quit when he's losing and
no one wants to quit when he's winning.



Richard Lee Petty

Friday, December 23, 2011

What we've got here is...

...failure to communicate!

Looks like it's time to revisit the abusive sports dad story.

Don't recall that one from a couple of weeks ago?

It's about a dad who's been banned from attending his daughters' games and is trying to turn the issue into a Title IX lawsuit. Catch up here.

"What we are dealing with is a failure to communicate," Claiborne told the judge in his opening remarks.

"According to the school board, your client communicated very well with a profanity-laced tirade," the judge replied, asking Claiborne, who coaches youth sports himself, if such behavior is acceptable.

"No, it's not, but that's not what we feel happened," Claiborne replied.

Cheer Flip-Flop

Congratulations! Y'all were just so superly super and fabulously fabulous!

P.S. You're disqualified...

Heard about the Michigan high school cheer squad that was DQ'ed for having a guy on the team? Read about it here and here.

In a statement today to Action News, the Michigan High School Athletic Association said while girls can join competitive boys teams, “Boys may not participate on a girls team in MHSAA sponsored postseason meets and tournaments. Schools have adopted this position to preserve participation opportunities for the historically underrepresented gender.”

Quote of the Day

Fame is a fickle food upon a shifting plate.



Emily Elizabeth Dickinson

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Quote of the Day

The older I get the less I listen to what people
say and the more I look at what they do.



Andrew Carnegie

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Sobering Numbers

In Issue 10 of this year's ASCA Newsletter, John Leonard wrote about The Athletic Pipeline of the USA. He mentioned USA Swimming statistics to make a great point.

First - our number of athletes went up "again"...to 291,149.

Second - we had 1,800 athletes at Senior Nationals this summer.

Third - that's one national level athlete for every 161 Athletes.

My club has 160 athletes. And we don't have a Senior National Athlete.

That means we are below the national standard. Sub-standard. Not up to even par. Bad, in other words (since we aspire to provide top level swimming).

Leonard went on to point out that his club has a better than average coach to swimmer ratio.

A "sub-standard" club - as Leonard labeled his - that expects to compete at the national level should expect tough questions from parents and athletes. What are we not doing that successful clubs are doing? Do our kids need more water time? More long course training? A better dry-land program? Better coaching?

Programs getting the job done are recognized annually in USA Swimming's Club Excellence Program. Gold, Silver, and Bronze level clubs are listed here.

Texas clubs making the grade in 2011:

First Colony Swim Team (Gold)
Alamo Area Aquatics Association (Silver)
Nitro Swimming (Silver)
North Texas Nadadores (Silver)
West Austin Aquatics (Silver)
Premier Aquatics Club of Klein (Bronze)
City of Plano Swimmers (Bronze)
Blue Tide Aquatics (Bronze)
Fort Worth Area Swim Team (Bronze)
Magnolia Aquatic Club (Bronze)
Katy Aquatics Team for Youth (Bronze)
City of Richardson Swim Team (Bronze)
Power for Life (Bronze)

Texas clubs already designated at Gold Medal Clubs for this quadrennium:

Cypress Fairbanks Swim Club
Dallas Mustangs
Longhorn Aquatics
The Woodlands Swim Team

The November/December issue of Splash has an article on Aggie assistant (and former Longhorn swimmer) Tanica Jamison. Read it here.

The Town of Flower Mound needs an aquatics coordinator. Job info is here.

The YMCA of Greater Houston needs an aquatics team leader. Job info is here.

Quote of the Day

Why, sometimes I've believed as many as
six impossible things before breakfast.



Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (a.k.a. Lewis Carroll)

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Quote of the Day

Lives based on having are less free than
lives based either on doing or on being.



William James

Monday, December 19, 2011

Quote of the Day

It is difficult to get a man to understand
something when his salary depends
upon his not understanding it.



Upton Beall Sinclair, Jr.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Quote of the Day

I'll walk where my own nature would be leading:
It vexes me to choose another guide.



Emily Jane Brontë

Saturday, December 17, 2011

$PORT$ $PENDING $TORIE$

$everal stories involving spending and sports:

The two grand spending money plan might be dumped by the NCAA. Read more here.

The new rule allowing Division I institutions to give some student-athletes an additional $2,000 miscellaneous expense allowance has been suspended until the Board of Directors convenes in January.

As of Dec. 15, enough schools – 125 – have called for an override of the legislation to prompt the automatic suspension under NCAA bylaws.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rutgers Athletics has been an easy target in recent years. They dumped several sports - including men's swimming - a while back, then went on a wild spending spree to keep up with the Joneses in the football world. How's that been workout out? Read more here.

Despite winning on the field this year, Rutgers football and its broader athletic program are among the biggest money losers in the nation, a Star-Ledger analysis shows, and the situation may be getting worse. The shortfall last year forced the university to divert millions of dollars from student fees, tuition and state tax dollars to cover the $64.2 million it spent to run its 24-sport athletic program, records reveal.

You mean football - a so-called "revenue" sport - didn't bring in enough to cover the costs of all those non-revenue sports? They didn't bring in enough to cover even the football expenses? Doesn't that make Rutgers football like almost all football programs? Isn't football actually an "expenditure" sport?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hoping to save men's track at Maryland? It's really going to be an uphill battle, fans. You'll need to raise enough to fund eight years of men's track plus eight years of a comparable women's squad. Read more here.

The University of Maryland's continued compliance with the non-negotiable requirements of the federal Title IX law prohibits the ability to make this guarantee. In order to save a men's program, we must also reach the fund raising goal for a women's program with similar squad size and scholarship commitments.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ESPN and the NCAA agreed to extend their championships agreement through 2024. Read more here.

ESPN is adding coverage of seven NCAA championships: National Collegiate women’s gymnastics, National Collegiate men’s and women’s fencing, Division I women’s lacrosse, Division I men’s and women’s outdoor track & field and National Collegiate women’s bowling (previously sublicensed). ESPN will also air additional preliminary round coverage of selected NCAA championships including Division I football (FCS), Division I women’s volleyball, Division I softball and Division I baseball.

At the rate NCAA members are dumping men's sports, do they actually think there'll even be men's fencing and track championships in 2024? If men's swimming is still around, you'll probably have to set your alarm for 3:00 a.m. to watch the meet. They'll sandwich it in between World's Strongest Man and Cheap Seats...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next up? Delaware men's track and cross country. One reason being given for the dumping of the program is Title IX. The problem there? The university doesn't have a Title IX problem!

Another "problem" Delaware claims is money. As is often the case when A.D.'s want to drop a sport, Delaware inflated the cost of supporting the program while ignoring revenue generated by the teams. Read more here.

When there was a men’s indoor track program, expenses for the men’s outdoor track and field team were reported as $110,932. Miraculously, the next year, when there was no men’s indoor track and field, the expenses for the outdoor team exploded to $277,967. How in the wide world of sports that happened, we’d have to ask Dr. Muir and his crack accounting team, but they’re not talking.

Quote of the Day

In a revolution, as in a novel, the most
difficult part to invent is the end.



Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville

Friday, December 16, 2011

Quote of the Day

The beauty of a move lies
not in its appearance but
in the thought behind it.



Aron Isayevich Nimtsovich

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Quote of the Day

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire
goes out. It is then burst into flame by an
encounter with another human being.
We should all be thankful for those
people who rekindle the inner spirit.



Dr. Albert Schweitzer

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Quote of the Day

I can work up a moral indignation quicker than
a fat tennis player can work up a sweat.



Dwight Macdonald

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Monday, December 12, 2011

Quote of the Day

My psychiatrist told me I was crazy
and I said I want a second opinion.
He said okay, you're ugly too.



Jacob Cohen, a.k.a. Rodney Dangerfield

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Coaches' Poll Voting (and so much more!)

High school coaches, please email your picks for the top ten teams in 4A and 5A swimming. Deadline is December 19.

Need more info on 4A before casting your ballot?

Frisco 4A TISCA

As athletic departments cite Title IX and budget issues as reasons to cut men's sports like swimming, football battles to maintain their over-the-top bloat. Read more here.

Big football is not happy with the suggested cuts, which include five fewer FBS football scholarships and new regulations limiting noncoaching football employees to a dozen. (Peer down the sidelines at many games, and you’ll see two or more times that many athletic-department workers.)

Their defense has been "We're a revenue sport!"

The media bought into the term and John Q. Public ate it up. "Of course we can spend millions on football," they think, "it's a revenue sport!"

Honest reporters would label football an "expenditure" sport. Almost every football program spends waaaaaaaaaaaaay more than the revenue it generates.


Check out more of Judson Beaumont's groovy furniture here.

How's this for great marketing?


Via What the Cool

Victoria ISD Invite

Dr. Keith Bell speaks for many of us when he says "Here we go again." Read his take on the new "system" Speedo's marketing here.


Let's call it the "Roswell Package".

Nothing says "comfort and joy" like these Christmas tree ornaments, right?


Via Laughing Squid

Timing issues at a state championships? A couple of readers put me onto one that didn't involve Texas (or swimmers). Read Bizarre timing mishap costs Florida team potential state title and Florida runners donate medals, trophy to disqualified foes.

A South Florida girls cross country team missed out on a potential state title because of one of the strangest technical disqualifications to pop up in recent times: Two of the team's runners were disqualified because they unintentionally swapped the timing chips on their shoes.

Tech-wrecks - they're not just for swimming anymore!


Want more on boys swimming in the Massachusetts girls' state meet? No? You've had enough of the idiocy? Okay, don't click here.


Buy the shirt here.

An old favorite:

When you're eighty, that demon will look like a chocolate bunny left in a hot car.



Via I Love Local Commercials

Quote of the Day

We were happily married for eight
months. Unfortunately, we were
married for four and a half years.



Sir Nicholas Alexander "Nick" Faldo

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Quote of the Day

A deadline is negative inspiration. Still,
it's better than no inspiration at all.



Rita Mae Brown

Friday, December 09, 2011

Quote of the Day

Well, I didn't really have a
plan. I just wanted a hit.



Wanda Lavonne Jackson

Thursday, December 08, 2011

Is this a Title IX issue...

...or an abusive sports dad issue?

Judge for yourself. Read Parents suing school system.

Barbour was told the meeting was not necessary, according the suit. He was told that his daughters could play softball if he signed an agreement restricting him from attending any softball games in which his daughters participated. He did not sign the agreement.

So, the school offers a softball program? They're okay with the girls playing? They just don't want dad anywhere near the games? How is that a Title IX issue?

The suit asks the 27th Judicial District Court to prohibit school officials from preventing Shelbi and Erin Barbour from participating in dual athletics, sports groups, clubs or organizations.

It also asks that the officials be found in violation of Title IX, and that the Barbours be granted monetary damages.


Now I get it: Dad gets thrown out of softball games for behaving like a jackass and wants to be compensated under Title IX...

Quote of the Day

It's useless to hold a person to anything he says
while he's in love, drunk, or running for office.



Shirley MacLean Beaty, a.k.a. Shirley MacLaine

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Quote of the Day

People discuss my art and pretend to understand
as if it were necessary to understand,
when it's simply necessary to love.



Claude Monet

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Odds-n-Ends

New Caney ISD Invite

A couple of years ago, I posted on the widening gender gap in undergrad enrollment. Travel back in time here. This morning, Elizabeth Murphy posted about the "female advantage". Read her piece on "the boy problem" here.

The working paper, which uses data from the U.S. Census and the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth, also notes a striking and substantial difference between the sexes in educational attainment, with women outpacing men in every demographic group.

If you're looking ahead to the March NISCA Conference - and who isn't? - check out the agenda here.

"Splash" continues to "slash & burn". See how easy it is to be caught in their crosshairs here. Rooting out perverts is a noble and just cause. Just don't go "Salem" on the good guys/gals, okay?




The next time someone calls football a revenue sport, ask him/her to name a dozen programs that are in the black. I'll bet they can't. Wild spending sprees have put most programs waaaaay into the red. One area they're blowing millions is on fired coaches. Read more here.

Then there are the buyouts. According to their contracts, Gill is owed about $6 million, Porter $2.25 million and Ianello $900,000. Assistants under contract could also have to be dealt with unless they are retained or find other jobs.

Todd Turner, a former athletics director who is president of Collegiate Sports Associates, a consulting and search firm, is amazed that athletics directors and presidents are willing to take on the financial burden of paying off one contract and then hop right back into a super-heated marketplace to hire a new staff.

"It takes courage and patience to do the right thing and stick by a person according to the contract you drafted," he says.

Courage and patience? Nope, I'm not going to comment on that...even though it's killing me...not gonna do it...

AAAA "C"

LSST Fall Champs

PACK Fall Champs

CFSC Fall Champs

Quote of the Day

Intelligence without ambition
is a bird without wings.



Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech,

Marquis de Púbol, a.k.a. Salvador Dali

Monday, December 05, 2011

Quote of the Day

The more you discipline yourself, the
less you will be disciplined by others.



Napoleon Hill

Sunday, December 04, 2011

Quote of the Day

What a dog I got. His favorite bone is in my arm.



Jacob Cohen, a.k.a. Rodney Dangerfield

Saturday, December 03, 2011

Quote of the Day

Two weeks, maybe three. You never
know with psychosomatic injuries.
You have to take your time with them.



Jim Palmer

Friday, December 02, 2011

Quote of the Day

I didn't say I was that smart, I said I went
to class and I enjoyed what I was doing.



Willie Howard Mays, Jr.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Delaware & Maryland

Administrators at Delaware cited potential Title IX issues when the dumped men's running programs at the school. In truth, there was no Title IX complaint against the university's athletic department.

One former Blue Hen runner expressed his outrage here.

What will happen, however, is this: the University of Delaware will never receive another check from me. Ever. Not a penny, not a dime, not $100. Nothing.

Budget cuts at Maryland mean men's head track coach Andrew Valmon is working with his last Terp track team. Valmon happens to be Team USA's head men's track coach for the 2012 London Games. Read more here.

The $9+ million price tag to save the program is well over the actual amount needed to save it.

Valmon, who took over the Maryland program eight years ago, said he remains focused on recruiting and determined to save the program through fundraising efforts. The task, however, is enormous. The men’s track and field program — which includes indoor and outdoor track and cross-country — will have to come up with close to $9.5 million, the cost of preserving it as well as tumbling, according to the university. (Because of Title IX numbers requirements, track would only be salvaged in tandem with tumbling.)

Quote of the Day

This taught me a lesson, but
I'm not quite sure what it is.



John Patrick McEnroe, Jr.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The Truth Hurts

Conservative Phyllis Schlafly doesn't mince words in her Feminists Target Boys' High School Sports post. Read it here.

Much research shows that males and females have different interest levels in sports, but the feminists claim that is “a stereotype” that can even be ruled “impermissible” under the Title IX law. Research and common sense are unlikely to deter feminist activists. They’ve made it clear time and time again that their real goal is not equal opportunities for women, but equal outcomes, regardless of whether most women desire that equal outcome or not. It is predictable that if boys sports are reduced, we will have more and more high school dropouts.

If the opportunities for females aren't available, a Title IX complaint is in order. That's what the law's all about.

If the opportunities are there - but gals aren't taking full advantage of them - proportionality is being used to reduce male participation. This misapplication of the law is being used to wipe out men's wrestling, gymnastics, swimming, and track.

Quote of the Day

The simpler I keep things, the better I play.



Nancy Marie Lopez

Monday, November 28, 2011

Quote of the Day

Well, you can't trust most people in this game,
period; it can be a very shady business.



Marvin Nathaniel "Marvelous Marvin" Hagler