Jenny,

Thank you for commenting. Please, if you have any thoughts on the matter, always feel free to add them to the mix. If people are offering sincere (and not abominable) opinions, I don't bite, as should be evidenced by the fact that Ann still argues with me after all these years. Some day she will see the light, but until then we argue.

I, too, was on the tall side in high school, and have powerful legs. However, I am inexplicably Earth bound and run slowly and simply cannot jump, so basketball, which is a fun game, was out of the question. I was a swimmer, a sport which will never become professional, since there is no human activity more boring to watch for a non-participant than swimming.

Ann,

I am not opposed to all professional female athletes, just the ones in contact sports. It is a degrading thing for grown women to do that for money and glory. Men are naturally rough in their contacts with one another, and contact sports cements those bonds, which are important to foster solidarity with the men who may be called upon for defense.

Men and women are equal in their dignity and personhood, but not in their roles. I have to say hearing about a woman training to be fighter pilot makes me wonder if we have not learned anything from 9/11. If we are fighting to preserve Western Civlization in its most glorious state (which is Catholic and ordered according to the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity), that is a great thing. I hope we win!

However, if, on the other hand, we are out trying to spread liberalism and endarkenment notions of false equality and the subsequent tragedies that go along with these distortions (rampant materialism and consumerism, superstition, paganism, sodomy, violence, crime), then frankly, I hope we are chastized even more, until we get it.

We should be converting the Mohammedans to the Truth, not to the "Splendors" of the market.

Dear Erik,

Thank you for so thoroughly answering my question! I played volleyball and basketball in high school, although I was never in the starting lineup on my basketball team because I was not agressive enough. I'm very tall (5'10'') so my coach wanted me to play center; however, because I was not agressive, he had me playing forward on the occasions when he actually put me in the game.

Jenny

I'm not arguing with you about the excessive attention on professional athletes because I agree. Sports is an entertainment business, and actors are also grossly overpaid. But they only make that much money because we will support them.

Sports also promote teamwork, dexterity, physical activity, self-confidence, competition, and a way to diminish stress.

I had the privilege of talking with a woman who was training to be a fighter pilot. It was only a couple months after 9/11, and she made me proud that we have people like her fighting on our side. She was passionate about flying, studied hard, and said that it was her duty to do what she could to protect our country. There are so many "men" who don't have half her balls.

Actually come to think of it, I think society would be better off with a three year moratorium on all professional athletics, then when it came back it should be completely socialized. All teams should belong to the neighborhood councils (yes, nieghborhood. I think much would be gained with a lot more teams and a lot less hype). An athlete should be a legal resident of the neighborhood for a year before being elligible to play. He should also be on active reserve in the State Militia.

For men and women, professional athletics has really gone the route of the grotesque and disordered, somewhat between (or a mixture of) false religion and prostitution. Millions of dollars to play baseball? Certainly if the sport is generating that much, the players are entitled to their share, but why does our society reward these games so much?

Ann, I am completely serious on the matter of professional athletics. I would say that $150 sports shoes is an example of the excessive attention to athletics, be it of men or women.

Basketball and all contact sports encourage aggression that is only appropriate when viewed as a development in the natural duty of men to protect the society. Anything else is an abuse that smacks of idolatry and deviation (again, I include the over-emphasis on men's professional athletics).

At the highschool level, well, both girls and boys need vigorous activity to promote healthy physical growth and bone density. I really have no problem with that. I do draw the line at football, though, which must remain an entirely male activity at all levels. That was how it was at Brookfield, and I support that strongly. The boys played football and the girls did something else, I have no idea what.

Similarly at combat, one of the grave abominations that we are commiting as a society is pushing more and more women into completely innapropriate roles. Police, soldiers, etc. are roles for men and men alone. There are really no two ways about it.

If Erik were completely serious in this post, we would not be friends. As someone who played basketball for many years, including a little in high school, I don't see what basketball has to do with combat. I would also rather have a woman who is trained in the military protect me than some man in a pair of $150 Air Jordans who thinks he's tough just because he can dribble a ball.

If Erik is only half-serious, I'm disappointed. My only disagreement with Erik is that I don't think girls' basketball is a good idea even in high school.

I wonder if no one has commented yet on this post because you've made all of your readers think you're a jerk and forced them to abandon you. However, I've known you long enough (17 years!) to know that you're only half serious.