The Female of the Species

I once wanted to play football. Softball was irritatingly slow. I was never any good at basketball or volleyball. But I figured I could stand in a line of large people and attempt to push somebody down. Of course, women aren't allowed to play with the guys.

So imagine my surprise to learn that a woman did manage to play with the guys, but paid a horrible price for her daring. Even more surprising, to me, is that Neuheisel is involved. Yeah, New-weasel, the guy who was just fired from the University of Washington. His involvement is secondary to the story, but certainly brought it home to me.

But the sexual abuse Katie Hnida went through is not the worst of it. Claiming that he didn't know anything about the problems, the coach Gary Barnett said: "You know what guys do - they respect your ability. Katie was a girl, and not only was she a girl, she was terrible... She couldn't kick the ball through the uprights." Yeah, she's a "girl". In fact, she's the first "girl" to ever score in a I-A football game. If she couldn't kick the ball through the uprights, howcome she made 27 of 28 point afters in high school, along with 3 field goals in three attempts? And howcome she's has success at New Mexico with the Lobos? She may not be a star, but she can clearly "kick the ball through the uprights" when she isn't being hassled and groped by teammates.

And also note that Katie Hnida claimed she had complained about her mis-treatment at the hands of his players: Hnida would not say how many times she complained to Barnett about mistreatment, but said: "That was certainly not the only incident he was aware of. If he was not aware of anything else, then it's hard to imagine he was blind and deaf," Hnida said. "I never got that impression, although he and I didn't have a very open, communicating relationship like [New Mexico coach Rocky Long] and I do." In other words, the coach was well aware of the abuse, but still implied in an interview that it was OK because she was, in his opinion, a lousy kicker.

Considering all the other allegations currently being thrown at the football department in question, perhaps Colorado ought to shut down its program and clean house. At the very least, the coach ought to be fired for letting this sort of thing happen. Just my opinion, mind. I'm only a "girl".

It's all Atrios' Fault that I'm ranting about this topic.