A Confession

As much as I profess to love sports, I don't watch women's basketball. You all heard about my NCAA men's bracket, but I didn't fill out a women's bracket, nor was I particularly interested in watching the women's games. At one point in time, women’s basketball was a huge part of my life, having served as manager for James Madison University’s women's basketball team my sophomore year in college. So I'm not quite sure when this shift occurred.

I was challendged last week when I had the pleasure of attending a webinar commemorating women in sports hosted by The Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM). The webinar panel consisted of giants in women's sports, media and education: Russlyn Ali, Assistant Secretary for Human Rights for the U.S. Department of Education; Christine Brennan, USA Today Columnist and ABC Commentator; Jackie Joyner Kersee, U.S. Track & Field Olympic Gold Medalist; Nancy Lieberman, former WNBA player & coach and current coach of the Texas Legends; and Muriel Zagunis, U.S. Fencing Olympic Gold Medalist.

Listening to these amazing women talk about how their lives were affected by Title IX, the inequality that still exists today, and the lack of media coverage for women's sports, I was ashamed. As a woman and a sports fan, I realized I'm doing nothing to support women’s sports. And so, that makes me part of the problem.

I'm also acutely aware of the fact that my lack of support is not just my own. I’m the mother of two young daughters and I want my girls to feel like they can do anything and have positive female athletes to look up to. The youngest panel member on the AWSM webinar, Muriel Zagunis, said it never occurred to her that she couldn't play sports. And I hope my girls grow up feeling the same way. But what have I done to further the cause?

After attending the webinar, I realized that it’s not too late. I am now determined to do all I can to ensure that Title IX remains a reality and that my girls and all young women have equality in sports. I even watched both NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four games last night. Hey - it's a start.

Nancy Lieberman said we as women have to take ownership. "Why should men care if women don't care?" She went on to say that "we can direct change by what we [as women] do together."

I’m going to do my part. How about you?