“I did not like how I looked, to the point where I for the most part banned pictures of me.” Click on the photo to find out how Nate Barlow went from banning pictures of himself to posing for...

a blogumn by Nate Barlow A couple weeks ago the New York Times ran an article about the disparity between boys and girls’ sports. Schools have made great strides towards scholastic athletic equality since the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.  Although Title IX made no specific reference to athletics and in fact covers any school program, it’s most prominent effect has been to equalize expenditures on boys’ and girls’ athletics for any institution receiving federal funding.  Even beyond the direct dollars spent, Title IX has had a profound on girls’ sports participation.  Witness the rise of the WNBA and of the Women’s Final Four as a televised event.  They may not draw the fans and advertising dollars of the men, but twenty years ago their success would have been unfathomable. According to the Times article, “50 percent of girls in the suburbs described themselves as ‘moderately involved’ athletes,” compared to 54 percent of boys.  Those are nearly even numbers. In that statement, however, lies the rub: “in the suburbs”.  The point of the Times article is that in urban areas, female athletic participation suffers greatly; only 36 percent of girls, compared to 56% of boys, in the city consider themselves “moderately involved” in sports. Before questioning the efficacy of Title IX in the inner city, it should be noted that funding for athletics–and other school programs–in poor urban areas is terrible for both boys and girls. The issue is a cultural one.  A family needs a babysitter but can’t afford one?  The sister is pressed into service, not the brother.  For many children of immigrant families, the traditional divisions between boys and girls’ activities that most Americans no longer consider valid are still in place.  And in those cases...

. a blogumn by Nate Barlow 31-0. That was Rafael Nadal’s French Open record prior to playing hard-hitting Swede Robin Soderling Sunday at Roland Garros, an undefeated streak dating back to Nadal’s Open debut in 2005.  The undisputed master of the clay court had won four straight French Open men’s singles titles 31-0. Nadal came into the 2009 French Open as the number one seed and top-ranked men’s player in the world.  The Spaniard had finally captured the world’s #1 ranking scarcely a month after defeating the great Swiss champion Roger Federer in the epic men’s finale of the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, in what many consider the greatest tennis match of all-time.  Although it would take a couple more matches before the ranking would be his, after Wimbledon the heir apparent to the great Federer was clear. 31-0. How great was Federer?  He had been ranked #1 a record 237 consecutive weeks.  And Nadal?  Prior to moving into the top spot, he had been the World’s #2 a record 160 weeks.  Since 2004, either Nadal or Federer had won all but three of the men’s Grand Slam titles.  For those counting, that’s 18 of 21 championships.  Federer had won twelve of those, Nadal six (including his four French Open titles), but Nadal had won three of the last four:  the French and Wimbledon in 2008 and the Australian Open in 2009. 31-0. Until the loss to Soderling, Nadal had won 81 consecutive matches on clay, the longest single-surface winning streak in the open era, including three victories over Federer at Roland Garros.  But until the epic Wimbledon match, Nadal appeared to be a clay court specialist, failing to win any of the Grand Slams other than the French–ironically, the complete opposite of Federer, who...

. a blogumn by Nate Barlow Earlier this week on DeepIntoSports.com, Gary Porpora wrote the first piece of a multi-part article on who’s the greatest golfer of all time, Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods.  With so much of the media anointing Tiger the king, Gary says, “Not so fast!” and he’s breaking down the numbers to prove the point. So, with “who’s the greatest” on my mind and with both the men’s and women’s college basketball championships having just been decided, I figured I’d raise the question: which is the greatest NCAA women’s basketball team of all time? In men’s basketball, one school stands out: UCLA.  Love them or hate them, the Bruins’ dominance during the ’60s and ’70s was so thorough that three decades later, no other school is even remotely close to their eleven titles, ten of which came during the twelve season stretch of 1964-1975.  Although UCLA has only added one to their tally since (in 1995), it doesn’t matter–the Bruins are still easily the best. VS But in women’s basketball, it’s another story altogether.  Two teams have owned the sport, the Tennessee Lady Volunteers and this year’s national champion, the 39-0 Connecticut Huskies. Tennessee was the original titan of the sport.  The Lady Vols reached their first Final Four in 1982 and won their first national championship in 1987.  Tennessee’s eight titles (one capping off an undefeated season) are unmatched. Enter the Huskies.  They reached their first Final Four in 1991 and won their first national championship in 1995.  They only have six titles to Tennessee’s eight, but have amassed an astounding three undefeated seasons in the time.  As a point of reference, no other school has more than two national championships. So, on the one hand, Tennessee has been...

Thanks to Nate from Deep Into Sports for letting us know that Andy Hallett, the actor/singer, who played Lorne on Angel has died of a so far unknown cause at the way, way too young age of 33. I loved Angel — but I especially adored Lorne, and was especially impressed that Andy was able to give his character so many layers despite being under so many layers of make-up. Incredibly sad. Read his L.A. Times obit...

. a blogumn by Nate Barlow Sunday night Japan eliminated Team USA in the Semi-Finals of the second World Baseball Classic by a score of 9-4. Finishing third was a huge step up for the United States, which finished a woeful eighth three years ago in the augural Classic, barely making it out of the first round. Hard to believe, isn’t it?  One would that the United States, birthplace of the sport, would fare better on the world stage.  Say it ain’t so, Joe! But it is.  And for one glaring reason: the US is not fielding the best team possible, especially in regards to pitching. Although Major League Baseball created and sponsors the World Baseball Classic to spark more interest in the sport across the world, the individual major league teams are not keen on their players (and particularly pitchers) partaking in the event.  A lot of this has to do with the timing of the Classic taking place during Spring Training.  Unfortunately, there really isn’t a better time: after the World Series is too late, before Spring Training too early, and during the season a complete no-no. Although the players involved are working out and getting into regular season shape by playing the Classic games, it is not the normal conditioning schedule to which they are accustomed.  Pitchers are especially susceptible to such disruptions.  Davey Johnson, Team USA’s manager, has even commented on the decisions he had to make to give everybody enough playing time. That’s not to mention the potential injury factor.  Numerous Team USA players had to drop out with injuries, a situation that must have the major league ballclubs shuddering in horror.  For the other countries involved in the WBC, proving themselves on such a stage is of paramount...

. a blogumn by Nate Barlow March Madness is finally here! What’s that, say you?  It’s not March Madness yet!  There are no brackets, no upsets, no buzzer-beaters. Ah, but there are.  Conference Tournament Week is here.  And each year, the conference tournaments expand more and more both in excitement and importance, having reached that point in their evolution at which they are no longer just a mere precursor or warm-up act to the big dance but now stand as the entire first act.  Selection Sunday is no longer just the kick-off of the Tournament; it has become the turning point of an extended dramatic structure. When some school with a .500 or less winning percentage goes on a miraculous run during the conference tourney, upsetting the Number 1 seed and landing the conference’s automatic berth when they otherwise had no chance in hell of advancing to anything but the NIT (and maybe not even that), the Madness has already begun. More so than any other sport, college basketball has seen unprecedented growth over the last twenty-five years, largely because CBS realized that the NCAA Tournament was marketable — specifically because some small school no one has ever heard of except for its alumni could pull off a series of upsets and go deep into the Tourney, not despite such an occurrence. It’s a unique situation in American team sports. The college basketball tournament thrives on those upsets happening, and a deep run by a smaller program actually generates fan interest instead of dampening it.  One would think the underdog phenomenon would prevail across the sports spectrum, but the ratings success of the professional leagues and Division I-A college football sadly lives and dies with the exposure and success of the big-name teams.  Phillies-Rays...

. a blogumn by Nate Barlow The Super Bowl is over, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, and we now know that A-Fraud tested positive for anabolic steroids twice in 2003… Pitchers and catchers reporting for spring training is right around the corner. I love baseball.  It’s my favorite sport, the one I was raised on.  It’s as close to a religious experience as a sport can be, steeped in history, replete with mythic figures and legendary performances that have become a living, breathing element of American folklore that is awakened anew every spring as major leaguers relive the same rituals as their counterparts a century before. For the second time, baseball’s spring training preseason will include (for many players) the World Baseball Classic, Major League Baseball’s answer to the World Cup.  The WBC is proof-positive that the International Olympic Committee’s decommissioning of baseball as an Olympic sport due to a “lack of interest” is nothing more than a lack of European interest, if not an act of anti-Americanism. Baseball is HUGE throughout South America and Asia.  The inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006 was won by Japan, which defeated Cuba in the championship game.  I attended three of the games during the ’06 tournament, and the atmosphere was absolutely electric. One of the games I saw was Korea vs. Japan, a match-up on the field of play of two countries for whom history has had not the warmest of relations–and two countries well-represented in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area (the game was played in Anaheim).  National flags waved, drums beaten, chants rhythmically repeated… having seen numerous World Cup soccer games on TV, I felt like I had stepped into a crowd for one of those sporting events, except it was for my beloved...

. a blogumn by Nate Barlow Yes, it’s finally almost here. February 1, 2009–Super Bowl Sunday. The big day of the big game, America’s television-viewing and pizza-munching apex of the year. Whether you watch for the football or you watch for the commercials, you watch. And by you, I mean almost a third of the population of the United States as well as countless others across the word. (By the way, for those of you watching only for the commercials, seriously? For four hours this one day, you actually sit in anticipation of and willingly watch those 30- to 60-second advertisements that you otherwise TIVO past every other day of the year? You do realize just how ridiculous that is, don’t you?) I, of course, care about the sport. Deeply. Even when my team isn’t playing. So whether you’re a hardcore football fanatic like me, or a commercial junkie whose curiosity is actually piqued by the action between the spots, here’s a preview of Super Bowl XLIII from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa after the jump: The Line: Pittsburgh by 7. The History: The Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers are two franchises whose histories could not be more diametrically opposed. This Sunday the Steelers will be playing for their record 6th Super Bowl victory (overall 6-1). The Cardinals, on the other hand, have a single championship game victory to their credit–back in 1947, two decades before the advent of the Super Bowl and, for the Cardinals, two home cities ago (in Chicago, with a stop-off in St. Louis along the way). The Strengths: Arizona’s offense and Pittsburgh’s defense. Strength vs. strength on the field at the same time. To pull off the upset, the Cardinals must control the offensive line of scrimmage. If the...

. A new blogumn by Nate Barlow Sports for the geeks by a geek geeking out on sports… VS. The first pseudo major sports championship of the year takes place tonight in Miami as the 12-1 and top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners face off against the 12-1 and second-ranked Florida Gators in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship game. I say pseudo because college football will never have a true national champion until a playoff system is put into place. The money-grubbing and gross inequities inherent to the BCS system will always result in college football’s champion being largely determined by polls, not on the field. But, like the BCS or not (if you couldn’t already tell, I don’t)‚ it did result in a legitimate matchup for the so-called title game this season. Sure, other teams (Texas, USC and especially undefeated Utah) had strong arguments why they should be in the BCS Championship game, but those same discussions would exist regardless of which teams were playing–that’s the problem. From an outside observers standpoint, the Oklahoma Sooners vs. the Florida Gators is a completely legitimate matchup, though I personally maintain Utah’s undefeated season warranted them the nod. The game does have it all though: the champion teams from the top two conferences, two high-powered offenses, and the last two Heisman Trophy Winners in quarterbacks Tim Tebow (2007) and Sam Bradford (2008). This game will undoubtedly be a shoot-out*; if you like offensive explosions, this one is for you. Unfortunately for the Sooners, Oklahoma star running back DeMarco Murray will miss the game with a hamstring injury. But fortunately for their coach Bob Stoops, that injury shouldn’t slow down his team too much. Murray is actually one of two backs for Oklahoma with over 1,000 yards (the...