The dark side of women's recruiting
- Thread starter CyclonePower88
- Start date
I agree with this completely. Honestly it is sad that some groups have hijacked the meaning of the phrase "family values" in to a phrase that denotes discrimination or hate.
I respect your coach but if he is talking about a married head coach and straight assistants, thats wrong. A fallacy of your statement is you seem to assume that a gay coach will take advantage of a player. While that might happen, I think its more likely that a straight coach will take advantage of a player.
I respect your coach a lot and do not think he does but if he is talking about a married head coach and straight assistants, thats wrong. A fallacy of your statement is you seem to assume that a gay coach will take advantage of a player. While that might happen, I think its more likely that a straight coach will take advantage of a player.
I think this is an interesting premise for a story. Honestly, to really cover it you would need a series of article to cover each facet. Was it about discrimination or negative recruiting? I don't think it really did justice to either. I like ESPN because it is informative and fun, but I think they are a little out of their depth trying to tackle societal issues like discrimination. Leave it to The Economist, Time, Newsweek, NY Times, The Atlantic, Harpers, and the big boys that are used to handling tough issues.
Is this a joke? I'd take a sports writer talking about these social issues over the elite writers from those publications. Coaches and Athletes are way ahead of any of us when it comes to understanding diversity...
That is your preference and that is fine. But it's no joke that an issue like this has to be covered in a manner that shows both sides of the issue and when you are going to make accusations and innuendo it has to be put through a very fine filter to ensure the info is accurate.
No doubt that Coaches and Athletes are ahead of us, and deserve to be portrayed that way. I didn't major in Journalism, but they deserve a higher standard than what I believe was shown in this article.
I can see and understand your point too.
And things go back to who said what and the context. Some posters here are spot on saying some groups have hijacked the "family values" to replace the "homophobic" term.
Agree. A similar hit piece was done on Robin Pingeton soon after she went to Missouri.
I have several gay friends who agree it is not automatically discriminatory nor hateful to disagree with homosexuality.
But this should never be used as a club in recruiting. It is no different/worse than the sins of the straight coaches out there. I do think parents of recruits are perfectly within their rights to seek a Christian atmosphere for their kids, if that is their desire.
As a father of a little girl, I'd love for her to someday be able to go to ISU and play for Coach Fennelly (although he'd be in his mid-sixties by then--ouch), because you can tell his program is like a family. He's by nature a kind-hearted person, and you don't have to worry about your child being a pawn in some coaches' political agendas.
Making the familial aspect of the program a centerpiece of recruiting is not sinister, despite what those at ESPN and some in the sport of women's basketball (especially those with agendas and axes to grind) will tell you.
I suppose not, but what does that even have to do with the topic being discussed?
The nation and NCAA women's basketball have a long way to go on lesbian inclusion, though things keep improving year to year. In 20 years things will have improved to a point where people will wonder why it was a struggle. My biggest issue with NCAA women's basketball coaches, players and athletic department staffs is the odd refusal to use the term "lesbian" or "gay" when talking about diversity. If no one truly cares about a person's orientation, then SAY the word and talk about how gay basketball players and gay coaches are welcome in the game, are valued and the sport is better for it.
To refuse to say gay or lesbian implies that it is a bad thing to be gay.
I have followed ISU women's basketball since I was a kid and will always be a fan. I think Coach Fennelly has done wonderful things for the program and I think this is a "learning moment" and gives the opportunity for the whole program to move forward and be more inclusive. Say you are family-oriented, that's great. But then add: "Yes, we are a family-oriented program and by that it means we really care about one another. We consider ourselves to be an inclusive family and we want to make it clear that we value gay players and staffers."
To refuse to say gay or lesbian implies that it is a bad thing to be gay.
I have followed ISU women's basketball since I was a kid and will always be a fan. I think Coach Fennelly has done wonderful things for the program and I think this is a "learning moment" and gives the opportunity for the whole program to move forward and be more inclusive. Say you are family-oriented, that's great. But then add: "Yes, we are a family-oriented program and by that it means we really care about one another. We consider ourselves to be an inclusive family and we want to make it clear that we value gay players and staffers."
I really doubt BF ever mentioned the sexuality of any of his coaches during recruiting. The writer really seemed to just be putting words in his mouth and jumping to conclusions. Even the quotes from the former player, seem to be taken really out of context. If you specifically go looking for "code words" in everybody's answers, you're going to find them, whether they're really there or not. Of course she was told to push the family angle. That team spends a lot of time together off the court and that's going to be appealling to a lot of girls, as opposed to Baylor's "just show up for practice and I don't really give a **** what you do with the rest of your time" approach. That's not homophobic.
I also think it's curious that the two coaches she mainly casts suspicion on are two of the most high-profile male WBB coaches. Clear agenda, ******* ridiculous.
Especially with her whole "Men stole WBB from women after there was money in it"-tangent in the middle of the article.
