Sometimes I wonder where women really fit into sports. Of course there is the WNBA, the LPGA, professional tennis, Title IX and lots more, but are we really welcome?

I've participated in sports for a good part of my life and it never occurred to me that most of my role models were men. But then again, it was the early 90s and everybody wanted to "be like Mike." As far as I can see, women have been getting the shaft.

I'm not resentful. It's not that most people intend to be disrespectful to women in sports. But I do feel like female athletes just don't get the attention they deserve.

When the WNBA was created in 1997, it's season was designed to fit into a timeslot that wouldn't compete with other televised sports, the male teams that bring in the big television audiences. It was given a summer timeslot that it shares with Major League Baseball.

But do you really hear about the WNBA as much as the MLB? Do you know that the WNBA had playoffs and Lisa Leslie was voted MVP of the finals? Or were you too busy listening to the latest news on the baseball strike, and praying that the NFL would start soon so you won't be reduced to watching women play sports?

Women are athletes as much as men. And in case you didn't know, there is even a law that says women must have equal opportunities. It's called Title IX. It states that: "No person in the U.S. shall, on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal aid."  That means that all public education has to treat women equally. Women's sports must be offered in numbers proportional to the enrollment statistics of the school. (That's why RU has ten women's sports, and only seven men's). Title IX has given women a chance as long as they are in school, but after that, they fall by the wayside.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying women should play professional football or even that women and men have the same skill levels. I'm just saying that women get the short end of the stick when it comes to the final attention of the sports-loving public.