Yesterday was the first day back on the Georgetown campus after Spring Break.    Normally, we don’t have a full class right after the break since some students are still coming back to campus but we had pretty much a full group last night.

For last night’s class, for the first time this semester, we had two guest speakers.   Since every speaker thus far this semester has been a male, I invited two female friends of mine to present to the class.

The first guest speaker is not a sports figure, but since sports is entertainment, I figured the class would enjoy hearing her recent experience as a contestant in Miss America.

Kate Marie Grinold, the reigning Ms Washington, DC just finished in the top 10 in the recent Ms America pageant in Las Vegas.   She described in detail her terrific experiences as a contestant.  What’s remarkable is that KM had never participated in a pageant until the one last Spring for Ms Washington DC, yet she still managed to land a top 10 finish — which is outstanding!

The second guest speaker, Christine Brennan, is one of the top sportswriters in the country.   She writes currently for USA Today — and she’s also written 7 books, including a best-seller about women’s ice figure skating (Nancy Kerrigan – Tonya Harding).

Chris is a terrific person and wonderful writer.  She went to Journalism school at Northwestern – with her dear friend, Michael Wilbon.  She covered the Univ of Florida and Univ of Miami in the early 80’s, including the championship they won in ’84 (and when they first started calling themselves the “U”).

She then joined Wilbon at the Washington Post.  She made history in ’85 as the first female sportswriter given press credentials to enter a NFL locker room (she was the beat reporter for the Washington Redskins).

Chris was part of an all-star team of sportswriters at the Washington Post, including Wilbon, Tony Kornheiser, John Feinstein, Sally Jenkins, Len Shapiro and so many others.

Chris is a true trail-blazer and pioneer in the sportswriting world.   To see more her work, you can read her on Thursdays in USA Today or go to http://www.christinebrennan.com.