Athletic Women Blog

Women's MMA entered a state of limbo last week when EliteXC folded. That organization—with the help of Gina Carano, the sport's biggest female star—produced the first viable women's division. But now women's MMA must find a new home. Ideally, that would be in the UFC, an organization that hasn't shown much interest in it. Michael Rome says on Bloody Elbow that it is time for the UFC to reconsider. I suspect the UFC is looking at this, perhaps other organizations, too. Time will tell.

Because I Played Sports (via SportingNews.com) informs us that Kacy Stuart has been cleared to play on her school's football team.

Before Title IX, before cable and satellite television, before the Internet, young boys and girls went to the circus and sat awestruck as they watched well-muscled women perform extraordinary feats of strength and stamina high in the air. The circus was one of the few places you could see athletic women in their element then, but by the time Vicki Unus (aka La Toria), the star of this clip, began her career in the early 1960s, there had already been a long tradition of great female aerialists:

The Women's Sports Foundation held its Annual Salute to Women in Sports Tuesday night in New York City. The event raised more than $1 million that will be used for "grants and educational and advocacy-related programming." Star female athletes of course attended in abundance, more than 70 of them. Gina Carano was there, and her experience shows us that we still have much work to do before female athletes will get the recognition they deserve, especially when it comes to combat and strength sports.

There has been no other actress more tailor-made for the role of a superheroine than Brooke Shields. At six feet, Brooke's stature alone affords her a commanding screen presence. That she also has a powerful physique makes her an even more formidable heroine. (No stranger to the gym, she is a fitness buff and has mighty arms to show for it.) Indeed, her Amazonian frame overwhelms the camera in a mere car commercial:



Thus it's a pity that we've not seen Brooke kicking ass on television or the big screen. This is no fault of hers, though—blame Hollywood for not making enough superheroine roles available. Consider Wonder Woman, for instance. Brooke seems like an obvious candidate for the role (if not now because of her age, then certainly in the past). But we are still waiting for a movie to materialize, despite years of talk.

Perhaps we will yet see Brooke, her muscles flexed, pummeling bad guys and saving the world. But so far all we have is her turn as Brenda Starr:

This Columbus Day (Monday, October 13) Jennie Finch, Jessica Mendoza, and the rest of the USA Softball Team will be at the Sports Museum of America in New York City. Former WNBA star Kym Hampton of the New York Liberty will be there as well. More details can be found here.

uBid.com is hosting a charity auction that gives you the opportunity to win a hitting session with Martina Navratilova. Proceeds benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the Atlanta AIDS Partnership Fund.

E! Online story

Television offers up a feast for sports fans this weekend: WNBA finals tonight and Sunday, and Gina Carano vs. Kelly Kobold Saturday night.

As Jessica Biel shows us here, much effort goes into becoming an action heroine: strenuous exercise, martial arts training, special dieting, and, yes, even drinking "protein powder things" (sorry, Angelina). Natural ability, which Biel has in spades, of course also helps. And contrary to what Dominic Purcell says in the clip, we have expected our heroes to look able-bodied since classical antiquity; the distinction is—now, finally, the same is true for our heroines: