This is a political blog, so why am I writing about sports? Women’s rights are human rights and so is empowerment of women. Stars should be allowed to shine and that includes women stars. Whether in the workplace, politics or in sports. But there are forces that don’t want women to take their rightful place in the spotlight and that sure as hell includes women athletes. It’s a Culture War thing, allowing women some measure of recognition but not “too much.” Which brings me to the case of Erin Watson, aka “Field Hockey’s Michael Jordan.” The powers-that-be at USA Field Hockey REFUSE to let her merely try out to be part of our country’s Field Hockey Team at the Olympics in Paris!
As the headline of the Wall Street Journal article about this travesty says: The ‘Michael Jordan of Field Hockey Wanted to Try out for the Olympics. USA Field Hockey Said No. To which I say WTF? Really? REALLY? Did Erin Matson demand a spot on Team USA? No, just a chance to take part in a tryout for the team set to take place Sunday in Charlotte, NC a couple of hours down the interstate from Chapel Hill, NC where she’s now the head coach of the Tar Heels’ Field Hockey Team. Granted, since she’s a recent (2022) grad of UNC and surely kept in shape coaching her team to yet another national title last fall (she’s the head coach to win a Division 1 NCAA championship in any sport) it’s a safe bet she’d have proven worthy of inclusion on the Olympic Team. But as my own headline indicates the Little Tin “Gods” told her to go pound sand.
It seems their fee fees are all butt-hurt that instead of joining their training program for the past year she chose to return to her alma mater and take over for the retiring head coach she had played for. That coach by the way like Matson took over that program not long after graduating, and created a Field Hockey powerhouse. In any case, even though her own coach was, back in the day allowed to be a coach instead of taking part in the “official” training program and allowed to compete in the Olympics THIS set of powers-that-be seem to have decided Matson needed to be taught a lesson.
Again I say WTF? What the hell is wrong with these people? And why if you’re reading am I making a big deal out of this on a political blog? Allow me to explain. This is as I’ve said a culture war thing, about keeping women’s sports “in their place” and this old white guy is pissed off about it. I’m flashing back to Matson’s fellow UNC alum and soccer great Mia Hamm:
For the record, I’m old-school when it comes to sportsmanship and for me personally I don’t like how either Caitlan Clark or Angel Reese conduct themselves on the court any more than I like male athletes who openly and repeatedly taunt opponents. I also know I’m an old fart and in the minority. I should add that both of these athletes are intelligent, well spoken and classy outside of actual games. What matters is the attention they’ve brought to their sport and to women’s empowerment.
Even non-sports fans have been hearing about women’s college basketball. Last year’s NCAA title game featured not one but two generational stars, both of whom would be back at their respective schools for the 2023-24 season and my what a season it’s been. Record crowds and not just for Iowa and Caitlan Clark as she pursued the all-time scoring record. FYI she not only broke the women’s record, but Pete Maravich’s record for the men’s side. You also have Angel Reese from LSU who’s coach has (for me) too much Bobby Knight in he personality which detracted from Reese’s own stellar season. And a third, largely and undeservedly so overlooked star from UConn named Paige Beuckers. All three will make an impact when the move to the WNBA.
You know what else? On Monday night, all three were playing in the Elite Eight games for their teams to get a spot in the Final Four that will begin tonight. Two of them, Clark and Reese faced off in a rematch of last year’s title game. (this time Iowa and Clark prevailed) and UConn (although decimated by injuries this year a true title threat themselves) later out on the west coast. ABC had the rights to televise the games, which is something they’d done already for some games given the attention women’s college basketball has been getting. Instead the punted the games over to ESPN (where a huge audience of of roughly 13 million, peaking at one point at 16 million managed to tune it) which left people without cable (either because they can’t afford it or live as I did for ten years where it wasn’t available) out of luck. Instead ABC showed Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune type crap!
In other words, the attitude of let the women shine but not too much or for two long prevailed at ABC. Gotta remind these gals not to get too big for their britches I’m sure was the thinking. Now we see another sport showing the same idiotic mentality. They are making mealy-mouthed statements about wishing Matson no ill will, and being willing to “talk” to her. And Matson is politely explaining what’s really going on. From the WSJ:
A spokesperson for USA Field Hockey declined to comment on Matson’s situation other than to state: “The U.S. Women’s National Team high performance staff have previously asked Erin to meet in Charlotte and are awaiting a response.”
Matson said that the proposed Charlotte meeting wasn’t about her playing in 2024 but rather to discuss her potential involvement in the 2026 World Cup or 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“As they did not want to discuss the Paris Games, I felt it unfair to take time and attention away from a group in Charlotte that would be training and focusing on 2024,” Matson said.
The article is worth a couple of minutes of your time. It explains there is both latitude in the rules and precedent for Matson’s request to simply take part in a freaking tryout. Admittedly I’m not someone who watches Field Hockey. However, even an old fart like me knows such a sport exists and that these are tough, capable athletes and fierce competitors. The kind of women young girls can look at and think “Maybe I can be like that someday. Maybe I can do something besides find some guy, get married and tend to the house and kids. Maybe I too can be tough, competitive and fierce when I want/need to be.” And USA Field Hockey is saying to them “No, you can’t. WE will decide how much success you’re allowed to have. Or even try to have!
Once again I’m reminded of Mia Hamm, both for a wonderful reason and an infuriating one. Hamm made Nike and other sponsors a lot of money. On my short list of greatest commercials ever is one that Nike aired only briefly. Some years back I found it with great difficulty. It seemed like they wanted to bury it. I’ve looked high and low for it in the past hour and it’s nowhere to be found on the internet anymore, which in itself makes my point. However, I still remember the words she spoke as the images rolled across the screen. If not verbatim this is damned close, and you’ll see why it’s so powerful if you can call up the images of Hamm and the scenes of what she’s talking about. This is an ad women’s sports should air on a frequent basis. Except I sometimes believe network executives DON’T want to see on the air because it stings the conscience of too many people too much:
There’s a girl being born in America
Someone will tell her she’s beautiful, and someone will tell her she’s strong
Someone will tell her she’s precious, and someone will tell her she’s tough
There’s a girl being born in America
Someone will give her a doll, and someone will give her a ball
And someone will give her a chance
The boneheaded a-holes at USA Field Hockey should give Erin Matson a chance. In doing so they give all girls and women a chance. Why? Think about that, and do as I’ve done and contact USA Field Hockey if like me you think they are being stupid. Their # is 719-866-4567 and their email is [email protected]
I’ll say it again: Women’s rights are human rights. Empowering women empowers us all because the more talent we have rising the stronger we all become. We have seen generational change in opportunities for women in no small measure because of Title IX and girls seeing women athletes getting recognition. And ever so slowly proving that given a chance women could do much more than so many have believed. Yet for all that there are still those who work, hard to hold women back. The last people who should be denying a great woman a chance to shine at something she truly excels at is a group of people in charge of a WOMEN’S sport!
As a Carolina grad, it sickens me to see asshole beauracrats, who’ve never played at her level or won like she has, keep the best player in America off the team. Would they keep LeBron off the USA basketball team full of pros? Of course not. But of course this is America, where women don’t legally have the right to decide whether to risk their life having a baby, no matter if they were gang raped or they are 13 years old. Shining light on the hill? What a crock of shit.
Sad to see women’s F.H. US are such d*cks. I don’t know why but for some reason I am reminded of the corrupt FIFA organization. Probably because of the way Mia Hamm was treated? I do think that if they want to keep field hockey alive they’d damn sure stop blocking people known,and I’m sure this coach is VERY WELL known in f.h., from trying out and/or competing for the team who will compete internationally.
I wrote about keeping f.h. alive because, back before I was in high school (long time ago but post title IX) my h.s. had a field hockey team. By the time I started h.s., due to a lack of interest, it was gone. I know my sister was pissed because she loved the sport. My h.s. was not the only school to get rid of it because the entire conference and district ceased having competitions.
To my thinking it seems like the resistance to allowing women into the military academies. They were not asking for a free ride, just a chance to prove they could cut the mustard.
Where can a woman get equal pay for less work than a man?
The tennis Grand Slam tournaments.
I think the women’s soccer team should be paid MORE than men when they were trying to get a raise. Why? It was women, NOT the men that grew the game in the USA. From them, they created the “soccer mom” who helped the Democrats to win the House in 2018 and save America from the Red Tide in 2022 and hopefully save all of us in November.
Virtually everything has been back-slapping men in sports activities, it was SO MANLY to compete in ANY SPORT, to think back, (I’m going on eighty before long), I remember when the girls HAD to have certain dress codes, mid thigh skirts and non-peekable tops … Then, because of their frailty and minimum strengths, the system built a special game for them, HALF-COURT team actions, were the norm … Phytttt!!, Iowa’s and other teams, can out-run and out-shoot lots of boy’s teams …
There have been a few stars out there that have beaten on the doors of men’s teams and actually HAVE been listened to, but there is still a long way to go …
I believe that the big money people control sports because of all the promotions and ads that are too expensive to run continuous, and the new wave of attention brought to Women’s Basketball via the current tournaments and the individuals with massive talents and appeal to the crowds, especially the little girls lining up to meet and get an autograph from Caitlan Clark is markedly WONDERFUL!
The darker side of sports, involving betting on favorites to win in the NBA/WNBA arenas is beginning to hog lots of air space, colorful flashes of players two foot off the floor, slamming balls down through the net, never an enjoyable favorite of mine, because I enjoy the floor speed and actual skill of the school teams…
During last year’s meeting with LSU’s circus was the worst example of a team’s programmed fake performances to get fouls called on the Hawkeyes, as a TV viewer seeing the floor camera’s views in real time, I saw their coach signal their giant center with a pat to her elbow, immediately their center grabbed the Hawkeye center, encircling her arms so she could not move, this was in the floor cam’s view straight into Iowa’s captured center, then,
as the main camera’s view switched to the playing field, LSU’s center threw her head backward, at which time the LSU coach turned into a human helicopter, swinging her sparkling outfitted arm in a hooking pattern to indicate a false charge against Iowa’s center for an elbow hit, it was the start of the circus … LSU’s players were falling all over the court, even a double-double stunt that the announcer predicted, (How would he know what was coming?), referring to the LSU coach, “She’s going for the double-double”, their huge center had the ball, Caitlan snatched it, but with her back to the camera’s the LSU center stumbled backward with her arms thrown up, falling into another LSU team mate who was prepared to fall into the floor herself, while Caitlan stood there, holding the ball, wondering WTF happened …
I’m sorry for this rant, but LSU is famous for all the double-double’s they got in one season and it was crushing to lose a game based on false calls and the worst ever example of terrible sportsmanship and lack of true sporting tactics …
My son won a gold medal at the National Rifle Championships. We thought of having him compete for the Olympics team. But then we learned how he would have to spend at least a full summer way across the nation at this training facility, just in order to be able to ultimately try out for the team. It was ridiculous. We couldn’t afford it. He needed to work summers to help earn his upcoming college tuition. We are not rich people. The way they have it set up is that only rich people can get onto the team.
Yep. Money. Many Olympic sports don’t generate much revenue. I have to say I’ve seen little field hockey on TV and never attended a game live. It does look interesting though. Anyway even some of the revenue producing sports have these “national training programs” but like I said the bulk of Olympic sports don’t gather big crowds (either on TV or in person) and therefore money. Those who run them see the swag their counterparts in some of the big money sports get and say “I want some of that” hence these training camps/programs which of course come at a price. A hefty one for most people.
I’ve seen TV ads in the past about employers who do help a worker with leave and even with some money for travel/expenses to be able to compete for a spot on the Olympic team. However many go without any help. I’ve often wondered how many more medals the U.S. might have won over time if true support was provided early on in many competitor’s lives. A deeper talent pool means better competitors come selection time. And better competitors means more medals. Some countries long ago recognized this, and if not for all sports at least a few that are popular in their country come up with the money so that those with promise can actually give it their all.