Photos of the bewildering March Madness swag bags show the NCAA even gave the women inferior puzzles compared to the men
Advertisement
Meredith Cash
Mar 20, 2021, 02:19 IST
The NCAA is under fire for disparate treatment of its men's and women's athletes at March Madness - and the latest example of its sexism is puzzling.AP Photo/Nati Harnik
One ridiculous, blatant, and entirely avoidable example is the puzzles give to the players in their "swag bags." The players in the men's tournament appeared to receive 500-piece puzzles, while the gift packages for players at the women's tournament included puzzles that only had 150 pieces.
NBC Sports writer Alex Azzi spotted the 350-piece difference and reported her findings on Twitter. She shared a side-by-side photo of the two puzzles in response to a tweet from Capital Gazette/BSMG's Katherine Fominykh after she noted that NCAA vice president for women's basketball Lynn Holzman blamed the uneven gift packages on "the weather."
And that is just one glaring example. The side-by-side photos showed the men's bags included far more swag. In addition, the women's items seemed much more generic, as the NCAA reserves names like, "March Madness" and "Big Dance" for the men's tournament.
The Round of 64 of the men's NCAA tournament began in Indianapolis midday on Friday, with the women's tournament slated to start on Sunday. Whether or not these findings - or the #NotNCAAproperty campaign - will interrupt either tournament's schedule remains to be seen, but the NCAA undoubtedly has a situation on its hands.
{{}}
NewsletterSIMPLY PUT - where we join the dots to inform and inspire you. Sign up for a weekly brief collating many news items into one untangled thought delivered straight to your mailbox.