Ron Kantowski on the cultural phenomenon concerning a double standard when it comes to a woman’s weight, age

Thursday, March 23, 2006 | 7:24 a.m.

Most sports columnists profess to have all the answers. But at the end of the day, especially when I force myself to watch sports on TV, I usually have more questions than answers. There are still things about the games we play that continue to stump and mystify. Such as:

Why does Joe Torre manage baseball in a uniform while Phil Jackson coaches basketball in a tailored suit?

Who told Adam Morrison that his hair and mustache look good?

Why is it OK to make jokes about Charles Barkley's weight, but Courtney Paris' is so off-limits? You can't even find it in the media guide.

Actually, I think I know the answer to the last one. If there are two things that society obsesses over - beyond Michael Jackson and attractive co-eds who turn up missing - it is the age and weight of a woman.

For instance, "Dateline NBC" did a piece on Sharon Stone on Sunday during which the actress mostly complained about the lack of juicy roles for a woman her age - only she never mentioned her age (she's 48).

It was more of the same during the NCAA women's basketball tournament Monday when Paris, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs - well, a lot more than the people guarding her - scored 30 points and pulled down 15 rebounds to lift Oklahoma to an 86-70 victory over Brigham Young of the Mountain West.

Paris is the daughter of Bubba Paris, the former 49ers' all-pro offensive lineman. You can see the resemblance, although Courtney Paris is much more attractive. And she has never been called for holding.

After she battered BYU, Paris' physical presence was the story of the game. But when it came to coming right out and mentioning the "W" word, nobody would do it.

"She's the Shaq of women's basketball," Cougars coach Jeff Judkins said.

Paris "has size, and she can muscle it around down there," said BYU's Dani Kubick, one of those who tried in vain to guard her.

A wire service story used words such as "bulled" and "muscled" to describe Paris' performance.

And this from Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson: "There are very few young women right now who have her frame, her agility and her skill, and also who can get up and down the floor and compete every possession."

What a tap dance. Gregory Hines would have been proud.

You've got to applaud (or whatever the right word is) Paris' opponents for being sensitive, I guess. But based on her comments after the game, if somebody mentioned her weight in a matter-of-fact way, I don't think she would be too upset.

"I'm a big girl," she readily admitted, "and eventually I'll make stuff happen."

So why the double standard? If Paris is cool about being a "big girl" what's the big deal about keeping her weight a secret?

"There are double standards everywhere in society and this is probably one of them," wrote Dr. John Murray, a noted sports and clinical psychologist based in Florida, in an e-mail.

"We consider it inappropriate to ask a woman her age or weight. It goes back to the old days of the supposedly kinder and gentler chivalry, where the knight would never violate a woman's honor by questioning her weight or age."

Murray said that while times have changed, this is one area where they have moved like a glacier in Greenland.

"By avoiding these things, it furthers the superficial focus on images that all women should be young and thin," Murray wrote. "And if they are not, hush-hush."

Personal preference, I guess. Gabriella Reese, the pro volleyball player, probably doesn't fall into either of those categories. Yet she still has a lifetime pass to "The Man Show."

Just for the heck of it, I checked the official Oklahoma basketball Web site. It lists Paris as 6-foot-3, so she seems to have gained an inch during the regular season. In keeping with the industry standard, it does not list her weight. But if you click on the Sooners' men's basketball roster, you will notice that its star, Kevin Bookout, stands 6-foot-8 and weighs 259 pounds.

Kevin Bookout is a big boy. Courtney Paris is a big girl. She said so herself.

So what's the big deal?

Other than Tommy Lasorda trying to stuff himself into a pair of size 34 double-knit baseball pants, that is.