Washington — Joe Biden, it turns out, is quite the cheerleader.
This afternoon, before a chipper crowd gathered in the basketball arena at George Washington University, the vice president, sporting a wide grin and a bright-purple tie, gushed about Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and its influence on female athletes. During a 15-minute speech, he dished out more than a bit of the folksy chatter for which he is well known: A little gosh-I’m-old humor about arriving in the Senate the year after Title IX was passed (“My Lord!”, then “God almighty, I was there!”) and a confession that women’s lacrosse is his favorite sport (“It’s like watching gazelles.”).
Officially, Mr. Biden was there with Education Secretary Arne Duncan to announce the Education Department’s reversal of a controversial 2005 policy on Title IX compliance and to roll out the Obama administration’s new guidance on the law.
Unofficially, though, the veep was there to brag about his granddaughters. And his mother. And his sister. And his nieces. And several other girls and women he knows — including a former intern in his office, Joy Cheek, a basketball player at Duke — who have excelled at sports in the pre- and post-Title IX eras.
“I have three granddaughters, and they’re all great athletes,” said Mr. Biden, who stood on a stage in front of 40 or so girls and young women, including cheerleaders, Girl Scouts, and members of the Olympic women’s ice-hockey team. “The youngest one,” he added, “is world-class.” That 9-year-old hoops phenom, we soon learned, plays on a boys’ team and competes in the same Maryland basketball league as one of the Obama girls.
“This kid’s good,” said Mr. Biden, the proud grandpa. “I’m looking for a contract.”
After a few more comments, in which he advised “all the men who are listening to this” that Title IX was a “great equalizer,” Mr. Biden rediscovered the TelePrompter and offered solemn thoughts on the federal civil-rights law.
“We have a long way to go still, and we want to take away every barrier that exists,” he said. “Forty years from now, if we still need Title IX, we will have failed.”
11 Responses to Joe Biden, No. 1 Fan of Women’s Sports
jonesie - April 21, 2010 at 7:31 am
Title IX has gone way too far. Women are getting full rides for sports they never even played before while top notch men athletes in small sports like cross country and wrestling and golf are out of luck. The spirit of the law is great, the practical application of it is beyond unfortunate.A typical top high school will now graduate women 5 to 1 full ride college bound freshmen over men, maybe greater.
nyhist - April 21, 2010 at 7:49 am
jonesie: blame football not women for the effect you have identified. If athletic departments did not devote so much of their resources to that one game there’d be lots more funding for other men’s sports. As someone who loved to play basketball and hated ‘women’s rules’ (6 to a side, half court only) I had to follow–and the lack of any competition other than intramural–Title IX has had the most amazingly wonderful impact I can imagine. I love having today’s female athletics in my courses. I love watching them compete, in person or on TV. And watching little girls–and boys–cheering for them! Birch Bayh and the other backers of Title IX changed the world for the better.
22228715 - April 21, 2010 at 8:04 am
Collegiate sports should be, first and foremost, about education (otherwise they should disaffiliate from institutions of higher education and prosper as minor league independent enterprises with missions more focused on athletic prowess, competition, entertainment, and profit.) On the whole, I would say that women’s athletics have done a far better job of staying true to the umbrella missions of the larger organizations to which they belong, and have forced men’s athletics to at least think about it. Kudos to Title IX, not for making women’s athletics like men’s athletics, but for keeping the whole enterprise honest and in perspective.
jffoster - April 21, 2010 at 12:24 pm
Nyhist (2), each to their own. But people actually came to see girls play Girls’ Basketball, and it wasnt just intramural — at least not in the three final holdout states Arkansas, Iowa, and Kentucky.
jaysanderson - April 21, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Biden is little more than comic relief for the President’s straight man. His thoughts on anything sound like a 10 year old trying to explain physics.
11182967 - April 21, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Women’s versions of two gender games like basketball and golf are great to watch in part because they tend to depend more on skill and finesse and less on brute strength than the man’s versions. Alexis Hornbuckle and Renee Montgomery are daughters of employees on this campus, and when they were in high school their teams filled arenas better than the boys’ teams. And granddaughter volleyball is one of the great joys of life.
softshellcrab - April 21, 2010 at 2:19 pm
I agree with the first post, “Title IX has gone way too far. ” I am so tired of social engineering. I am not blind;time after time, the women’s sports on my television, even the most major ones, show empty seats, while the men’s major sports fill their seats. Good example: basketball. Women’s sports are nice. I am happy that so many young women want to do sports and compete. I like women. I don’t have any desire to mistreat any woman. But let’s stop the silly practice of demanding equal numbers of teams with the men’s teams. Men simply partcipate more, and care more overall,about sports. There is nothing wrong with that. Why require that we ignore reality? Why are liberals so demanding to get their way and socially engineer, whether with Title IX, health care, affirmative action, or owning GM and telling them how to operate.
tannwalton - April 21, 2010 at 3:03 pm
softshellcrab — like the empty seats at baseball games?it seems unlikely that you’re really tired of social engineering, just versions of it that don’t fit with your conception of reality. We all have beliefs about the way things should be and we don’t usually like change that will expose, and possibly change, historical privilege.
22250655 - April 21, 2010 at 3:37 pm
If you want to avoid social engineering, get rid of college athletics and physical education courses completely. Oh, that is “good” social engineering? Depends who you talk to. “Men simply partcipate more, and care more overall,about sports.” If they do, and it certainly is not true in my household, it is because of parental training, gender stereotyping, and societal pressure. Such behavior is hardly due to nature and can therefore be changed.
jfborland - April 21, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Unfortunately, social engineering through legislation is necessary in this country. We can’t be trusted to do the right thing without it.
jffoster - April 21, 2010 at 11:04 pm
Why doesn’t Cheerleading count as a sport? In the Olympics, ice dancing and figure skating count as sports.