Girl kicked off boys team
 

What do you think? Fair or not fair? Remember - the facility is a private gym.

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/ore...210.xml&coll=7

Not sure about fair, but it seems stupid to me. They're within their rights, and if the parents who support the league want it that way....

Doesn't mean they're less than stupid, but....

These boys will be competing against women for jobs when they get older, they need to learn now it's okay to compete normally. Sounds like the parents are making excuses for their kids' inability to compete with her.

Fair or unfair? Who's to say, hopefully the valuable lesson she will learn at this young age is... life is not always fair!
This could be a huge motivating factor for her to succeed as well.

Remember the old fashion saying:
If you can't beat 'em, kick 'em out!

Mark - how come all these things happen in Oregon? Is it the water (rain)? Or is that you guys have a newspaper that goes out and covers it and its out here too and we just don't hear about it? ;)

Actually, this is a good observation on the state of news here. Having a background in the news business (former radio news director) and having grown up in and worked in a much larger market (Chicago), I have a perspective on the news industry here. The word I would use to describe it is "provincial". Since not much goes on (relative to larger markets) but the "natives" imagine Portland as a large market, the news media "inflates" stories that would either be "back page" or not reported at all in true large markets.

I'm not sure I got that point across so that you guys understand what I'm trying to convey, but I hope it comes across not as a put-down of my "adopted" state but just as an objective assessment of overly emphasized news coverage.

BTW - I don't think this is specific to Portland. I have witnessed it as I have visited many other "medium sized" markets.

Yup. You nailed PDX media. Not that ORD is much better.
Try smaller markets where fully 50% of the TV newscast is ripped straight from the morning paper. I've never found that class in the J-school catalogs: "Lazy reporting rip-offs and how to make your day easier."

Sensitive Issue
 

You know guys, I sense there might be a lot of people who are afraid to take this topic on.

So point blank, here is what I think: GIRLS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO PLAY WITH BOYS.

Where and when do we draw the line. 14-15-16 years old? based on skill level, who judges that? Based on the sport? Should they be allowed to play rugby or wrestle with the boys? Too many factors. So ok, we say let's use our common sense, c'mon now, we have all been out there and seen coaches, players, parents, and even us referees, sensibility is not part of our repertoire (as a general public that is).

If it gets rough, she fouls someone hard, he will be teased mercilessly, and/or then he returns the favor and she gets hurt, everyone will look at him like he is a horrible kid for fouling a girl. It's lose-lose. Not to mention everyone will get sued for allowing it to happen, and then we would be reading a different article. I'm sure this would not happen at the 12 year old level, but like I said, why go down that road and when/where do we draw the line.

The rule is there for a reason. Leave it be.

If there is a girl's team available she should be playing on that team. I do not know if they would allow a boy to play against the girls either if that situation was possible. Fair or not really should not be the issue. Would everyone be happy if the girls played against the boys all the time? And when she gets to high school I do not see her playing against the boys then.

It sounds like the outrage is misdirected.

Peace

Good insight here
 

Some outsider thoughts:


http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...7132841AAkHaOV

It made CNN
 

It made CNN

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/...boys.team.koin

I'm not sure where and when to draw the line either........I am asst coach of a 14/15 baseball team that has a female player as do most teams in the league. She's as good if not better than half the males in the league and there are absolutely no issues.

But, as JRut points out there are not enough females to makeup softball teams and this is their only option for now, and has been for many yrs in our area.

Without taking up any issues having to do with "political correctness", I think a line could be drawn at contact. If it's a contact sport (and there's plenty of contact in basketball), maybe you could make the case for separate teams. Baseball, which is a non-contact sport (despite some close plays at the plate) could be mixed, as could tennis, golf, bowling, swimming, track, etc.

Let's face it, would anyone out there support co-ed ice hockey? Come to think of it, there was this one girl in my high school who, er, never mind.

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Complex Issues ...
 

What if some 6 foot, 12 year old boys wanted to play in a girl's league?

In some parts of the country, high schools are having problems with boys playing on girls field hockey teams. Since most high schools don't field boys field hockey teams, the courts, probably using Title IX, are ruling in favor of these boys, and state field hockey championships are being won by teams with several, big, tall, strong, muscular, fast, testosterone fueled, teenage boys.

Here in Connecticut we have had girls playing high school football, and participating in high school (boys) wrestling. We are also having gender problems with high school swimming teams, the boys teams and girls teams swim in two different seasons, and some swimmers want to compete in both seasons to have a better chance at getting college scholarships.

As the father of three athletes, two daughters, one son, all having participated in both high school, and college sports, I love Title IX. But when this law forces some colleges to drop baseball (Providence), mens gymnastics, mens wrestling, or other mens sports so that equal funding is given to both men and women, I begin to wonder, especially after considering some of the points made in this thread.

Complex issue. I don't believe that there are any easy answers, at least I don't have any.

Without commenting on title IX, I added a major school from a BCS conference to your mix.