The Associated Press has named Williams the AP Female Athlete of the Year (and proving that they are not afraid of a little controversy, they also named Tiger Woods the Athlete of the Decade). Out of the 158 votes cast by editors and members of the AP, Williams received 66. This may not seem like a lot, but the runner up — Zenyatta, the first female horse to win the Breeders' Cup Classic — only got 18 votes. And Kim Clijsters came in behind the filly, with just 16 votes, which makes Serena's win rather impressive.

This is not the first time the honor has been bestowed upon Williams. In 2002, she was also named the AP Female Athlete of the Year, but things are a little different this year. "I'm just happy and blessed to even be playing seven years later. All this is a bonus, really," she told the AP. "In 2002, I just was really dominant, and I think in 2009, I just brought that back. I kind of became that player again."

Considering the recent disciplinary actions taken against Williams for her outburst at the U.S. Open, "dominant" is an interesting choice of words. But Williams even suggests that her unsportsmanlike behavior could be good for tennis: "[it] got a lot more people excited about tennis," she claims. And on an even less contrite note: "People realize that I'm a great player, and one moment doesn't define a person's career. And I was right, for the most part: It wasn't right the way I reacted - I never said it was - but I was right about the call."

Fortunately, her hopes for 2010 are a little more humble. "My goal is to have a better year than '09 - and to stay healthy," she said. "I think if I can do that, I'll be fine."

Serena Williams Is 2009 AP Female Athlete of Year [AP]

• Law Professor Alan Young notes that witchcraft charges don't actually target witches (no shit) but those who use fake magical powers to prey on vulnerable people. • The American Library Association has announced a new prize for YA writers: the Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults award. A book about civil rights heroine Claudette Colvin is among the five finalists for the prize. The winner will be announced January 18th. • In 2008, women held only 15.2% of the seats on U.S. boards of directors for Fortune 500 companies. A year later, the percentage hasn't changed at all. And the same study found that women only make up 6.3% of corporate top earners. "The leadership doesn't reflect the marketplace or the talent pool," said lead researcher Ilene Lang. •  LaTanya Clemmons, sister of alleged cop-killer Maurice Clemmons, has been arrested and charged with four counts of rendering criminal assistance. LaTanya, along with five of her relatives, are being charged for their role in Maurice's escape (he eluded police for two days before he was discovered and shot by a Seattle officer). • A mother from the UK is fighting to receive donor milk for her 15-month-old son. She is currently unable to breastfeed the child due to chemotherapy, and although nurses tried giving him formula milk, it only made him sick. She was provided with donor milk for several months, but the hospital has decided that he no longer needs it. She asks that they continue giving her milk until March, when she will have finished with chemo. • Alexis Xanders was walking home from school a couple months ago when a group of kids - including one with a video camera - began to harass her and her boyfriend. The bullying escalated, and Xanders was eventually punched in the face by a member of the school's wrestling team. Fortunately, she got her hands on a copy of the tape and uploaded it to CNN iReport. Authorities are now investigating the fight, which apparently all began when Xanders said she didn't like Insane Clown Posse. • A nativity scene in front of the Old City Hall in Toronto has been altered today, after several news sources noted that the display featured a plaque from the Campaign Life Coalition - a pro-life group. City officials said the sign did not comply with their Human Rights Policy, and asked the CLC to take it down. Apparently they did so, grudgingly. • Serena Williams is in the running to be named the AP's Athlete of the Decade. Why her? Because: "With unprecedented power and underrated agility, she has transformed the way the women's game is played. Her flair for theatrics and compelling back story brought new fans to the sport, which helped the WTA Tour achieve new levels of popularity... This is an athlete who has that very, very unique combination of grit and glamour, power and grace." •

• A 54-year-old woman from Chicago has been charged with a hate crime for harassing a young Muslim woman in a grocery store. Valerie Kenney reportedly made loud references to the Fort Hood shootings before grabbing and pulling Amal Abusumaya's headscarf. If convicted, Kenney faces up to three years in prison and a $25,000 fine. •  A woman accused with trying to exhort money from former Knicks coach Rick Pitino has been charged for falsely claiming Pitino raped her. The FBI says there is no evidence that a rape occurred, although he admits to having consensual sex with the woman. • A new analysis of several different studies has found that women who quit smoking while in treatment for weight control fare better at both tasks. While conventional wisdom tells us that going cold turkey while dieting is impossible, researchers say now women won't "have to choose between the two." •  29-year-old Mario McNeill has admitted to the kidnap of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis. McNeill told investigators that he took Shaniya from her home to a hotel about 30 miles away. Police have not yet brought charged against McNeill, and don't plan to until jurisdiction questions are resolved. • Two college students were handcuffed and driven away in a police car after they refused to pay a mandatory gratuity service at the Lehigh Pub. "Gratuity is thanking you for your service," argued 22-year-old Leslie Pope. "You can't give us terrible, terrible service and expect a tip." • Japanese drug company Sciele Pharma Inc plans to file for U.S. approval of a spray that numbs the penis to prevent premature ejaculation. There is currently no prescription treatment for the condition, which Sciele estimates affects up to a third of American men ages 18 to 59. • The March of Dimes gave the U.S. a D on its premature births report card because one out of eight American babies are born prematurely each year. Some states were recognized for taking steps to reduce smoking among women or providing health insurance coverage for pregnant women, but no state got an A. • A study of 2,016 women by deodorant-maker Bionsen found that the average British woman "hosts" 515 chemicals on her body every day. Most of the pollutants come from deodorant, perfumes, moisturizers, and makeup the women put on themselves. • Separate studies found that the most talented male athletes also have attractive faces. In one study women ranked the best NFL players as more desirable, and another survey of New Scientist Twitter followers came up with similar results for men's tennis. Researchers concluded the same genetic factors may be linked to an attractive male face and athletic prowess. • The American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery has responded to the Senate health bill including a 5 percent tax on most of their procedures with six reasons they think it's a bad idea, including, "cosmetic surgery is not a specialty for only the wealthy or the vain," and "despite the fact that more men are seeking cosmetic procedures than ever, the largest portion of patients are still working women, who would be unfairly targeted by such taxes." •

Today The Wall Street Journal reports that many institutions are reconsidering the point of cheerleading since it's original goal of cheering the football team to victory in the late 1800s has evolved into performing difficult stunts in recent decades. Many are concerned by recent reports on the dangerous of cheerleading:

Cheerleading accounts for 65% of all female catastrophic injuries in high school and college, according to the University of North Carolina's National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the number of injuries from cheerleading accidents has more than quadrupled in 25 years. Another report put the number of cheerleader emergency room visits in 2007 at 26,786.

It's hard to put these numbers into perspective, since it's unclear how many cheerleaders there are. There are an estimated 400,000 public high school cheerleaders, but there are an unknown number of private teams, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association doesn't track the number of college participants since it's not considered a sport. According to The Wall Street Journal, the consensus estimate is that there are about 4 million cheerleaders in America, which puts the sport's injury rate on par with women's soccer. Cheerleading may only seem more dangerous than other sports because they practice year round and cheerleaders may be taken to the E.R. more than in sports with designated medical staffs.

The American Association of Cheerleading Coaches & Administrators issues safety guidelines for high school and college cheerleaders, and has banned several particularly dangerous stunts in recent years. For the 2008-2009 school year the association banned certain twists on basketball courts without a mat, Reuters reports. And in 2006 more restrictions were put on stunts involving pyramids after a Southern Illinois University cheerleader fell from a 15-person pyramid, cracking her vertebra and getting a concussion, according to USA Today.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that cheerleading is a contact sport in January (preventing injured cheerleaders from suing their schools and teammates), but part of the problem may be that too many people don't consider it a sport at all. Jeff Webb, chief executive Varsity Brands, which makes cheerleading uniforms and runs camps, says that compared to cheerleaders who performs stunts, those seen at NFL games are "a joke." But many seem to prefer the old-fashioned kind of cheerleader, like officials at the University Connecticut, which replaced the school's cheerleading team with a less-athletic "Spirit Squad" last month. John Saddlemire, the university's vice president for student affairs explained, "The emphasis on stunting had detracted from the major purpose," which he says should be on "fan interaction and truly on cheering and cheerleading."

Cheerleading has split into two very different forms over the years and continuing to put them in the same category may be detrimental to both activities. While many were offended by the University of Connecticut's decision to replace the cheerleading team with the Spirit Squad, there's nothing inherently wrong with having a group of (modestly-clothed) students cultivate school spirit. Opinions on stunt-based cheerleading have been polarized by the traditional image of girls in skimpy outfits cheering on all-male teams. While some men lament the loss of sexy women to oogle on the sidelines, many feminists belittle the sport because of its sexist roots.

As many young women (and some men) push themselves to perform increasingly difficult gymnastic moves in pursuit of cheerleading trophies and college scholarships, a culture has developed in which they're encouraged to tolerate injuries. Since many schools don't define cheerleading as a sport, teams don't have to comply with any safety guidelines and may not have the funding to hire well-trained coaches.

Some schools attempts to count cheerleading as a Title IX activity have been controversial. Quinnipiac University's decision to eliminate three sports teams, including women's volleyball, and move its (less expensive) cheerleading team up to varsity in the spring led to a federal lawsuit, the Associated Press reports. In her testimony Quinnipiac's volleyball coach said her grandmother could have been a cheerleader and, "To me, Title IX is about giving women opportunities beyond that." Obviously the intent of Title IX wasn't to eliminate existing sports opportunities for women, and many schools do just see cheerleading teams as a cheaper way to comply with the law. However, competitive cheerleading isn't the same activity practiced decades ago. As the struggle to reconcile the "sexy cheerleader" image with the skilled, physically demanding version of the sport practiced by many women today, injury rates among cheerleaders will remain high, as there isn't enough regulation or funding for better training and medical attention when they need it.

What's The Point Of Cheerleading? [The Wall Street Journal]
The American Association of Cheerleading Coaches & Administrators Announce New Safety Rules [Reuters]
New Rules Ban Dangerous Cheerleading Stunts [USA Today]
At Some Colleges, Cheerleading Counts As A Sport [Associated Press]

Earlier: UConn Replaces Cheerleaders With Less Athletic "Spirit Squad"

Last week, Caster Semenya's gender identity made big news as people began to question whether a woman, who "looks like a man," as everyone kept reminding us, could really be such a good athlete. It seems that female athletes are either A. too manly, B. sexualized to the point where their athletic prowess no longer matters, or C. portrayed as suffering from the ultimate female problem: how to juggle work and family. In the past year, much of news about women in sports focused on the significance of sex appeal for tennis players, the size of Serena William's butt, Candace Parker's maternity leave, Olympic moms, and of course, Semenya's "manly" body. Of course, there are some sports writers who focus on their achievements, but it is still notable how many profiles of female athletes highlight their uniquely "feminine" struggles.

Compare lines from two articles about women in sports:

First, a quote from this Sunday's New York Times, which begins,

Sybille Bammer always wished to be a mother, but first she wanted to be a tennis star. History and conventional wisdom told her she couldn't be both at the same time.

And an article from the Daily Beast on female surfers, which opens with the subhead:

The women's surf tour has never been more glamorous and the new generation is getting recognition beyond their sport. So why are sponsors bailing? (Plus: A gallery of teen stars.)

And continues with:

"You have to wear brown eyeliner, because the black smears really bad," Sage Erickson explained. And waterproof mascara."

It was a hot, July afternoon in Huntington Beach, California-a.k.a. Surf City, U.S.A.-and Erickson, an 18-year-old pro surfer who was competing in the Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing, had a few things to say before hitting the water. Standing beside her surf board, which she'd personalized with paint pens-a cartoonish Barbie on a cell phone with a dialogue bubble that read: "Blah blah blah."

Each article goes on to portray the strong women interviewed as characters as two-dimensionally cartoonish as the Barbie doodled on Erickson's board. The New York Times is much kinder, yet the focus here is primarily on how she was able to give birth and play tennis. It seems that the answer to this riddle is her supportive boyfriend, who gave up work to support Brammer, and play "Mr. Mom." "So many people made jokes," said Bammer's boyfriend, "I think this was a big deal to them because they think it is not that normal that the man stays home and watches the kid and the woman goes for work." Bammer, ranked No. 29 in the world, is seen as remarkable not just because of her skill, but because she manages to have it all, a child, a boyfriend, and a career.

The Daily Beast draws attention to a different way of selling the female athlete, which we can probably all recognize. The surfer girls in this piece are unmistakably girly—they are young, pretty, "glamorous," and friendly. However, women's surfing is still in trouble. But the new "crop" of women may be able to solve their funding problems with good looks and charm. Hurley International marketer Pat O'Connell sums it up:

"These girls are legitimately amazing surfers," he said. "For me, there's marketability and visibility-I think this new crop has both. They're good-looking girls, they're very likeable, and their ability levels are so high that they're catching everyone's attention."

Throughout her story, writer Nicole LaPorte never lets us forget about this fact, the "effortless sexiness that comes with having a killer bod." For these women to sell, and to be interesting to the general public, they have to be sexy. At least until they give birth, and then we can start puzzling out the difficulties of that equation.

And Pam Spaulding over at Pandagon points out yet another example of female athletes being viewed as somehow dangerously masculine. She quotes the Concerned Women for America website, which features a blurb about the new book God's Girls in Sports:

With the advent of Title Nine, girls have more opportunities than ever to participate in sports. While the social, physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits of sports are frequently discussed, Coach and mom Holly Page says there are also pitfalls that are too often overlooked. In her book God's Girls in Sports, Holly discusses hard issues like demanding training schedules that compete with family and church time, male-oriented coaching styles that force more masculine behaviors on girls without meeting girls' needs for relationships, the quest for scholarships, and lesbianism in college-level sports. She also talks about when it may be time to quit. Holly discusses these issues with CWA Policy Analyst Martha Kleder, as well as other ways parents can help their daughters maintain a life balance and get the most out of sports, without sports getting the best of them. (Emphasis Spaulding's)

Women who play sports, and do not conform to either the relate-able modern woman mold of the working mother or fall into the curvy sex pot role, must be either lesbians or secretly male.

Female athletes seem to serve as a never-ending well of material for those obsessed with both the female body and the importance of femininity. There seems to be a real difficulty marketing athletic women to the general public without resorting to these tricks, which continually reiterate that this is about a woman in sports, a female athlete, someone with two X chromosomes. In a way it makes sense that a physical career would lead to coverage that is so heavily centered on the body, but the emphasis on womanly-ness and athleticism undercuts the fact that many women are naturally athletic, that it is not impossible to be both.

Sybille Bammer's Tennis Career Is A Family Affair [New York Times]
Surf Girls: The Next Wave [The Daily Beast]
Concerned Women For America's Oldie Stereotype [Pandagon]

According to DePaulo, groupies either "wait in parking lots after games and are happy just to give oral sex to an athlete" or "are just classy enough to often merit oral sex a second time" (and sometimes jewelry). The rules for them are simple: don't fall in love, don't expect the athlete to leave his wife, and go ahead and angle for gifts as long as they're "paid for upfront" (unlike the Escalade McNair bought mistress/alleged murderer Sahel Kazemi). The rule for athletes, according to "groupie expert" Brenda Thomas, is "You have whatever action you want on the side, but you don't go in too deep."

The odds were stacked against Kazemi from the beginning — DePaulo says 80 to 90% of pro athletes cheat (and McNair was already cheating by being with her), and the two met at Dave & Busters, well-known as a place where the fires of hell rise up to meet Earth. But for a truly depressing precis of where Kazemi went wrong in her life as a commodity, let's hear what else Thomas has to say:

You don't fall in love, okay? And you don't let them know you're in love with them. Because then they begin to push back, they know at that point, you're gonna be needy, you're gonna want them to leave the wife… They want something that's stress free. They don't want nobody saying, ‘Where you going?' Cause they can get that at home.

So what do you do?

Other girls get pregnant, they tell the media, they go harass the wife. But I can't recall anything like this. If she played by the rules, she would have just gotten knocked up. And then she would have had child support payments for life. But she got in too deep. I mean, thank God that other women that she followed, she didn't knock her off too!

Let's recap, ladies. You can give head to an athlete (even twice, if you're classy!) but don't fall in love, or you might turn murderous. Instead, just get knocked up! Because sex is a constant game of quid pro quo in which blowjobs are exchanged for Escalades and intercourse for child support. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go live by a pond for a couple of years.

Secret Code Of Sports Mistresses [Daily Beast]

In an article that might be triggering for some, Kirk describes her three year battle with an eating disorder, noting that "a lack of control over various aspects of my life manifested itself in what I ate." As she fell deeper into her disorder, Kirk began noticing that other skaters were struggling as well: "Although I tried to ask for help in passive ways–hinting about what I was doing to my body to my friends and family–I soon realized that many of my friends in the sport were facing the exact same struggles themselves."

Kirk, who retired from the sport in 2005 and now claims that her "decision to quit skating was largely due to my desire to crush my eating disorder and regain a healthy, positive attitude towards food and my body," says she is speaking out about the unhealthy behaviors and disordered eating she observed in her peers because, well, nobody else will. While gymnasts, dancers, and wrestlers are often brought up as examples of athletes who develop eating disorders while under extreme pressure to maintain a certain body type, it's rare to hear such stories from skaters, something Kirk says is the result of the sport's lack of openness and willingness to confront the issue. "It makes me angry that there is no one speaking out against what is so common in figure skating," she writes, "Some coaches promote what these skaters are doing to their bodies, and others don't try to stop them."

Whether or not Kirk's willingness to share her story will make a difference in terms of the backstage behaviors of figure skaters is yet to be seen, but her story is certainly a powerful one and raises many questions about how we can encourage our elite athletes to maintain a sense of health and wellness, even in the face of extreme pressures and competition.

Skating's Not-So-Secret Shame [TrueSlant]

Editor in chief Gary Belsky says the issue, which hits stands in October, would be "tastefully done," with strategically placed equipment, like the nude photos of Winter X Games athletes the mag published in 2004 (example above).

While it makes perfect sense to celebrate the bodies of athletes — for power, strength, flexibility and talent, with maybe a hint of titillation — it does seem odd that a sports magazine would have to "take it off" to sell more issues or garner attention. But while ESPN has a respectable 2.1 million circulation Sports Illustrated — home of the naked chicks who are not athletes — boasts a 3.2 million issue circulation.

But Belsky tells USA Today he's not about to go cheesecake: This is going to be about sports. And sports is about bodies." And he claims the Body issue is not really competing against the Swimsuit Issue: "We'll be completely relevant to sports fans. They're relevant to swimsuit fans. And body-painting fans."

Skin Game: 'ESPN' Takes On 'SI' By Posing Athletes In The Nude [USA Today]

[Fort Lauderdale, May 7. Image via Getty]

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL - MAY 7: Mary Beth Dunnichay dives during the Womens Platform Semi Final during Day 1 of the AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center May 7, 2009 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

A photograph of Phelps smoking a bong has made headlines everywhere, and the notion that Phelps has disappointed his fans, supporters, and children who look up to him seems to be connected with this image. But in all honesty, is anyone really surprised? Phelps is a 23-year-old guy with tons of money, fame, and who spent most of his early twenties in a pool, training and training and training, while his peers were out partying and being, you know, normal young adults. Phelps smoking a bong at a party isn't a huge deal, but the fact that he was caught on film, however, is.

Because of the picture, Phelps will most likely lose several endorsement contracts, and face scrutiny in future competitions, now that the public attaches him to using any type of drug. But even more devastating is the impact this picture will have on his public persona: Michael Phelps, superhuman Olympian, hero to the world's children, has screwed up. It's not the first time, either: Phelps, if you remember, was arrested for drunk driving in 2004. The 8 gold medals he won in the Beijing Olympics, however, seem to have wiped that story from the public's minds. This time, however, Phelps may not be as lucky.

But here's the thing: Phelps never asked to be a role model. Few athletes ever do. The best of them take on the responsibility, seizing an opportunity to provide younger people with a source of inspiration and a "hey, you can do it too" mentality. But being a remarkable athlete and being a role model for the world aren't mutually exclusive, and this is a major issue in the United States, where we prop up entertainers and athletes as models of how to live, when people who are really changing their communities and providing a positive example for young kids go under the radar each and every day. We assign role model status to those who do not necessarily want or deserve it, and then we act surprised and angry when those role models "let us down."

"I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment," Phelps said today. "I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again."

This kind of statement is standard: Phelps issued almost the exact same statement after his drunk driving arrest, right down to reminding the public that he's a young kid:

"Getting in a car with anything to drink is wrong, dangerous and unacceptable," Phelps said at the time, "I'm 19 but was taught no matter how old you are, you should always take responsibility for your actions, which I will do. I'm extremely sorry for this. ... That's all I can say right now."

Michael Phelps is an extraordinary athlete, but in many ways, he's a normal person who just wants to live the same kind of life that his peers are living. He may be flawless in the water, but on land, he's just like the rest of us, with flaws and problems and vices. He's not a fallen role model or a disgraced hero as much as he's a human being. This doesn't necessarily excuse Phelps' behavior, but it might, in some way, make a little sense of it. Yes, he's a model of extreme dedication to a sport, of focus, concentration, and skill, but perhaps more importantly, he's a model of the notion that just because someone excels at a sport, it doesn't necessarily mean they're worthy of super role model status, nor do they necessarily want to be seen as such. Even the greatest athletes in the world eventually slow down and retire. It's character, not athletic ability, that determines how they will be remembered in the long run, after the medals have been put away, the scandals have died down, and the world has moved on to the next great hero.

Bong Picture Puts Pressure On Michael Phelps [Times Online]
Michael Phelps DUI Bust: "I Made A Mistake" [People]
Swimmer Phelps Regrets Pot Pipe [BBC News]

[Image via Getty.]

Players from the US water polo team celebrate after defeating Serbia during the Men's semifinals at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing on August 22, 2008. The US went on to win 10-5. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images) — Getty

Read more coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games.

[Image via AP.]

Sheila Taormina of the United States dives into the pool in the swimming event of the women's modern pentathlon at the Beijing 2008 Olympics Games, Friday, Aug. 22, 2008.Taormina win the fourt heat.(AP Photo/Martin Mejia) — AP

Read more coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games.

[Image via Getty.]

Heather Fell of Great Britain on her horse 'Lele' clears a jump during the women's riding in the modern pentathlon event of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games at the Olympic Sports Centre stadium on August 22, 2008. (INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images) — Getty

Read more coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games.