A League of Our Own


Billie Jean King: "Champions keep playing until they get it right."



As March winds down and basketball madness ramps up, it occurs to me that this month is a perfect blend of celebrating women's roles in history and sports.

For most of the year, my interest is focused largely on books - definitely not watching or attending any sporting events. Any excitement I have for Super Bowl Sunday is centered on the commercials and food. I can't say with certainty who won the World Series in 2014. But for a few weeks each year, I become a rabid fan of the University of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team. My vocabulary now (briefly) includes double double, traveling, bank shot, and transition offense. In my mind, I'm on a first name basis with the student athletes. Sitting on my couch, hundreds of miles away from the game, I'm suddenly an expert on each players' strengths and weaknesses. My interest in the Huskies was first sparked when I lived in Connecticut in the 1990s. Coworkers' enthusiasm became my enthusiasm. It's still just plain fun to watch the team, with its ever-changing names and faces, continue to play hard. 

Tonight the UConn women, now an Elite Eight team, face University of Dayton. We'll know soon if the Huskies will continue the quest to return home as national champs for the third year.

I'll put away my UConn flag and return to being oblivious to the sporting world...until next March. 

Celebrate female athletes' achievements by reading their stories. 

Katie Hnida - Still Kicking, college football
Jan Reynolds - High Altitude Woman, skiing
Billie Jean King - Pressure is a Privilege, tennis
Laura Baugh - Out of the Rough, golf
Pat Summit - Sum It Up, college basketball
Peggy Fleming - The Long Program, figure skating
Serena Williams - My Life: Queen of the Court, tennis
Mia Hamm - Go for the Goal, soccer
Babe Didrikson Zaharias - This Life I've Led, golf
Martina Navratilova - Martina, tennis
Rebecca Lobo - The Home Team, college basketball (UConn)
Brittney Griner - In My Skin, college basketball
Olga Korbut - My Story, gymnast
Patricia Brown - A League of My Own, baseball
Althea Gibson - I Always Wanted to be Somebody, tennis
Wilma Rudolph - Wilma, track
Dorothy Hamill - A Skating Life, skating
Mary Lou Retton - Creating an Olympic Champion, gymnastics
Diana Nyad - Find a Way, swimming (released October 2015)
Dana O'Neil - How to be like Women Athletics of Influence
David Halberstam & Daniel J. Boyne - Red Rose Crew, crew
Geno Auriemma - In Pursuit of Perfection, college basketball (UConn)


                                                        * * * * *

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to Read With Enthusiasm. It's easy. Look for follow by email at the top right hand corner of the blog. Submit your email address. You'll receive a follow-up email to activate your subscription.  Thank you!