Missed Opportunity

In the world of sports journalism, women's sports are usually covered as if they are a secondary sport. They are so unappreciated that papers like The Philadelphia Inquirer have to set aside a particular section of the paper one day a week so that a women's sport story HAS to be covered.

Therefore, it is not too far-fetched to think that in the grand scheme of Philadelphia sports, a mid-major women's basketball program is lucky to get press even in their University's student newspaper.

Drexel University's women's basketball team is having one of its best seasons in their modern era, but does anyone know about them?

No, and here's why. Currently, the press has a lot on their tables including March Madness, the John Chaney/St. Joe's saga, the NFL draft and free agency, the NHL ongoing impasse and MLB spring training. Those are just the major stories. There are also a host of other topics that the writers have been focusing on, still ahead of women's basketball. They include Villanova's great season, the Stewart Elliot mishap and even the Soul's firing of head coach Mike Trigg.

So obviously, Drexel women's basketball, no matter their success or their plethora of "feel good" stories, will get as much attention in this city as horse racing, with the exception of Smarty Jones, or high school sports. Case in point, Temple women's basketball. They are 24-3 and are ranked 16th in the country but fail to garner much more than back-page props.

Bringing things back to the Drexel Lady Dragons, I noticed that they did get coverage from their last game versus George Mason- the extent of the coverage was the issue. The blurb appeared about one dozen pages in from the back cover of The Philadelphia Daily News condensed into a two-inch box like it was meant for the classifieds section of the paper. Is it a problem with Drexel’s program or its media relations’ people? Either is doubtful! Most likely it is a problem with the coverage of women’s sports.

Now is the time and this is the place that will make up for that.

Drexel women’s basketball program has a rich history- mostly of losing. Their last winning season was in 2000-01 and prior to that a decade before in 1990-91. Since the program’s inception in 1944, they have never reached the “women’s” NCAA tournament or the “women’s” National Invitation Tournament. Considering all of that, this current season and this current team is that much more special.

Coming into this season, the Dragons have had three consecutive losing seasons, two of which were under a different head coach and a different regime. Candice Crabtree, the coach of the Dragon’s last winning team in the 2000-01 season while they were in the American East Conference, couldn’t continue her success as they lost their first two seasons in the Colonial Athletic Association. Coincidentally, they were also Crabtree’s last two seasons as head coach of the Dragons.

Current head coach Denise Dillon took over for Crabtree last season and was named interim head coach. Before the 2004-05 campaign, the interim tag was removed and she was given a multi-year contract.

This is officially her team and her program to turn around. “Different coaches have different philosophies. And my philosophy is team basketball, trying to find each player on the court and make sure they are a threat and that they understand what is going on and they understand our system,” said Dillon.

“Like I said last season, the girls were very receptive. They were willing to do what I needed them to do. But it took some time to learn the whole system. It helps having a number of kids returning this year and they got it so they helped the freshman out,” continued Dillon.

Last year, Dillon’s Dragons finished 10-18 last year, landing them in 8th place ahead of only William and Mary and Towson. So obviously, coming into this season, the Dragons could really go no where but up. Or so you would think? The so-called experts of the CAA media picked the Dragons to finish 9th place in the CAA. (One member of The Triangle picked them to finish 5th.) Does that disrespect from the media provide motivation?

“Absolutely…it definitely does…that was something we showed them from the very beginning; we put it in the locker room. We highlighted the 9th place pick. I thought we might have fallen in the middle of the pack- returning Katrina and Catherine Scanlon- two key players. I was kind of surprised that we were picked 9th,” said Dillon.

That motivation, coupled with great coaching, inspired play and instant maturity, all lead to the Dragon’s 18-9 record and 3rd place in the CAA standings. So is Dillon surprised by the program’s success thus far?

“At this point, no. At the beginning of the year, trying to look through the schedule, yes,” Dillon explained.

With their first ever win over national powerhouse Old Dominion in their last game of the regular season; the Dragons now look forward to postseason play.

She stated, “A major goal of ours was to stay out of that play-in game which hasn’t been the case for Drexel women’s basketball, so we have achieved that already. We know we aren’t in that play-in game. And I think as you continue to win, when you see success, you obviously want more. So we have already stepped that up saying ‘We have to win that quarterfinal game.’ So the goals are set higher and the expectations are set higher. They want to be challenged.”

And if the Dragons meet that challenge, the program may get its first taste of a NCAA or NIT tournament bid in its 60-year history.

Missed Opportunity Story by Geofree Capodanno

Superstitions in Other Sports
by Geofree Capodanno


How many times have you run across a story or some sort of article about sports superstitions and routines? If you have read one recently, was it about baseball? I am going to bet that it definitely about baseball. Baseball superstitions and routines are covered throughout every medium from Wade Boggs’ portion in the book, Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition (Vyse, 2000) to the Pedro Cerrano character in the film Major League (1989, Universal). But what about other sports superstitions and routines outside of the baseball world?

I did a brief survey using eight sports-minded individuals. I asked them what sports superstition or routine they last remember either reading about or watching in a program or film. All eight people answered using only baseball superstitions and routines. One person recalled the “Curse of the Bambino”, based on the 1918 Babe Ruth trade that supposedly brought an 86-year World Series curse to the Boston Red Sox. Another person mentioned that Wade Boggs would eat only chicken on the day of a game and used to draw a symbol meaning “To Life” in the dirt before every one of his at-bats. Someone else brought up the routine executed during Nomar Garciaparra’s at-bats where he pulls on his batting gloves and bangs his toes. He also commented how Garciaparra steps on each dugout step with both feet before a game. Three others brought up Turk Wendell, who seems to be the epitome of baseball superstitions and routines. Wendell would perform bizarre rituals like brushing his teeth and chewing on licorice between every inning as well as stepping over the first-base line on the way to the mound. The two others that were surveyed discussed not speaking about a no-hitter or a perfect game while one is in progress and believing that it is good luck to step on one any base before running back to the dugout at the end of any inning.

This was all great information to share because my results showed that baseball superstitions and routines have a superior notoriety over any other sport realm. What about bowling? What about the rodeo? Outside of my survey, I was able to research and find that baseball is not the only sport that has unusual superstitions and rituals. The first thing that I noticed was that the coverage on this information outside of baseball was scarce. Nonetheless, the information was enough to keep me interested in writing about them in this paper and exposing some lesser known superstitions outside of the baseball world.

Bowling contains some lesser known intricacies. Many bowlers believe that in order to continue a winning streak, they must wear the same clothing. They also think that by carrying any types of charms either around their necks, in their pockets, or on their bowling bags will deliver good luck to them.

Rodeo cowboys have an extensive list of superstitions. Rodeo cowboys never wear yellow during an event, fearing that it will deliver bad luck. They eat hot dogs before an event in hopes of bringing them good luck, but they refrain from eating popcorn or peanuts during an event in dread of having the opposite effect. They don’t kick any paper cups tossed to the ground at rodeos or read their horror scopes on the day of their competitions. Rodeo cowboys also do not compete with any assortment of change in their pockets because the superstition states that the change amount in their pockets will be all that the cowboy would win for that night. Other superstitions of the rodeo cowboy include: always shaving before any event, never putting a hat on a bed in fear of severe injury or death, and putting in their right foot in the stirrup before the left foot. Cowgirls even have their own superstition separate from the men. They wear different colored socks on each of their feet in hopes of attracting good luck.

Like rodeo cowboys, tennis players also try to avoid wearing the color yellow at any of their matches. Tennis players also tend to walk around the outside of the court when switching sides for good luck while avoid stepping on the court lines to dodge any bad luck.

Not only did I discover fishing superstitions, I also uncovered some deep-rooted superstitions as well. Fishing superstitions rival the quantity that exists in baseball. It was a horrible act to wish any departing fisherman “good luck” back in 19th Century England. Apparently, the deed was considered so ill-fated that fist fights would happen. One set of superstitions that allegedly caused bad luck included: if someone drove a nail into their boat for repairs at anytime on a Sunday, if a crew possessed a looking glass that was cracked and unusable, or if hatches had been dropped at any point before leaving the port. If any of these actions manifested, it was guaranteed to bring either physical injury, no fish for the day, or both.

In Western Europe, swine was banned on the boat at all times. In fact, if anyone even said the word “pig”, they would be thrown overboard. A woman was also considered bad luck at that time. Continuing on this myth in Ireland, a red-haired woman that happened to cross in front of a fisherman’s path was considered awful luck as well.

In the Bahamas and United States, fishermen never bring a banana on any fishing trips. United States anglers free their first catch of the day for good luck. This is common on a lot of the professional tour and amateur tour circuits. Some other superstitions include: not fishing after hearing an owl hoot, refraining from swearing during a lightning storm, and spitting on baited hooks.

Surprisingly, I discovered how unaware I was of the many superstitions in other sports. I fish and bowl on a continuous basis, yet I was oblivious to some of the superstitions of those two sports. Baseball superstitions reign over all of the other sports included in my report for a couple of reasons. The first would be local and national televised coverage of baseball at both the major and minor league levels. The second factor would be that baseball is America’s favorite pastime and successful in attracting both televised and live event audiences. Its popularity generated from television rights surpasses any audiences interested in watching a combination of fishing, bowling, and rodeo televised events. Although, the notion of throwing someone overboard for saying “pig” or getting into a fist fight when someone wishes you well by saying “good luck” make the idea of touching a base before going to the dugout seem so…so normal.