Females Add Sports Picks to Increasing Repertoire of Sports Superiority



An online sport picking site discovered that playing, coaching, and reporting may not be the only areas in sports where women are starting to play a larger role; they can also pick games with the best of them.

A female player won for the first time last week at PicksPal (http://www.pickspal.com), beating out the vast majority of male players in the free online sports picks game.

All_in, a female player who uses a female soccer player as her avatar, ended the week with 99,495 points 8211;enough to beat the second place finisher by more than 12,000 points. In an entry titled "Shattering the Gender Barrier," The Picking Order (the site's main blog) exclaimed: "All hail the Queen! The gender barrier has officially been broken as All_in has held off the field to become the first woman to win the week at PicksPal. The men should be afraid. Be very afraid." Throughout the week, female players had been pushing at the top of the rankings, at one point holding the top four spots on the leader board.

This should come as no surprise, considering women are starting to play a bigger role in the realm of sports in general. Mia Hamm and the US Women's Soccer Team won our hearts and the gold with consecutive World Cup victories. The Williams's sisters and Maria Sharapova are dominating tennis. Plus, Michelle Wie and Anika Sorenstam are even starting to tee it up against the men. Women are starting to equal men in more areas of sports, even the not-so-positive side as Tonya Harding and Marion Jones have shown.

Female sports anchors and reporters are also on the rise, so it was only a matter of time before Girl Power shined in another popular facet of the sporting world: sports picks.

"This is the week that the women roared 8211; and served notice that they are playing this game too," said The Picking Order. The game itself, found at www.PicksPal.com gives players 1000 points at the beginning of each week, which they can use to pick games and props from Baseball, Pro Football, College Football, Hockey and others. PicksPal uses real Vegas odds and spreads, while challenging players to play for pride and bragging rights instead of money.

PicksPal's results also reflect a change in the way women in sports are viewed. Now, more respected terms such as "sports genius" and "sports guru" are being used thanks to legends like Pat Summit and sites like PicksPal that test fans' sports IQs.

The late Marge Schott already proved team ownership was not out of a woman's reach, and Danica Patrick is going head-to-head with the best drivers of the Indy Car Series. So what's next for women in sports Only time will tell, but if PicksPal's results are any indication, GM's, Directors, and Presidents better take note: women know their sports, too.

About PicksPal
Based in Mountain View, California, and created by Former CBS SportsLine.com Sports.com and Ziff-Davis senior executive, Tom Jessiman, PicksPal.com launched in September 2005. PicksPal received its initial funding from Canaan Partners and counts Canaan general partner Maha Ibrahim and online marketing expert Kenneth Dotson as Board Members. PicksPal members compete in a weekly game, playing and earning social points by picking real events based on real odds. PicksPal members have the opportunity to risk their points on any of their favorite sports, including football, basketball, baseball, golf, boxing, cycling, motor sports and soccer. At the end of the week -- the member accumulating the most points wins.

PicksPal offers its members numerous ways to compete. By making free picks on such sports as Pro Football, College Football, Baseball and more, players can challenge their own knowledge or throw down the gauntlet against friends in 1-on-1 face-offs and even in league competitions. A Pick-O-Meter keeps track of the top ten competitors.





Females Add Sports Picks to Increasing Repertoire of Sports Superiority