Jezebel: Football

Cheerleaders at the University of Idaho will ...

Maria — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:40:00 EDT

Cheerleaders at the University of Idaho will be ditching their "skimpy" uniforms after fans complained that the outfits were too revealing. The two-piece uniforms consisted of a halter top and a short black skirt with white trim and was "similar to what an NFL cheerleader might wear." The new uniforms will have a less revealing halter top and a longer skirt. An advisor to the squad said that some of the uniforms were not flattering to every cheerleader and some women complained that the uniforms were uncomfortable. The advisor added, "We're not being a bunch of prudes." [Sports Illustrated]

[Photo via Right Fielders.]

Golden Girls: Heather Mitts

Anna — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:50:00 EDT

BEIJING - AUGUST 21: Heather Mitts of United States runs with the ball during the Women's Football Gold Medal match between Brazil and the United States on Day 13 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 21, 2008 at Worker's Stadium in Beijing, China. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Golden Girls: Amy Rodriguez, Azusa Iwashimizu

Anna — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:50:00 EDT

Amy Rodriguez of the US (L) fights for the ball with Azusa Iwashimizu of Japan during their Beijing 2008 Olympic Games women's soccer semi-final match in Beijing on August 18, 2008 . The US won 4-2. AFP PHOTO/HOANG DINH Nam (Photo credit should read HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/Getty Images)

Golden Girls: Angela Hucles, Sophie Schmidt

Intern Margaret — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:50:00 EDT

[Image via Getty.]

SHANGHAI, CHINA - AUGUST 15: Angela Hucles (L) of USA and Sophie Schmidt of Canada compete for the ball during the Women's Quarter Final match between USA and Canada at Shanghai Stadium on Day 7 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 15, 2008 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Photogamma/Getty Images) — Getty

Read more coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games.

"You get the opportunity to just pound and ...

Maria — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:45:00 EDT

"You get the opportunity to just pound and pound and pound somebody," says one player. "It's not powder puff. It's not flag. It's real, tackle football and people are surprised by the collisions and the hits," says another. "They're fundamentally much stronger than the guys are," says their coach. Click here to meet The Force, an undefeated, all-female football team in Chicago that is one game away from the Independent Women's Football League Superbowl. And don't forget to watch the video. [CBS News]

The Paper: "Turn Your Head And Cough"

Tracie — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:00:00 EDT

We're still totally in love with MTV's reality show The Paper, and its portrayal of teens as something other than the scary, greedy, illiterate assholes we've become used to seeing on television. On last night's episode, managing editor Alex and another Circuit staff member decided to do a "serious" investigative journalism piece on what life is like for a high school football player by temporarily joining the team for a day; to do so, they were required to get physicals. Interestingly, the idea of having to do the ball-cough test in front of one another seemed way more frightening to the two than having to face 250-lb. linebackers. Clip above.

Why It's Hard To Hate The Rapist And Love The Game

Moe — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:00:05 EST

Just days from the Super Bowl, the Seattle Times brings us a powerful story of football, rape and forgiveness. The chief antagonist is Jerramy Stevens, a 6'7, 255-pound tight end on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 2000 he played for the University of Washington Huskies, the third-ranked team in the country (and possibly the third-rapiest, given the three other Husky-on-"groupie" rapes alleged that same year.) But Stevens' case is special, in that it was enabled by so many administrators, authorities, lawyers, and coaches. In high school, where his dad was principal, Stevens served time for beating a friend with a baseball bat and some more time for failing his piss tests and punching through school walls. He should have lost his scholarship but there were lawyers, fans — even Mormons — ready to lobby, protest, and write letters on his behalf. In college, Stevens was stopped like 99 times for DUIs, hit-and-runs and driving with licenses that had been revoked due to DUIs and hit-and runs — a harbinger, perhaps, of the DUIs that would follow in his NFL career. "Sometimes you have to give people a chance," they would say. "He's a good kid etc. etc." But Seattle police detective Maryanne Parker didn't believe it — especially after, investigating a rape charge against Stevens, she found an email he'd written to another girl with whom he'd been romantically involved:

"i know that you are not going to beliewhat i have to say especially after satterday night but when i got your e-mail today i laughed a first but then it started to sink in and my heart started to break as i read over your words.
"i realize that i have [messed] up and I want to talk to you about being with you and how i can make it up to you. this is not a joke i want to have you in my arms and know that you are mine and ythat nothing that i have done or [a friend] has said caould ever change the way that i feel about you. when i think back to the night that i spent with you by ourselves i wish that i would have done one thing and that is, i wish i would have put ... "

Stevens then describes, in explicit terms, an anal-sex act he wanted to do to her. He closes with: "you whore dont ever utter my name again."

After sending it, Stevens showed the note to a teammate, who called it a "funny ass email."

So at this point it probably wouldn't surprise you that someone like Jerramy Stevens was accused of drugging a virgin sorority girl and anally-raping her in the alley next to a frat house. It probably also wouldn't surprise you that aiding him in this effort, directly aiding the cause of clemency for Jerramy in this crime, were the University of Washington Athletic director Barbara Hedges, then-head coach Rick Neuheisel, current head coach Keith Gilbertson, the University of Washington legal department — who fought to get the accuser's name released in the civil aftermath after the rape case was dismissed — King County prosecutors Norm Maleng, Dan Satterberg and Mark Larson, and lawyer and loyal UW football fan Mike Hunsinger, who represented Husky teammates in many cases for pennies on the billable hour.

And finally, it probably also wouldn't surprise you that most of these people had the same reasons for maintaining "reasonable doubt" for Jerramy: Girls are gold-diggers, groupies, looking for attention; as if there is no other reason for the existence of women, no other source of affirmation for them, than perpetuating that mythic higher caste occupied by men whose raw, caveman-like aggression keeps the fans in the seats, the donors sending checks, the Fortune 500 companies shelling out a million for thirty second spots, and the wheels of the economy in motion.

The story of Jerramy Steens reminded Anna of a Joan Didion story in an early '90s issue of the New Yorker on a rapist group of Orange County high school football players, the Spur Posse. As explanation for his son's "unlawful sexual intercourse" with one or more girls, one father proffered (and yes she looked this up):

These girls pre-planned these things. They wanted to be looked on favorably, they wanted to be part of the clique. They wanted to be, hopefully, the girlfriends of these studs on campus.

Indeed.

When prosecutors decided not to charge Stevens, Neuheisel and Hedges agreed that Stevens should not be disciplined. Neuheisel's test was this: If a player embarrassed himself, his family or the university, he should be punished. This episode embarrassed the UW, Neuheisel said, but "given the prosecution's decision not to go forward, it looked as if Jerramy was not the reason for the embarrassment."

But what era is this? Who are we? Do people believe these things in their hearts? Does it ever strike them that any other black man in this country with Stevens' record — well, he wouldn't have been able to rack up a record like that, he'd be serving a life sentence by now? You've seen the MSNBC prison specials! Is that some sort of societal achievement, that an athlete's economic importance to his school can put him in the impunity ranks with Jeff Epstein? Because, you know, break a limb; contract a superbug — and it's All Motherfucking Over.

A few days ago Dodai's mom showed me some papers she had from an estate sale held in Alabama in the early 1800s. There was a man for sale, he was crippled; the asking price was one dollar.

"See, he cost less than the teacups," she pointed out.

As it was, all his legal problems have chipped a lot off Jerramy Stevens' asking price.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed him — on the cheap — for $600,000, which was $5,000 above the minimum for a player with his experience.

"He is a big, powerful, speedy tight end," said general manager Bruce Allen. "He has had some off-the-field issues that have hampered him a bit. We had a very serious talk with him today.

Convicted of assault and accused of rape, star player received raft of second chances [Seattle Times]
Related: The 2000 Washington Huskies Were Horrible People [Deadspin]
The Quarterbacks' Sideline Play [NY Times]

Meet Elisabeth Hasselbeck's Mother-In-Law, Betsy: Shocker! She Believes In Jesus!

Jennifer — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 15:00:00 EST

We had heard that Elisabeth Hasselbeck wasn't an insane Republican Jesus freak before she married into the Hasselbeck clan. We were skeptical, because she seems too scary to have just picked up these habits within the past decade, but after reading the profile today's Boston Globeon EH's mother-in-law, Betsy Hasselbeck (wait, does this mean that Tim Hasselbeck's wife and mother are both named Elisabeth?) we are sure of it: The Hasselbecks are definitely running some sort of a cult. Maybe Elisabeth was actually a nice normal girl before she got involved with them! Because Betsy is scary. When her husband Don played tight end for the New England Patriots, she apparently implemented a nightly practice regime for him where he had to catch 500 passes in a row in their backyard. Miss one in the last 100? Start all over again. Just like Jesus would have done?

If there's anything more important to the family Hasselbeck than football, it is Jesus. Betsy, with a retired husband and the children off playing pro-ball, has devoted herself to running "workshops for current Pats players and their wives. The workshops focus on faith, marriage, and family" since Hasselbeck fears that without her instruction, these men and their wives might turn towards the Devil's ways: "We live in an upgrade world where temptation and fame can threaten any marriage. What we're trying to do is teach [couples] how to strengthen their marriages and commitment to God."

Betsey's faith has also propelled her towards her other project: Doing whatever she can to stop perverts from coaching youth sports. "I was lucky, because Don was our boys' coach for nine years. But I thought, OK, if I've been placed here for a reason, it's to help people. This is one way I can give something back," says Betsy, despite the fact that "breakout figures are not available for young athletes, [and only] anecdotal evidence suggests [that children] are especially vulnerable to predator coaches." Good to know that if you are placed on this earth to do some good, it's for a cause that you've pulled out of your ass!

But before you start make assumptions at Betsy Hasselbeck, be sure to know this: "We've never cared about labels," she says, in regards to identifying the specifics of their Christianity. Good to know! It's always refreshing to meet a prostelytizer who can understand that expressions of faith need no names! Elisabeth Hasselbeck sure lucked out marrying into this family — the woman couldn't have asked for a better teacher on preaching her overly-simplified ways of thinking.

Extra Points [Boston Globe]

Southwest Airlines Has Beef With Double-D's

amparry — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 17:00:00 EDT

Wow, "Keith" must be working some serious overtime! Southwest Airlines gave another woman hell for wearing "revealing" clothing, just a week after a woman was nearly booted off a flight for wearing a mini-skirt. Setara Qassim was forced to wear a blanket by a flight attendant because she thought Setara's top was too low cut. Dude, is it just us, or does Southwest seriously have a problem with girls with ample breasts? [NBC6.net]
Eating right, staying active, and watching your weight during pregnancy furthers the chances that your unborn baby will grow into a healthy adult. Memo to Nicole Richie: Eating right, staying active, and watching your weight ups your chances of being a healthy adult too! [Newsweek]
A Top Chef contestant and a small group of her friends were beaten outside of Long Island bar in what appears to be a hate-crime. Josie Smith-Malave, who is gay, says she hopes the perpetrators will be caught and prosecuted on felony hate-crime charges. [Local6.com]

"Is football too dangerous?" asks Time Magazine. If we say yes, will our boyfriend stop dominating the television Saturday through Monday for four months out of the fucking year? [Time Magazine]
Seventy-five percent of moms have major nightmares about something horrible happening to their children. See, women carry the bulk of the parenting load, even in their dreams! [MSNBC]
Children who are exposed to high levels of testosterone in the womb may see symptoms of autism later in life, further evidence that links the male hormone to the disorder. [MSNBC.com]
Further proof that humans are descended from monkeys: female chimps love bad boys just as much as women do. [MSNBC.com]
It's the 40th Anniversary of the Abortion Act in the UK, but there's a bit of a debate raging as to how late in a pregnancy a woman can terminate. The Daily Mail has an interesting panel of women who've had abortions weighing in on the discussion. [Daily Mail]
An 80-year old Iowa woman had "Do Not Resuscitate" tattooed on her body, but doctors are still keeping her on life support because they say the tattoo is not enough proof of her wishes. Do they think "Do Not Resuscitate" is the name of a heavy metal band or something? [Crooks And Liars]
A woman who is the victim of an alleged rape has sued the judge in the case because he has barred the use of the words rape, victim, and assailant from the courtroom during the trial. The woman was barred from using the words during her testimony, which lasted 13 hours, a clear violation of her first amendment rights. [Law.com]
A lawsuit against the University of Colorado was reinstated after being dismissed in 2005. The original case stemmed from the gang rape of two women in 2001 by the school's football players and recruits. The suit alleges that CU officials failed to respond adequately to a long history of sexual harassment and assault by school football players and were therefore liable for the environment that allowed the rapes to occur. [Ms.]
A Vitamin-D deficiency during pregnancy increases the risk of getting pre-eclampsia, the leading cause of premature birth. Trista Sutter — you know, the OG Bachelorette — talks about her personal experience in this week's US Weekly! [Science Daily]