TWICC: The NCAA
I feel like a lot of things that get “cancelled” these days can be fairly subjective. But if you watch the video above and aren’t instantly pissed, we are going to have a problem.
The NCAA is in the middle of March Madness, the biggest event of the year in both men’s and women’s college basketball. All of the players are in a quarantine bubble for three weeks in order to keep everyone involved in the tournament safe. The men’s teams were provided with a full-service weight room with plenty of equipment. The women’s teams were provided with a SINGLE rack of dumbbells and a stack of yoga mats.
The issue was originally brought to light due to an Instagram post by Ali Kershner, Standford University’s sports performance coach. Following the backlash, the NCAA Women’s Basketball Vice President Lynn Holzman released the following statement, blaming the disparities on “limited space.”
The video from Sedona Prince, a forward from the University of Oregon, proved this to be bullshit.
After facing backlash on Friday, the NCAA revealed the updated women’s weight room on Saturday morning. The NCAA claims that the women’s weight room was always intended to be upgraded, beginning with the third round teams. Alternatively, the men’s weight room was available for all teams throughout the entirety of the tournament.
It almost makes me more angry that the NCAA was able to correct the problem so quickly, because that means that they had the capacity to prevent this problem in the first place. They just didn’t think it was that important.
How did no one think this was going to be an issue? You have both the men’s and women’s teams locked down in the same facility for three weeks, with visually inequitable treatment. There is a lengthy history of discrepancies in treatment of men’s and women’s sports, but this is just ridiculous.
There have been other calls of inequality in the provided food, swag bags, and even the COVID tests given to the men’s and women’s teams. This has been met by excuses and rebuttals about revenue and sponsors for the men and women’s tournaments. “Well maybe they’re spending more money on the ones that make more money.” Like just say you don’t respect women and save the syllables.
I don’t care who gets the cooler t-shirt, but you cannot argue about training space! These are college athletes playing the same sport. They deserve equal accommodations.
No excuses.