Texas Swimming: April 2008

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

A day without fishing is called...

...prom!

Quote of the Day (thanks MS)

Motivation is everything. You can do the work of

two people, but you can't be two people. Instead,

you have to inspire the next guy down the line

and get him to inspire his people.

Lee Iacocca

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Quote of the Day

An expert is a person who has made all the

mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.

Niels Henrik David Bohr

Monday, April 28, 2008

Quote of the Day

No man will make a great leader who wants to

do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it.

Andrew Carnegie

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Quote of the Day

The chains of habit are too weak to be felt

until they are too strong to be broken.

Dr. Samuel Johnson

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Guys, get to know a feminist named Christina Hoff Sommers.

Don't worry, she's not the Donna "Tornado" Lopiano type.

Sommers is one of those normal feminists (the kind that simply want equality) that points out the harm radical feminists (the kind taking revenge on their evil male oppressors) have done.

She wrote The War Against Boys in 2001. You can get the book on Amazon here.

I remember reading about it while I worked in administration. She pointed out the very things that I was seeing first-hand on my 4th/5th grade campus.

You can read an article by the same title from the May 2000 Atlantic Monthly here.

She probably has to don a Kevlar vest whenever she attends conferences.

We've all seen what the radicals have done to athletics. If you're a regular reader, you know their next target is engineering.

Remember New Application for Title IX back in March?

Sommers had just written Why Can't a Woman be More Like a Man? Yes, I joked that she should have paid more attention in high school health class. Sorry, but it was a line I just couldn't pass up.

Her latest article warns that applying Title IX to engineering (in the same way it's been applied to athletics) would be disastrous.

The Gender-Equity Hammer Comes Out

Title IX at the door

Women have surpassed men in most areas of education, but men continue to be more numerous in fields like math, physics, and engineering. For more than a decade, feminist groups have been lobbying Congress to address the problem of gender “injustice” in the laboratory. Their efforts are finally bearing fruit. Federal agencies are now poised to begin aggressive gender-equity reviews of math, science, and engineering programs. Groups like the National Organization for Women must be celebrating — but American scientists should brace themselves for the destructive tsunami headed their way.

Read the entire article here.

Title IX Used Against...Young Women?

What a mess Title IX has turned into!

It was originally supposed to allow for equal opportunities. Things like comparable sports offerings, facilities, equipment, coaching, etc. are what it should be all about.

Instead, it's been used in all sorts of ways that were never intended.

The dad of a girl in Nevada is using Title IX so his little baby won't have to choose between two sports.

Nevada doesn't have a true state championship in girls' soccer. That's because different parts of the state have their soccer season's at different times of the year. They've been trying to remedy that situation by moving the entire state to a fall soccer season.

Eric Johnson is trying to block the move, citing Title IX. It seems that his daughter, Emma, wants to play both volleyball and soccer. Moving soccer to the fall would mean she'd have to make a choice between the two.

Emma Johnson participated in soccer and volleyball as a freshman this school year but would have to choose between the two sports if soccer were moved to the fall.

If girls soccer moved to the fall, the only sports available to girls during the winter season would be basketball and bowling. Boys would have basketball, bowling and wrestling, and the Johnsons claimed that would violate Title IX.

Read more here.

What about all the young ladies who want a state soccer tournament? I'd be willing to bet that many of them aren't all that happy with what Title IX has become...

Quote of the Day

If you begin by saying, "Thou shalt not lie,"

there is no longer any possibility of political action.

Jean-Paul Sartre

Friday, April 25, 2008

Quote of the Day

He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves,

and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

Edmund Burke

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Quote of the Day

The first duty of society is to give each of its

members the possibility of fulfilling his destiny.

When it becomes incapable of performing

this duty it must be transformed.

Alexis Carrel

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Quote of the Day

A desk is a dangerous place

from which to view the world.

David John Moore Cornwell (a.k.a. John le Carré)

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Quote of the Day

There are two educations. One should teach us

how to make a living and the other how to live.

John Adams

Monday, April 21, 2008

Quote of the Day

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

Derek Bok

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Bottom Line: Title IX Quotas are BAD!!

Quote of the Day

It is difficult to say what is impossible,

for the dream of yesterday is the hope

of today and the reality of tomorrow.

Dr. Robert H. Goddard

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Quote of the Day

In order to become the master,

the politician poses as the servant.

Charles De Gaulle

Friday, April 18, 2008

Quote of the Day

In order to be irreplaceable

one must always be different.

Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Quote of the Day

Ambition drove many men to become false;

to have one thought locked in the breast,

another ready on the tongue.

Sallust

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Quote of the Day (thanks MS)

Hard work spotlights the character of people:

some turn up their sleeves, some turn up

their noses, and some don't turn up at all."

Sam Ewing

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Title IX Rant: The way you like it - all over the map!

Title IX activist Janet Judge "helped" URI with their decision on cutting men's swimming.

Many of these activists aren't concerned with equal opportunities, which is what Title IX is supposed to be all about. Instead, they use Title IX as a weapon in their bid for revenge.

Check out this interview and see what I mean. She was wronged in Little League baseball and junior high cross country. Now she's helping the feminists turn the tables on the males.

I wonder if Janet would feel the same if her children were boys who wanted to swim or rassle in college...

Read an article from 2003 on NOW's site featuring comments from Judge, Donna Lopiano, and others here.

A pal asked me in an e-mail what I think will happen when the pendulum swings back the other way. In other words, what will we hear from these same activists when (not if) the current undergraduate gender imbalance (substantially more women than men) evens out.

How will they deal with having women's sports cut?

What happens when their quota system begins to work against them?

We've already seen what they'll do. They'll scream bloody murder!

Back on January 30, I posted on the University of Cincinnati vs. the Title IX activists. The university dropped women's crew to club status. Read about it here.