Letter to the Editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer

To the Editor:

You won the bet for me! On Tuesday morning (3/2) when I picked up your sports page I was amazed to see that the only area college team (St. Joe's women's basketball team) to have won their conference championship the night before was relegated to being buried on page five.

I bet my colleagues at McLaughlin & Morgan that when the men's games from the same conference began they would hit page one of the sports page. Sure enough LaSalle's win over St. Joe's was there, as was Temple's loss to Rhode Island. As the father of two young female athletes I'm disappointed that this kind of sexist journalism still exists at the close of the century.

Perhaps The Inquirer has written off the female athlete as a potential reader? As one of the co-founders of the Main Line Girls Basketball Association (MLGBA), which has over 600 girls in grades 2-8, I can tell you that there is a tremendous interest in women's sports. It's about time The Inquirer recognized it.

Sincerely,
William J. McLaughlin
MLGBA Co-founder