Great post! Thank goodness for Hoopfeed.com, as I discovered this site via that one. Anyway, just so everyone is not completely discouraged, I founded a national Web site about girl's basketball called HoopGurlz.com. It now is part of the "male sports" world at ESPN. Yes, I am male and not sure how much that had to do with our site being accepted by the mainstream. However it happened, there is another advocate out there for women's sports. That said, I feel your pain on a daily basis. Maybe you ought to consider trying to put together your own event.

Thursday, June 11, 2009 at 9:58am PDT

Thanks, ESPN HoopGurlz! First, I love your site and I visit it all the time. I had no idea that you started out on your own, and it's great to hear it was such a success. We'd love to offer events of our own. We just started in February but hope to raise the funds and develop sponsorship relationships to do events like this in the future. I think such an event would be well received by the entire community (male and female).

Thursday, June 11, 2009 at 10:25am PDT

The name is, I guess, a double entendre, one invented with little regard for what women might think. Thus I see why you find it offensive, Megan. That, and everything else about the conference, suggests a gathering for jockstrap sniffers; that is to say, a priapic celebration of sorts. Probably it would be best if WTS put together an event of its own; and yes, such an event would be welcomed by the entire community--female and male alike (certainly this male anyway).

Thursday, June 11, 2009 at 10:45am PDT

Actually, Women Talk Sports is NOT the first, nor is it the only sports blog network for women. Women's Sports Nation, Right Fielders, and Playing the Field and others all came before you, so I would be careful about how you market your network. I know quite a few women who would take offense to you claiming to be the first.

And as far as Blogs With Balls, sure there could be more women on the panel and this is something I brought up with the organizers long before you wrote this post. But I did it privately. Publicly shoving ourselves down the throats of the people who participate in these events doesn't make us look any better. It makes is look like whiny women who feel we are entitled to equality, just because we are women. Sure, we're entitled to equality. Not because we are women, but because the quality of our work is equal. With all due respect, the list of panelists for BwB contains people who have not only been doing this for years but have obtained a level of success in it that isn't rivaled by anyone on your network.

And as for the idea that the women who are going to BwB write about men's sports in a male sports industry, you are perpetuating the very discrimination you are screaming about. Judging a fellow female blogger because she doesn't write enough about women's sports defeats your own feminist ideals. One could accuse you of discrimination for not writing about men's sports. A female blogger (or any blogger) shouldn't be judged by the subject of her writing, but the quality of her work.

If you're looking for an "invite next year" as you mentioned, this is not the way to do it. You are not entitled to inclusion simply because you write about women's sports.

Friday, June 12, 2009 at 3:13am PDT

Hi Sarah,
First, thanks for reading my blog (and for expressing your views on WomenTalkSports.com). I'm honestly glad to see that you, the founder of Playing the Field, are not only reading my blog but participating in important conversations such as this one. To be clear, I applaud your efforts (as well as other women in the sphere) and I want you to know that WomenTalkSports.com hopes to convey a message that, though we're new and different, we aim to be cooperative - not competitive with other women in the space as we support all female voices in the sports industry. As for our claims to be the "first female sports blog network..." I think yours and our definition of the phrase is quite different. WomenTalkSports seeks to put a bit more emphasis on the female sports aspect of the phrase. We would never claim to be the "first network of women sports bloggers," as the latter is simply not true, as you correctly pointed out in your comment above. We are not actively discriminating against men. In fact, we have many men contributors who are strong advocates for female athletes. My intention with this post was to never develop negative relations with the leaders of the Blogs With Balls conference, the industry, or the women who were asked to speak, as I sincerely respect their experience and perspectives. I did not mean to convey a message that the women who are speaking should be excluded. Rather, I was trying to say that those who blog about female athletes should be included. Above, I was attempting to simply draw attention to a problem...as I believe our exclusion from Blogs With Balls was not malicious or deliberate. The problem I refer to is one that exists not only in sports blogs, but in traditional media as well. Many times, female athletes and those who work in female athletics are simply "left out" of the front pages, the headlines, the job opportunities and speaking opportunities at conferences such as this. And I firmly believe that to be included, we need to start speaking up and letting people know we're here. So far, this post has generated some great discussions across a variety of platforms online, and I strongly believe that bringing a voice to the problem is the first step in having it addressed. You'll be glad to hear that months ago, prior to posting my blog, I had reached out to Yardbarker to see if there were any speaking opportunities available at Blogs With Balls. Unfortunately, they responded saying there were none. Therefore, I decided to write this post. You may be surprised to hear that my efforts in drawing attention to this issue was moderately successful, as @HHReynolds mentioned to me via Twitter that I can talk to him about participating in their next gathering, which will be announced on the 13th. As for my feminist ideals, I strongly believe that providing a voice to an undeserved population of women is fulfilling the principles I choose to embrace. I continue to respect women who choose to express their feminist ideals in other ways. Again, thank you for stopping by.

Friday, June 12, 2009 at 1:39pm PDT

Sara ... you seem a little touchy about all this ..and some of us involved in women's sports believe she is spot on .. lighten up. we are all in this together ... these guys could have invited a dozen women who match your somewhat biased criteria .. but they didn't Not sure why you chose to make the same comment "privately" rather than in the public eye.

Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 1:22pm PDT