Women's equality has been a long and hard battle. First they fought to get the right to vote, then they fought for equal treatment in college sports (if your school is University of Connecticut, Notre Dame or Duke, maybe). Now they are forming their own sports leagues.
The WNBA, WPGA and WMLS have had less than secure starts, and only Mia Hamm and the Williams sisters have come close to becoming household names, at least for something they did while competing in their sports.
Perhaps the reason why women's sports have not caught a serious following is the majority of television sports watchers are still men, although studies have shown that it's not as divided as it once was.
In fact, women's sports are so unimportant that, in the NCAA Women's Tournament, number one seed Penn State had to face number two seed UConn in Hartford, and yet there is no outrage like the outrage over Pittsburgh having to play Wisconsin in Milwaukee in the men's tournament.
And still, women's sport leagues continue to pop up. In 2000, the National Women's Football Association was formed to give women a chance to play full-contact football. Yes, you read that right.
Women's place kickers have become less surprising in high school football and have even spread into the college game.
But professional women's football is no powderpuff game. They take it quite seriously.
Indiana got into the action in 2003, when the Indiana Thunder rolled into South Bend. The Indiana Thunder finished 0-8 in their rough inaugural season, including a 105-0 loss to the Detroit Demolition.
Indiana has a second team coming to this state when the Evansville Express begins their season this weekend.
If women's football sounds entertaining to you, head up to South Bend and travel to New Prairie High School's football field where the Thunder will face the Southwest Michigan Jaguars while the Evansville Express head to Saint Louis to face the Slam. Both games begin at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Write to will at wjohargan@bsu.edu
'Will's Wild World of Sports' can now be seen on television. Starting Thursday you can tune in to Channel 57 at 8:30 p.m. and watch Will explain and play one of the sports he has explained in this column thoughout the year
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