Those darn women

It's easy to forget, sometimes, what it used to be like. And not all that long ago, either, in the grand flow of years.

Once upon a time, for instance, before Pat Summitt built it into a mighty athletic force and a robust draw, this was Tennessee women's basketball: A bunch of young women crammed in a van with Summitt at the wheel, sticking her head out the window every so often to stay awake on those interminable drives home.

Once upon a time, Summitt coached and drove and washed the uniforms. She got zero support from the athletic department. She had to fight for practice time.

Once upon a time, girls high school basketball in Indiana didn't even exist as a varsity sport. It was a club sport, and forget about practice time. In a lot of places, the girls weren't even allowed to sully the main gym. They practiced and played games in an auxiliary gym, stuck somewhere in an out-of-the-way corner of the school.

Once upon a time, college women field hockey players -- Division I athletes -- got chased off in the middle of games. The host school, it seems, wanted to shoot off a couple of fireworks before the football team's games. So off you go, ladies.

Oh, wait. That wasn't once upon a time.

That was Saturday.

The place was Kent State, the field  hockey teams were from Maine and Temple, and they were locked up in a dilly Saturday morning. The game was scoreless through regulation. It was scoreless through one overtime. A second overtime loomed.

And then ...

And then, Kent State officials halted the game and told the young women they had to clear out, because it was time for Real Sports. The football stadium, see, is right next to the field hockey venue. And the fire marshals wanted the space cleared before the fireworks -- even though the fireworks amounted to a couple of Silver Salutes or so, and could probably either have been foregone or postponed until later.

But, no.  Because, you know,  football.

Kent State has since apologized, but the incident remains instructive. You can pass Title IX, you can ensure women get their place in the college sports hierarchy, but you don't have to respect them. When push comes to shove -- or to a sport that pays your freight -- they still don't matter.

Commerce beats propriety every time in a corporate enterprise, which is what Division I athletics is. Surprise, surprise.

Of course, it was a tough week for women athletes in general. Out in Anchorage, Alaska, for instance, a talented high school girls swimmer was disqualified after the official in charge determined her suit wasn't sufficiently covering her buttocks.

The obvious question here is why this perv was staring at a high school girl's ass to begin with. And why this poor girl's dad/mom/other relative didn't clock said perv for doing so.

Instead, she gets body-shamed, even though she was wearing the school-issue suit. And even though, yes, swimsuits sometimes ride up on you during a swim. And, oh, the by the way, how come she -- a young woman of color -- was singled out?

Oh, wait. I think I just answered that one.

In any case ... it's hard to imagine a situation where a male swimmer would be similarly penalized, even though male swimmers' suits frequently leave little to the imagination, either. One more example of how you can change the laws of a nation, but you can't necessarily change its mindset.

Title IX?

This week, at least, call it Title Nein.