Here are some more links on the commentary swirling around Division III basketball player Toni Smith and her silent, but hardly unnoticed protest against the American flag:
USA Today's Christine Brennan praises Smith for breaking out of the "cookie-cutter" mold of today's athletes, and singles out former U.S. Women's World Cup team member, Julie Foudy for her work defending Title IX.
Geno Auriemma, head coach of the defending NCAA Champion UConn Huskies women's team, had this to say to the Hartford Courant:
"The flag is a symbol of what we stand for. Anybody who does (what Smith has), they have the right to do it, but to me it's disrespectful and ... I would have that right not to have that person on the team. Then they can sue me and say, 'You're denying me my rights.' "
The twist here: Auriemma's star player, Diana Taurasi, disagrees with her coach, and doesn't have a problem with Smith's protest.
The Kansas City Star is reporting that NCAA officials have discussed the possibility that other atheltes might take the opportunity of a large television audience to air protests of their own similar to Smith's.
Overseas, The Scotsman has done something that few U.S. papers have had the guts to try: fidning someone who opposes a war against Iraq, yet isn't afraid to call out Smith for what she's doing:
"It
What else can be expected of a writer for a right-wing rag like the Washington Times. Mr. Knott throws the typical shots that the extremists in this country always do. Immigrants always are coming here not anywhere else, the inequalities of this county are made up fairy tails and the left-wing pinko commies only justify their anti-war position by saying “No War for Oil.” However, these