For the second consecutive day, the New York Times used significant space examining the meaning of the nation's interest in the aggressive play of New Mexico junior Elizabeth Lambert against BYU players in last week's Mountain West tournament.

Now, the issue is fragmented into a debate that includes sexual overtones, gender issues and validation of women's sports.

In other words, the UNM-BYU incident is being taken into "think tank" discussions by professors and famous athletes, entertainers and coaches.

"This is a way to trivialize, or make less threatening, women's sports, said Pat Griffin, an emeritus professor of social justice education at the University of Massachusetts.

"It isn't about women's soccer and how great its players are," Griffin said. "It's about titillation, about sexualizing women in a catfight, that weird porno-lesbian subtext: let's watch two women go at it."

On Monday night "Late Night" with David Letterman used a male voice over to sexualize the video of Lambert's assault on a BYU player. Other Internet sites host commentary about how "hot" Lambert is because she got in a catfight.

Others told the New York Times, the publicity generated by the incident shows what it takes for women to get recognized in their sport. Others debated whether women need to play more like men to be recognized.

Said the Times report: "Perhaps, women are clearly feeling pressure to 'play like boys,' said Kristine Newhall, a Ph.D. candidate in women's

studies at the University of Iowa and a co-founder of the Title IX blog. She referred to a comment, made to the ESPN.com columnist Graham Hays, by a former Alabama soccer player. The player, Emily Pitek, applauded Lambert, saying, 'You need to really show that you're not some dainty little priss-pot and just go hammer somebody.'"

See the link: www.nytimes.com