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Excerpt

Coach Lonnie Delaney
March Sixth

With 30 seconds remaining in the game against St. Mary's, Lonnie Delaney saw Forrest Haneline waiting to ambush her through the tunnel.  He rarely came to women's games, so his presence was an ominous sign.  It was bad timing.  Lonnie was in a bad mood.  Her team had played flawlessly against the Gaels and still lost, so she wasn't in the mood to hear Haneline complain about all the national attention she had brought on NCAA and Del Mar University Athletics.  After shaking hands with the Gaels' coach and making sure all the players had gone to the locker room, she took a deep breath and headed toward the tunnel.

"I'm getting lots of complaints about Jennifer sitting on the bench," Haneline said.

"Really, why?" Lonnie responded.

"She's obviously pregnant."

"So?"

"But she's not married."

"And..."

"This is a Catholic university.  Parents are up in arms, not to mention the Jesuits.  It's a bad example for the young girls who come to our games," said Haneline.

"What's bad?  She made the decision to keep her child."

"This is a Catholic university."

"I thought Catholics are supposed to unconditionally support the decision to keep a baby."

"Nothing is unconditional."

"You're obviously not Catholic," Lonnie said.

"She's not married."

"If she were married, it would be okay?  But since she's not, she can't be on the team?" Lonnie asked.

"She can be on the team, but she can't sit on the bench and represent the university.  Come on, Lonnie, stop drawing a line in the sand on every damn issue."

"There have been a lot of male players who have fathered children while playing for this university.  Not one of them was married.  To my knowledge, you haven't kicked any of them off their teams."

"We'd prefer that she just not sit on the bench," Haneline emphasized.

"So tell me how many male athletes, football players, have you 'preferred' not sit on the bench when their girlfriends got pregnant?"

"None," he admitted. 

"The NCAA should treat pregnancy as an injury," she said.

"All she has to do is apply to get another year of eligibility.  She'll get six years to play five, instead of five years to play four," said Haneline.

"You know that's not what I'm talking about.  If a player is injured, he gets all the resources of the athletic department's medical resources-acute and therapeutic."

"Women do too."

"Yes, women, too," Lonnie agreed.  "But, if he needs surgery, the athletic department pays for it.  We have a list of specialists that we use.  When he needs physical therapy, we not only provide it but we supervise it.  If it's career-ending, we'll even arrange counseling.  True?"

"True."

"But, if a woman gets pregnant, she gets turned over to the general university health coverage.  Ever wonder why that is?" Lonnie asked.

"What more do you think she should get?" Haneline asked.  "Anyway, you're changing the subject.  We just want Jennifer to not sit on the bench, that's all."

"You guys are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites."

"Here we go again," he sighed.

"You're damn right, here we go again.  You can't name one male athlete who couldn't sit on the bench because his girlfriend was pregnant.  But when a female athlete gets pregnant there are all these rules about what we can and can not do."

"C'mon, Lonnie."

"We're supposed to be helping young people, not turning our backs on them when they make decisions that don't suit our politics."

"Not even you can find politics in this," Haneline said.

"It's right there on the surface."

"Where?  It's a distraction for her to sit on the bench," he said.

"Who's distracted?  Father Maloney?  The NCAA?  You?"

"I'm not Catholic," Haneline said.

"Is the other team distracted, because one of our players is pregnant?" she asked.

"No, but parents have complained.  Boosters have complained.  Catholic-Booster-Parents have complained," he recited.  "That's not politics. Catholics are just funny about unmarried mothers representing their university."

"Let me ask you.  Why do you think the NCAA wants scholarship players who get pregnant to use the university health care facilities and not provide resources through the athletics department?" Lonnie asked.

"How many times do I have to tell you?  Pregnancy is not an injury," Haneline said.

"But it is conceivable a scholarship player who gets pregnant might seek counseling to deal with her emotions, right?  Or, maybe she's just confused about what to do and as her coach I see that she needs counseling.  By your rules-by NCAA rules- I can't do anything."

"Oh, come on, Lonnie!  That's a bunch of bullshit."

"All I'm saying is, if we're about leading young people, then, why would the NCAA prevent me from getting a player all the help she needs so she can make the best decision about her pregnancy?  It just seems the NCAA wants to stay as far away from the issue of birth control as possible."

"They do not," Haneline said.

"They have no problem raising the banner of female independence through sports.  They want young girls to aspire to become strong, confident women who play NCAA sports.  They celebrate it on national television. But they know they would be seen as hypocrites if their official position is against a woman's right to choose."

"But that isn't their official position," Haneline said.

"Having no position or putting it off for someone else to deal with it, is taking a position, by omission.  They also know they would be targeted by the Religious Right for supporting abortion if they allowed schools to offer counseling that presented abortion as an option."

"There's the politics!  I knew it was in there somewhere," Haneline said.  "Look, we just don't want her sitting on the bench.  She'll still have her $25,000-a-year scholarship."   Haneline was getting frustrated.

"So what?  She can keep her scholarship."

"$25,000 is not a 'so what,'" he said.

"If she needs special arrangements to take care of her child so she can practice and go to games, then what?  The rules say we can't help."

"Is the athletic department supposed to arrange for child care, too?"

"No, but the NCAA could make it so it would not be a violation if an enlightened school wants to arrange it."

"They won't allow it.  So we don't do it.  You gotta make choices in life," Haneline shrugged.

"And that's why Congress should hear what you guys are doing."

"What you guys?"

"You, the Chancellor, the NCAA.  You're penalizing women for having the ability to bear children. Treating women differently, while it's not a direct violation of the Title IX, it violates the spirit of the law."

"By your perspective, we violate Title IX by having stand-up urinals for men and not for women," Haneline shook his head.  "The NCAA is just a governing body, they can't mandate a change in the culture of this university."

"Bullshit!  They do it all the time with their player eligibility rules and sanctions preventing post-season play.  If a school wants to get TV money, bowl money or tournament money, they will comply with the NCAA. So, let's stop playing dumb," Lonnie said.  "What makes me mad is you still want to get federal money even though you're not providing equal resources for female athletes.  You want it both ways."

"This is a Catholic university.  What's to stop a female athlete from getting a scholarship her freshman year, like Jennifer, getting pregnant, and putting the university on the hook for the cost of her scholarship, prenatal care, and child care after she's had the baby?" Haneline asked.

"How many female scholarship athletes get pregnant every year?"Lonnie asked.

"Nationwide?" Haneline said.

Lonnie answered her own question.  "Maybe five.  If the NCAA changed its rules, pregnancies would not go up dramatically.  We're not talking about a large amount of money when you compare it to the billions of dollars the NCAA generates.  And, we all know, that's the bottom line.  No.  What this really shows is your-."

"-You keep saying it's me."

"You're on the eligibility committee.  So, why don't you try to make it easier for women?" Lonnie asked, arms folded.

Haneline was fed up.  "You can't have it both ways."

"Men do."

"Well, not on our dime."