> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Stick to hockey: Down to earth - URL: https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/stick-to-hockey-down-to-earth/ - Published: 2017-04-20T12:00:01.000Z - Updated: 2017-04-20T12:00:01.000Z - Description: Glass cliffs, bad report cards, and everyday sexism in this week’s links - Author: Phyllis Kessel - Tags: #chorus, #Import 2023-04-05 10:50 Welcome back to another edition of Stick to Hockey! Sorry about the hiatus last week (if anyone even noticed?). This has clearly been a great week to be a Leafs fan \[Note: I wrote this before game 4, and am now focusing on the game and am unlikely to ever update this\], which is something that no one ever really says. As you enjoy the glow of the playoffs, I have some links to bring you down to the less praise-worthy aspects of sports. Unlike in the past few weeks, there isn’t much to unify these links except the fact that sports are as messed up as they are glorious. [MLB receives overall C+ in racial, gender hiring practices](http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/%5F/id/19186207/mlb-receives-overall-c+-racial-gender-hiring-practices?ref=pensionplanpuppets.com) *AP, ESPN* This has been a theme in the last few weeks of these links: when a league is run by people who are overwhelmingly white and male, it matters. It means that they will probably mess up on gender issues a lot (like by having offensive Ladies Nights or all but ignoring violence against women). It also means that there will be a lot of pearl-clutching whenever a player who doesn’t fit into that white guy mo(u)ld does something deemed inappropriate (like [awesome bat flips](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UdsVO7HaJg&ref=pensionplanpuppets.com)— yes I will be inserting this link a lot). [Baylor names first female president in school history, which changes nothing](https://sports.vice.com/en%5Fus/highlight/baylor-names-first-female-president-in-school-history-which-changes-nothing?ref=pensionplanpuppets.com) *Caitlin Kelly, Vice Sports* There’s a concept in the sociology of work called the “[glass cliff,](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/05/world/europe/glass-cliff-uk-women-politics.html?%5Fr=0&ref=pensionplanpuppets.com)” where “women are often placed in positions of power when the situation is dire, men are uninterested and the likelihood of success is low. As a result, rather than breaking stereotypes about women being poor leaders, that may end up reinforcing them.” Baylor gets exactly zero plaudits from me for glass cliff-ing a woman president. [Isaiah Thomas’ grief for his sister shouldn’t have been turned into a sports story](http://www.sbnation.com/2017/4/17/15324064/isaiah-thomas-grief-mourn-sister-death-charles-barkley?ref=pensionplanpuppets.com) *Zito Madu, SB Nation* So why was Barkley uncomfortable? Because the image of Isaiah Thomas crying before a big game made the theater of sports feel like the smallest thing in the world. Grief had reduced the hero of a proud fan base, a tough and relentless competitor, to his most human. It was jarring to see. This can’t be dealt with in sports terms, and it shouldn’t need to be. [The SportsCenter-ization of political journalism](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/01/the-sportscenter-ization-of-political-journalism/250882/?ref=pensionplanpuppets.com) *Patrick Hruby, The Atlantic* As much as it seems like sport is just a reflection of society, Hruby argues here that some of the worst impulses of sports and sports commentary have invaded the news. Worst of all, ESPN-style political news makes audience amusement its primary goal. The animating questions aren't *who gets it right?* or even *who gets it first?* (Please. Those are for starving, low-rated journalists). Instead, the only question that matters is *what can keep our hummingbird audience from fluttering away to the Kardashian sisters and Huffington Post photo galleries?* As a business model, this makes sense: news-as-entertainment-product competes not simply against itself -- MSNBC versus CNN -- but also against every other cable network, every other website, the same way sports programming does. As a way of producing a responsible self-governing citizenry, however, it's a disaster. [At sparsely attended White House visit, Patriots and Trump bond over overcoming long odds](https://thinkprogress.org/at-sparsely-attended-white-house-visit-patriots-and-trump-bond-over-overcoming-long-odds-27e9792863a3?ref=pensionplanpuppets.com) *Lindsay Gibbs, ThinkProgress* I kind of hesitate to link to this because everything that 45 (my most hated neighbour) does infuriates me, but I really enjoyed seeing how much smaller the crowd was this time as compared to 2015\. What can I say, I’m petty. [What I have learned from five years of Everyday Sexism](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/apr/17/what-i-have-learned-from-five-years-of-everyday-sexism?ref=pensionplanpuppets.com) *Laura Bates, The Guardian* Not sports-related, but this essay struck a chord with me and my experiences of writing about sexism (and other issues) in hockey. I enjoyed this essay and I think you will too.