Louisville Mojo: Is football for girls?

Moore High School Student Angie Embry is living her dream, playing high school football at the varsity level. She's won the respect of her coach and her teammates. She's got her own dressing area and has started every game this year.

The fact that this is such a non-issue for everyone that the CJ is only now writing about it, after the end of the regular season, surely says something hopeful about the state of things in our country.

More and more, we can hope, people will just be allowed to be themselves, with little regard to others' ideas of what they should or could want to be.

My enthusiasm for the story is tempered just a bit, however, by the mounting evidence that football causes permanent brain damage. Congress is looking into the matter. As well they should.

It's not that I think it's worse for a girl to have brain damage than a boy, I just can't be too enthusiastic about ANYONE playing football.

I concede it's easy for me to say that, since there is little I enjoy about the football culture.

When I lived in Green Bay, Wis., I casually noted during a conversation about a sales tax to build millionaires a new stadium that I generally opposed sales taxes, because they're so regressive. The response -- I kid you not -- was: "I guess you just have to decide if you care more about your principles or the Packers."

Hmmmm. Tough decision.

But apparently it would have been for the guy that threw that line at me. I don't get that. And I don't get why anyone would care if Brett Favre went to play for the other team. Isn't it his life? Should he really go home and sit on the sofa for the rest of it out of loyalty to a town that was never, really, his.

I know that the prosecution of Pleasure Ridge Park Coach Jason Stinson in the death of Max Gilpin is a hot-button issue for a lot of people.

The jury found him innocent of a crime and I rarely quibble with juries. But if you want to know why I dislike football, all you have to do is listen to him and his defenders as they talk with absolute conviction about how perfectly right his decisions were that day.

Really? No regrets?

You don't wish he would have stopped practice when one of his players was fighting for his life on the sidelines? Don't wish, in retrospect, that someone would have called 911 sooner? Don't think, with hindsight, that telling players they're going to keep running until someone drops out might be a little tacky?

Well, that was all kind of downer, wasn't it?

I didn't mean to rain on Angie Embry's parade. I am honestly happy that her gender has not stopped her from doing something she wanted to do. And I am thrilled that the guys on the team have accepted her.

I just wish that she, and her teammates, wanted to do something different. I guess I'd answer my headline with another question: Is football for anyone?

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Rick Redding wed nov 04 2009 at 12:23 pm ·


	How can you not like Football? That's so un-American. Speaking of gender surprises, did you know there's now a guy who's a member of the Ladybirds dance team?

Right_in_KY wed nov 04 2009 at 12:59 pm ·


	Is football for girls? I know a lot of girls who like watching football. Is it a game they are going to excel at as players? NO. Hats off to this girl for working hard and toughing it out - but she's a decent player on a no-so decent team which has won only three games all year - one of them by forfiet and she's on a team that's very thin - only 27 members according to their KHSAA roster. That's not to take away from what she's accomplished - but stories like this always amuse me because of people use them to attempt to use it as evidence of the equality of the sexes. I'll stop now before I get accused of something. lol

WebyVonMotorhead wed nov 04 2009 at 1:27 pm ·


	who cares

rob wed nov 04 2009 at 1:28 pm ·


	Despite what Mojo Fun Sack is about to say, football causes brain damage.

Mixed Mojo wed nov 04 2009 at 1:36 pm ·


	football doesn't cause brain damage, concussions do. The crime is that the NFL who build its brand on the brains of its old school players who didn't know better than to play through head injuries and are now suffering the consequences, won't pay out much if any money to pay for their troubles. As for little kids and teenagers playing football, the game at that level is way slower and the people way smaller. The slower part is most important because the faster something is moving affects the force with which it hits something exponentially more. At the NFL level those dudes are bigger sure but they are all WAY faster. They are all freaks. FREAKS. I don't know why more of those dudes don't die.

Beverly Bartlett wed nov 04 2009 at 1:39 pm ·


	Right in Kentucky, that's all fair enough except I take exception to the idea that people will use this as evidence of the equality of the sexes. I think most people, thankfully, don't need evidence of the equality of the sexes and even if they did would not base it who can run knock over high school boys or throw a ball past them. Because if that's your measurement of people, then most women AND most men would not measure up to much.

Mixed Mojo wed nov 04 2009 at 1:53 pm ·


	...and Jason Stinson clearly fucked up. Anytime a kid dies, someone fucked up. Period. But did he fuck up on a criminal level? I guess not. He's free. Max's death will be a lesson, though, for future coaches, parents and the doctors who dole out the speed to kids...so we have that going for us.

Beverly Bartlett wed nov 04 2009 at 2:22 pm ·


	I'm, obviously, not a doctor, but I can buy your argument, Prize Wagon, that younger versions of the sport may be less dangerous. (Though still dangerous.) But I guess my larger issue here is that if schools are going to spend a ton of time, energy and money teaching and promoting an athletic endeavor why not focus more on ones that actually promote lifelong health -- like running and basketball and even bowling. You know, activities that people can use throughout their lives to bee active and healthy. But I appreciate your comments, and especially those about Stinson. I am sure there were people who were too quick to condemn him, but there were also people who were too quick to defend him. There's a larger gray area, it seems to me.

Right_in_KY wed nov 04 2009 at 2:33 pm ·


	Beverly - sports has nothing to do with my measurement of people. But it does provide evidence that there are different strengths and weaknesses of the genders. Does that make them unequal? No. Does it mean one is superior and the other inferior? No - it simply suggests that there are natural roles that they're designed for. As for football safety - I predict that there will be an on-field fatality in the next five years at the college-pro level resulting - not from heat or heart ailment - but directly from a colission. Players are gettign so big and fast, it's bound to happen, and tackling is a skill that has been lost. You don't see as many 'grab the ballcarrier at the legs' tackles anymore, but rather players seem intent on the big blow - the kind that makes the highlight reels - and those are the ones that too frequently result in concusions, paralysis, and before long - death. I love the game, but on all levels, there needs to be a crack down on these kinds of hits.

VeggieMomster wed nov 04 2009 at 2:57 pm ·


	As a woman who's played roller derby, I can assure those who believe women have a softer place in sports (right_in_ky!) that women can be aggressive, strong, and can indeed handle football. Football does cause injuries that can lead to brain damage. But, part of joining any sport or activity, there's a matter of informed consent. There's risk in everything. Even getting into our cars is a risky behavior. But, should risk stop us from living? Should risk stop a woman from playing rough? Of course not. As far as coach Stinson. Ugh. When are we going to stop treating high school football players like soldiers at war, and start treating them like the 17-year-old KIDS they are. Give the boys (and GIRLS) a drink of water!

Aims da Lez wed nov 04 2009 at 3:04 pm ·


	As far as stinson goes, I am absolutely positive he wasn't trying to kill the boys. So why would I condemn him. Yes he should have given them water, but also the parents should have known about speed causing health problems. I'm sure the guilt he lives with for the rest of his life is punishment enough. I get what your saying about boys and girls having different roles, but that doesn't mean that you can't intermingle. as a member of the gay community I can assure you I know a few girls that could out tackle just about any guy I know. so it isn't always true about boys being stronger, or girls being smarter. as with any rule there is always an exception.

VeggieMomster wed nov 04 2009 at 3:55 pm ·


	Any player is only as good as the team. A great team can make a great player, male or female. Funny, no one would say that a boy is good only because he's on a crappy team. Why would anyone say that about a girl?

amyg wed nov 04 2009 at 6:08 pm ·


	I LOVE football...especially Auburn football (but not so much this year). I also love Helen Hunt as The Football Princess circa 1983...remember? Best TV movie ever that year. What makes me sick to my stomach about football (besides losing to Bama) are non-compassionate coaches like Stinson who obviously believe that saying "I'm so sorry your son lost his life while on my watch" makes him guilty of a crime. As a parent, the guy's response to the entire situation was sickening, and personally, I don't think he should be allowed to coach again. And while I'm on the subject of things that turn my stomach...I'm with you right_in_KY, football isn't for girls in the same way that closed-minded, veiled misogynistic commentaries are all boys like you can make. (i'd have typed that last paragraph in sardonic font, but couldn't find the option)

amyg wed nov 04 2009 at 6:26 pm ·


	Beverly...here's what I wrote about Stinson after his appearance on the morning show circuit (I think he and his lawyer showed up on Good Morning America) http://amywroteit.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/is-anyone-else-listening-to-this-guy/

Beverly Bartlett wed nov 04 2009 at 9:30 pm ·


	Right in Ky, I really appreciate your perspective on the hits. That's really interesting. I hope there is a crackdown on that kind of thing. On a related front, I was having a conversation with someone about the little "controversy" over Obama's basketball game. The person I was talking to said, well of course he's going to have guys play, they're bigger stronger and faster. This is my take on that: Sure, on average. But if you're selecting a basketball team from a typical office, there's a good chance that the guys aren't the best players. To visualize a (admittedly) fictional office that many of us will know, consider the workers in THE OFFICE on tv. Who would be a better basketball player? Pam? Or Kevin? Angela or Stanley? Anyway, I really like your column AmyG. That was the sort of thing that I thought needed to be said during that whole event and just wasn't -- or at least not enough. Even if you're not criminally responsible, most decent people would feel a good deal of regret about the situation. Maybe he does. Surely he does. But while admittedly, I've not read every last word the man said, the comments I have seen don't indicate that.

Nick87 thu nov 05 2009 at 11:56 am ·


	If a girl can make it through tryouts, make the finial cut, and passes the required phisical, I see no reason why she shouldn't be able to play. But on the other hand, things shouldn't get to the point where a girl can say, "they wouldn't let me play cuz i'm a girl". I had a friend on the high school wrestling team and was pretty good that came up against a girl and thought "oh shes a girl, ill take it easy on her" and she creamed his A**. And he wasn't afraid to admit it either. And she wasn't a really big girl either, she was adverage. She was just that good. I grew up in the country around girls that grew up throwing hay after school. Girls can be just as tough as guys, even if they arn't build the same way that we are.

William Hundley #304295 thu nov 05 2009 at 2:13 pm ·


	living her dream of what being a man?? lol and shes probably just a kicker which isnt being a football player!!

rob thu nov 05 2009 at 2:48 pm ·


	Is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking? NEKKID JELL-O FOOTBALL!

VeggieMomster thu nov 05 2009 at 6:11 pm ·


	Last I checked, Football required not a phallus, but heart, desire, and athleticism, all things women DO possess. Penis envy? No. How about love for the game? It IS just a game, boys.

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