At the recent World Hockey Summit in Toronto, Hayley Wickenheiser was a guest speaker on a panel devoted to the future of the female game [full Summit recap pending]. During the panel, Wickenheiser showed a clip from this fantastic Swedish documentary that recently aired on CBC about a group of Muslim and Buddhist girls who join forces in Ladakh in the Himalayas to challenge the men who rule hockey in the region. In case you don’t think hockey is political…

Why is it that for fans of women’s sports like me, it’s hard to find the score?

According to a new report, it’s because coverage of women’s sports on TV sports news and highlights shows has nearly vanished. Only 1.4% of airtime on “SportsCenter” is now devoted to female sports, says USC prof and author Michael Messner in a Huffington Post article about the latest results from a 20-year study, co-authored by Prof. Cheryl Cooky.

Sure sports news and highlight shows reflect market realities or “what fans want to see,” says Messner, but people forget they’re also part of the larger promotional apparatus that helps create and sustain the enthusiasm for pro men’s sports. (Football, basketball and baseball received 72% of all airtime analyzed in Messner’s findings).

The decline in coverage of women’s sports makes even less sense when you consider that millions more girls than ever now compete in sports and that women’s pro leagues are developing new values for sport. These stories are sidelined in coverage and deny women’s sport from growing audiences. Messner argues this disrespects and invalidates the athletic commitment of millions of  young women (and their parents) who spend hours practicing their sports.

Messner suggests an old-fashioned e-mail protest campaign directed at the producers and editors of the TV news and highlights shows. Game to help?

PETITION for more local community sports&rec coverage! Copy/paste this list of demands and email your favourite local news outlet or political champion (find your local Member of Parliament here)!

A recent study reveals coverage of women’s sports on TV sports news and highlights shows has nearly vanished. Please help us:

• Increase coverage of local sports, leagues, players and stories
• Recruit more women sports reporters and commentators
• Expand coverage of girl’s and women’s sports

My two favourite smarty-pants sports critics Michael Messner and Dave Zirin recently held a revealing and meaty Q&A in The Nation about (the lack of) women’s sports coverage. A new study by Messner and Prof. Cheryl Cooky called Gender in Televised Sports: News and Highlight Shows, 1989-2009 indicates that coverage of women’s sport on TV is actually decreasing.

“There has been this continued explosion of participation and interest in women’s sports and it just hasn’t been reflected in TV news and highlight shows,” says Messner in the article.

Leaf’s GM Brian Burke is a stand up man – and father. Last year he watched the Toronto Gay Pride Parade with his gay son, Brendan. Today he will march in the parade with PFLAG (Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays) in honour Brendan, who died in a tragic accident in February. Before Brendan’s death, at the tender age of 21, he had done what no man before him dared: Be gay in hockey.

It’s rare that a father is tasked with completing his son’s brave work. Mr. Burke has shed tears in subsequent interviews about Brendan, but has continued to speak out about his courage, and the need for hockey to become a more open and welcoming sport to queer youth. As a result, he is forcing a seismic shift in the macho halls of our national game. The original father/son story is published here.

If you’re gonna bust out of the closet, Chicago is as good a place as any!

Today, the Stanley Cup made an appearance at the Chicago Gay Pride march. Turns out that after the city’s Stanley Cup win, the Chicago Gay Hockey Association issued an invite to the Blackhawks and the Stanley Cup to join them at the annual gay pride parade in the city. Much to their delight, it worked. Blackhawks President John McDonough rerouted the Stanley Cup from the NHL draft in L.A. to the Chicago Gay Pride march today, where Blackhawk defenseman Brent Sopel (who’s since been traded) volunteered to represent the team, along with his wife and kids.

Now that’s civic pride – congrats Chicagoans!