...and it's not even about cheerleaders!

em sent me this article today, in her (and susan's) continuing crusade to make me absorb *something* about basketball. i'm still translating some parts of the article, but there was one part that jumped out at me (rather, the non-sports part of me), about stanford's seven-foot twins, brook and robin lopez:

Now, the reason that we're inherently prejudiced against the Lopez twins is simple: They're charter members of the Lindsay Hunter All-Stars for "Athletes with names that make them sound like hot girls." In other words, because their names make them sound like two smoking-hot juniors at an all-girls prep school, it's impossible to take them seriously as NBA prospects. If their names were Dwight Lopez and Isaac Lopez, you'd feel much better about them in the first round. You would.

...

seriously? their *names* cause people to not take them seriously? first of all, if true, that's incredibly screwed up. second of all, it can't be true of every person who doesn't think the lopezes are sufficiently awesome, because people are not that dumb.

are they? that "we're inherently prejudiced" thing scares me. not to mention the fact that not only are we supposed to construe that they're women... but that they're *hot* women. does that mean they're even less good at baskeball? what does the attractiveness of the woman you picture when you hear their names have to do with anything?! anyway, that's the part that triggers my ROBIN SMASH reflex, so let's try to deal with the rest of the sentiment, eh?

so, moving on. of course, i'm biased on this issue. i mean, yes, i took this excerpt a little personally, since, duh, my name is being discussed (and let's all laugh heartily about the idea of me being a smoking hot prep school girl). and yes, as a stanford fan of course i support our boys. but the main thing is, i happen to be a huge fan of the androgynous name. i think it's a great way to a) avoid and b) question gender essentialism. i still remember the look of shock on my CS TA's face when he realized i was a girl (and dammitall i missed the opportunity for a matrix reference at the time!). so the thought that people would give less weight to a kid's ability to play the game simply because his name isn't masculine enough is just... really depressing. please please please tell me this commentator is wrong when he says "we're all prejudiced" against kids with names that aren't appropriately gendered.

but then, at the end of the day, are *you* going to be the one to walk up to brook and tell him he's got a girly name? i think not.

moar funny pictures

also, just because i enjoyed the piece, here's a rather nice article about the lopez twins as-- gasp!-- people.