Yet Title IX doesn't even mandate matching sports. Since few women play football, other team sports such as gymnastics, volleyball, soccer and field hockey are fielded to accommodate them.

But when women cross over to play with the men, it creates an entirely different problem. Does that mean that men can compete in women's sports? There is no men's gymnastics team at the University of Utah; does that mean a male gymnast can demand to be on the women's team?

In November 2005, the Princeton field hockey team needed an emergency goalkeeper during the playoffs, so it added one — a male.

According to the rules, each team was permitted to include as many as two males. Princeton didn't just find any guy; it added Josh Weinstein, a goalie for the men's ice hockey team.

Situations like that could get out of hand quickly. Need someone for the volleyball team? How about a seven-foot center off the men's basketball team? Need a good midfielder for the soccer team? How about a 210-pound fullback from the football team?

Gender equity is an issue that will never be fully resolved.

There are too many details that get in the way of the spirit of the law.

The state wrestling tournament only served to point that out. The good part of the story is that Workman got to compete; the bad part is that several boys were made to feel ashamed for doing the same. In the end, the big story of equality this month missed one major point: In a truly equal world, Workman wouldn't have been covered like a celebrity. She would have been covered like any other sixth-place finisher — in the fine print only.

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E-mail: rock@desnews.com