Title IX, Not For Congressional Baseball Game

Even before she got suited up to take to the diamond last night in her "IX" jersey for the annual congressional baseball game, Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) got some heavy incoming. A group challenging Title IX was looking to make an example of the California congresswoman, a big Title IX proponent - and the only woman on the Democratic team's roster.

Ah, the height of hypocrisy, the group - called the College Sports Council - thought.

So, stretching an analogy very far - oh, about as far as its snapping point - the group launched a snarky blog pointing out that if Title IX's gender quota were applied to the Democratic baseball team then, well, there wouldn't be much of a team.

"The Dems would have to cut all but one of the congressmen from their lineup. Could they still play with only a pitcher and catcher? Hmm, maybe Sanchez could throw a no-hitter," the blog says.

The anti-Title IX blog linked to a piece that Sanchez wrote for Huffington Post this week hailing the 35th anniversary of the landmark Title IX civil rights law that made sports more accessible to women.

Jim McCarthy, spokesman for the College Sports Council, pointed to Sanchez's posting and said, "Congresswoman Sanchez wrote today that, 'It's time to once and for all defeat those that want to keep girls off the field.' She's absolutely right and the first place to demand some answers is from the manager of the Democratic team."

He noted that during last week's House debate on Title IX both Sanchez and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave floor speeches "insisting that discrimination against women is rampant in athletics. Their proof was that women have a lower rate of participation in college sports. Well by that logic, the Democrats' baseball team is a bastion of sexism and gender imbalance."

Maybe the Democrats could have benefited from more women on the team. The Republicans trounced them (as usual) 5-2.

Sanchez didn't seem to find anything amusing about the College Sports Council's blog targeting her. "Educational opportunity is not a zero-sum game," she said. "Furthermore, Title IX is about making sure that students who want to go to college and participate in campus activities are not discriminated against because of their sex by higher education institutions, which receive more than $50 billion in taxpayer money every year. The Congressional baseball game is a charity fundraiser, which receives $0 billion in taxpayer money."

She was the lone woman on the team, but she certainly wasn't the biggest disappointment. No, that distinction went to Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), who, of course, got used to the word "disappointment" being associated with his name when he played (if you can call it that) quarterback for the Redskins.

Poor Shuler. He returned to RFK Stadium last night for the first time since ending his miserable tenure with the Skins in 1997 -- and what happened? He went hitless. (While Sanchez, a.k.a., the Lone Woman, made it on base with a grounder between first and second.)

A Democratic fan at the game who decided to give the Sleuth up-to-the-minute play by plays from her Blackberry wrote, "You didn't hear this from me [but] Shuler has been a bit of a disappointment...I still believe he'll redeem himself."

Later she wrote, "Shuler's a good guy." She said Shuler had his young kids out on the field after the game pitching balls to them. His little girl, who our informant said looked to be about 4 years-old, "really popped one - I was pretty impressed. Maybe in 2037 she'll hold her dad's seat and we can finally win this friggin game."

As for there being only one woman on the Democratic team, our unnamed play-by-play-by-Blackberry announcer seemed to bristle at our question about why the Democrats hadn't recruited more women. "Well," the Democratic fan said, "the Rs put zero women in for almost the entirety of the game until the very last play when they subbed [Rep.] Shelly Moore Capito [R-W.Va.] - put her way out in left field."

The insult didn't end there. "P.S., the republican fans refuse to do the wave with us," she added.

And if Title IX were applied to the GOP roster, they'd have four players - two men to equal their two women: Capito and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.).

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