OAG Listeners' Comments

"Ugh!" The story on last week's program about tennis players who grunt loudly when they hit the ball elicited this response from one listener: "They do not grunt. They scream and shriek. I no longer listen to or watch women's tennis."

Another listener who identified him- or herself only as "a former tennis fan" wrote: "How would the players react if all the tennis fans watching a match repeated each noise the players made, scream for scream, grunt for grunt?"

Two weeks ago, our program was devoted to marking the 40^th anniversary of the passage of Title IX.

On our Facebook page, Dan Rigney wrote "Your Title IX show was terrific. As a parent of a six-year-old girl, I truly appreciate the opportunities my daughter will have that my mother could never have imagined."

Maria Cary Warburton also visited our Facebook page and wrote, "Great show. As a woman who played college sports in the late '70's and early '80's, now the parent of two sons, both college student-athletes, I see the huge benefits Title IX brought, and some of the supposedly unintended consequences. But I agree that the loss of men's programs has much more to do with revenue vs. non-revenue sports than with the need to continue to work toward equal opportunities for men and women."

Frank Dello Stritto, a listener in Houston, commended Only A Game for "intelligence, literacy, humor, and wonderful interviews." I tried to keep Mr. Dello Stritto's words in mind when I read the e-mail David Priver of San Diego sent us this week. He wrote as follows: "One day after the [Jerry] Sandusky verdict and two days after a great NBA final and we get a full, incredibly boring hour on Title IX. Ridiculous!"

Another listener, Maureen Leary Naughton, e-mailed to say she was struck by "how little has changed since Title IX became law."  "When one of your guests stated that 80 [percent] of colleges are out of compliance, my heart sank," she wrote. "But I suppose it is better than nothing. Unless we as a society continue to demand athletic equality by financially shunning colleges and universities that fail to comply with the law, things will not change much going forward. Thank you for being part of the effort to shine the light on where we stand today. It certainly awakened me."

And finally a listener who identified himself as a veterinarian wrote as follows: "So, should we find it disturbing, ironic, or significant that right smack in the middle of a tribute to Title IX, you referred to Secretariat as a "he?"

Um…none of the above?

You can reach us here at onlyagame.org. You can leave a message on the listener line by calling 617-353-1860. You can find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.