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SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, June 15, 1994
11
Equality in sports writing focus of forum
Women writers share thoughts with students
By Laurie Hudson Special to the Kansan
Title IX, which sparked gender-equity in college sports in 1973, also opened the door for women to enter the profession of sports journalism, said Tracy Dodds, a panelist at the Sports Journalism Institute.
"Noman wanted to cover a woman's sport," said Dodds, sports editor of the Austin Sports American. "So newspapers started to hire women to cover women's sports."
Monday, Dodds and three other female sports journalists spoke to a group of 15 minority and female students from colleges around the country.
The students are at Stauffer-Flint Hall for two weeks for the institute
Although Title IX may have hacked a rough path, diversity in the sports departments of the country's newsrooms still has a long way to go, said Leonard Hall of the Freedom Forum. He estimated that 95 percent of today's sports journalists are white males.
which is sponsored by a $75,000 grant from the Freedom Forum, a philanthropic organization. The program includes two weeks of sports journalism skills training, one week of writing a newspaper for the annual Associated Press Sports Editors conference and a six-week internship.
makes it said encouraging minorities and women to get into sports writing would increase diversity in coverage and better reflect leadership.
Yesterday, the panelists shared the joys and frustrations of their lives as females or minorities in the profession.
Jennifer Freyer, 26, covers the Mets for the New York Times and told students about the tough time female journalists have getting into male
locker rooms, especially those of baseball teams.
Frey told one attempt to begin an interview with a player who was wearing shorts but insisted on giving her a hard time.
"He told me, 'I don't talk to women when I'naked unless they're on top of me or I'm on top of them,' she said
Betty Cuniberti, panelist and sports columnist for the Kansas City Star, said she often had to wait outside locker rooms. She said it was difficult to push for equality because some team managers would solve the inequality problem by keeping both male and female reporters out of the locker room. This made the female reporter's colleagues turn against her, she said.
Tracee Hamilton, Sunday sports editor at the Washington Post, also participated in the panel.
The panelists said that one of the hardest things was the accusations about what tricks they used to get information.
Frey said she had been falsely
accused of giving sexual favors in exchange for interviews.
Dodds said that African-American reporters sometimes are accused of having better access to talking with some athletes.
Dodds said envious reporters will say, "Well, he told him because he's a brother."
Randi Adelman, a student from American University attending the Institute, said the female panelists were her favorite part of the institute so far.
"I was very inspired," Adelman said. "I could relate more. These women gave us real-life examples."
In addition to participating in the panel discussions, the students wrote articles, attended Royals games and interviewed coaches and sports editors about experiences.
Susanne Shaw, KU professor of journalism, helped organize the two-week program. Shaw said students interested in applying for next year's forum should apply early next year.
Coach Marian Washington speaks to a group of female students during the Sports Journalism Institute at Stauffer-Flint Hall. The institute is sponsored by the Freedom Forum and will last two weeks.
James Wilcox / KANSAN
Kansan staff report
Crew club places fourth
Dave Wright, Lawrence resident, (right), coaches his friend Matt Jordan, Lawrence senior, in the art of windsurfing during "Teach a Friend to Windsurf Day" at Clinton Lake. The event, held Sunday, was sponsored by the Lawrence Windsurfing Association.
In its last race ever a club team, Kansas women's lightweight-four crew team placed fourth in the National Collegiate Rowing Championships last weekend in Cincinnati.
Shaving 20 seconds off of its personal best, the team also broke the course record by 16 seconds said Rob Caloth, club coach.
"We basically ran a very fast time that any other year would have won," Catloth said. "The competition this year was really stiff."
Catalot, who has been Kansas' women's crew coach for eight years, said the club's national placement has been a good finish for the club that will become a Kansas team sport next fall.
Junior Maggie Romens said the race had a special meaning to the team which, in its duct-taped-and-gued boat, still has gained national recognition for the Jayhawks.
Surf it. dude
"Our conditioning was definitely there, but our equipment was less than the best." Romens said.
Romens said she was impressed with the club's placement against teams that were undefeated in their regions.
Other rowers on the team included seniors Teri Staudacher and Kendra Luna, junior Rosie Kozul and freshman coxwain Melissa Liem.
The Jayhawks placed fourth after teams from Fordham University, New York City; Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Mass.; and Villanova University, Villanova, Pa. Kansas, the Midwest regional champion, was the only club team in the race.
Romens said the club would take two months off during the summer and begin practicing again in late August.
The transition to a team sport, which will include hiring a coach, will be unusual. Romens said.
"We really don't know what the future holds," she said.
Baseball strike could delay Budig's game plan
By Matt Gowen Special to the Kansan
With the possibility of a players' strike still looming on baseball's horizon, newly elected American League President Gene Budig may have to put his agenda for on-field improvement on the back burner.
the former KU chancellor, who takes over the American League Aug. 1, said during a press conference Friday that he supported the tradition of a designated hitter and hoped to curb fights and general violence during games.
But Budig may be presiding over empty fields. Major-league owners and the players' union continue to be at odds over the possibility of a salary cap.
After more than a year of failed negotiations between players and owners, the owners voted unanimously to send chief negotiator Richard Ravitch to the players yesterday in New York. He takes with him a definite labor proposal involving 50 percent revenue sharing and a salary cap.
"If we don't change the system, more and more clubs will fall into the category of have-nots," Ravitch said. "Correcting this problem now is crucial for the growth of baseball."
The players' salaries would have to be within a certain range, said Jim Small, representative for Major League Baseball.
Small said the proposal was fair, and it was up to the olavers now to decide.
"What has been presented is in the best interest of the game and for everyone involved," he said. "We can only hope now that the proposal is accepted."
vations about the plan.
But players seem to have their reser-
Union head Donald Fehr said the union needed time to evaluate the proposal, but he did say it "significantly lowers the players' percentage of the revenue" and "transfers revenue in large amounts from players to clubs."
The players' union is scheduled to meet tomorrow in Chicago to discuss the proposal.
if the players are dissatisfied with the proposal, their next meeting, now scheduled for July 11 in Pittsburgh, would likely be to set a potential strike date. July 12 is the day of the All-Star game.
In Friday's press conference, Budig said he remained optimistic about avoiding a potential strike. He voiced support for the addition of minorities and women into the game's management positions, the designated hitter tradition and the reduction of on-field violence.
Owners tried to get a salary cap in January 1990. They proposed that players receive 48 percent of the money from tickets and broadcast contracts. The proposal was withdrawn in February 1990, two days before the start of a 32-day lockout.
"This is clearly a step in the right direction; now we must await the outcome of labor-management deliberations."
"I applaud the decision of owners to move toward a revenue-sharing plan." he said.
Budig added that a strike would be beneficial to no one.
"No one wants a stop stockage," he said. "Everyone will suffer."
Kanan staff writer Angle Dasbach and the team gathered information to this story.
Rangers' triumph shatters 54-year-old Stanley Cup drought
NEW YORK — Fifty-four years of waiting, 54 years of wanting, are over. The New York Rangers are Stanley Cup champions at last!
As the tense final seconds ticked off the clock at Madison Square Garden, where the home team had never before hoisted the most famous trophy in team sports, 18,200 raucous fans released more than five decades of pent-up passion.
The Rangers capped an extraordinary championship series by beating the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 last night in Game 7.
Leetch finished the playoffs with 11 goals and 34 points, second-highest ever in both categories for a defenseman. He is the first American-born player to win the Smythe.
"It wasn't the 54 years, it was just never having been through it before. Mark kept telling me the fourth game would be toughest you'll ever have to win in your life, and it was."
The announcement that Rangers defenseman Brian Leetch won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP was barely audible over the triple-digit-decibel celebration of the end of one professional hockey's longest championship droughts.
"I'm so numb, I don't know what to say," said Messier, who was on five Stanley Cup champions at Edmonton. "This is completely different — the pressure, the magnitude of being under the microscope, erasing all the ghosts."
Messier, the team captain and one of the greatest clutch players in hockey history, kissed the trophy and held the 32-pound Stanley Cup aloft to the delight of the crowd.
Vancouver trailed three games to one before winning twice to force only the 10th Game 7 in Stanley Cup finals history. But New York, by virtue of having the league's top regular-season record, got to play Game 7 at the Garden and was determined not to become the second team ever to blow a 3-1 final lead.
SPORTS in brief
New York was in control most of the game last night but Vancouver made it close on Trevor Linden's power-play goal, his second of the night, with 15:10 to go.
But the Rangers clamped down on defense, Lafayette hit the post, Richter turned aside the Canucks' final seven shots on net and the celebration began.
O.J. Simpson questioned in murder investigation
LOS ANGELES — A blood-soaked glove reported in his home. A midnight flight to Chicago. Drops of reddish-brown liquid on his driveway. An ex-wife he once allegedly threatened to kill found stabbed to death near the body of another man.
These are a few of the elements in the killing of O.J. Simpson's former wife. But is one of America's best-loved sports stars a suspect in the slayings?
His attorney says no. Police won't say. Friends say it simply can't be true and that Simpson and his ex-wife were trying to reconcile.
And Simpson is emotionally drained, according to friends, relatives and the attorney, who met with him yesterday at his mansion.
"It's difficult enough with the shock that your wife's been murdered, but to hear that you may be accused of it, well, it's awful," attorney Howard Weltzman said.
Authorities released an autopsy report yesterday that found Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman died of multiple stab wounds, but withheld other details.
Their bloodied bodies were found about 12:10 a.m. Monday near the condo, about two miles
"We have made progress in the investigation," said Cmdr. David Gason, apolice representative. "There is no indication at this point that any arrest is imminent."
Simpson was questioned for more than three hours Monday in the slayings of Simpson, 35, his second ex-wife, and Goldman, 25, a waiter at a trend restaurant near Nicole Simpson's Brentwood condominium.
from Simpson's estate in Brentwood.
Simpson wasn't arrested or even publicly named by police as a suspect. But the Los Angeles Times cited unidentified police sources who said the retired National Football League star was under investigation.
Weitzman said police estimated the killings occurred at 11 p.m. Sunday.
Simpson reportedly flew from Los Angeles to Chicago on an 11:45 p.m. flight Sunday. The airport is about nine miles in a straight line from his home.
In Chicago, he checked into a hotel where he had made a reservation three to five days earlier. Simpson rushed home after hearing of the killings, his attorney said.
Another Chicago sports legend hangs up his hat
CHICAGO — Some of the Windy City's top sports legends have bowed out of the lightlinen in the past year with baseball great Ryne Sandberg becoming the latest addition. Fans say it's Chicago that has struck out.
Sandberg, the Chicago Cubs second baseman who enlivened many a game at Wrigley Field for 13 seasons, on Monday joined the likes of Michael Jordan, the White Sox's Carlton Fisk and the Bears' Michael Singletary and Walter Payton in retirement.
Others, such as the Bears' Richard Dent and Steve McMichael, have recently left for greener pastures. And Bears coach Mike Ditka resigned early last year after 11 seasons.
Sandberg said he was bowing out because the sport he loved so much had ceased to give him a thrill. Chicago sports fans Monday night said the 10-time All-Star did what he felt best—but he'll still be missed.
"He's the last bastion of Chicago's sports greats," lamented Dave Rosenfeld of Chicago. "it's kind of hard to see Sandberg and Jordan leave within a year."
Compiled from The Associated Press.