Basketball is a good example where the sport that is supposedly "equivalent" to men's sports truly is.

My husband and I had a long conversation about Title 9. I'm president of our youth baseball league. We have lots of girls in it at age 4-5 because girls softball doesn't start until age 6. The vast majority of girls go to softball at 6. There is only one girl that plays baseball with the boys beyond age 8 (she's my son's age and always makes the all-star team, and frequently makes clutch plays--IOW, she's good). There are none coming up behind her, except the 4-5 yo's, who won't be there when they're 6.

I know one reason they self segregate is because of cultural reasons. But they're not playing the same game anymore. Fast-pitch softball is not the same game as baseball. The ball is different and the hitting and pitching is different and that drives a different set of strategies than baseball. That makes the game different. Boys could play it as well as girls do, but they don't. Girls could play baseball as well as the boys do, but they don't.

Lots of people would say the games are the same, but they're not. Consider other sports--football doesn't exist for girls. What's the equivalent?

I recently heard someone advance the argument that Title 9 is the cause of low scholarship money for other men's sports like baseball and soccer at the college level. This was said with a straight face. Hello? Football gets all the fall season scholarships and then all the other sports have to divide the rest of the money up amongst themselves It's not the WOMEN'S fault that no other sports can compete during the football season. It's FOOTBALL'S fault.

Where is the equivalent sport to football for women?

I agree, Mr.Silver, that money has ruined college sports, and because of NCAA and state athletic association rules, that kind of ruination is heading right down into the youngest levels of sports. It's all so very complicated and I could tie so many threads into it. I know one thing is for sure...women are getting the shaft, as usual.

Karen