We’re nearing the 40th anniversary of an impressive athletic feat only a few people know about.
In fact, I might be the only person involved who remembers it.
And when I say “involved,” I don’t mean that the above-mentioned feat was mine, nor my partner in crime’s that day. Even though, at 18 or 19 back then, we both were considered at the peak of whatever extremely limited athletic abilities we might have had.
So, sadly, our involvement meant that we were the Washington Generals — or worse — to the Harlem Globetrotters-like performance of two women’s college basketball players we played 2-on-2 against that fateful day at Kent State Ashtabula.
We were the underdogs, undersized at 5-foot-7, with short arms and no discernible quickness, and we gave up height and reach to our opponents, who were 6-3 and 5-10.
You see where this is going, right?
We were used to the “defense” normally played among friends — lots of open looks from the outside and little aggressiveness on the ball. Our opponents did not cooperate. They contested every shot, be it in the paint or from the perimeter, and we were slow to adjust and hesitant to play the physical style that was employed against us.
So we got smoked.
I relate that story to make the point that there are female athletes who can and will kick males’ rear ends if given the opportunity.
But that doesn’t mean that men should always compete against women — or boys against girls — just because they say that they identify as females. It’s one thing for males and females to play pick-up basketball together. There are all kinds of co-ed bowling and softball leagues and they’re successful because the competition is both friendly and designed in team formats.
But in sports involving actual high school, college and professional athletes, having biological males directly compete with biological females is generally not a favorable matchup for girls and women.
I realize that sounds like a vast understatement. A lot of you may be saying, “No, kidding!” or perhaps something similar, but peppered with words I cannot employ here. But this is a hot-button issue for some on both sides and one should be prepared for a backlash no matter which side you take.
As one of those “girl dads” we always hear about these days, I wouldn’t have wanted my daughter to have to play volleyball against biological males. Chances are, if sports operated that way when she was in high school, she and some of her teammates might have been on the bench or not even on the team at all.
How can that be fair to girls?
That said, it’s easy to understand the idea that sports should be inclusive. For example, there should be a way for everyone who wants to compete to be able to do so. Title IX made that a reality for girls and women. The Special Olympics have made it possible for generations of people to compete.
But we didn’t anticipate the next big, societal thing to come along — the evolution of people who believe they were born in the wrong body and come to identify as a gender that was not theirs at birth, and their desire to be involved in sports and compete.
At some point along the way, it was determined that males who identify as females could — and should — compete in sports against females. Common sense would tell most people what would happen next. By the time boys get to a certain age, they mostly tend to become bigger, stronger and faster than girls. Exceptions do exist — as noted previously — but in actual organized sport, it’s rare.
Men generally run faster, jump higher and have more upper-body strength. Why were we so surprised when that trend became obvious when we began to see high school boys and college-age men competing directly against females?
The answer is that we weren’t surprised. What was surprising is that so many people watched boys and men obliterate girls and women and still maintain that those who believe females are shortchanged should just shut up and go along with the farce.
Penn’s Lia Thomas was a very ordinary male college swimmer. But he became a championship-caliber swimmer right after deciding that he identified as a woman. Soon it trickled down to high school sports. Hardly a month went by without a video of some guy dominating seven girls in a track meet.
Often, it wasn’t just a regular-season event. Boys competing as girls began piling up district, regional and state championships.
A Minnesota girls softball team won a state championship this month with a biological male — who towered over teammates and opponents alike — dominating as a pitcher.
If you don’t think his longer arms and legs made a huge difference with just 43 feet separating the center of the pitching circle from home plate.
Factor in his stride and you can see why he was so effective.
But there remains the idea — primarily among those who lean left — that this is just the way things are now and we’d better learn to like it. It would be easier to accept if we saw some females identifying as males trying to compete against biological males.
But we don’t really see that, do we? It’s always men and boys wanting to compete against women and girls.
There ought to be a way to resolve this issue without effectively twisting Title IX into something it was never meant to be.
If we can order food and have it delivered in a matter of minutes and buy a new widget on Amazon and have it in hand the next day, we should be able to figure out a way for sports competition to actually be fair to everyone.
072924…R PUSKAS…Warren…07-29-24…Tribune Chronicle/Vindicator Editor Ed Puskas…by R. Michael Semple
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