A roundup of this week's absurd moments in the sports world
The GIST: The on-court Madness can’t distract from the absolute absurdity off it, with WTF moments spanning track & field, hockey and sports journalism.
World Athletics: Track & field’s international governing bodyvoted yesterday to exclude some transgender women athletesfrom competition starting March 31st. The org’s new policy bars trans athletes who have gone through “male puberty” from competing in female events, a similar stance to the one world swimming adopted last year.
- The ban also imposes limits on athletes with sex development differences, meaning Olympic champion South Africa’s Caster Semenya (who is not transgender) must undergo hormone-suppression treatment before “competing to be eligible.” Yeah, this is not it.
NHL Pride Nights: Keep the boos coming because a fourth NHL team is refusing to wear Pride warm-up jerseys on their own Pride Night. The latest offenders? The much maligned Chicago Blackhawks, whose management cited security concerns for their two Russian players ahead of Sunday’s puck drop.
- Meanwhile, Eric and Marc Staal, brothers on the Florida Panthers, protested their team’s Pride celebration by refusing to come out for warm-ups at all last night, citing “religious differences.” Weird way to spell “homophobia.”
Sports journalism: A Boston sports radio host was suspended yesterday after using an ethnic slur to describe incredible ESPN analyst Mina Kimes. The station initially played the “he’s sexist, not racist” card, claiming that the host was referencing the actress Mila Kunis, not Kimes, when he used the slur that heightened in use during World War II to refer to Japanese people.
- Wish we were kidding, but true to her iconic ways, Kimes — who is Korean, not Japanese — had the last laugh, briefly changing her Twitter profile picture to a photo of Kunis. No choice but to stan.
