Granted football requires a lot of numbers in terms of student-athletes
participating. Providence does not have football, so this does not
apply. They do have a big-time basketball program which I'm sure takes
a lot of money. Remember Title IX compliance isn't just about
OPPORTUNITY, but also MONEY. You can have equal opportunies, but to
also be in compliance the money must also reflect the opportunities.
Also, Larry is also correct that women are not forbidden to play
football, even though I personally think that is a cop-out of an
argument.
I love football (second to hockey), but that doesn't mean the system
isn't grossly overflated.
Let's compare scholarships for Division I football vs. Division I
hockey (men's). A men's hockey program is allowed by NCAA rules 18
scholarships. If a team dresses 4 lines, 3 sets of defensemen and 2
goalies that is 20 players on the bench. So hypothetically, at least 2
players on EVERY Division I bench is non-scholarship (in practice this
isn't always the case because scholarships are broken up.. there are at
least 2 non-full scholarship players).
Division I-A football allows 85 scholarships (or 80?) (65 for I-AA,
where UMaine plays). If you have an offense (11), defense (11) and
even two different kick special teams (22), you still only get 44.
That means that there are over 40 players who are not starting
receiving scholarship money... full scholarship money.
Now, these numbers are not scientific and we can debate semantics in
terms of how many players you need for a football team till the sun
comes up. My point is not that we should cut football, but bring its
numbers more in line with other sports. No, that doesn't solve the
problem entirely, but then again neither does cutting the sport.
If football wasn't such a fat pig, I'd almost be in favor of ammending
the rules to allow for a bit of flexibility because it is an expensive
sport and you must have at least 50 players (compared to hockey's
25-30). But 85 scholarships is too much.
If you figure that institutions are cutting other sports to keep
football in its current state (which to me is laughable), then you must
also conclude that without Title IX women's athletics would be in
serious trouble. Title IX isn't perfect, but it's better than nothing.
Now.. back to the facemask debate.
===
Deron Treadwell - [log in to unmask]
University of Maine '98
Home of the 1993 and 1999 Ice Hockey National Champions!
ONE-TWO.. WE WANT MORE!
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