Could you imagine being an award-winning columnist for USA Today, an on-air commentator for ABC News, CNN, NPR, and Fox Sports radio, the author of seven books (one of which is a national best-seller), cover the Olympic games, be a motivational speaker, start a scholarship fund for female journalism students, AND be in the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame? ....well, that is Christine Brennan's life that I would die to have.
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| please let me have this life, please please pleeeaaase |
Brennan developed the name "The Skirt" by a few co-workers because she would wear the occasional skirt around the workplace. Considering the field Brennan worked in, sports journalism, this was rare to see.
That was the path Brennan was used to. When she was a little girl, Brennan got to play with all the boys. I say "got to" when really I should say "had to." Until Brennan's freshman year of highschool, women didn't have equality in sports. Not until 1972 when Nixon enacted Title IX. Then, according to an article by Sarah Kuta out of The Daily Northwestern, "Brennan became a six-sport athlete and senior athlete of the year at Ottawa Hills (Toledo, Ohio) High School."
Before Brennan played with the neighborhood boys, she was taught how to play sports from her father. Brennan would later go on to write a father-daughter memoir called Best Seat in the House.
Best Seat in the House is a fascinating book that tells the tale of a young Christine (sometimes called Christy to her young friends) Brennan. At the age of five she would run around in a swim suit sporting no top, listen to baseball games every night and play catch with her father as often as he would allow. She was the definition of a tom boy.
I recently rented this book from the UMD library and have yet to set it down. I see a lot of myself in the young Christine Brennan; always wanting to play with the boys, asking for a baseball mitt instead of a Barbie for Christmas, etc. It amazed me how easily Brennan remembered players and stats, and how much she knew about the game. When a child is that passionate about something, no matter if it is a boy or a girl, I believe parents should support them. If Brennan's father would have never bought her that mitt, or taught her how to throw correctly, or if her mother would have made her put an appropriate swim suit on for a little girl, who knows where she would be today.
Brennan's young love for sports made her the successful pioneer she is today and so for that, I have to say thank you to her Daddy for supporting her every step of the way.
Best Seat in the House is a fascinating book that tells the tale of a young Christine (sometimes called Christy to her young friends) Brennan. At the age of five she would run around in a swim suit sporting no top, listen to baseball games every night and play catch with her father as often as he would allow. She was the definition of a tom boy.
I recently rented this book from the UMD library and have yet to set it down. I see a lot of myself in the young Christine Brennan; always wanting to play with the boys, asking for a baseball mitt instead of a Barbie for Christmas, etc. It amazed me how easily Brennan remembered players and stats, and how much she knew about the game. When a child is that passionate about something, no matter if it is a boy or a girl, I believe parents should support them. If Brennan's father would have never bought her that mitt, or taught her how to throw correctly, or if her mother would have made her put an appropriate swim suit on for a little girl, who knows where she would be today.
Brennan's young love for sports made her the successful pioneer she is today and so for that, I have to say thank you to her Daddy for supporting her every step of the way.
