Did anybody see "Outside the Lines" this weekend on ESPN? They featured a story on how homophobia is affecting recruiting in women's college basketball.
I dont know if it was the same show, but i saw a snip-it of a documentary that talked about a women's basketball coach that was fired simply because she was perceived to be a lesbian...sad world we live in..sad world :(
"I wish I could lie down beside youtonight & take you in my arms." -Eleanor Roosevelt
I did see that episode of "OTL". So far this hasn't been a factor for any of the athletes I work with as they choose which instution of higher learning to attend and continue thier athletic careers.
It did seem as though the parents were the ones who were worried about it and not the players. The comment was made that parents were worried that their student athlete would be "turned" by a lesbian coach. My answer to that is there has to be something there before anyone is "turned". I think it did shed some light on a problem and it will be interesting to see the hiring trends of women's programs in the future after the whole thing with Pokey Chatman at LSU, who was replaced with Coach Van Chancellor (a man).
Reach for the moon, if you fall you'll be among the stars.
She's the opposite of the "lesbian coaches" subject matter you're describing, ostensibly, at least. She's the former PSU Women's Basketball coach who finally "resigned" in 2007, after terrorizing scores of women, both lesbian and straight, since 1980, for simply perceiving them as gay, whether they actually were or not. Evil incarnate is she.
Hearing about Rene Portland's hellish ways...I went to a basketball camp held by Penn State a few years ago. She was like a Pat Summit wannabe but not 1/10000000th as cool, haha. Anyway, yeah I remember hearing about her homophobic tendencies, and while that story was airing on ESPN I heard my dad say "Well it's about time somebody took a stand against that crap". Soooo....I left the room.
If I'm reading you correctly, that is. It read as though your father supported Portland's actions. Well, sometimes we support things when we think they have no bearing on our own family. (That's weak sounding, I know, but it can often be true, too.) Portland has disappeared since she "resigned"; there seems to be no word on where she re-located to after packing her bags of hate (self-hate?) and leaving PSU. I have a destination in mind, but it's really not for me to say. I only hope her "resignation" brought some small measure of solace to the many women she abused throughout her cruel reign.
Rene Portland is in Bloomington, IN. Her son-in-law is one of the assistant coaches for the Indiana University women's basketball team. She is at all the IU women's home games. It's pretty ironic seeing as Bloomington has a relatively large gay population!
no idea how the son-in-law feels. this is his first year on staff I think, so I don't know what impact he has had on recruiting so far. (pretty sure there are lesbians on the team) the head coach is in her second year. she seems pretty cool - has had lesbians on the coaching staff, so hopefully portland's attitude had no influence. I think the coach has had her give input this season, but not a lot of involvement.
Also, sorry, I forgot to mention that I had viewed the Outside the Lines "The Whispers" segment you mentioned. It was quite sobering; adding in the allegations of a romance with a player fueling LSU coach Pokey Chatman's resignation created quite a mixed bag of interpretations. (Some sources [albeit non-verified for credibilty] suggest "retributive" actions by assistant coach Carla Berry, allegedly a former partner of Chatman's, but others, while acknowledging this liason, still assert this alleged player-coach relationship was not an isolated incident for Chatman.) I certainly don't enough about this to even postulate an opinion, yet even the suggestion of such a power imbalance being possible between coach and player could be enough to continue these homophobic recruting practices without abatement. Another win for the "Parenting Through Fear" advocates, to be certain. Interesting—thanks for the mention of this episode.
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Lesbian coaches
I dont know if it was the same show, but i saw a snip-it of a documentary that talked about a women's basketball coach that was fired simply because she was perceived to be a lesbian...sad world we live in..sad world :(
"I wish I could lie down beside you tonight & take you in my arms." -Eleanor Roosevelt
Lesbian Coaches
I did see that episode of "OTL". So far this hasn't been a factor for any of the athletes I work with as they choose which instution of higher learning to attend and continue thier athletic careers.
It did seem as though the parents were the ones who were worried about it and not the players. The comment was made that parents were worried that their student athlete would be "turned" by a lesbian coach. My answer to that is there has to be something there before anyone is "turned". I think it did shed some light on a problem and it will be interesting to see the hiring trends of women's programs in the future after the whole thing with Pokey Chatman at LSU, who was replaced with Coach Van Chancellor (a man).
Reach for the moon, if you fall you'll be among the stars.
Did they mention Rene Portland?
I remember...
Sorry to hear this . . .
Portland
baller50, well, that's interesting . . .
IU bball
Did watch the episode