So little girls can play 'boy's sports' but then they switch to 'girl's sports' later? Hmm. Apart from 'it's always been done like that' is there a reason for that? American football I can understand because of the strength requirement, but why isn't there women's baseball? Surely baseball doesn't require much strength.
I don't really know. I can't think of another sports duad like that--either the men's and women's varieties are the same (like with soccer) or the sport is played by one gender with no equivalent for the other gender (like with American football). Although now that I think about it, I think women's tennis might have less matches or something then men's, and there's probably difference in the minutia of one league to another in most sports. I know a softball is larger and lighter than a baseball, and . . . that's really all I know about how softball is different than baseball. Looking at the wikipedia entry, there aren't a whole lot of diferences (some of the distances and whatnot are different, and it may be played with less innings).
Re: Part I
I don't really know. I can't think of another sports duad like that--either the men's and women's varieties are the same (like with soccer) or the sport is played by one gender with no equivalent for the other gender (like with American football). Although now that I think about it, I think women's tennis might have less matches or something then men's, and there's probably difference in the minutia of one league to another in most sports. I know a softball is larger and lighter than a baseball, and . . . that's really all I know about how softball is different than baseball. Looking at the wikipedia entry, there aren't a whole lot of diferences (some of the distances and whatnot are different, and it may be played with less innings).