Well, that is quite a notion, and could explain the dismissive attitude some males (and females) assume toward women in team sports. As a middle-aged straight woman with a college-aged daughter, I find the sight of Talia Caldwell leaping for a rebound inspiring rather than threatening. Clearly it’s disturbing to others, and rather than just saying, “Gosh, that disturbs me,” they retreat to their inner 14-year-olds and mumble, “Chicks are no good at team sports.” Yeah, right: Girls are yucky, girls have cooties.

Anyway, of course “increasingly physical play” is good for the game; apart from the excitement of physical play, it’s also inevitable, it’s change and growth and all that. Good grief, there was a time when women played half court and were restricted by actual rules about their moves. (Diana Taurasi would have been considered a freak, instead of an unusually strong and smart athlete.) “Traditional” femininity has become a construct used by advertisers; the real thing is more complex and more interesting.

(My big brother in Seattle loves basketball, and follows the Storm. For his 70th birthday, I sent a mock congratulatory e-mail from Lauren Jackson, and included the following link: http://olympicgirls.net/girls/basketball-girls/ The idea of game face coexisting with traditional feminine/sexy drag might bother some—it certainly bothered my sister-in-law!—but I wish more men and women could be this, , , perhaps “fluid” is the word.)