I have plenty of male friends who stopped playing hockey because they hated macho jock culture. This episode of Freaks and Geeks sums it all up in under 3 minutes!

For way too long now, boys and men have endured and suffered scare-mongering and gay-bashing by the goons. Thankfully, things are changing…

It will take the continued strength, conviction and courage of gay sports figures and their advocates, like the late Brendan Burke and his father Toronto Maple Leafs’ GM Brian Burke, to fight the homophobia in our sport.

It will also take lesbians! (Yeah lesbians!)

By being visible and outspoken, lesbian athletes can help all those penalized by homophobia or marginalized in sport.

GO GO homos, pansies, freaks, geeks and “music”/”arty” types!!!

In my fantasyhockeyland, players (like say, some of the lesbians and bisexuals in the CWHL!) would partner with NHL players to draft and implement an education and awareness campaign against homophobia in hockey. Or form a gay-straight alliance to create a workshop about how team success requires an acceptance of, and respect for, difference!

Even if homosexuality and homophobia diverges in men’s and women’s sports, isn’t it time those of us (ahem) trained in the gay-er dramas of sport, and educated in the delicate matters of homosexuality and homophobia in hockey, shared our wisdom, experience and expertise?!

Which reminds me, I’m past due in posting the first installment of my new semi-regular series of “gay sports advice” posts called Ladies Lockerroom. Does this entry count? Stay posted.

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

Thanks to JFB (posing here with baby Maurice in Iceland), Hockey Dyke has now been on top of the world.

If I can figure out how to set up Paypal, you too can own your own Hockey Dyke original Tee. Send me your orders – and pics! xo HD

Angela James has made the ultimate cut. In November, James and American hockey icon Cammi Granato, will be the first women ever inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. While the news elicited jock banter from a few critics with their garters in a twist about women “stealing” spots from NHLers, the Hockey Hall of Fame committee finally set the record right. (The same number of men can be inducted annually, but the eligibility rules have been adjusted to make the Hall more inclusive to women).

Born in Toronto in 1964, Angela James has always had a knack for getting into trouble – code for testing the world. She grew up playing ball hockey with boys in Flemingdon Park, one of the city’s poorest neighbourhoods. At the time, most girls didn’t play rough-and-tumble games like hockey and black kids weren’t exactly encouraged in hockey either. Even then, she snagged all the top prizes.

Read more…

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.