Brian Petrotta

Growing up as Cold War American kids in the '80s, what we learned was that countries who put up giant pictures of their leaders were either run by Communists or religious fanatics. The news would show us their parades with the subtext that such egomaniacal spectacle was as un-American as it gets.

Study: Can state abortion legislation impact women's basketball recruiting? A recent paper suggests there IS a relationship.

NEW EXTRA POINTS:

A new study from the University of South Carolina suggests schools in states with restrictive abortion laws face a penalty when it comes to recruiting elite women's basketball players.

I have follow up questions:

www.extrapointsmb.com/p/study-can-...

Antivaxxers love accusing scientists of censorship but in reality they are the ones trying censor science.

RFK just tried bullying a scientific journal into retracting a major study of 1.2 M kids that found that aluminum in vaccines do not increase the risk of autism or asthma. The journal refused.

AEJMC Sports Comm Friday, August 8th Schedule. Please refrain from throwing personal items at the presenters, that's a jerk move. 8 a.m. to 9:15 a.m., Salon 9 [LB2L] Scholar-to-Scholar Poster Session “Gender in Sports and Entertainment Media” 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., Foothill C [2FL] Refereed Paper Sessions “Repair, Resistance, and Reimagination: Journalism’s Role in Sports Culture”; “Innovation, Messaging, and Influence in Sports Media” 3 p.m. to 4:15 p.m., Foothill G1/G2 [2FL] World Journalism Education Congress (WJEC) Panel “Covering Sports in the Digital Age: Beyond the Scoreboard”

AEJMC Sports Comm Friday, August 8th teaching panel Schedule. 9:45 a.m. to 11 a.m., Salon 15 [LB2L] Teaching Panel Session ”Expanding Perspectives and Adapting Approaches in Sport Communication: Challenges and Opportunities for Undergraduate Education” 1:15 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., Pacific G/H [4FL] Teaching Panel Session “Teaching Students How to Use Social Media Effectively: Challenges and Opportunities”

Hey #aejmc25 attendees, wake up and do it all again! Today, the SCIG has several sessions including two teaching panels. See you soon!

It's time for #aejmc25! Come see all the cool research that the Sports Comm Interest Group is working on. Here's Thursday's lineup. See you soon!

A little self-promotion here... I'll be chatting about the 2 semesters I've taught a "Sports Betting and Media" class at Nebraska-Lincoln. Thrilled to joining these folks on the webinar!
Register via the QR code/URL in the image.

Too strong to play sports but too weak for the military?

Way too little, way too late.

True. Also, legal, regulated US sportsbooks aren’t offering these bets, which I feel is an important point that is rarely made in these articles.

Idaho Lawmakers Want Supreme Court to Overturn Same-Sex Marriage Decision A state legislative committee has advanced a resolution asking that the power to regulate marriage be returned to the states.

“You’re overreacting. They won’t try to overturn Obergefell.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/24/u...

Was Toad the Wet Sprocket for me (“Crazy Life” - from the Empire Records soundtrack, of all things).

As I say all the time, protecting women’s sports means getting abusers out of the sport, not shutting out trans athletes.

I have been informed that the Kelce/Taylor Christmas movie argues that the football player, a wide receiver, is a nine-time MVP, this is too much, I object, we've gone too far

It’s the falsetto “twice shy” that elevates “Last Christmas” don’t ya think?

Some of the criticism of the San Jose State player's participation centers around safety. In the lawsuits, she is said to hit the ball so powerfully that her kills travel 80 mph. The lawsuit includes no data to support that claim, but it would make her as powerful as some of the hardest-hitting men's volleyball players in history. "We saw this male athlete bounce a ball in front of a libero [defensive specialist], and it was undefendable," Liilii said to ESPN. "We just all agreed that this is unfair. This is unsafe."

"She happens to be the kill leader on the team," Pettit said. "But to think that she's hitting any harder than people if you look at the top-10 volleyball teams in the country, that's not the case." The player who is said to be transgender leads her team in kills (297) and is third in hitting percentage (.251). She is fourth in the Mountain West in kills per set with 3.96. She does not rank in the top 10 in the Mountain West in hitting percentage or in the top 150 in the NCAA. ESPN used camera calibration software to analyze video of five of her spikes in five different games, including the spike shared by Gaines from the Iowa game (51 mph) and another that went viral against San Diego State (60 mph) to estimate their velocity. The average speed of her spikes was 50.6 mph. The fastest was estimated to travel 64 mph.

It's notable that the claims being made about the SJSU trans vball player are quite literally lies. They are suggesting she is performing athletic feats that she simply isn't.

www.espn.com/college-spor...

Opinion: The Trans Sports Attacks Were Never About Sports Attacks on transgender participation in sports was never about sports, and always about getting people comfortable with discriminating against transgender people.

I continue to hold the position that it was never about sports, and that capitulation on sports only makes it more likely that we get further restrictions.

There is very good evidence in states that this is the case.

Read my article on this topic here:

www.erininthemorning.com/p/opinion-th...

Ha! Yeah. I meant… thank you! Haha.

Wonderful! Would you mind adding me as well?

Mina Kimes denies claims Bluesky is a liberal echo chamber amid 'Xodus' ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes explained her decision to leave X for Bluesky and why it's more than just a political choice.

Mina Kimes on the migration from X to Bluesky: "We are conflating egregious racism and misogyny with diversity of thought, or with reasonable opinion and disagreements.”

http://dlvr.it/TGM3pm

Episode 1: Dr. Michael Mirer

The AEJMC Sports Comm Interest Group has launched a podcast.

In Ep. 1, host Shannon Scovel and I talk about what we hope this will accomplish and my current research obsessions.

Evergreen post!

Do the womens' bathrooms at the U.S. Capitol not have stall doors?

Dems going after trans people this week should be ashamed of themselves Be skeptical of those proposing instant solutions — especially when they involve making vulnerable people even more vulnerable.

Dems going after trans people this week should be ashamed of themselves.

A response to Reps. Moulton, Rep. Suozzi, and Yglesias. www.lawdork.com/p/dems-post-...

Our community of scholars who study all things sport is amazing, so I made a #starterpack. Let’s grow this community! If you want to be added please let me know!

go.bsky.app/EH1ttrH