Pantsuit Madness

Yes, it's March, and you know what that means. An important, if unofficial, competition is underway on the nation's basketball courts. The lady coaches are going head-to-head with their sideline sartorial skills. It's Pantsuit Madness!!!

In all seriousness, I do want to talk about this. And celebrate it. Not just because I happen to find these women rather sexy. But because there is basically nowhere else in the mass media where you will find such a concentration of strong, confident women striding around, giving orders, and wearing butch pantsuits.

To be clear, I am not suggesting that all basketball coaches in pantsuits are lesbians. But many of them are. And, as far I can see, only one of them is out—Portland State's Sherri Murrell, at left. The rest are closeted because we all know that, despite the heaps of lesbians in women's athletics, homophobia in college sports is rampant and vicious.

Professor Pat Griffin, an expert on the topic, wrote on her LGBT sport blog, "Of course, there are lesbians coaching Division 1 basketball teams. Even though they are closeted, everyone knows they are there." ESPN magazine also recently published an article on the problem. "Some women's college basketball coaches use subtle vocabulary to 'dis' certain programs. But there's no polite way to say this: Their homophobia is polluting the recruiting trail," the article said. Incredibly, it also touched on the topic of anti-gay recruiting being used against legendary coach Pat Summit, who, it must be said, in addition to being the NCAA's winningest basketball coach ever, male or female, is a masterful wearer of the pantsuit.