No sooner was the “High School Show” over for another week, and I decided to check my computer for e-mails.
Yikes. An e-mail from a woman, I won’t mention her name, very upset that we devoted an entire show to male sports. Well, for the record, there was a female in-studio guest, and I know we had at least one female listener - her.
The show focussed on newsmakers and newsy items in football, baseball as well as track and field.
It’s not that we avoid female guests. If this woman was a regular listener, she’d understand that we have a fair number of female coaches, teachers, administrators - and, yes, athletes.
In fact, I would wager, we have more female high school sports guests than any other radio station.
Then, an e-mail from a male listener. He wants me to avoid criticizing coaches and that they all do a marvellous job. He is entitled to his opinion and many coaches do a very good job volunteering their time - and, by the way, with very little recognition from the Boards of Education. However, there does come a time when questionable things surface and we have a responsibility to ask - questions. Some people understand that to be criticism - which it’s not.
Moving along, an e-mail from a regular listener who liked the variety of guests but felt the show was too short. “More time” - he asked. Well, that’s the decision of the management at the FAN 590 and those requests should be addressed to Nelson Millman and Doug Farraway.
Then came an e-mail from an individual, who wouldn’t provide a name. Gosh, I really enjoy those mysterious people. The person was fuming that we are wasting time covering sports like field hockey, Ultimate frisbee, badminton and judo. Not sure where this person is coming from…..The High School Show hasn’t had any guests on these sports - and judo isn’t even a high school sport.
Finally, an e-mail from a man who objected to me “bashing” - those were his words - the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations. He claims they haven’t done anything. That’s his exact words. And there are many people who would agree - that OFSAA hasn’t done anything.
I believe he’s a past or present member of the organization. His blood pressure went above normal levels after hearing me offer my opinion about OFSAA deciding to ban certain female teenagers from playing for their high school hockey team. It’s true. OFSAA believes girls chosen to play for Canada’s Under-18 team don’t belong on school teams. We’re talking about a dozen kids in Ontario.
Yet, OFSAA refuses to say anything about students chosen to National teams in basketball, rugby, track, etc. who are allowed to compete for their schools. Something wrong here, eh?
Keep listening. Was there a full moon the other day?
