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You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Sunday Evening Open Thread: Sisters in Sports

Sunday Evening Open Thread: Sisters in Sports

by Anne Laurie|  July 3, 202211:29 pm| 46 Comments

This post is in: Civil Rights, Open Threads, Sports, Women's Rights

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Kelsie Whitmore always wanted to play in the major leagues. She did not always want to admit it.

“Are you sure?” people would respond after they asked what she wanted to do.

Even at an early age, she knew what they really meant: “You know you can’t do that, right?”

They would — and still do — tell her how hard she would have to work, as if a girl who played baseball with the boys from the moment she started Little League didn’t know that already. She knew they thought she probably couldn’t do it. In fairness, they had never seen anyone try.

can’t do that, right?”

They would — and still do — tell her how hard she would have to work, as if a girl who played baseball with the boys from the moment she started Little League didn’t know that already. She knew they thought she probably couldn’t do it. In fairness, they had never seen anyone try.

Whitmore was never afraid that that skepticism would make her question whether she belonged. As the first woman to start a game in the Atlantic League, an independent circuit, she had never exactly blended in. But she has stood in the same outfield as former major leaguers, tracking and catching the same flyballs. She has taken leads against former major league pitchers, inching toward second base, watching for the same tells as the guys, scoring on base hits just as they do. She has faced elite pitching and velocity, struck out, adjusted and done better next time.

She understands that it has been generations since anyone has seen a woman pull this off, that their doubt isn’t personal but empirical. So, starting young, she changed her answer.

“I just want to continue playing baseball,” she would tell anyone who asked about her hopes and dreams.

“Oh, you mean softball?” they would counter.

“That’s probably the statement I’ve probably heard most in my life,” Whitmore said. “ ‘Baseball? You mean softball?’ ”…

.@Cars_Pickett16 is the FIRST player with a limb difference to play in a USWNT game! #ThatsaW pic.twitter.com/wjlnubWfgc

— ESPN (@espn) June 29, 2022

Carson Pickett, who was born without a left hand or forearm, called her USWNT appearance Tuesday against Colombia a "dream come true."https://t.co/957pOORvMY

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 29, 2022

Japanese referee Yoshimi Yamashita is one of three women picked by FIFA to be referees at the men’s World Cup in Qatar. It’s the first time a woman will be in charge on soccer’s largest stage. She sees her job this way: Let the game shine, as it should > https://t.co/rPdP6Lb6jx pic.twitter.com/afoLXVwgaD

— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) June 27, 2022

The Washington Capitals have hired Emily Engel-Natzke as video coordinator, making her the first woman to become a full-time member of an NHL coaching staff.

Full story by @swhyno: https://t.co/0KMA6qp8QA pic.twitter.com/yo5DPfV2oY

— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) June 30, 2022

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Reader Interactions

46Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    July 3, 2022 at 7:34 pm

  2. 2.

    gene108

    July 3, 2022 at 7:42 pm

    Just wait for the punchline.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JqH2pwM8uRY

  3. 3.

    Alison Rose

    July 3, 2022 at 7:58 pm

    I love all of these stories. I just wish it weren’t 2022 and we’re still getting “the first woman to…” articles. But still awesome, and I love the picture of Pickett greeting the little kid :)

  4. 4.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 3, 2022 at 8:08 pm

    Awesome stories. Thanks AL!

  5. 5.

    zhena gogolia

    July 3, 2022 at 8:27 pm

    Where is everyone today?

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    July 3, 2022 at 8:32 pm

    ‘@zhena gogolia

    Maui.

  7. 7.

    zhena gogolia

    July 3, 2022 at 8:34 pm

    @NotMax: okay new thread. Let’s see if anyone bites.

  8. 8.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 3, 2022 at 8:37 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Fourth of July weekend?

  9. 9.

    Yutsano

    July 3, 2022 at 8:37 pm

    @Alison Rose : ​ The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990. Disabled athletes who can still compete on a national level are still looked at as oddities at best. We’re making progress and I am so grateful to that old lion Edward Kennedy for getting the ADA passed. But you’re right in that there’s so much further to go.

    It’s also why I want to get a really expensive looking car like a Mercedes. Then I get out in my wheelchair and make them wonder how I got it. It’s fun even in my current vehicle.

  10. 10.

    Geminid

    July 3, 2022 at 8:39 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Greene County, Virginia. “God’s Country!” as we say, as well as, “We’ll git ‘er done!”

  11. 11.

    zhena gogolia

    July 3, 2022 at 8:39 pm

    @O. Felix Culpa: that doesn’t usually stop BJ people from hanging out

  12. 12.

    Brachiator

    July 3, 2022 at 8:39 pm

    @Alison Rose :

    I love all of these stories. I just wish it weren’t 2022 and we’re still getting “the first woman to…” articles

    I know what you mean. Still…

    YEA!  HOORAY!

     

    @zhena gogolia:

    Where is everyone today?

    Maybe more people are making up for the pandemic and doing more travel. Also, more parties. Certainly, partying has been big with neighbors on my street.

    Also, a few more folk than usual with Uhaul vans, moving out of the area.

    I injured my knee, and for a while was too medicated to do much Internet stuff. Getting better I have been catching up with some work-related stuff. Feeling quite proud at being productive.

  13. 13.

    Brachiator

    July 3, 2022 at 8:48 pm

    @NotMax:

    Is that, here today, gone to Maui?

     

    ETA. Related, unrelated. I think I read that the Magnum PI reboot has been renewed and will be on NBC next 2 seasons. Going back to the original Hawaii 5-0, I always thought it cool that you had a string of TV shows on the islands. You had to have production facilities, crews, etc. Don’t know if it ever brought significant revenue to the state.

  14. 14.

    Steeplejack

    July 3, 2022 at 8:55 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Jeez, I dunno . . . maybe put off by the only active thread for eight hours being 280 doom-and-gloom comments on the “constitutional crisis”?

  15. 15.

    zhena gogolia

    July 3, 2022 at 9:05 pm

    @Steeplejack: I know. Way to bring me down on a gorgeous July day.

  16. 16.

    Steeplejack

    July 3, 2022 at 9:06 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Oh, it’s my fault?!

  17. 17.

    zhena gogolia

    July 3, 2022 at 9:07 pm

    @Steeplejack: No, I meant the thread! (but you knew that)

  18. 18.

    zhena gogolia

    July 3, 2022 at 9:08 pm

    @Steeplejack: We’re watching (for our sins) the remake of Father of the Bride with Andy Garcia on HBO. I like Andy Garcia, but this is not showing him to best advantage. There has been one laugh-out-loud line by Chloe Fineman so far. I will commend them for having a plot that turns on cultural differences between Cubans and Mexicans. But that’s not really enough to carry it.

  19. 19.

    Honus

    July 3, 2022 at 9:10 pm

    @Geminid: be careful, people will want you explain how we spell “Stanardsville”

  20. 20.

    Steeplejack

    July 3, 2022 at 9:17 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I’m watching A Caribbean Mystery, a Miss Marple outing from 2014 on the Brit-centric lesser PBS station. Julia McKenzie is not my favorite Marple, and of course I’ve seen it before, but it’s the best of tonight’s slim pickings, and it’s packed with faces from the usual BritBox repertory company..

    I can’t watch Endeavour because I haven’t seen the previous two episodes yet. They’re waiting for me on PBS Passport.

  21. 21.

    zhena gogolia

    July 3, 2022 at 9:19 pm

    @Steeplejack: OMG I forgot about Endeavour. It’s Sunday! I wonder if I can get it on Amazon. Last week the CPTV streaming wouldn’t work, but it was on my Amazon for some reason.

    Ah, yes, Caribbean Mystery. Poor Oliver Ford Davies.

  22. 22.

    zhena gogolia

    July 3, 2022 at 9:21 pm

    @Steeplejack: Thank you so much. Much better than Andy Garcia. (I hope.)

  23. 23.

    billcinsd

    July 3, 2022 at 9:22 pm

    Another big one — US Women win the International Cerebral Palsy Football World Cup, with a team formed in January. Several players had had strokes, one was undergoing chemotherapy for a brain tumor

    https://www.espn.com/soccer/blog-espn-fc-united/story/4691982/the-us-already-won-a-world-cup-in-2022-inside-the-brilliant-world-of-cp-soccer

  24. 24.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 3, 2022 at 9:25 pm

    Open thread? I started watching Mystery Science Theater 3000, starting with Space Mutiny (haven’t finished it yet, but plan to), and Robot Rumpus, the Gumby episode. It’s pretty funny at times, but it’s very clean humor and I don’t always understand the references in the riffs

  25. 25.

    Steeplejack

    July 3, 2022 at 9:26 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Holiday schedule muddling. All day Thursday I felt like it was Friday, or should be, and things have been vague since then. The TV schedule is a weird mix of “business as usual” on some stations and “special programming” on others. Seriously, does anyone need an Everybody Loves Raymond marathon? Rhetorical question.

  26. 26.

    zhena gogolia

    July 3, 2022 at 9:28 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Nobody understands all the references! Just go with it.

  27. 27.

    zhena gogolia

    July 3, 2022 at 9:29 pm

    @Steeplejack: I’m recovering from a hip replacement and staying home all the time, so I’m really in a total daze. Plus for some reason all our friends have showered us with food, which is nice, but it’s a little disorienting to eat other people’s cooking every night.

  28. 28.

    Steeplejack

    July 3, 2022 at 9:30 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Well, you said the first two episodes were good, so this one should be all right. I’m probably going to binge all three in the next day or two. Just renewed my annual WETA membership last night and confirmed my Passport log-in information.

  29. 29.

    Brachiator

    July 3, 2022 at 9:32 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    We’re watching (for our sins) the remake of Father of the Bride with Andy Garcia on HBO.

    This is what, the second remake?

  30. 30.

    zhena gogolia

    July 3, 2022 at 9:32 pm

    @Steeplejack: It feels like the old Endeavour. I don’t know what happened last season. They seemed to be trying to be avant-garde.

  31. 31.

    zhena gogolia

    July 3, 2022 at 9:33 pm

    @Brachiator: I think so, after Spencer Tracy and Steve Martin. I’ve never seen the Steve Martin one.

  32. 32.

    Steeplejack

    July 3, 2022 at 9:35 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    See, your normal schedule has been disrupted, which muddles things further. And the strange food, which of course you feel obligated to eat, if only to get it out of the fridge.

  33. 33.

    Geminid

    July 3, 2022 at 9:36 pm

    @Honus: It’s spelled S-t-a-n-a-r-d-s-v-i-l-l-e.

    But we pronounce it “Standardsville”! Not like those gentrified folk in Free Union.

    And we’ll git ‘er done, too!

  34. 34.

    Steeplejack

    July 3, 2022 at 9:37 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Yes, there was a dreadful Steve Martin remake, which was a milestone on his road from “edgy hipster comedian” to “the beach house isn’t going to pay for itself.”

  35. 35.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 3, 2022 at 9:39 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Good advice. I’ll try to stick with it. I found it interesting how they kept the very late 80s (and catchy!) theme song well into the late 90s during the show’s run

  36. 36.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 3, 2022 at 9:50 pm

    @Brachiator:

    @Steeplejack:

    Fun fact, the Steve Martin one actually had a sequel, Father of the Bride II

    I think Steve Martin starred in a few of those types of remakes. I remember Cheaper by the Dozen from 2003, which also had a sequel

  37. 37.

    Steeplejack

    July 3, 2022 at 9:51 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Fun fact: I know. He was also in the equally execrable Pink Panther remakes.

  38. 38.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 3, 2022 at 10:02 pm

    @Steeplejack:

    Never saw those, but they were probably terrible

  39. 39.

    Ruckus

    July 3, 2022 at 10:07 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    For 11 yrs I traveled 8-9 months a year, eating out for every meal 5-6 days a week. Eating other people’s cooking does get to be somewhat old rather soon, even if it’s great food. On the plus side I didn’t have to make my bed or wash dishes near as much…..

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    July 3, 2022 at 10:10 pm

    ‘@Brachiator
    One reviewer’s delve into compare and contrast.

    Well, of course, the story isn’t entirely timeless and universal. While each movie has the same basic premise—a man struggles with his daughter’s decision to leave the nest as well as the more concrete stresses of her wedding—each is also a clear product of its time. And watching all three movies recently, as I did, it’s clear the franchise can’t outrun our shifting mores on marriage forever. Source

  41. 41.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 3, 2022 at 10:18 pm

    @NotMax:

    Interesting read. Thanks for sharing, NotMax!

  42. 42.

    zhena gogolia

    July 3, 2022 at 10:21 pm

    @Steeplejack: Yeah! This episode is really good too.

  43. 43.

    zhena gogolia

    July 3, 2022 at 10:23 pm

    @NotMax: Ooh, thanks, I’ll read it after we’ve finished watching it.

  44. 44.

    Steeplejack

    July 3, 2022 at 10:31 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Good to hear. Maybe binge morning ahead tomorrow.

  45. 45.

    JAFD

    July 3, 2022 at 10:41 pm

    Trying to finish up project before event later this month. Then will be packing up all my stough – building’s getting renovated, new flooring, kitchen, baths for apartments – so’ll have to vacate for week in September. First world problem, but not something to be glad about – I mean, I’d be happy to stay in this place in current state until I’m carried out feet-first…
    Happy Fourth of July, fellow jackals, regardless.

  46. 46.

    Brachiator

    July 3, 2022 at 11:02 pm

    @NotMax:

     

    One reviewer’s delve into compare and contrast.

    Interesting stuff, though a bit of overkill for these light comedies.

    Their older daughter and the bride, Sofia (Adria Arjona), has been given 2022-friendly politics: She was the one to propose to her husband-to-be, and in the end of the movie, he takes her last name.

    The last name thing is not that uncommon in Hispanic marriages.

    It seems like Sofia and her fiancé would be the types to have a Zoom wedding instead of rushing things if you ask me, but the movie can’t resist tradition for too long, and things of course culminate with a ceremony.

    I don’t know. Weddings still happen. Traditions bend, but don’t break. A friend’s daughter recently got married and the story of their nuptials might make another entry in the Bride series. Because of Covid, they first got married via Zoom. But both families also wanted a traditional wedding. The groom is Indian American and the wedding was big and spectacular, with the celebration spread out over three days.

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