Amy Bass

Every morning for the last several months, I have reached for a small orange and black pin from the top of my bureau and attached it to whatever I’m wearing that day – a dress, a blouse, a tee, a sweatshirt. “We Are BG,” reads the pin, and every day that I wear it, at least one person asks me what it means, making at least one more person who knows about the detainment of basketball legend Brittney Griner in a Russian prison.

I don’t know a lot about Oakland. I’ve been there, spent a few nights with a cousin many years ago when I traipsed across the country and back with my sister on a grand adventure. But mostly, when I think of Oakland, I think of baseball.

On Tuesday night, I took my usual spot, my daughter at my side, on the bleachers at Manhattanville College, just a stone’s throw from my office in Founders Hall. I tend to sit middle left at GoValiants.Com field, wedged between the unofficial students’ section and the unofficial parents’ section. The event? Women’s lacrosse – the first playoff game of the Skyline Conference postseason.

At the end of Bend It Like Beckham, as Jess and Jules hug their goodbyes to family and friends and prepare for their lives in California, the global reach of Title IX is front and center. Equality, of course, takes more than legislation – we cannot legislate justice without making necessary cultural shifts, and we cannot legislate anything if we don’t support that legislation. So as the 50th anniversary of Title IX looms close, let’s up our game. While sports are but one avenue to create parity, they’re a pretty important one.

I celebrated a birthday a few days ago. It felt good. That weekend, I went out to dinner with friends who are like family – cocktails, wine, steaks – the whole nine yards. On the actual day, I woke to a tsunami of texts and messages on social media, had lunch with two dear friends, and celebrated again that evening with takeout, cake, and drinks, surrounded by my family and even more friends.

March Madness is in full swing, Major League Baseball is right around the corner and the number one ranked women's tennis player just retired... at age 25! This is a great time to convene one of our semi-regular sports Vox Pops. Call in and talk some sports with us. 800-348-2551.

It was only a matter of days from the moment the Olympic flame was extinguished in Beijing that the sounds of war descended upon Ukraine. We watched for weeks as Vladimir Putin amassed troops on the Ukrainian border, debating the ethics of letting Russian skating phenom Kamila Valiyeva compete despite a positive drug test last December, and wondering when, if, the IOC would ever give out those medals from the team figure skating competition.

Don’t be an ally, a friend once advised, stating a core fundamental in anti-racist activism. Be an accomplice.

One of the key elements that make a sport a sport is the rules. You want to shoot hoops from a ladder in your backyard? Go for it. Climb right up there and slam that ball down. But keep it in the backyard. Because if you try it in the WNBA, there will be consequences.

When I heard that the Brooklyn Nets had called up Kyrie Irving to their active roster, I considered it to be the equivalent of the infamous moment when a water-skiing Fonzi – leather jacket and all – jumped over a shark on a very special episode of Happy Days. That moment, of course, coined the phrase “jumping the shark,” symbolizing any outlandish attempt to save something already in steady decline.