I've been following part of the discussion on female players in QB with interest. It seems some amount of metaphorical handwringing is going on over the dearth of female players on the four-year circuit, and most of the theorizing about why seems to focus on the behavior of male players in the game or the game's inherently self- aggrandizing nature. It's worth noting that in Florida, where the game thrives at the community college level (26 of the 34 state CCs field teams), there are many female players. Seven of Valencia's players this year were female (out of 16, more or less). At Valencia's Delta Burke Invitational in November 2002, 56 of the 136 players were women. Of the top ten scorers at that tournament, six were women. At the December Palm Beach CC Invitational, Valencia players Elissa Caffery and Amy Harvey were the top two scorers (surprisingly as teammates). And trust me, Elissa and Amy can be as boorish and self-aggrandizing as most who post too often on this list (though they're usually more entertaining). Simple observation seems to confirm that CC teams from other areas also seem to have far more female players than are seen at the four- year level. I'm no sociologist, but I don't think women avoid the game at the universities because of boorish behavior and such; for that to be the case, they'd have to come out and be around it first. At the CC level we recruit intensely, often through faculty in the classrooms (harder to do at universities, to be fair). These faculty recommend strong students, obviously many of whom are women. Perhaps what's needed at the four-year level is just more recruiting than posting up flyers and having an intramural tournament, which may only draw people who are already familiar with the game (and maybe more women never played in high school). Or perhaps women just find better things to do with their time. Just my five cents (b/c my opinions are more valuable than Freeburg's). --chris borglum
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