Title IX

Do you ever make a wish? When you blow out your birthday candles, or when you look at the clock and it says 11:11, or when you find your pendant hitting the clasp of your necklace?

Anyway, I know what my wish is going to be for the next 5 years or so. I’m going to wish that this girl makes it to professional baseball.

Katie Osburn had a .04 ERA for her junior year at Cabrini High School of Allen Park, Michigan (attn. non-baseball fans: that is absolutely astonishing). She pitched 32 shutouts, 12 of them no-hitters. She’s already committed to Miami of Ohio for college, where she will presumably continue to play softball.

I mention it because today is the 35^th anniversary of Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972. While I'm glad that women have made great strides in participation in athletics over the past 35 years, I think we're all still waiting for women to be taken seriously as professional athletes. I don't know if women will ever break into professional football, but I feel like baseball is a sport where size matters less, and is thus more likely to accommodate women players.

So keep your fingers crossed, throw some salt over your shoulder, and just generally get your OCD on for Katie Osburn.