Leading off today: The Post-Star in Glens Falls
wrote this morning about the issue of gender in the coaching ranks and found that only one of the 27 schools in its circulation area has a girls varsity basketball team coached by a women.
That's right, 1-for-27 (and the one is at Ticonderoga, by the way). A near oh-fer worthy of A-Rod in the postseason.
"One of the most interesting and surprising things since Title IX is this substantial decrease in the number of females coaching," Terri Lakowski, public policy officer for the Women's Sports Foundation, told the newspaper.
The WSF says 42.4 percent of women's college teams are coached by females. That number was greater than 90 percent in 1972, the year the government enacted Title IX.
The paper said ADs and coaches cite a number of reasons for the lack of women in the business, including the nearly year-round seasons some sports have in this era of specialization and, of course, the disproportionate percentage of females who end up being the stay-at-home parent when there are young children in the family.
Performance-enhancing drugs: Roger Clemens' name certainly has been in the news for the last week, but he's not the only athlete accused recently of using performance-enhancing drugs.
Allen Watson was accused by Jason Grimsley of that in an affidavit released Thursday, and the former Mets and Yankees pitcher (he last played in 2000) issued a statement Friday denying the allegations, Newsday reported.
"At no time during my professional baseball career have I used steroids or any performance-enhancing drugs. Not then, not now, not ever," said Watson, now the baseball coach at Christ The King.
Watson's attorney, Jay Spillane, said, "The unsealed affidavit of IRS Agent [Jeff] Novitzky is nothing but hearsay based upon rumor. Anyone who repeats these false claims against Allen should be prepared to defend themselves in court."
In the affidavit, Novitzky an IRS special agent
who has been involved with cases against Grimsley, Barry Bonds and former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk