And another thing on Imus...

Don Imus has been ripped for his racist comments and has paid for it. But there is another suggestion in his comments that I haven't heard being mentioned that I also find disturbing.

Imus referred to the Tennessee team as 'cute' and the Rutgers team as, well, you know what he said. This seems to imply that Imus thinks women's athletics exists purely to be eye candy. This shows a blatant disrespect for the women on both teams, who were playing for the national championship.

Unfortunately, Imus is not alone in this opinion. There are many sports fans who were disgusted by the racist aspect of his comments, but feel the same way regarding women in athletics. Here are a few other examples of female athletes not being taken seriously:

• Anna Kournikova got attention despite never winning a tournament.
• Jennie Finch was a winner, but got much more attention for her looks.
• Some players on the LPGA feel the need to 'sell sex' to promote their tour.
• How often have you heard about Playboy offering a female athlete X dollars to pose?
• Sports news websites occasionally run lists or contests for the 'Sexiest Woman in the _______'.

Imus got what he deserved, but perhaps there are plenty of others who need to thing about how they view female athletes.

Finally, a confession of sorts: Before this situation, I had never heard of Don Imus. Maybe I've lived a sheltered life. I'm pretty sure I was happier not knowing him.

Also published at 110 Percent.

Bball3345Draft Pick

939 days ago

Score 1

Interesting point. Yeah, it probably isn't fair to the hundreds of better women tennis players that I can name Anna Kournikova and none of them. That's partly(maybe fully) ESPN's fault. I've seen way too many Kournikova highlights in my day and very few, well, good players' highlights.

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Bball3345Draft Pick

939 days ago

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In ESPN's defense, "sex sells and the whole world is buying," so I guess it's our fault too, but they could have at least tried and promoted the talent of the women.

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MECUVarsity

938 days ago

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Anna Kournikova never won, no, but she reached the semi-finals 4 times, including the 1997 Wimbledon as a single and 14 more times in doubles competition. She was also a model; how many other athletes are models? Her Win-Loss is 187-122 (.605). That's better than the Colorado Rockies over the same time-span (95-03) (or, better than the Rockies ever). So yes, never a champion, but quite competitive. It's not like she was a one-trick pony, though eventually she did give up tennis for modeling...

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Taytay 24All-American

938 days ago

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And how many other 4-time semi-finalists from ten years ago are we talking about?

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Manny StilesMajor Leaguer

939 days ago

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Dude; Jennie Finch was a VERY good softball player, she got plenty of deserved pub for that too, multiple gold medals, NCAA championships, no-hitters galore, records, etc.

Playboy has done sports coverage since the 50's and has even had pro athletes act as photographers as well as models.

News flash: Men (about half of the world's population) in general, like sports AND sex... the putting of the two together is a little penut butter/chocolatey, eh?

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Manny StilesMajor Leaguer

939 days ago

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Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova is very pissed at you...

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Taytay 24All-American

939 days ago

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I know Finch was good, but I've heard her interviewed quite a bit recently since she is one of ESPN's experts this year, and they spend just as much time talking to her about her looks, and they ALWAYS open with that.

I don't care about Playboy's sports coverage. Any time an attractive female athlete gets some media attention (or an attractive woman in politics, Hollywood, etc.), Playboy is there with an offer. It's disrespectful. 'Hey, congrats on winning. Can we see you naked now?'

I like sports and sex, too, but no, I don't think it's peanut butter and chocolate. These women are athletes: they are there to complete, not to fulfill your sexual fantasies.

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Anonymous Fanatic #1

939 days ago

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elite sports and hot sex...men always fixating on a level of performance they can't attain. But I don't mean you Manny, I'm sure you could rock Anna, Jennie, and Maria's worlds.

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Manny StilesMajor Leaguer

939 days ago

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lucky guess...

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Anonymous Fanatic #1

939 days ago

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lol!

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AlanschechVarsity

939 days ago

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Good points about the comments that others make. But, if you had never heard of Don Imus, you have to be careful if you are going to condemn a guy if you aren't aware of his entire body of work.

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Manny StilesMajor Leaguer

939 days ago

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I agree, he DOES suck.

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Taytay 24All-American

939 days ago

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Isn't this enough? It's a fireable offense. And from what I have heard in the past week, this is typical of his entire body of work.

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J CunninghamVarsity Captain

938 days ago

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In recent week, my cable provider has started carrying MASN, which Monday-Friday simulcasts The Anita Marks Show (ESPN Radio 1300 in Baltimore). Turns out, Anita Marks was a quarterback for a professional women's football league (which I didn't know existed) and posed for Playboy a few years back. Suffice it to say, if I hadn't found out about her Playboy spread (though I've still yet to see the pictures from it), I never would've known she played football or that there was a women's football league. I think that pretty much goes in line with what you were saying.

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