I remember the excitement when the Flomaton High School girls' softball team won the state championship; I celebrated with the T.R. Miller High School girls with their state basketball titles; the girls' track team at Jay claimed many state titles and the Royal girls' softball team made it to the finals.
I watched for many years as my daughter played softball and could see the smiles on all the girls' faces.
I grew up in an era where girls didn't have that opportunity. Even though Congress passed Title IX in 1972 and I graduated high school in 1976, the only sports girls were allowed to participate in were tennis, basketball and track. We didn't have soccer. We did have a bowling team at Tuscaloosa High School but no girls were allowed. We had one girl try out for the football team but she didn't make it.
There was no softball, baseball was left to us guys.
Girls were left to twirl batons, be cheerleaders, play an instrument and run cross country.
Title IX basically said if something was offered to the boys, it had to be offered to the girls. I'm sure there's more to it, but in a nutshell that's what Congress passed.
Granted, it was on the Internet and I do take what I read on the Internet with a grain of salt, but I looked at two sources that showed female participation in sports has jumped from one in 27 prior to Title IX to two in five today.
Folks, listen to what I'm about to say: Title IX is about to go out the door. It may remain on the books, but the opportunities it created for female athletes is quickly going away.
Why? Because we are slowly and surely becoming a sexual-neutral society in this country. Watch what I'm telling you.
We've already seen a switch where some public places feel pressure to open restrooms to either sex – pick your gender and go where you want to go. Will coed showers at the gym be next? Probably.
I was pretty good in biology and I know why you don't let high school age girls and boys shower in the same shower stall, but hey, we are heading in that direction because we are all equal.
I probably would have enjoyed my high school years more if I got to shower with the girls instead of a bunch of stinking boys.
Don't laugh at what I'm saying. It's slowly coming. Kind of like this country is getting a slower and slower move toward socialism, which will then turn into communism.
We can talk about equality and how everybody needs to be treated equally until the cows come home, but there's a difference between girls and boys.
A female on a track team in Connecticut recently missed out on advancing to the state finals because she was defeated by two biological males, who now identify themselves as females. Call them transgendered or whatever you want to call them but they have no business competing with girls in sports.
We can talk all day about everybody being equal and that's fine in terms of brains and jobs, but girls can't compete against boys in sports. Maybe it's the estrogen vs. testosterone debate.
The 16-year old Connecticut girl, identified as Selina Soule, has filed suit because she she wasn't able to qualify for a 55-meter event because she was defeated by two so-called transgendered runners.
We've become so politically correct in this country that we've lost sight of the difference between males and females. The left wing wants us to all be equal, but we're not – physically.
If we are not careful, we are heading to a time where we go 'Back to the Future' and don't have female and male sports. We'll simply have sports. I've seen this coming for several years and thought I was dreaming. It's now becoming a nightmare.
I was pretty good in baseball in high school, wasn't that great in basketball, but if I played on the girls' basketball team I think I would have done OK. So I guess today, all I'd have to say is that I identify myself as a girl and I'd get to play with the girls and shower with them after practice.
Title IX is on life support.
Hopefully Soule's lawsuit will gain traction and we can put an end to this absurdity and go 'Back to the Future' where girls were girls and guys were guys.
In today's climate, I'm not holding my breath.