All-In column: NCAA, Golf Channel need to do better supporting women and girls

The inequalities between the men’s and women’s NCAA Basketball Tournaments aren’t a surprise to those who follow women’s basketball. It happens every year. It’s just more glaring when the pandemic forced the tournament to be held at a single site.

Photographs of an expansive weight room for the men’s teams compared to a small weight rack and yoga mats at the women’s facility generated the top story in the days leading up to Sunday’s games in San Antonio.  Then came photographs of the differences in the “swag bags” given to each athlete and stories about different COVID testing regimens, meal choices and even rules regarding outdoor walks.

Many of the issues were addressed before the country’s top teams began play on Sunday. The play will not suffer because women — even elite basketball athletes who often led the call for social justice on campuses in the summer of 2020 — are used to it.

“Growing up, it has always been different with men’s and women’s sports in general,” Stephen F. Austin guard Zya Nugent said. “I’m grateful to be here, grateful to experience all of this, but it’s definitely disappointing.”

That push and pull between being grateful and living with constant disappointment from unequal treatment starts early in life.