{A KanGoVyrawl Production}
Word from the gym is that KanGo went over the top on his NCCA/ student athletes rant. For KanGo, “over the top” is a daily occurrence, a lifetime ritual if you will. Ok, ok, not all that moola ends up in deep pockets. A lot of cash gushes out and is now and has been for the past 4-decades, been put to very good use. Let’s hear it for the boys, the men, who have come forward, lacing up the lady’s sneakers and welcoming them into the wide world of sports.
This is the 40th anniversary of the passage of Title IX, a law that enables women to compete equally with men in college sports. This includes securing the very sought after, elusive and hard-won, college scholarship. However, dream-team status is only obtainable through the sweat equity known, oh so well, to countless gym rats and driven, driveway/back-alley b-ballers. Participation in sports for men and women is now proportional to the school’s enrollment percentage. The bill, initially opposed by NCCA, increased the opportunities for ladies and consequently decreased that of the men’s programs. However, all schools receiving financial assistance were mandated to conform. By 2006, women’s high school sports increased 9-times. Their college participation grew an astounding 450% in the same period and total NCCA women’s sports teams now exceed 9000.
Flashback to 1891, genius James Naismith invents the all American new sport of basketball. In 1892, just one year after the real “King James” forever challenged America, the first women’s basketball league was formed. Their first college game occurred in 1893 and the first ever girl’s high school game took place in Chicago way back in 1895. The popular sport is now played worldwide in high school gyms, inner city playgrounds, driveways and gleaming modern-day arenas with big scoreboards and even bigger big-screen TVs. As in the “Chevy Runs Deep” ad, this is the sport of the people. It just doesn’t’get any deeper than that. If James could only see how his sport has progressed, he would most likely be attempting slam-dunks while rolling over in his no-hops barred grave.
The origins of this law can be traced to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed into law by then President Johnson. But it was not until June of 1972 when President Tricky Dick fooled us again (but in a very good way) and he passed an athletic equalizer bill well disguised in a desegregation busing bill. But it was not until June of 1975 that this controversial law was finalized, enacted and enforced.
So…not one to admit having the taste of his own stinky sneakers on his gums, KanGo would now like to complement the NCCA for taking on this monumental task of providing us fans with, “The Greatest Shows on Earth,” and allowing the ladies…their well-deserved chance to achieve their dreams. Heck of a job, NCCA!
Basketball to KanGo is very personal. It is, above everything else, this: James Naismith’s invention is a coming-of-age sport where fathers, mothers, sons…and daughters too, bond; where the torch is eventually passed; where youthful energy always prevails over age–infused finesse and wisdom. As parents, this love-of-the-game, family-bragging right is not surrendered easily, not without a few bumps, bruised egos, an occasional sprain or even a meniscus tear. In America where winning is everything and second place is just the first loser, this moment is the most proud, most welcomed defeat we as parents…will relish for the rest of our lives.
Color me gone,
KGV
