B-School Blues - V

Ah, the Marketing teacher just keeps getting better. This evening, a number of us were "watching" the baseball game on our computers, using the pitch-by-pitch java applets provided by either ESPN or Major League Baseball itself. (The fact that Baseball can't see clear to allow ESPN the Internet re-broadcast rights, after soaking fans for millions in stadium deals before they even pay for a ticket, well, that wouldn't have helped us during a class, anyway.) Afterwards, one of the gals on our project team asked why there weren't any women playing at the major league level. I submitted that, especially with all the weight regimens nowadays, it might have something to do with, er, physical talent.

The teacher, overhearing this, remarked that it was all because of baseball's old boys network and clubhouse. Probably something to that, but it's not the reason women aren't starting Game 1 Saturday night. I proposed that if a women's basketball team were to play a men's team, they'd be lucky to score, and then suggested that maybe that wasn't fair because height played such a big role. No, she said, the women's team would do quite well because they play a different game. Yes, I said, they play a different game because of their physical limitations. They're not as athletic in their play as the guys are. No, she said, the height didn't matter that much. In basketball.

Now, I was in a parliamentary-style debating society in school. Generally, when you got your opposition to say something like, "height doesn't matter in basketball," it was the wrestling equivalent of a 3-second pin. This is a woman who claims to watch sports. This is a woman whose powers of observation have completely surrendered to her ideology.