Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

COLUMN: March misogyny
By Stephanie Eifler
Iowa State Daily (Iowa State U.)
03/23/2007

(U-WIRE) AMES, Iowa — March Madness is here and in full swing. Powerhouse Duke is out. No. 1 Ohio State beat Xavier in overtime, avoiding the upset of the season. Eleventh-seed Winthrop knocked off sixth-seed Notre Dame. No matter how hard one tries, March Madness cannot be avoided.

That is, unless you are a fan of women's basketball. In that case, good luck finding coverage on popular outlets such as ESPN.

We all know women's sports are not covered by the major stations as in depth as men's sports, especially when a men's athletic event is at the same time. However, I never understood how badly women's basketball is overshadowed by men until I attended the Big 12 Women's Basketball Championships in Oklahoma City two weeks ago.

The Big 12 is one of - if not the toughest conference in the nation in women's basketball - and the Big 12 Championships showcased some of the best college basketball of the season.

Courtney Paris of Oklahoma, arguably the best player in the country, recorded her 58th straight double-double in the championship game against Iowa State. Texas coach Jody Conradt became the second all-time winningest coach in both men's and women's collegiate basketball history with 900 wins. In the second round, Lyndsey Medders of Iowa State drained a deep fade away 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left on the clock to put the game into overtime.

Of all the highlights from the entire week, only Conradt's 900th win made Sportscenter. It got only seconds of airtime on the Top Ten.

After the first round of the women's NCAA basketball tournament, I tuned in to Sportscenter to see if coverage improved. It didn't.

Instead, more than half the show was devoted to analytical discussion of the upcoming match-ups in the men's bracket. Of what was left of the show, most was dedicated to highlight reels of the men's NCAA games and the NBA.

That left a grand total of less than five minutes to recap an exciting first day of the NCAA women's tournament.

In day one of the women's tournament, Georgia Tech's Jacqua Williams hit a running one-handed jumper with two seconds on the clock to defeat DePaul and earn Georgia Tech its first-ever NCAA tournament victory. Thirteenth-seed Marist knocked off fourth-seed Ohio State and two other upsets rocked the first round. In another game, Oklahoma freshman Jenna Plumley hit six 3-pointers while teammate Courtney Paris recorded her 59th straight double-double.

Sportscenter covered the mentioned highlights with a two to three second clip. In less than five minutes, Sportscenter covered the women's highlights, which took half the show for men.

To give ESPN some credit, many of the games in women's NCAA tournament were shown on ESPN2. But it's ESPN2. Not CBS and not ESPN.

Instead of showing the women's NCAA tournament on ESPN, ESPN decided to show the second-round of the men's NIT tournament, which is the lesser alternative to the NCAA tournament.

Collegiate women's basketball coaches and players work hard to generate excitement for the sport. Female athletes and coaches are at their finest and women's basketball is at its peak. But how is women's basketball supposed to progress and generate popularity and revenue if the nation's most popular sources of sports information won't allot time to cover it?

It is widely known that women's sports do not generate as many fans or as many profits as men's sports, but the successful women's collegiate basketball teams have an extremely strong and loyal following. The Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship game featuring Oklahoma and Iowa State was played in front of a sell-out crowd. It also drew the largest crowd in Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship history, yet it earned only enough airtime for a quick clip on ESPN.

Women's basketball is not inferior to men's; it is just covered by the national media as if it is. Because it is not as popular as men's basketball, it may not be covered as in-depth initially, but women's basketball deserves the opportunity to continue to expand its fan base.

The players and coaches are doing their part to generate excitement about the growing sport, but the nation's most popular sports media needs to do the same.

Stephanie Eifler is a junior in pre-journalism and mass communication from Carroll.

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