Today's edition of "Katie" with host Katie Couric featured a discussion about ESPN's "Nine for IX" documentary series. The show featured appearances by Venus Williams, ESPN's Hannah Storm, ABC's Robin Roberts, former U.S. National soccer team players Julie Foudy and Michelle Akers and Whoopi Goldberg, who served as a producer on the project. Goldberg said of reuniting the '07 Rutgers women's basketball team – who were the target of derogatory comments from radio host Don Imus – for a short film on Rutgers coach Vivian Stringer, "The greatest thing for me was they said, 'That's not who we were. His description of us is not who we were and when we stood as a team and told the world that that was not us he was talking about and they got to look at us.' Everybody said, 'Hey Imus, what the hell is wrong with you?'"
Storm noted Basketball HOFer Sheryl Swoopes, also the focus of a film, was pregnant when the WNBA first began, creating a "big controversy." That was followed by the announcement she was gay, which was a "very landmark decision." Roberts: "She was not the most likeable figure at the time" ("Katie," 7/11).
