One of my favorite events, the women’s Big XII basketball tournament, was in town over the weekend, and it didn’t disappoint. Too bad it was the last year for Kansas City to host the women’s tournament, as it moves to Dallas next year. I trust it will be back, though. Municipal Auditorium is a tremendous basketball venue, especially for crowds of less than 10,000. As expected, Baylor, led by 6-8 center Brittney Griner, came out on top, winning the final 73-50 against overmatched Texas A&M, the defending national champion. Check out the scene:
The convention district, alive and well
A Texas Tech cheerleader...Oh, wait, that's my daughter Brooks!
Dee Kantner, queen of the refs -- a Division 1 referee for about 25 years
The Baylor band gets peppy
Color Guard, at ease
This fan ended up by the wrong band
Griner the Great, warming up
AP photographer Jeff Tuttle -- not all the work is through the lens
"Starting at forward, No. 50, Bailey the Bear"
Step right up...
Everybody looks good at tournament time
After the game, Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey talks with one of her favorite players, her daughter and Baylor guard Makenzie Robertson
And the skies opened up...
Brittney owns the net
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Jim:
You have a beautiful daughter!!
Cheers,
Laura
Thanks, Laura! I hope you’re doing well…See you some Wednesday at the Brooksider.
God Bless You Fitz. I’d rather watch paint dry than watch women play basketball at the college or professional level. Title IX made a mockery of so much related to college sports. Outside of mud or jello wrestling I don’t know of any female sports that are “profitable”.
I can support equality in female athletics through high school, after that not so much. The amount of money wasted at the collegiate level on Title IX compliance is shameful, particularly at a time when academic budgets are under pressure. The same can be said for some men’s sports as well.
The sports marketplace should be responsible for determining the necessity of amatuer and professional athletes not institutions of higher learning. With some rare exceptions only men’s football and basketball are true net revenue producers at the college level. Everything else is just touchy, feely, let’s feel good about ourselves institutional liberalism.
If we put as much emphasis on EDUCATION as we did making sure we had enough scholarship athletes on the women’s rowing team we might not be getting our asses handed to us in critical fields like math, science and engineering by Second World countries.
There’s a lot better ways for not so little Suzy or Shanae to learn life lessons and build character then getting skulled in a 2 on 1 fast break in the women’s Final Four.
I’m assuming that your daughter got her good looks from her Mother.
Grudgingly, I have to say, “yes,” Smartman.
Wonderful pictures from the women’s tournament, Jim, as of course most of the focus has been on the men. Dad’s mother played some basketball at Cotner College in Bethany, Neb. (now a part of Lincoln), as did at least one of his aunts. Aunt Mary was fast enough on the court to earn the nickname “Jitney,” as in a fast-moving conveyance. That said, Smartman has some valid points. Women’s sports are hardly money-makers on the collegiate level, but as he also correctly points out, the same can be said of many of the men’s sports. The bottom line is this: there’s far too much emphasis on athletics in general at America’s universities, especially now when money is so tight and other needs are being neglected. Albert Britt, a distant relative and former president of Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., sounded the “alarm” on this subject way back in the 1920s. He’d be flat out disgusted to see what’s going on today at campuses across America.
Rick — Of course, you saw the photo of my beautiful daughter…Well, she is a 2010 Knox College graduate. She had a wonderful experience there, and, it’s one place that, I think I can safely say, sports will always remain in the shadow of academics. I’ve been to football games there, and it’s just a diversion. People wander in and out of the stands; nobody gets very excited; a lone drummer sitting in the stands among the fans provides the only decibels exceeding the human voice. It is kind of maddening when you see the home team get drummed by the arch rival from down the road — Monmouth College — but, for the most part, the students don’t care; they know they can beat the crap out of Monmouth in any academic competition.
I’d never heard of Britt, but, for my daughter’s sake, I’m glad Knox has resisted the temptation to plow big bucks into athletics.
welcome to the SEC…
Jim, as I recall now, Mom had said something about your daughter having been at Knox. I thought she had been discussing someone else (another parent) she had met at a Knox function in the KC area. I saw a car with a Knox sticker not too long ago – maybe that was you, your wife or your daughter behind the wheel? Anyway, Dad’s mother was a Britt, and she was a first cousin once removed from Albert Britt. Grandmother’s parents were the ones who left the Galesburg area for Seward County, Nebraska, pre-1900, of course. I have all but one of Albert Britt’s adult level books and have seen that book listed on one of the old/rare book sites. He was the president of Knox from 1925 to 1936, the first native of Illinois to be a Knox graduate and later its president. Roger Taylor has since duplicated that feat.