Get ready to blow out those birthday candles: June 23 will mark the 36th birthday of Title IX.
Based on the coverage of this past weekend’s NCAA men’s and women’s lacrosse tournaments, the media won’t be celebrating.
Lacrosse’s major news outlets bombed big time in giving Northwestern the proper attention it deserved.
In 1979, the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare established a three-prong test for assessing colleges’ compliance with Title IX.
Prong one: the intercollegiate-level participation opportunities for male and female students at the institution are “substantially proportionate” to their respective full-time undergraduate enrollments.
Prong two: the institution has a “history and continuing practice of program expansion” for the underrepresented sex.
Prong three: the institution is “fully and effectively” accommodating the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex.
This weekend was a strong sign that media companies have little interest in those guidelines.
The 70 individuals who gathered at Tommy Nevin’s Pub to cheer on the Wildcats solved the 21st century television quandary of inaccessible sports channels.
CBS College Sports, a five-year-old network absent from most non-satellite cable packages, carried the game. ESPN broadcasted every single NCAA tournament game for the men’s tournament.
The Web coverage was even more staggering. I signed on to ESPN.com the next morning, thinking the victory had a chance to make the main page. (Buzzer sounds.)
Next click? The ESPNU page. It had to be the lead story in college sports at least. (Buzzer sounds.)
I scanned the secondary deck, spotting a tab labeled “Women’s LAX,” with four girls celebrating, whose jerseys were unidentifiable. I clicked the story, written by “David Lomonico, ESPN.com.”
The writing was crisp. The story was accurate in profiling the efforts of Christy Finch, Hilary Bowen and others. But as I reached the bottom of the page, I learned that Lomonico was actually a senior at Loyola College (Md.).
A great opportunity for a flourishing young writer. But this was not a newspaper grappling with diminishing readership. What excuse does the Worldwide Leader in Sports have for not sending Dana O’Neil, Andy Katz or another five-star figurehead?
It’s no secret that men’s lacrosse is more popular. The last six Final Fours have been hosted by a trio of NFL stadiums: Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, and Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
While the men’s game attracts more customers, the women’s game now has the premier dynasty. Northwestern’s four straight NCAA titles is a feat that has never been accomplished by any men’s team. Johns Hopkins (1978-80) and Princeton (1996-98) are the only three-peats since the men’s tournament’s inception in 1971.
So keep reaching those new money-making heights, media institutions of the world. This women’s lacrosse program will continue to catch you napping.
