Your Local Sports Coverage

Every now and then, just for spits and grins, I'll open up a major metropolitan newspaper and see if I can find coverage of women's athletics. I got into it after they stopped printing those "Where's Waldo" books. The name of the paper in question is withheld, as all parties are innocent until proven guilty.

Page 1: Nothing at all. Essentially, there was a human interest story on Paul Johnson, the coach of Georgia Tech. (Did you know he played golf in Scotland this summer?) There was also a report about football camp...high school football camp. The only mention of women in any way, shape or form was a comment that Phil Mickelson was coming back to the PGA tour after taking some time off to be with his wife and mother as they fought breast cancer.

Page 2: Michael Phelps. Some hype about an upcoming Marlins game. (Ever notice women's sports never get hyped? Hmmm.) GM is going to end its Buick Open golf deal. A completely woman-free page two.

Page 3: Baseball standings. The ancient Randy Johnson tore his shoulder. I remember reading somewhere that if men were judged by their appearance in the exact same way women are judged in the WNBA for it, Randy Johnson would never have been allowed to leave his house, much less attend a major league baseball game.

Page 4: Four columns above the fold about Brett Favre not playing football. More about on-line clinics for high school coaches and officials and a continuation of the high school article from the front page. In the first four pages of the sports section, there have been a grand total of two mentions of women, and they weren't even athletes.

Page 5: The penultimate page, where you throw in all the crap that didn't fit in anywhere else. In the "Etc." section of "Briefly", the results of the Zvonareva-Koryttseva match and the Schnyder-De Los Rios match in the Istanbul Cup in tennis are mentioned. See if you can say those names three times fast.

In the eyestrain type, a few women got hired for some college spots, like Samantha Huge being named the senior AD at Delaware - and at Point Park University, Katie Mahall was named volunteer assistant softball coach!

The WNBA standings were listed. No boxscores of the previous night's games. The only mention at all of a game tomorrow night is a brief, "Phoenix at Atlanta, 7:30 pm." At least they put Atlanta in bold.

Results from the WTA tour are listed under the "Tennis" section. In the bottom right hand corner - a list of LPGA money leaders.

Page 6: An advertisement for Fry's. Remember who is paying for your sports coverage, folks.