Women's Equality in Professional Sports

Steamers plan to add a woman to roster
By Zack Creglow
Of the Post-Dispatch
01/20/2005

St. Louis Steamers owner Michael Hetelson read from a laundry list of promotions ranging from the signings of two draft picks to the team's reality TV show to mentioning the Steamers' games are a great place for singles to meet, all in hope they will continue to bolster fan support.

But once he announced Thursday the Steamers had acquired the rights to Lindsay Kennedy, everything he had said before quickly became a footnote.

Kennedy, a former Alton standout who will start practicing with the team next Tuesday, could become the second women to play on a men's professional soccer team. From the way Hetelson spoke, it appears the Steamers, with the support of the Major Indoor Soccer League, will allow that to happen.

"Our plans are to bring Lindsay in and let her practice with the team and when the time is right, we can give her some game time," Hetelson said. "Our plans are to get her into a game this season, and there are a number of things we need to do to do that and be comfortable with that."

After a prep career at Alton, Kennedy played one season at Kansas in 1998 before transferring to Harris-Stowe of the NAIA. At Harris-Stowe, she set school records, including points in a season with 56, assists in a season with 11 and goals in a game with five.

Since the Women's United Soccer Association folded, the only place for Kennedy to play has been in a men's league on Tuesday nights. She had brief stints in the WUSA shortly after college.

"There's no place for me to play right now," said Kennedy. "I am just going to go out here and try hard. I am not looking to make an impact right now. I am looking to make a contribution."

After being informed of the decision to acquire Kennedy last week, Steamers player-head coach Daryl Doran scouted her Tuesday, concerned the move was a publicity stunt. After all, his first reaction to the news was "Are you kidding?"

"She definitely can play. She shows for the ball real well, she keeps possession real well," said Doran, indoor soccer's all-time leader in games played at 789. "Michael is Michael and we've definitely done some controversial stuff since he's been here. But when I watched her play, she had the tools to play."

Seemingly lost in the day's news was the signing of midfielder Mariano Bollella and forward Marco Lopez and the reality TV series "Red Card," which premieres Feb. 12 on KPLR.

Said Kennedy, "If I go out and work hard and do as well as everyone else, I feel like I deserve the same chance as other men out there."

Reporter Zack Creglow
E-mail: zcreglow@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-340-8149

Who Asked You...Movie Review - The Aviator

The Aviator

Directed By: Martin Scorsese (“Taxi Driver”, “Goodfellas”)
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio (“Titanic”, “Gangs of New York”), Cate Blanchett (“The Talented Mr. Ripley”, Lord of the Rings Trilogy), Kate Beckinsale (“Serendipity”, “Underworld”), John C. Reilly (“Chicago”, “Magnolia”), Alec Baldwin, Ian Holm, Alan Alda, Jude Law, Gwen Stefani

Howard Hughes in certainly not someone that I knew a great deal about before I sat down to watch “The Aviator”. Everyone has probably heard of the reclusive and eccentric millionaire at some point. If tales about his massive airplane/boat the “Spruce Moose” haven’t caught your attention, then his borderline insanity and the period over which he saved his urine has. Even TV’s “The Simpsons” has spoofed Howard Hughes through Springfield’s resident millionaire Mr. Burns.

While these stories are at least partially true, there was clearly much more to the man. In his time he was on the forefront of action filmmaking, airplane design, the airplane industry, and satellite technology. In his spare time wooed Hollywood starlets such as Katherine Hepburn and Ava Gardner.


Hughes was left an orphan millionaire at the age of 18 when his father’s death left him with 75% of the Hughes Tool Company. He quickly turned his small fortune into a large one but, he also did not hold back on spending either. He left Texas for Hollywood and, without the help of the studios (unheard of at that time), produced several films that revolutionized their particular genres. It cost him four million dollars to make “Hell’s Angels” and that was in the 1920s. His work with the original “Scarface” made an impact on noir and gangster films that would be felt for decades. He also produced “The Flying Leathernecks” a very fun John Wayne film.

Besides is film career, Hughes made a splash by buying TWA and turning it into one of the premier airlines in the country. Never afraid to leverage what he had for what he could have, it was not uncommon for him to mortgage all of his assets in order to complete his film or airplane projects.

The film evenly splits the 170 minutes of running time telling the stories of his compulsions, disorders, relationships, movies, and battles with Pan-Am Airlines. The Pan-Am war and film production is easily the more interesting tales in my opinion. Hughes’ romance with Katherine Hepburn was rather standard as far as film biographies go. However, Cate Blanchett’s performance as Hepburn is easily the most memorable performance of the movie.

All of the performances were at a high level as you might expect in a Scorsese picture. DiCaprio turns in some fine work but it doesn’t particularly stand out. The supporting cast of character actors such as Ian Holm, John C. Reilly, and Alec Baldwin (one of the better villains nowadays) are all solid. Kate Beckinsale has little to do in the film but succeeds in bringing to life the stunning look of Ava Gardner.

All in all the film is very good and suffers only from its inability to rise above being just another film biography. The story of Hughes’ life from the 1920s to 1940s is told well, with the final chapters of his life left out. I wish that biographies spent more time telling the story about what the subject did in their life and not focus so tightly on exposing their failings. I know that may not be the most humanist of opinions but, films to need to be entertaining first. Sadly it would seem that the prevailing notion in Hollywood is that we will only be interested in learning about someone else’s faults. A good biography should tell us both who someone is and what they did. I would suggest however that some lives may be more interesting if the “what” receives first billing above the “whom”.

Go down the right back alley in Sin City.....and you can find anything.

I mentioned before that I would in time be posting about some of the films to look forward to in 2005. The film that I personally am anticipating the most is "Sin City".

Sin City in this case does not refer to Las Vegas, just a fictional facsimile of the quasi-Elvis filled city. It is the creation of Frank Miller, a comic book writer. After years of working on comic books such as Batman and Daredevil, Miller released the first of the Sin City graphic novels. Shunning color and typical comic book themes, the author created a grizzly 'noir' story in stark black and white color only. Sticking to purely adult themes of revenge and hatred, Miller knocked the comic book industry on its ear.

Now three of his stories are being brought to the big screen by director Robert Rodriguez ("Desperado", "Once Upon a Time in Mexico", "Spy Kids"). Rodriguez will share directorial duties and credit with Miller himself. In fact, Rodriguez went so far as to leave the Directors Guild of America so that Miller would be allowed screen credit. There are also rumors that Quentin Tarantino was brought in to help directed one of the film's three stories.

The movie is rumored to actually tell three mostly-separate stories. This explains why there are so many roles in the film that went to well know stars of the big and small screen. Three actors who were at one time rumored to star in this film are Leonardo Dicaprio, Michael Douglas, and Johnny Depp. In each of those cases the actor ended up not being in the film. The cast list is nevertheless very impressive.
The cast includes:
Bruce Willis (you all know him)
Clive Owen ("Closer", "King Arthur")
Mickey Rourke ("Man on Fire", "Body Heat", "9 1/2 Weeks")
Elijah Wood ("The Lord of the Rings")
Rosario Dawson (Who will be playing Mimi in the upcoming film version of "Rent")
Jessica Alba ("Dark Angel")
Brittany Murphy ("8 Mile", "Little Black Book"-we'll all try hard to forgive her for this)
Jamie King ("Bulletproof Monk")
Maria Bello ("The Cooler", "Secret Window")
Carla Gugino ("Spy Kids", "Snake Eyes")
Alexis Bledel ("Gilmore Girls")
Josh Hartnett ("40 Days and 40 Nights", "Pearl Harbor")
Nick Stahl ("Terminator 3")
Benecio Del Toro ("Traffic", "The Way of the Gun", "Snatch", "The Usual Suspects", "21 Grams")
Michael Clarke Duncan ("Green Mile", "The Whole Nine Yards")
Michael Masden ("Tilt", "Kill Bill Vol 2", "Reservoir Dogs")

Pretty impressive eh?


You can view the film's trailer here. If you are curious about the music playing in the background during the trailer it is "Cells" by a British rock band called "The Servant"