A League of Their Own is one of my all-time favourite movies. I relished every moment of it, from women kicking ass in baseball, to the sultry Madonna pushing the envelope in sports (something I could always personally relate to!), to the oh so strong and beautiful Geena Davis who just kept carrying it on her own way as the best damn player in the league.

On my way back from the United States this time around I couldn’t pull the all-nighter drive I usually do so I can have the next full day to work, so around 2:45am my sagging eyes looked for somewhere to pull over and came upon the exit off 49 South in Wisconsin for Racine.

Racine??!! As in, the Racine Belles from A League of Their Own?!

Yup, it was indeed, so if I was going to pick any random town in the good ole US of A to rest up for a few hours, it might as well be this one!

Racine was part of several midwest towns who formed the original All American Girls Baseball League, which also included the Kenosha Comets, the Rockford Peaches, and the South Bend Blue Sox. The organization formed in 1943 to keep the sport of baseball going when the men went away to war.

I always liked girls playing baseball better anyways.

Christie Blatchford has an interesting piece in today’s Globe and Mail about the tendency for female athletes to appear in magazines, and sometimes on the cover, nekked. Or at least, naked but for a carefully placed volleyball.

(more inside…)

My childhood hero weeping

A couple of British media sources have been running articles lately related to masculinity. One of them is from the BBC and is a list of 10 things that make men weep in public. I’ve been interested in this for years. I am so curious about how it is often the most macho of public figures that are unpunished for crying.

For example, professional athletes are often seen crying on or off the sports field. But when I do work with young men they almost always tell me it is not okay to cry in front of their peers. The only reason I can think of to explain this is that the athletes have already proven their manhood in other ways so the crying doesn’t damage their image in the same way it might for a struggling teenager.

What do people think of this and the BBC list?

I just want to give a quick shout out to the friendly people at The Bike Joint for getting my bike going again when my chain jumped ship yesterday. I was stranded at a stoplight with a mere 15 minutes to get to my appointment and low and behold, The Bike Joint was there to help. Thanks for the bonus of pumping up my tires and giving me the phone number for the Community Bicycle Network so I can learn how to do all of these things myself and not feel so helpless.

Last year Catherine wrote a piece on the Community Bicycle Network and most notably, Wenches with Wrenches - “an ongoing program of CBN volunteers who host bicycle repair workshops run by and for women in downtown Toronto. The idea has been to make basic bicycle repair skills accessible to women in the hope that participants will then share their knowledge and their confidence with others in the community.” Registration is now open for September 2008 classes.

The skill set that WWW offers would have come in handy yesterday, but at least I had the very friendly and helpful folks at The Bike Joint to save the day. If you need a tune-up, brake change or a gear adjust, I highly recommend them.

If you live in Halifax, and enjoy kicking it on two wheels, check out this awesome weekly event:

Every Tuesday from 6 until 8, there will be women/identified bike nights at the Bike Space at Bloomfield Centre. The idea is to have a casual, drop in style night where basic bicycle repair skills are accessible to women and trans folks. Bring your bike in and ask questions and we’ll move through some basic repair and maintenance info.

These nights are to bring folks together in a safe, non-competitive and friendly learning environment. The workshops are run by women/identified folks for women/identified folks because, many times, it’s just more comfortable learning that way.

Bloomfield Centre is at 2786 Agricola Street, at Almon.

I love using free weights — so I completely enjoyed seeing Sitara Hewitt on CBC’s Steven and Chris (I’ll blow right past the overall quality or not of this show) talking about weightlifting. As well as displaying some refreshingly healthy attitudes to food and exercise.

Check it out here.

From the Toronto Star:

Danica Patrick was always sure a woman could win a race. And now the questions about her will surely stop.

Patrick made it to the place she wanted to be for so long – Victory Lane. She became the first female winner in IndyCar history Sunday, capturing the Indy Japan 300 in her 50th career start.

Last time I wrote about the Derby girls, it was mostly to lament the fact that there were no tournaments in my neck of the woods for months to come. Well, the snow is melting, the leaves are budding, and is that a wristguard I spy?

The Beast cometh (Montreal Roller Derby)

The Montreal Roller Derby league is about to kick off its season with a tournament of heretofore unheard-of proportions - The Beast of the East, a full day of hip-checking, body-slamming, fishnet-ripping insanity. It all goes down April 19th from 10 AM to 10 PM, at Aréna St-Louis, 5633 St. Dominique. Teams from all over Canada and the States will be playing for the title (and the admiration and swooning of the fans).

There has been some debate, on this very board no less, as to whether or not Roller Derby constitutes a feminist activity or intervention. The point has been made that, while fun, Derby delegitimizes female sports, because of the outlandish costumes, sexy undertones, and focus on performance rather than skill (though skill is obviously necessary as well. Look at that photo. Good god, would you want to mix with that if you didn’t think you had what it takes?). But I kind of think that Derby is to sports what The Cramps are to barbershop quartets; granted, the latter is more refined, more about sheer skill, discipline, and good clean living, less about showiness and attitude. But I know who I’d rather be watching on a Saturday night.

(*no, I did not some up with this title myself. I’m not that genius, okay. It’s from a fundraiser the ladies held last week to help pay their way to a tournament in San Diego.)

(more inside…)

A great example of when the right answer isn’t. Also, it’s funny. :)