Sports and men go hand in glove. And President Barack Obama’s administration has recently taken hits on all-male pickup basketball games and golf outings. The lack of women involved equates a jock-ocracy that some women can’t penetrate. But women don't have to play to get noticed.

 Commentator Michelle Martin writes, “But now I think that this obsession with including women in Obama’s every waking moment, including his sports outings, just perpetuates a different bias — the bias of a “jock-ocracy,” where facility with sports somehow has some relevance to how well you do your job. Unless you’re a personal trainer I don’t see how it does. It also perpetuates this notion that the key to women’s success is just to do whatever men do as well or better; to play their games, as it were, instead of demanding respect and appreciation for whatever it is women do well. Who says the most valuable people in this or any administration are the people who can sink a three or drive 250 from the tee?”

Martin said it just doesn’t matter. Women don’t have the time to play ball, “And as for the golf, let me tell you what most of the women who put in the kinds of hours [as] those women in the White House are doing on the weekends if they have kids, as many of them do: They are planning their kids’ birthday parties, checking on college applications and running around to their kids’ soccer and cheerleading competitions. They do not have six hours to spend chasing a little white ball around a giant lawn so they can impress their boss.”

So are women less advantaged if we don’t play with the boys? Sports doesn’t discriminate against management levels. So the kid at the copy desk that was a kick butt guard on his frat team can suddenly impress the boss in ways a girl (who wasn’t invited) can’t. Aren’t we at a disadvantage then as women if we’re excluded? Should we demand to play with the big boys? And if we can play (and kick their butt) should we? I suck at basketball and hate everything about golf except driving the cart. Does the copy boy get an advantage and get noticed if he plays with the boss? Yes. Does his ability to shoot a three pointer at the buzzer matter in a budget crisis or in the boardroom?  Not so much. Stick with what you do well ladies. Just don’t let your male bosses and co-workers forget your contributions off the course. Let the boys play with their balls