Thursday, July 21, 2011

Can they do it again?

Half of that amazing Beijing '08 free relay:

Lezak, Weber-Gale, and the rest of Team USA are in Shanghai.

Follow GWG on Twitter here.

Swimming World's coverage of World Champs is here.

Granbury's Dana Vollmer:

Official site of Shanghai World Champs is here.

For Omega's Live Timing and Results, start here.

World University Games are just around the corner. Official site is here.


San Antonio's Annie Chandler:

Playgrounds too safe? Read more here.

After observing children on playgrounds in Norway, England and Australia, Dr. Sandseter identified six categories of risky play: exploring heights, experiencing high speed, handling dangerous tools, being near dangerous elements (like water or fire), rough-and-tumble play (like wrestling), and wandering alone away from adult supervision. The most common is climbing heights.

New pools built without diving boards. Existing pools taking out diving boards. Easy to make the connection, right? Thanks for nothing, insurance companies...


Very, very big news on the Title IX front. The College Sports Council is going to bat for high school boys' sports. They are changing their name to the American Sports Council. Official site is here.

Why the change? Start here.

According to the NWLC website, the complaints are part of its new campaign, “Rally for Girls’ Sports: She’ll Win More than a Game,” to educate schools, the public and parents about the “widespread inequities their daughters face in school sports programs, and to mobilize parents to press for change.”

The NWLC preceded complaints with the OCR in recent months from an anonymous source, alleging discrimination by dozens of school districts in the states of Oregon and Washington. Similar actions have been taken in other states as well.

“When we saw the NWLC complaint (against the 12 school districts), we knew there would be a tidal wave of complaints that will overwhelm schools across the country,” Pearson said.

As organizations like the Women's Sports Foundation (WSF) and the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) make a strong push to bring proportionality to high school athletics, Eric McErlain and Co. realized that we need strong advocates to "push back".

WASHINGTON, D.C. – July 21, 2011 – The American Sports Council (ASC) filed suit against the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) today, alleging that the use of gender quotas to enforce Title IX in high school athletic programs is unconstitutional because it violates the Equal Protection Clause. Attorneys at the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of the ASC. The suit is entitled, American Sports Council vs. Department of Education.

In recent months, quota activists have been intimidating high school districts with charges that they are in violation of Title IX simply on the basis of the gender balance in their athletic departments. “Not only is this interpretation not supported by law, it has the potential of destroying much of what is so good about the uniquely American athletic system — one that produces the world’s best scholar-athletes,” said ASC Chairman, Eric Pearson. “This pattern of legal intimidation needs to stop.”

Nationwide, there are currently 1.3 million more boys participating in high school sports than girls. Using a gender quota to enforce Title IX in high school sports would put those boys athletes at risk of losing their opportunity to play.

Don't say you weren't warned. Many of us have predicted that gender quotas could be imposed on high school athletic departments.

Gender Quotas + Budget Cuts + Title IX Lawyers = Fewer Male Opportunities

Ready for roster caps, guys?

From Pacific Legal Foundation:

Okay, this will interest at least a few of you down in Austin. Your little fish is between prelims and finals. You've already gotten in your swim over at Deep Eddy. You'd like to relax, but all you can think of is what you must be missing out on in San Diego, right? Never fear! You can keep up with Comic-Con 2011 here. Oh yeah, real time TAGS results are here.


The NCAA is changing to a no-recall false start rule. They will also allow the use of track-style starting blocks. Read more here.

Can't get enough NCAA news? New president Mark Emmert has invited a bunch of heavy hitters to an August retreat in Indy. The list is here. Good news: Nancy, Billie Jean, and Donna didn't get invites. Bad news: Neither did Bob Groseth...

Latest issue of Champion is here.

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