Men’s sports have dominated the media and our consciences from time immemorial. Men’s sports get coverage on the major television networks, especially ESPN, and women’s sports often are relegated to ESPN2.

There is the belief that men’s sports are more exciting, more fast-paced and more entertaining. Is that really true?

I will concede the fact that if an NFL game was on while a women’s basketball game was, I would watch the football game. This is not because women’s basketball is boring and uninspiring, but because I love football. However, women are just as athletic and exciting as men, and that often goes unnoticed and ignored because the perception is that male sports are what people want to see, even if those teams are perennial losers (not in life, just in games).

Go to a Sacramento State women’s volleyball game and one will understand what excitement and competition is. Last weekend, Sac State dominated the Manhattan College Jaspers of New York, 3-0. They were diving and throwing themselves on the floor, with what may seem like reckless abandon to the lay observer, only concerned with keeping the ball alive for another teammate. They displayed exemplary teamwork, and regardless of whether they scored a point or missed an opportunity to score, they always met in a circle to give each other a quick shout of encouragement.

Although the average male is stronger, faster and taller than the average female (sorry ladies, I have to divulge these anatomical facts), the competition, passion and enthusiasm is as pure and unadulterated in women’s sports as it is in men’s (if not more so). Furthermore, any female athlete at Sac State could probably mop the floor with me in her respective sport.

Physical differences aside, there is the matter of success. The Sac State men’s football team has had little success recently. They finished 4-7 overall last season, good enough for fifth place in the Big Sky Conference. They have a combined 18 wins and 49 losses since 2001 and have not beaten UC Davis, the “rival,” since 1999. The men’s basketball and baseball teams have met little success as well. This is not to say these men’s teams will never be good.

The point isn’t to highlight how bad some of our teams are, nor is it to belittle any of the athletes and coaches that are a part of any athletic team. It is hard work to be a student-athlete and what they do is admirable. Balancing practice, games, school and work seems impossible to do, but somehow they make it all happen. Part of the problem is that football, baseball and basketball would be better off in NCAA Division II in order to be more competitive, build up more successful programs and attract more talented recruits.

The point is that men’s sports that are far less successful garner more attention and praise more than successful women’s sports. Sac State’s women’s volleyball has won 10 straight Big Sky Conference Championships. Women’s tennis has won the Big Sky the last six years. Women’s gymnastics have won three Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships since 2002 and the last two Western Athletic Conference Championships. Women’s rowing has won four Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships, including the past two years. Women’s volleyball coach Debby Colberg has compiled more than 800 victories, two national titles, 19 NCAA Tournament appearances, 17 conference championships and 15 Coach of the Year awards, and sadly for us she is retiring at the end of the season. Colberg’s record begs the question, why is head football coach Marshall Sperbeck paid $120,000 per year?

It will be a long time before Sac State gains a reputation as a perennial powerhouse in football, basketball or baseball, so why not aggressively market the successful teams we already have? The school needs to emphasize its athletic programs, male or female, based on performance, not on a perception of what they think people want to read and hear about. Sac State students, faculty, staff and the community should take the time to watch these female athletes perform and realize that they deserve the same amount of respect and recognition as the guys.

Scott Allen can be reached at [email protected].