Not an hour after my Memo to Miami column ran last week did my inbox overflow with messages from disgruntled Miami alumni.
I wasn't shocked by the references to Ohio as Ohio Community College
or by the assumption that I harbored much animosity toward Miami for my rejection letter -a difficult feat, considering I didn't apply there.
What did amaze me were the comments regarding my own sports knowledge and integrity as a sports writer. Not because I favored the opposing side but because I am a woman.
According to one reader my column was, A typical girl article in which you assume that everyone out there is just as dumb and unintelligible about sports as you are.
Many others seemed to have the same presumption that I, a woman, could not possibly know anything about sports, unless of course it was the WNBA or women's soccer.
Nothing in my life has made my blood boil, enraged and disgusted me as much as these comments; comments against which I am defenseless, no matter how knowledgeable about sports I am, or how well I cover my beat.
Beginning in the 1970s, women have made many advances in the world of sports journalism. Lesley Visser became the first female NFL beat writer and Melissa Ludtke -who then wrote for Sports Illustrated -sued the New York Yankees for equal locker room access. And won.
Even for women like Tracy Dodds, who was Associate Sports Editor at The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer and president of the Associated Press Sports Editors, the No Girls Allowed sign on the sports writers' tree-house still looms ominously today.
When I received these e-mails, my friends, co-workers and family said I shouldn't let the comments discourage me.
Discourage me? You have to be kidding.
I am not a princess stuck in a tower, waiting to be saved because a smattering of middle-aged men insulted my intelligence and questioned my ability to do my job well. And I hope I disappointed them by not running off to start my own gossip column.
This was not the first time -nor will it be the last -that I will be assailed by skeptics who believe that women should leave the sports section to the good ol' boys.
But to the 18 Miami alumni who doubted my legitimacy because of my gender, this girl's here for the long haul.
-Katherine Carrera 17
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Katie Carrera
