A Ladylike Guide To Dressing For The Derby

TransGriot Note: It's Derby Week here in Da Ville. That means parties, galas, parades and the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby horse races on Friday and Saturday.

My fashion diva roommate and longtime Kentuckian Dawn Wilson explains this bit of Kentucky tradition for those of us not from these parts.

Guest post by Dawn Wilson

Is image everything? To many African American transgender women it means everything. Image defines you and your character. Going out is never just about going out and having a good time, it’s about going out and impressing people.

As the celebrities who come here will tell you, the Kentucky Derby and the activities that surround it is the place that one can do that, and it seems as though the list of those who come gets longer every year.

I've had the pleasure of attending more than 15 different parties and assorted Derby gatherings over the last few years, and have been graciously extended invitations for a few this year.

Recently my girlfriends at the LFC fencing club invited me to go Derby dress shopping with them last weekend in preparation for the Derby Week activities. No we didn't have any mint juleps, but a good time was had by all.

If you're one of the lucky people going to the Kentucky Derby this year or even if you just want to dress properly for the occasion when you watch this year's 135th running of the race at home, tradition states that certain rules must be followed.

What are those rules? Fear not, I'm about to tell you. Just follow them and you'll put your best fashion foot forward for Derby Day and fit in like a native.

Choose your hat (ladies only, of course). Hats go with the Derby like the frosting on a birthday cake. It should be large-brimmed, feminine and frilly (think 18th-century France), and worn low on the brow tilted slightly to one side.

The rest of your outfit is designed to complement your hat.

Now the dress. This will support the crowning glory of the outfit – the hat.

Now there is an art to picking and wearing a dress. Maybe that is why many WBT women often prefer wrapping themselves in shapeless jeans and blouses. It’s easy, it’s simple and comfortable, and doesn't require much effort.

But how about being womanly, attractive, and appealing? Why is everybody forgetting about being romantic, gentle, bright and inspiring, or outstanding and memorable?

Beauty and attractiveness are always in fashion. That is the fashion law, especially doing Derby. If you follow those rules to the letter, you won't be ticketed by the Derby fashion police.

Cosmo's Tripping About Sports Loving Women

I began chuckling when I read a commentary about a recent Cosmo article that echoed one I wrote in 2004 about the transgender community.

In that column I skewered members of the transgender community who would echo that same tired meme of 'feminine women aren't sports fans'.

It mirrored a December issue of Cosmo in which the so called male guru tried to say that a woman who likes watching sports would be single the rest of her life.

Yo Cosmo, join the rest of us in the 21st Century. There are women who like watching sports and not just because their boyfriends or husbands are playing on the team. One of my exes before I transitioned used to win drinks in clubs from guys because they foolishly underestimated the depth of her sports trivia knowledge.

I used to have a CAL coworker named Lucy Schroeder who was a rabid sports fan. We spent break times and dead time on flights we worked together talking about various sports, the Comets and her beloved Dallas Cowboys.

In the interest of full journalistic disclosure, for the record, I can't stand the Irving, oops Arlington Cowchips.

When I read this BS I also thought about UK superfan Ashley Judd. She's got floor seats at Rupp Arena to watch her beloved Wildcats.

She's such a devoted University of Kentucky sports fan that when the hockey team made a promotional poster to raise money for the program, it included a picture of her in a UK hockey jersey. When Ashley isn't making a movie and it's college basketball season, you can bet she's watching her beloved Wildcats playing ball and screaming at the SEC refs at the top of her lungs whenever they make a boneheaded call.


And like many Texas women, Eva Longoria Parker not only loves football, she was a basketball fan before she met and married some point guard for the San Antonio Spurs.

Holly Robinson Peete not only is a huge NFL football fan, she wrote a book about it to help women understand and enjoy the game. Peeps who teach the courses to supposedly help women understand the game quickly discover that women football fans are far more savvy about it than they are given credit for being and ask some sophisticated questions far in excess of their male counterparts.

Don't even get me started about the legions of women who watch NASCAR events, collegiate sports on both the men's and women's sides, NBA and WNBA basketball, are baseball fans, et cetera.

Some of them not only are fashionably attired sometimes when they do attend these games, some even happen to be married.

But don't hate if some of these women know more about sports trivia or in game strategy than some of you red blooded males do.

Geno Auriemma To Coach USA Women's B-Ball Team

The Drive For Five starts September 23, 2010 in the Czech Republic.

The five I'm talking about is the quest for a fifth straight Olympic gold medal for the FIBA World Number One ranked Team USA women ballers.

While the final roster for the 2010 FIBA Worlds is yet to be determined, we already know who'll be coaching our lady hoopsters.

Earlier this month it was announced that UConn's Geno Auriemma will lead the USA Women's senior national team at the 2010 FIBA Women's World Basketball championships in the Czech Republic September 23-October 3 and the upcoming London Olympics in 2012.

"I don’t know if I can adequately describe my feelings and my emotions when I was asked to do this and how I felt ever since," said Auriemma. "It’s an opportunity that if you’re very fortunate comes once in your life and I never thought I would ever have this opportunity. It’s just overwhelming, the emotions that run through you. What an incredible honor it is to be selected."

"There is no better coach in America than Geno Auriemma and we are delighted to be able to have a coach of his caliber lead our women’s national team program through the 2012 Olympic Games," said USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo. "The USA Basketball women’s national team has achieved tremendous success over the years and as winners of the last four Olympic gold medals, the expectations remain very high. Geno’s success at UConn, both his win-loss record and the development of his players, speaks for itself and makes him a perfect choice to take hold of the reins."

The USA has already qualified for the 2010 FIBA Worlds due to their gold medal winning performance last summer in Beijing. The winner gets the automatic bid to the London Games which will take place July 27-August 12.

While Team USA has recently dominated international play posting a 63-1 record in the last 12 years, their success has been mixed at the FIBA world championship level. While Team USA is one of four nations to win the FIBA women's championship and is the most successful with 7 titles, the last one for the USA women came in 2002. The Australians took the 2006 gold and have every intention of keeping it away from their bitter rivals.

Should Team USA's women ballers not finish with the gold medal in 2010, it would have two additional chances to qualify for the Olympics at the 2011 FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament with the dates and site TBD or the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament with the dates and site TBD.

But I think they would rather take care of business next year and have the luxury of time in choosing the twelve women who will attempt to continue the current US dominance of women's international basketball.

2009 NCAA Women's Championship Game

I'll have to DVR it, but tonight's NCAA women's title game in St; Louis is an all Big East affair between the surprising (to the rest of y'all) 34-4 Louisville Lady Cardinals and the unbeaten 38-0 UConn Huskies.

This is the third meeting between the two teams. They met in the regular season and the Big East women's tournament title game and the Lady Cards have been on the short end of both of them.

But as I know painfully well from my college days, just because you have a dominant team doesn't mean that you can't be beaten or you can't have a bad night. It's also hard to beat a team three consecutive times in the same season.

Talk about what a historic upset that would be. Here's a UConn team that beat them badly twice by 28 and 39 points, is playing for perfection for the third time, their seventh NCAA title and is chock full of high school All-Americans versus a Louisville team with none.

If you check my 2009 women's NCAA bracket, I have UConn picked to win the title and actually had the Cards losing to Oklahoma Sunday.

The Lady Cards have a chance to elevate this program to an elite level and shocking the world like a loquacious boxer from the West End once did over 40 years ago.

And here's hoping they do. Go Lady Cards!

Congrats Lady Cards!

Y'all knew I was gonna show some love for the lady hoopsters from U of L.

The 33-4 Lady Cards next game will be 200 miles west of Da Ville in St. Louis. As I predicted, Angel and the gang beat down number one seed Maryland 77-60 for the Raleigh Region Championship and helped earn the Lady Cards first trip to the NCAA Women's Final Four.

Angel McCoughtry is the woman. She scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the Lady Cards never trailed in the game. There was also the added drama of Louisville women's coach Jeff Walz facing his old boss, Maryland coach Brenda Frese.

Warm up the bus. We'll be rolling on I-64 west to play either Oklahoma or Purdue on Sunday.

Tiger's Baaaaaack!

Memo to the Not Ready For Golf Prime Time Players: Playtime is over.

Hope y'all enjoyed your eight month chance to get some of the spotlight while Tiger was rehabbing his surgically repaired knee and welcoming another child into the world.

At the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando he dusted off the patented Tiger Sunday magic. He went from 5 strokes down at the start of the day to draining a 25 foot birdie putt on the 18th hole by shooting a 4 under par 66 round to erase that deficit and set up the dramatic victory.

In the process, he won his 64th PGA tournament, tying him with Ben Hogan for number 3 in all time wins, won his fifth straight tournament event dating back to last year's US Open and served notice that he would be one of the favorites to get another green jacket when the Masters tees off in two weeks.

Hey Augusta, you may want to pre-order that green jacket in Tiger's size

Moni's 2009 NCAA Women's B-Ball Brackets

In honor of Women's History Month last year, since the basketball feast we call March Madness was upon us and I'm a serious women's basketball fan, I began a new TransGriot tradition of filling out a bracket for the women's NCAA tournament as well.

It was also in response to me getting pissed about the lack of coverage that male-centric sports broadcasting networks give to women's sports and the dismissive comments that male sportswriters and fans utter at times about it.

While I correctly picked all four teams that ended up in Tampa for the 2008 Women's Final Four, I missed on the eventual women's champion as Stanford upset UConn and set up a Candice vs Candace rematch for the title.

There are some questions that will be answered as this year's tournament progresses.

Can Number One overall tournament seed Connecticut go undefeated and win it all? Will Pat Summitt's Fab Freshman go on a tournament run that will take them to a third straight title? Will Oklahoma win their first NCAA title as Courtney Paris guaranteed or will her dad, NFL great Bubba Paris be refunding her full four year OU tuition as she promised if they didn't? Will Louisville's women, led by Angel McCoughtry join the men's team in making a long tournament run toward destiny?

It's time to get to it and determine who will not only end up in St. Louis for the Women's Final Four, but win the 2009 NCAA women's basketball title.


Trenton Region

1st Round
Connecticut, Florida, Virginia, California, Georgia, Florida St., Texas A&M

Sweet 16
Connecticut, California, Georgia, Texas A&M

Elite 8
Connecticut,Texas A&M

Trenton Region Champion
Connecticut

Berkeley Region

1st Round
Duke, Michigan St., Tennessee, Iowa St., Texas, Ohio St., DePaul, Stanford

Sweet 16
Duke, Tennessee, Texas, Stanford

Elite 8
Duke, Stanford

Berkeley Region Champion
Stanford

Raleigh Region

1st Round
Maryland, Utah, Kansas State, Vanderbilt, LSU, Louisville, TCU, Baylor

Sweet 16
Maryland, Vanderbilt, Louisville, Baylor

Elite 8
Maryland, Louisville

Raleigh Region Champion
Louisville


Oklahoma City Regional

1st Round
Oklahoma, Iowa, Xavier, Pittsburgh, Purdue, North Carolina, Rutgers, Auburn

Sweet 16
Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Auburn

Elite 8
Oklahoma, Auburn

Oklahoma City Region Champion
Oklahoma


Final Four Teams
Connecticut, Stanford, Louisville, Oklahoma

Championship Game
Connecticut, Oklahoma

2009 NCAA Champion
Connecticut

Moni's 2009 NCAA Men's B-Ball Brackets

The 65 teams that made the NCAA tournament have been selected and placed in their various regions, they've been seeded, and the fun will begin tonight in Dayton with the opening round game between the Alabama State Hornets and Morehead State Eagles.

The winner gets the formidable task of taking on the overall number one seeded Louisville Cardinals.

I'm extremely happy to see Tubby Smith take the Minnesota Golden Gophers to the NCAA tournament after the way he was screwed by Kentucky. I'm not surprised that the karmic wheel issued some payback and Kentucky missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in 17 years.

To all those Kentucky fans who disingenuously claimed they would hold a white coach to the same impossibly high standard you held Tubby to while subjecting him to abuse, have y'all put the 'For Sale' signs on Billy Clyde's lawn yet since he's failed to win an NCAA, much less an SEC title yet?

Well, now that I've commented on a few things, it's time for me to quit stalling and reveal who I think will end up in the Men's Final Final Four in Detroit.

For those of you who question my b-ball acumen, here's how I fared in the 2007 and 2008 seasons. I'll be posting my picks on who I think will win on the NCAA women's side as well.

Opening Round Game
Morehead St.

Midwest Region

1st Round
Louisville, Ohio State, Utah, West Virginia, Kansas, Southern Cal, Michigan State

Sweet 16
Louisville, Wake Forest, Kansas, Michigan State

Elite 8
Louisville, Michigan State

Midwest Champion
Louisville


West Region

1st Round
Connecticut, Texas A&M, Purdue, Washington, Marquette, Missouri, Maryland, Memphis

Sweet 16
Connecticut, Washington, Marquette, Memphis

Elite 8
Connecticut, Memphis

West Champions
Connecticut


East Region

1st Round
Pittsburgh, Oklahoma St., Florida St., Xavier, UCLA, Villanova, Texas, Duke

Sweet 16
Pittsburgh, Xavier, Villanova, Duke

Elite 8
Pittsburgh, Duke

East Champions
Pittsburgh


South Region

1st Round
North Carolina, LSU, Illinois, Gonzaga, Arizona St., Syracuse, Clemson, Oklahoma

Sweet 16
North Carolina, Illinois, Syracuse, Oklahoma

Elite 8
North Carolina, Oklahoma

South Champion
North Carolina


Final Four Teams
Louisville, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, North Carolina

Championship Game
Louisville, Pittsburgh

2009 NCAA Champion
Louisville

Dawn's Fencing In The A-T-L

Dawn bounced down to Atlanta with Polar for a veterans tournament that will be taking place in a few hours at the Georgia World Congress Center. Normally I'd be along for the ride since y'all know I like road trips, but had to work yesterday.

She also bounced yesterday to get her equipment checked prior to the tournament, get a little rest from the six hour drive down there from Louisville and because it starts around 8 AM.

I'm sure when she gets back she'll have some entertaining stories to tell about the latest round of competition between the 'Senior Mama's (the women's 50 fencers) and the Baby Vets (the women's 40 fencers)

Black Ice

Some hockey fans are familiar with the story of Willie O'Ree, who was the first Black player to break the color line in the NHL when he was called up by the Boston Bruins in January 18, 1958 and played his first game against the Montreal Canadiens.

Sadly, O'Ree played only two NHL games that season and 43 more in the 1961 one with the Bruins because he was hit in the right eye with a puck and lost sight in it. He still managed to play 21 seasons of professional hockey, become an ambassador for the game of hockey and runs the NHL diversity effort entitled Hockey Is For Everyone.

But thanks to Canadian historians George and Darril Fosty's book Black Ice, it talks about a little known piece of our sporting history. The Black legacy in hockey can be traced back to the early 1870s and is also intertwined with the history of the Black Loyalists as well.

Many of these players were descendants of the Black Loyalists, and the book also delves into the fascinating history of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes. The league was formed in 1895, was headquartered in Halifax, NS and lasted until the 1920s.

The Fosty's reveal in this book that the Colored League players were so talented, they were frozen out of the predominately white run competition for the Stanley Cup, which commenced in 1893. They also point out that many of hockey's innovations such as the slap shot, the offensive style of goaltending, sitting completely down to the ice to stop the puck, and half time shows at games were creations of Black players.

The Black players in the modern NHL such as Jarome Iginla, Mike Grier, Georges Laraque, Anson Carter and Kevin Weekes all are building on Willie O'Ree's legacy and the legacy of Hall of Fame players like goaltender Grant Fuhr.

But they are also playing for the turn of the 20th century players such as Henry Sylvester Williams, James Johnston and James Kinney who have yet to see their stories enshrined in hockey history as well.

1000 Wins!

I'm a huge basketball fan and I absolutely love women's college and pro basketball. If there's a women's game on the tube, whether it's the NCAA college ranks, the WNBA, the Olympics or FIBA worlds, I'm watching it.

I was pleased to hear that legendary University of Tennessee women's head coach Pat Summitt accomplished a coaching milestone that even a male head basketball coach has yet to reach.

On February 5 she became the first NCAA Division I coach to record 1000 wins when her freshman laden Lady Volunteer team defeated Georgia 73-47.

The now 56 year old Pat Summitt has been the Lady Vols coach since 1974. She was hired at age 22 as the head coach after being named as a graduate assistant while working on her masters in physical education.

She won a silver medal with the USA women's team at the Montreal Games in 1976 and eight years later coached Team USA to a gold medal at the LA Games. She was part of the inaugural class of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999 and in 2000 was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as well.

She has also inspired 45 of her own players to become coaches in their own right.

Summitt has been busy rewriting the NCAA record books as well. In addition to owning the record for most NCAA wins, she led the Lady Vols to their eighth national championship and 18th Final Four last year, both NCAA records. She's only two titles shy of tying legendary UCLA men's coach John Wooden for the most NCAA titles with 10. She has the most NCAA tournament victories with 104 in 123 games played, and has coached 18 seasons in which her team won more than 30 games, including a perfect 39-0 championship season in 1997-98.

Congratulations Coach Summitt for winning her 1000th game and for all she's done to elevate women's basketball to the respect level it deserves.

Another Brother Coach In The Super Bowl

Back during the days of the old AFC Central Division the Steelers were the team next to the Dallas Cowboys I loved to hate because they were in the same division as my beloved Oilers.

It was the Steelers that both times ended my dreams of seeing my hometown NFL squad play in the Super Bowl, and most Houstonians will never forget the 1980 AFC Championship game that was stolen from us at Three Rivers Stadium by a lousy call that nullified a touchdown catch by Mike Renfro that would have tied the game.

But when Super Bowl XLIII kicks off later today in Tampa's Raymond James Stadium between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals, Mike Tomlin will be attempting to become the second African-American head coach in the modern era to win an NFL championship.

The interesting side note to this game is that he'll be coaching against Arizona's Ken Whisenhunt, the guy he beat out for the Pittsburgh job.

Mike Tomlin has done in two years what it took his Steeler predecessor coaches Chuck Noll six years and Bill Cowher four years to accomplish.

Whisenhunt has been a miracle worker as well, transforming the once sad sack Arizona Cardinals to the brink of their first title since 1947, but he's going to have to beat the team in which he worked as an offensive coordinator for several years.

In addition to the personal history that Tomlin is trying to accomplish, with a win today the Steelers would claim their sixth Super Bowl Championship, eclipsing the record they share with the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers.

Baby Sis Wins 2009 Australian Open

One Grand Slam tournament down, three to go.

You can add another truism to the other certainties in life. If it's an odd numbered year, Serena Williams will win the Australian Open.

If there was any doubt about whether the Williams sisters were back to their usual domination of women's tennis, well Baby Sis put an end to any protestations to the contrary.

Serena Williams crushed Dinara Safina 6-0, 6-3 in 59 minutes to take her fourth Australian Open title and her tenth Grand Slam singles title. With the win Serena replaced Jelena Jankovic as the Number One player in women's tennis.

The domination of Safina was so complete that Baby Sis took only 22 minutes to win the first set with an aggressive attacking style that flustered Safina into multiple unforced errors.

Safina composed herself and tried to rally in the second set, breaking Serena to take a brief 1-0 lead. Baby Sis responded by breaking Safina's serve twice to forge a 4-1 lead.

Safina kept fighting and managed to hold serve, cutting Serena's lead to 4-2 but Serena quickly built it back to 5-2. Safina held serve thanks to a critical referee's call that gave her a 40-30 lead and allowed her a stay of tennis execution at 5-3. Serena would not be denied as she served her way to a 40-0 lead and three championship points which she quickly converted for the win.

Dinara Safina was trying make a little tennis history of her own. Had she won she and her brother, 2005 Australian Open champion Marat Safin would have become the first brother-sister siblings to win the same Grand Slam tournament. But at the level Serena was playing that wasn't happening.

The Williams sisters have won the last three Grand Slam tournaments, and if today's match was any indicator, it may be a long year for the rest of the women's tennis world.

May I remind you peeps that Baby Sis is only 27 and in 2011, don't bet against Serena Williams winning a fifth Australian Open singles title and adding another Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup to her trophy room.

Williams Sisters Take 2009 Australian Open Doubles Title

Well, it wasn't a totally bad week for Big Sis in Melbourne. Venus shook off her shocking second round loss to team up with Little Sis and grab the 2009 Australian Open doubles title in straight sets over Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova and Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-3 6-3.

The heat continues to be the other story of this tournament, and the retractable roof at Rod Laver Arena was once again closed by tournament officials with the outside temps approaching 115 degrees (40 degrees Celsius) for the third straight day.

Didn't matter because the Williams sisters were just as hot as the weather. They blitzed through the first set in 38 minutes. Despite some service problems they relentlessly attacked their opponents and repeatedly broke their serves to secure the victory.

The Williams sisters had previously won the Australian Open doubles title in 2001 and 2003. It was their third Australian Open doubles title and their eighth Grand Slam doubles title overall.

In addition, they have climbed into a third place tie with Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarezon on the all time list of Grand Slam doubles title winners. They trail only Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver who won 21 titles and the duo of Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva with 14.

Big Sis told reporters that she feels she and Little Sis would have won more titles if they had played more doubles.

I agree. I think they'd be in striking distance of Martina and Pam Shriver if they had over the last decade, but it's still not too late for them. The next major is the French Open in Paris and then Williamsdon, oops Wimbledon.

Serena still has her singles championship match left to play Down Under, and I hope this was a nice warmup for her.

Baby Sis In 2009 Australian Open Final

New year, new tennis season, and the first Grand Slam tournament is being played Down Under.

Y'all know I have much love for my my favorite tennis playing siblings and was hoping to see another all-Williams final. I was horrified to watch Venus just stop doing what worked in the first set and get unceremoniously bounced from the Australian Open women's singles in the second round by Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 3-6, 5-7.

But no worries mates and sheilas. Baby Sis upheld Williams family honor and made it all the way to Saturday night's (Melbourne time) final at Rod Laver Arena while battling the oppressive summer heat. (Yes peeps, it's summer south of the Equator)

Serena will be playing in her fourth Australian Open final versus Russia's Dinara Safina after taking only 99 minutes to beat Russia's Elena Dementieva 6-3, 6-4.

Serena interestingly enough has won the Australian Open in 2003, 2005 and 2007 and since this is an odd numbered year, let's hope the pattern continues.

I'm Going Downtown

Downtown Louisville to be precise. About to jet out of the house and make a short run to downtown Louisville and the Kentucky International Convention Center to watch Dawn compete in a major fencing tournament here.

The NAC D is one of eight major fencing tournaments for competitive fencing in the United States. For US based fencers wishing to represent our country in the 2012 London Games, this is a first step to making the national team from which our Olympians will be chosen.

The competition will be fast, furious and high level.

I'll tell you how she fared when I get back.

CAF Initiatng Gender Testing Before 2010 Africa Women's Cup

Equatorial Guinea is probably still celebrating the championship they won in the Africa Women's Cup soccer tournament two months ago and the Nigerians are still hatin'.

Instead of admitting that the five time defending champion Super Falcons played piss poor soccer in that tournament and were lucky to finish third in it, they found every excuse to try to explain away their loss, including filing protests accusing the Equatorial Guinea team of playing 'men', especially before their 1-0 tournament semifinal loss.

The protests were eventually dismissed by the CAF, the governing body of African soccer, but probably because the 2010 tournament will be a qualifier for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, they will institute gender testing for that tournament.

However, there are problems with that approach. There's the 'where do you classify intersex people quandary? FIFA considers you female if you're menstruating, even if you have ambiguous genitalia. The IOC dropped gender testing in 1999 because it was embarrassingly inconsistent but Olympic and IAAF rules allow for gender tests if an athlete's gender is challenged by another athlete or team, or event officials.

The most famous case was Polish sprinter Ewa Klobukowska, who failed one during the 1964 Tokyo Games but gave birth to a healthy baby four years later.

Then there's the humiliation and potential psychological damage that a positive test could cause. After India's Santhi Soundararajan was stripped of a silver medal after a failed test in the 2006 Asian Games, she attempted suicide.

During the whole tournament the whining from Nigerian and Cameroon that Equatorial Guinea was playing with 'men' was insulting and deafening. Y'all just mad that they stepped up their game for this tournament and y'all didn't. Equatorial Guinea's captain Anona Genevova scored more goals in the entire tournament than the Super Falcons did as a team.

Nigeria and Cameroon, you lost, get over it. It would be deliciously ironic if the gender testing that you demanded be initiated by the CAF catches a few Cameroonian players and some Super Falcons instead.

0-16

If there are any Detroit Lions fans who still care about the once proud NFL franchise after this season, they are in mourning because the team has made history in a negative way.

They fought hard to avoid the stigma. They were even tied 14-14 at the end of the third quarter. But unfortunately for them NFL football games are 60 minutes and four quarters long and fell to the Packers 31-21 in Green Bay.

The loss means that the Detroit Lions become the first team since the NFL went to a 16 game schedule to go winless for the season. The Lions haven't won since the defeated the Kansas City Chiefs on December 23, 2007.

The last team to go winless for the season was the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their expansion year. The NFL only played a 14 games schedule at the time.

I feel your pain, Lions fans. Back in the day the 1972 and 1973 Oilers compiled back to back 1-13 records. I also enjoy reminding Irving Cowchips lovers that their beloved team also went 0-11-1 in their expansion season in 1960 and didn't have a winning record in their first five years of existence.

Speaking of my hometown NFL team, the Texans beat the Chicago Bears today 31-24 at Reliant Stadium to finish 8-8 for the second straight season. Fellas, is it too much to ask for in 2009 to win more than 8 games and make the playoffs?

I also got to enjoy watching the Tennessee Traitors being beat down by the Colts 23-0.

No, I'm not going to forgive, forget or let it go that Bud moved my Oilers to Nashville.

But back to the Lions. They have the number one pick in the upcoming draft and they've got a lot of work ahead of them to rebuild this team into a contender.

But take heart Lions fans, it can be done. Remember, you witnessed those same 0-14 Buccaneers four years later, thanks to some shrewd draft picks, trades and a rifle armed quarterback from Grambling named Doug Williams win the NFC Central Division, host the NFC title game in Tampa and came agonizingly close to making it to the Super Bowl

So your winter of discontent with the Lions hopefully shouldn't last long and you'll soon be cheering a team that's worthy of your football affections and that will make you proud.

Louisville Central Repeats

One of the things that I immediately noticed when I moved here was the difference in the level of interest in high school football versus that of my birth state.

In Texas, it's the state religion. State religion status is reserved for basketball here at the high school and collegiate levels.

But when it comes to fan loyalty, the fans of the various schools take a back seat to no one. They are just as loyal and school spirit filled as the ones back home, even if they don't always fill up major football stadiums to the rafters for title games.

Last year historic Central High, the alma mater of 'The Greatest' and the oldest African-American high school in Louisville, made history as its coach Ty Scoggins became the first African-American to win a KHSAA football title in front of excited alumni, students and fans at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium when they defeated Belfry to win the Class 3A title.

This year's edition of the Central Yellowjackets came into the season as the hunted, not the hunters. They also found themselves on a chilly December 12 day at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium in front of 3,917 people playing for another Class 3A title as well.

The 11-3 Yellowjackets rolled up 323 rushing yards, paced by Chance Hughes 169 yards and two TD's as Central successfully repeated as 3A state football champs by beating Breathitt County 40-19 in front of their enthusiastic fans, students and alumni.

Congrats once again to Central as they proved they are the best 3A football team in Kentucky. Can they threepeat? We'll find out when the 2009 season kicks off.

What Goes Around, Comes Around Longhorn Fans

As a UH Cougars fan I despise the University of Texas Longhorns and some of their fans almost as much as the Texas A&M Aggies and Oklahoma Sooners fans do.

I'll never forget a Southwest Conference football game versus Texas I attended in the Dome back during my freshman year in 1981. I had the misfortune of sitting next to a group of Orangebloods who not only were shouting the derisive 'Cougar High' sobriquet for most of the game, as they became more inebriated and infuriated that the game was headed to a 14-14 tie started uttering racial slurs at me and my homies dressed in Cougar red and white as well.

Those fans more than lived up to their reputation that many peeps across the Lone Star State and on the other side of the Red River that don't revere Forty Acres share about UT Longhorn football fans.

I discovered over the years I wasn't alone in telling my Horns Fans Gone Wild story. The boorish behavior exhibited inside and outside of Austin fuels much of the distaste many of us feel toward the Longhorns.

While some Longhorn fans conduct themselves with class and dignity and show the legendary hospitality we Texans are known for, others are pompous, arrogant, and nekulturny in addition to sometimes being straight up racist. Some of them are so spoiled they feel that if UT isn't in the Big 12 or BCS title game, then it was a lousy football season. That season becomes intolerable if they lose to the Sooners, on Thanksgiving Day to the Aggies or both teams in the same year.

The rumors persist despite heated denials from the UT camp, they were the ringleaders in keeping us out of the Southwest Conference until the 1970's because UH was actively recruiting African-American athletes in the late 60's. The perception that they worked diligently to keep the University of Houston out of the Big 12 when it formed in 1995 has not been forgotten or forgiven by Cougar fans either.

The Longhorns never forgot the 1976 season. Not only was it Darrell Royal's last year coaching the Horns, it was the first year UH was eligible to compete for the Southwest Conference football title.

The Coogs administered a 30-0 butt kicking in front of a then record Memorial Stadium crowd that jumpstarted a streak of four SWC football championships and four Cotton Bowl trips for my Cotton Pickin' Cougars in five years.

The Coogs also had a streak starting from 1987-1991 during the Run and Shoot era in which we beat down the Horns four out five times by lopsided scores. To add insult to injury during that streak we beat them in 1988 by a 66-15 score in DKR-Memorial Stadium.

That's probably why they made sure we didn't get invited to the Big 12 and came up with BS reasons to exclude us.


Hey, even as a card carrying member of the 'I Hate The Longhorns Club' I have to get real for a minute.

There's no doubt that UT got screwed in terms of the Big 12 South Division tiebreaker and even Stevie Wonder can see that. I'd be pissed too as a football fan if I had to suffer the indignity of watching two teams my school beat get into a championship game and play for the title.

But I see it as karma for the crap that was pulled on us and the rest of your Left Behind SWC brethren. How do you think we Cougar fans feel watching you peeps play in a conference we should have been a part of at its formation?

We also get the indignity of watching you recruit Houston area high school football talent to stock your Longhorn squads with that you'd have a much harder time hooking (pardon the pun) with the University of Houston as a Big 12 member.

It ain't Miami and the BCS Title game, but at least you're going to a BCS bowl. Most schools would kill to go to the Fiesta Bowl, much less ANY bowl and you're whining about it.

But while you're sitting in the air conditioned comfort of Glendale's University of Phoenix Stadium, you may wish to contemplate the possibility that the arc of the college football universe is starting to bend towards justice.