July 24, 2008 - The stroke is still there for  Nancy Lieberman.

With five players handed league suspensions after Tuesday’s scuffle against the Los Angeles Sparks, the Shock went out and signed Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman to a seven- day contract. Lieberman had been the general manager and head coach of the Shock from 1998-2000, and is currently a television analyst.

At 50 (yikes) years old — she celebrated the big bday three weeks ago — Lieberman became the oldest player to suit up in league history.  In her first (and likely only) game as a Detroit player, the Brooklyn native went 0-for-1 from the floor and collected two assists in her nine minutes of play.

The Houston Comets went on to defeat the undermanned Shock 79-61. Despite the Shock slump, Lieberman played admirably and showed that she’s truly “the best dame athlete.” For all you youngsters out there, next time you think you can’t do it, think again.

Lieberman was a standout for Far Rockaway High School in Queens, and played on the U.S. women’s team for the 1976 Olympics and at age 18 became the youngest basketball player in Olympic history to earn a gold medal.  She went on to star at Old Dominion University from 1976-80 winning two national championships then performed in the short-lived Women’s Pro Basketball League.

Lieberman also broke ground in 1986, becoming the first female to play in a men’s league when she took the floor for Springfield of the USBL. She was originally drafted by the Phoenix Mercury in the 1997 draft, spending one season with the club–becoming the oldest (then) player in league history at 39 years, 54 days old.

Over 17 professional seasons, she averaged 15.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game. And with her latest foray into the game, the legend continues.

Filed under: General, WNBA by jane
1 Comment »

July 24, 2008 - We don’t write this news; we just link to it. Here’s a round-up of a articles we came across this week you may find interesting. 

Beach volleyball may be next NCAA sport for women though it will be called “sand” volleyball so landlocked schools still feel like they can participate.  It is being recommended that the NCAA put the sport on the “emerging sports for women” list.  Right now, indoor volleyball is the No. 2 women’s sport in the NCAA, second only to basketball, with 992 of the 1,064 member schools fielding teams.

Swimmer Jessica Hardy tests positive - controversey reigns before the Summer Games even begin as Hardy tests positive for a banned substance, leaving her just two weeks to pursue any appeals before the Beijing Games begin.

Tehran debates breaking dress code to broadcast women at Olympics - There are just three women among the 53 Iranian athletes who will compete in the Beijing Olympics (in rowing, archery, and tae kwon do). While these women play sports dressed in the traditional hijab, their international competitors do not — and therefore cannot be shown in Iranian broadcasts. Millions of Iranian viewers would like to cheer on their female athletes but it’s still a question whether the government will allow the events to be televised. 

Chow returning to China as U.S. women’s gymnastics coach - Liang Chow, once a celebrated member of the Chinese national gymnastics team, will return to his native city of Beijing for the first time in 17 years proudly wearing red, white and blue. After coaching Shawn Johnson to a number of world and national titles, the Des Moines resident was named head coach of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team this week.

Filed under: Beijing Summer Games 2008, General, News Bytes by jane
No Comments »

July 22, 2008 - If you’re looking for a career that pays big bucks, learn to swing a racquet (or a golf club). For women, the highest-paid athletes come almost exclusively from tennis and golf, where prize money and endorsement dollars flow overwhelmingly to the brightest stars.

According to Forbes, the four highest-paid female athletes in the world are from the tennis circuit: Maria Sharapova (Russia), Serena and Venus Williams (U.S.) and the newly retired Justine Henin (Belgium).

Maria Sharapova leads the list of the highest earning female sports figures with endorsements from such big names such as Pepsi, Nike, Canon and Motorola. Her total earnings are estimated at $26 million per year.

Serena Williams, who was top earner before Sharapova became a teen sensation,  still brings home $14 million a year. 2008 Wimbledon champion Venus Williams is just behind her younger sister with $13 million. Coming in at fourth place on the top earning list is Justine Henin who just recently stopped playing professionally. Forbes estimates Henin’s yearly worth at $12.5 million—$5 million of which she earned by winning titles in 2007.

Golfers Annika Sorenstam, Michelle Wie and Lorena Ochoa have also broken into eight-figure earnings territory (that’s over $10 million for those who are counting).

Sorenstam has racked up more career prize money than any female golfer in history–some $22 million. The eight-time player of the year has 72 LPGA tournament wins to her credit, including 10 majors. She recently announced she’ll retire from the tour after the ADT Championship in November, just after she turns 38.

Teen sensation Wie has deals with Nike and Sony that contribute to her $12 million paycheck. Ochoa has netted $1.8 million in prize money this year to go along with major endorsement deals with Audi and Lacoste that bring her annual payday to $10 million.

The top 10 list is rounded out by IndyCar driver Danica Patrick and tennis player Ana Ivanovic who earn $7 million and 6.5 million respectively.

What about team-sport athletes? Will women’s team players ever catch up to men? Olympians and WNBA stars like Candace Parker, Diana Taurasi and Lisa Leslie don’t get nearly the same money from corporate sponsors that LeBron or Kobe command.  Who will be the one to break through? You?

Filed under: General, Golf, Tennis by jane
No Comments »

Filed under: General by jane
No Comments »

July 21, 2008 - According to Nike company lore, one of the most famous and easily recognized slogans in advertising history was coined at a 1988 meeting of Nike’s ad agency Wieden and Kennedy and a group of Nike employees. Dan Weiden, speaking admiringly of Nike’s can do attitude reportedly said, “You Nike guys, you just do it.” The rest, as they say, is (advertising) history.

Nike’s “Just Do It” theme is now 20 years old, and the marketer is planning a push of Olympian proportions to commemorate its anniversary.

The company is planning an epic global campaign titled “Courage,” with 60- and 30-second spots to begin airing in the U.S. on Aug. 8, the day of the Olympic Summer Games’ opening ceremonies, while a micro-site, nike.com/courage, is now live.

For the push, 31 athletes from more than a dozen countries are immortalized in the midst of “Just Do It” moments. Athletes like Michael Johnson, Derek Redmond, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant,  Roger Federer, Steve Prefontaine, John McEnroe, Wayne Rooney and Lance Armstrong.  The Killers’ “All These Things That I’ve Done” serves as the soundtrack.

We caught a few glimpses of female athletes, namely Maria Sharapova, Mary Lou Retton, Paula Radcliffe, Joan Benoit Samuelson, and Sherone Simpson but we’d like to see more. Hey Nike - where’s the love for the girls?

Filed under: General by amo
2 Comments »

July 21, 2008 - At last night’s ESPY Awards, the trophy for Best Moment went to the Sportsmanship demonstrated at a Central Washington vs. Western Oregon Softball Game. In case you’re unfamiliar with the story,  it’s worth repeating.

The women’s softball teams from Western Oregon and Central Washington were playing for a spot in the NCAA Division II playoffs. With the score at 0-0 and two runners on base, 5-foot-2 Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky came to bat. The outfielder had never hit a home run before. Not in college, not in high school. And then she hit one over the center field fence.

In her excitement to round the bases, Sara missed first. She stopped, pivoted and collsapsed with a knee injury. Crawling back to the base, she was told none of her teammates could help her, and if they put in a substitute runner her homer would be ruled a single.

And that is when Central Washington senior Mallory Holtman stepped in. With her team’s chances of moving onto the playoffs on the line, she  asked the umpire if she and her teammates could pick Sara up and carry her around the bases. Mallory and shortstop Liz Wallace picked up their injured opponent and the unlikely threesome made their way around the bases. By the time they reached home plate, the crowd was cheering and in tears.

Western Oregon went on to win the game 4-2 and the series. Mallory and Liz’s good deed no doubt ultimately helped to end their team’s season but that’s not really what mattered, said Mallory:

“In the end, it is not about winning and losing so much. It was about this girl. She hit it over the fence and was in pain, and she deserved a home run.”      

Sportsmanship of this caliber is rare and these beautiful girls with their big hearts rightfully deserved the ESPY (and so much more). They acted above the moment, above the game, and above themselves; they acted without hesitation. No sports moment of the past decade can supersede this one.

Congrats girls!If you watch this clip, be sure to have a box of tissues on hand!

Filed under: College Athletics, College Softball, General, TV by jane
No Comments »

July 17, 2008 - Our Pretty Tough Pick of the Week may seem a bit odd but read on….

Kay Ryan , an award-winning poet and self-described “modern hermit,” was named the next U.S. poet laureate today. The Library of Congress announced that the lifelong Californian, whose compressed, metaphysical poetry has been compared to Emily Dickinson’s , will become the 16th U.S. poet laureate, starting in the autumn.

How she became a poet, however, is closely tied to her love of cycling. In her twenties, she and a friend left California on a 4,000-mile cross-country bicycle trip, which would give her time to think about whether to devote herself to poetry as a vocation.

As the friends pedaled through Colorado, the repetitive, rhythmic exercise gave Ryan a sense of oneness with her surroundings. In that moment of heightened awareness, Ryan, realized  she liked writing better than anything else.

Since then, Ryan has fashioned a life conducive to poetry, one in which the essential elements of that bike trip - repetition, expansiveness, and large intellectual leaps - shape both her daily routine and her voice as a writer.

And since that ephiphany on the seat of her bike, Ryan has been the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as numerous prestigious literary awards. Not bad for a woman who was once considered too independent to be accepted by her college’s poetry club.  Ride on Kay….

Filed under: Book Club, General, Mountain Bike, Profiles by jane
No Comments »

Have a great 4th of July Weekend from Pretty Tough!

Filed under: General by jane
No Comments »

July 3, 2008 - There’s been a lot of talk about waterboarding lately. While it may sound like a new sport, it’s really a controversial interrogation technique considered by many to be illegal.

For those lucky few who don’t follow politics,  the technique in question is provocative because it blurs the line between what is “effective and necessary” and “torture”.  The U.S. government allegedly uses waterboarding to interrogate prisoners - even though they saw fit to prosecute it as a war crime after WWII.

What exactly is waterboarding?

Waterboarding simulates drowning or suffocation in order to make an individual talk. The person is strapped to a board, with their head lower than their feet and chest. Interrogators bind the person’s arms and legs and cover the face,  sometimes with cellophane. Water is then repeatedly poured onto the person’s face. The physical experience of being underneath this wave of water makes the person’s believe he/she is drowning, and a gag reflex kicks in. For most, the experience is intolerable.

A number of reporters and journalists have recently tried waterboarding - you can check Current or YouTube for examples. Is it immoral? Is it torture? Is it necessary? Whatever you believe, it’s not a game - and not to be tried at home.

Filed under: General, News Bytes by maddy
No Comments »

July 2, 2008 - With July 4th right around the corner, we can almost smell the bbq (maybe that’s because one of our neighbors is literally grilling a burger right now). This is the perfect month to get the summer party started so whether you’re going for a casual, fancy or diet-friendly vibe at your get-together, we’ve got some suggestions.

PT Alert! The average person attending a summer BBQ consumes at least one soda, a hot dog, a burger, chips, coleslaw, potato salad, and dessert. That can easily exceed 1,500 calories. So beware.

With some planning you can still enjoy all the festivities (and the food) without regretting it later. So, without further ado, here’s your need-to-know BBQ info:

Stock up on essentials:

(more…)

Filed under: Entertainment, General, Nutrition by jane
No Comments »