The gendered language of sporting events > By placing gender specifiers on sports, we run the risk of ‘othering’ our female athletes World Cup, MLB, so on and so forth. These are events for men’s leagues, men’s sports teams. We don't, however, define them as such. They are the definitive events of their sports, top-tier, and as such they reinforce a standard. One does not need to prefix these titles with gender specificity—we assume, rightly, that these events will feature male athletes. So how is this a problem? Well, in the case of the NHL and the NFL, it’s understandable that there’s no specification needed, as the women’s versions of these leagues do not exist. There was a short-lived attempt to create a women’s NHL, but it only lasted from 1999 to 2007, less than ten years. Starting last year, they’ve revived this organization with—hopefully— better results. However, there isa Rebecca Peterson Staff Writer Ws spoken in past articles about the discrepancies between men’s sports and women’s sports. From pay gaps to media coverage to general funding, there’s no denying the fact that professional sports are still framed in a way that benefits men far more than it benefits women. However, down to the very nuances of human psychology, there’s potentially a more subversive reason for why men’s sports are considered more valid and worthwhile as a spectator sport than women’s. Every year, we have sporting events and tournaments that draw large crowds to stadiums and TV screens worldwide—we have the NHL, the NFL, both the UEFA Euro Cup and the FIFA it’s called Women’s FIFA World Cup. There is also a women’s EUFA Euro Cup, called Women’s Euro Cup. Defining these sports by the gender of the athletes when the men’s teams do not have their sport defined by their gender puts women in a constant state of “other.” The standard is men’s sports. Women’s sports are a sidebar to the “real” events. It may seem like a very small nuance of language to pick on, but the way we strictly define the actions of women by their gender has real effects on the lives of women. When a group of people has been “othered,” their defining and most obvious trait is the one that makes them different from society’s “standard.” As writer Michelle Haimoff once explained, “Black women wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, and see black women. White women see human beings.” in the mirror, and see women. White men wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, and By the very nature of how we've labeled these events, we imply that “Women’s FIFA” is less than its male counterpart. FIFA World Cup for women—and Exceeding maximum Capacity > Professional tricks to win you that pie eating contest Brittney MacDonald Life & Style Editor A: we prepare for the coming ummer months, we should also prepare for all those fun warm- weather sports they bring with them. But what do you do when water skiing or volleyball really isn’t your thing? Lucky for you, there’s something out there that’s competitive, satisfying, and appeals to nearly everyone: eating competitions! Be they hot wings or hot dogs, these common outdoor festival events may not make you any friends but they will earn you the respect of a least a few drunk twenty- somethings. But as the old adage goes, if you're going to do anything, you should do it right! So here’s a couple tricks the pros (yes, there are professional bulk eaters) use to ensure their plate is licked clean. Number one: if you're trying to take on something spicy like Mexican food or chicken wings, you may want consider keeping a beer close. Many people know that a glass of milk will cool a burning tongue, but milk contains a lot of fat and calories that will make you feel full faster. This isn’t helpful if your win depends on you eating the most, or reaching a certain number, so instead you should consider reaching for a beer. Though not as soothing as milk, beer will actually lessen that burning sensation in much the same way eating a slice of bread will. The benefit of beer over milk is that beer wont fill you up, allowing you to consume to your heart’s content. Next up: dissolving bread! Now I know this sounds gross, and believe me it is, but that doesn’t change the fact that this trick might lead you on to a path to victory. When dealing with foods with a lot of bread—hot dogs, sandwiches, pizza, etc.—in order to save space in your stomach, you'll want to dip the bread in water in order to compress it. Doing so will stop the bread from expanding in your stomach the moment it hits your gastric juices. All that’s left is to take advantage of all that extra room in your tummy and cram more food in before your opponent does. Lastly: speed matters! There are a couple different ways to trick your brain into not knowing how full your stomach is, one is to eat very quickly. How it works is that, when it has expanded to a certain point, your stomach will send a message to your brain via nerve endings that it is now full and you should stop eating. What eating quickly does is confuse that message by distracting your brain and stomach with a continuous influx of food, so you've already eaten way more than you should have long before your brain stops ringing the dinner bell. Now that you're armed with a couple tricks, I implore you to go forth and reap the benefits of this knowledge. At the very least, it should set you up nicely to win a couple bets at a bar. wake up in the morning, look However, there’s quite an easy Image via thinkstock solution to all this. We can always slap the same specifications of gender on existing men’s events. Then, we would have “Women’s FIFA” and “Men’s FIFA,” with each given the same gravity and importance. This is done in the Olympics, after all—why not with other sporting events as well? Douglas College hires Joe Enevoldson > Royals get a new men’s basketball coach Davie Wong Sports Editor he world of sports is constantly shifting. With the hiring of new coach Joe Enevoldson, this is especially true for the men’s basketball program this year. Enevoldson is a name that may not be familiar to those who follow the PACWEST, but it is certainly familiar to those who follow CIS basketball. He comes to Douglas with more than 15 years of CIS and CCAA experience under his belt, including six years of constant success with the Mount Royal University women’s basketball team. The new coach was “humbled and honoured” to have been selected to be the head coach of the Royals. He also said he was “obviously excited to be with the team and looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead.” But what is a veteran CIS coach doing in a CCAA league? ‘At this stage in my career, I wanted to go to a place that felt like there was support from an institutional standpoint as well as an athletic department standpoint. I also wanted to go to a place where I feel a program can be very successful and that is Douglas,” commented Enevoldson. His passion to see the Royals team succeed is infectious, and the season hasn't even started yet. “The PACWEST isa league that you can be very successful in, and Douglas is an institution that has the opportunity to be very successful.” However, Enevoldson also said that the CIS was a very different beast, and that it’s hard to compare the two leagues. Despite this, he remained adamant that his experiences in the CIS could still be directly translated to coaching at Douglas. “You take some of the CIS experiences I’ve had coaching borderline national team guys. The training remains the same, and the objective remains the same.” It’s been a couple weeks now since Joe was hired as head coach, and the season is a while away, but he’s already working hard to make the transition between coaches smooth for Joe Enevoldson Image via www.douglascollegeroyals.ca the players. “I think that whenever there is a coaching change, there’s a sense of rejuvenation within the program. I think these athletes understand that and respect that. Moving forward, it’s going to be a different culture. I feel that I bring the coaching experience. I bring a different style. It’s not better than the old style, and it’s not worse. These athletes, working with them in the past month, have really bought into it, and I’m excited to see what the future holds.” The team just recently held an ID camp which gave Enevoldson the chance to put the remaining team to work as well as to scout the local talent. Last year, the team played a pressure offence that was great when it worked, but was inconsistent. This year, is going to be much different. “I’m much more conservative. I like to grind it out with teams. We're going to be more fundamentally sound. We might not put as many points up on the board but our games are going to bea little bit closer. We're going to be much more defensively minded. We're going to bea very disciplined, very physical basketball team. That’s the style of play that we're really going to focus on and hone in on. I am big believer about playing the game inside out, rather than outside in. So we're going to attack our mismatches across the board.” However the team plays, it will be exciting to watch them regardless. Royals’ fans should be looking forward to the basketball season ahead.