Column by John Morris
Sports have a lot of word associations to it and one of the biggest words is respect.
Sports are male-driven, but we must recognize that women deserve respect.
It’s obvious that media sheds little light on the accomplishment of women in athletics.
Sports Center, ESPN’s flagships program, dedicated just 2 percent of its airtime to women’s sports in 2014, according to thinkprogress.org.
One could start on the big scale, the national or international level, but first let’s look at Murray State.
We know this university has some of the best women sports there are by appearances in numerous OVC Tournaments.
This year alone, our women’s volleyball team, the reigning OVC champions, broke the record for most consecutive wins at home and our women’s soccer team went undefeated in conference play. They are the only team in conference history to finish 10-0 in OVC play.
Our softball team is also consistently competing in the OVC tournament and finished second in the conference.
The tennis team made it to the NCAA tournament. Our basketball team has sophomore Ke’shunan James who won the OVC Freshman of the Year for 2014-15.
The women on the rifle team compete internationally and traveled to the NCAA Tournament in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Women’s basketball is also climbing new heights. Some may know about the Connecticut women’s basketball team being one of the most dominant teams to date in the sport.
Even the WNBA gets more coverage and the stars are being recognized more, women like Maya Moore, Skylar Diggins and Elena Delle Donne.
Pat Summit is recognized as one of the greatest coaches of all time.
“ESPN created a site specifically for women’s sports fans: ESPNW.com,” said Evelyn Shoop, from the Daily Beast. “The cursive W and soft colors are bellwether enough, but the stereotypes built in to the site’s architecture solidify ESPN’s treatment of women’s sports as separate but equal.”
Though they may need to add more as they’re making strides some would say ESPN has been a leader in integrating women in the sports world.
ESPN has been integrating women into the sports world to be more than just a pretty face on the camera.
For example Jemele Hill analyst and cast member on the ESPN show “His and Hers” is a great example of a women having sports savvy and being a respected figures in sports.
It is my hope that the recognition of women in sports continues to grow.