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2-25-98 Prager returned to the theme of standards vs compassion. He castigated the University of Villanova vs. University of Connecticut women basketball teams' decision to allow an injured player to make a free basket so she could set the school scoring record. From the New York Times 2-26-98: It was a dramatic moment of sentimentality, stagecraft and gender politics. Nykesha Sales, a 21-year-old senior at the University of Connecticut, limping on a ruptured Achilles' tendon, was allowed to score an uncontested basket during a game at Villanova on Tuesday night so she could break her college's scoring record. Her 2-point goal required an elaborate scheme involving opposing coaches, players, officials from both universities, referees and even the commissioner of the Big East Conference. Sales, an all-America forward at the country's No. 2-ranked women's team, had suffered the season-ending injury last Saturday, 1 point short of the school record. Her coach, Geno Auriemma, then spent three days orchestrating a plan to deliver her the milestone. "I wasn't sure at first," Sales said of her staged basket, which gave her 2,178 career points, "but Coach said it was a gift from him to me." But Auriemma's gift to his popular, hard-working star, however well-intentioned, has set off a debate on issues ranging from sportsmanship to the integrity of competition and records to the differing athletic standards for men and women. The Big East commissioner, Michael Tranghese, said that he would not have signed off on such a plan for a male player. "I knew there would be a ruckus about this," he said in an interview yesterday, "but you have to understand that males are made up differently from women, and I try to be sensitive to women. "Men compete, get along, and move on with few emotions. But women break down, get emotional, get so much more out of the game. These are entirely different sports cultures." The Villanova coach, Harry Perretta, was the first person with whom Auriemma conspired. He thought the event was a "bonding" experience for players and fans. Other major college coaches, such as Pat Summitt of the Tennessee women's team and Lute Olsen of the Arizona men's team, praised the move, with Summitt calling it "a great gesture by both teams." Prager said this was an example of the feminization of sports. Then several callers pointed out how often male sports do similar things. Pitcher Danny McLain lobbed a couple of soft pitches to Mickey Mantle so he could set a home run record…etc… Prager also supported sending Senator John Glenn, which seems to be another classic case of bending rules to show compassion to a great player. Prager said that the player whose record was broken must've been annoyed. Then a few minutes later, he read how she said she was pleased that her record had been broken. Prager did not retract his earlier statement. Rather, he said he did not believe her. The previous record holder had been consulted before the special deal, and had enthusiastically agreed to it. Prager did not mention this. P. wondered what message this sends to the young woman who broke the record? That the world will line up for you when you have difficulties. Imagine that you sell widgets, and you get pneumonia. All other widget makers will stop until you recover? The world does not stop for us when we have pain. This event reflects immaturity, not grandiose feminine compassion. P. loathes professional sports - how players charge for autographs, care more about personal records than team success. A caller pointed out that the case of the golfer Casey Martin is far more serious, because that case is being rammed down the PGA's throat. In this basketball case, the girls' chose. P. says the notion of earning what you achieve is under assault in America. A caller and Prager discussed Tom Dempsey's field goal record, of 63 yards. Tom had a deformed foot and special shoe. Dennis says boys are constantly competing with each other, having contests. When boys go to the movies, they go with one boy. Girls go with ten girls. That's part of the reason Titanic sold well.
At 1:40PM, Dennis interviewed Joanne Bass, owner of a crab restaurant which has been attacked by the EEOC for Unintentional Sex Discrimination. The Washington Post ran a story this week on her plight. She was accused of discriminating against women waiters. She hired 108 male waiters but no women. But her business was entirely women-owned, and seven of her eleven managers were women. Currently, 18 of the restaurant's 79 servers are female. P. says that there must be so little discrimination in this country for groups like the EEOC, ACLU, NAACP to come up with such silly suits. Bass is a liberal who votes Democratic, the party that created the EEOC. Her mother, however, co-owns the restaurant and is a Republican.
Men Waited Tables, and Women Waited At Joe's Stone Crab in Florida, It Was 'Unintentional Discrimination' By Michael A. Fletcher Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, February 24, 1998; Page A01 MIAMI BEACH-Jo Ann Bass glanced at the letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charging her restaurant with discrimination against women and sat momentarily stunned. Then she started to laugh. Bass is a locally prominent women's advocate whose renowned restaurant, Joe's Stone Crab, served and employed blacks when others wouldn't. Most of her managers are women. She had always boasted that her staff, which numbers 280, is so diverse it looks like a "mini United Nations," a contention few would dispute. How could she, of all people, be accused of discrimination? Against women? It must be a joke, she thought. But now Bass knows otherwise. The EEOC letter turned out to be just the opening salvo in a costly and increasingly caustic battle. In a lawsuit, the EEOC charged that while Joe's Stone Crab is owned by a woman and employs women in many roles, it had a tradition of hiring only men for the coveted positions as waiters. In making its charge, the agency said that between 1986 and 1991 the landmark eatery hired 108 male waiters, and no women, a record that the EEOC contends discouraged women from even applying. Bass does not challenge the fact that the vast majority of servers at the 85-year-old restaurant have been male. But she said that was simply because most of the qualified applicants turned out to be men. "I didn't think it was my responsibility to beat the bushes looking for female servers," Bass said. "We hired who was qualified and came through the door." A federal judge last summer sided with the EEOC, and found the restaurant guilty of "unintentional" sex discrimination. This spring the judge is scheduled to hear testimony on potential damages, which could total nearly $1 million. For the EEOC, the case against Joe's is just one of a number pitting the right to sexual equality against the entrenched tradition of male waiters in long-established restaurants.
Prager wondered when Democrats will question the monsters they create, like the EEOC? Creating laws coerces people, because laws are by their nature, enforced by the police. Prager generally prefers moral persuasion rather than legislation. P. remembered when President Bush opposed EEOC legislation which prompted a cartoon in the LA Times by Conrad picturing Bush as a Klu Klux Klanner. P. fears concentrated power in the hands of big groups - big labor, big business, big government. P. opposes the office of the Special Prosecutor. P. said that he will run for office when he can do it without worrying about fundraising. He blamed Democrats for creating laws which makes politicians spend their time raising money.
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