Keyboard Quarterbacks

By Karen Bailis

While they spoke, the maligned women of Rutgers, with dignity, intelligence and grace – in sharp contrast to the sputtered stupidity that had brought them here this day -- a stanza kept ringing in my ears:

I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Last week, Don Imus’ ignorance reduced a team that had beaten the odds by playing for a national basketball title to “nappy-headed hos.” Yesterday, those 10 women, eight black, two white, showed the world their strength and honor, and in their words that rippled with pain and resilience, I heard poet Maya Angelou:

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies
I'm not cute or built to suit a model's fashion size
But when I start to tell them
They think I'm telling lies.
I say
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips
The stride of my steps
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.

Yes, they are phenomenal. Credit their families and their coaches. Credit basketball. Credit the women themselves.

And credit Don Imus. Because in the twisted way this world works, it was his hate and ignorance that brought these phenomenal women to the world.

Their incredible run to the championship game, which they lost to seven-time national champions Tennessee – phenomenal women in their own right – did not bring them the national attention they deserved. No, while office work grinds to a stop to discuss standings in the men’s NCAA tournament pool, the women’s game barely generates a stir. And that’s too bad, because it not only showcases some of the best athletes in the country, it’s an opportunity to see some phenomenal women in every sense of the word.

Now, the world has seen and heard Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer, team captain Essence Carson, Heather Zurich, Matee Ajavon and Kia Vaughn. There’s not a senior on the team, yet they’re all wise beyond their years.

The world has met the valedictorian, the Girl Scout, the music prodigy and straight-A student, the daughters.

Stringer said her players “are the best this nation has to offer ... young ladies of class, distinction. They are articulate, they are gifted. They are God’s representatives in every sense of the word.”

She continued: “While they worked hard in the classroom and accomplished so much and used their gifts and talents, you know, to bring the smiles and the pride within this state in so many people, we had to experience racist and sexist remarks that are deplorable, despicable, and abominable and unconscionable. It hurts me.”

Vaughn, as direct as a blocked shot, stood up and said, “I’m not a ho. Unless they've given `ho' a whole new definition, that's not what I am," the sophomore center said.

Carson, a junior who plays four instruments and maintains an A average, spoke of what the words of Imus and his sidekicks in stupidity had taken from the team’s glorious run to its first Big East Championship and an improbable chance at the NCAA title.

"It has stolen a moment of pure grace from us," she said.

Carson said the team had agreed to meet with Imus and that they hope it will be a productive meeting. Although they refused to talk of punishment for Imus, they want results.

“You don’t get too many opportunities to finally stand up for what you know is right,” Carson said. “I know we’re at a young age but we definitely understand what is right and what should get done and what should be made of this. We’re happy — we’re glad to finally have the opportunity to stand up for what we know is right.”

They’ve stood up, as a team, to show the world the essence of who they are: some phenomenal young women.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say
It's in the click of my heels
The bend of my hair
The palm of my hand
The need for my care.
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.

The fallout from barely a few minutes of racist, sexist radio conversation has become bigger than Imus, bigger than Rutgers basketball. It’s a referendum on racism and sexism in America. And it’s a chance for America to rethink the way it treats women athletes of all races.

"It is more than the Rutgers women's basketball team. It is all women's athletes. It is all women," said Stringer, the third-winningest women's basketball coach of all time who has taken four teams to the Final Four.

One can hope that the sponsors who are fleeing Imus’ show, which could spell the death of his career, will come calling for women’s NCAA basketball and the WNBA. Now, that would be justice.