Let's hear it for the girls, and many women. So far, women are outpacing men for U.S. Olympic medals.

By today's count, women have won 47 medals; men, 34. Women have taken names and kicked butt in judo, shooting and fencing.

The return of the U.S. women to gold in gymnastics has been thrilling. Gabrielle Douglas and her individual gold will inspire African American girls to demand a leotard instead of Rihanna's lingerie.

Watching Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor take home their third gold medal for beach volleyball was a fist-pumping moment on Wednesday.

The Olympics have another three days, and it's possible the men could come back. But for now, the triumph for U.S. Olympiennes is a fitting tribute to 2012, the 40th anniversary of Title IX, which opened the door for women to play sports in schools.

It's a welcome change of pace to see women athletes bump, set and spike in prime time on television, a time slot usually reserved for men's professional sports in this country.

The debate over the Sodo arena proposal is a similar testosterone mob. Many here (i.e. the Metropolitan King County Council) are tripping all over themselves to bring a men's NBA team back to Seattle.

Across town, tumbleweeds roll down the hallways of KeyArena, home to the Seattle Storm, the WNBA team that has brought home two national championships.

Women athletes will disappear from prime time until the next Olympics, and when they go off the air, I'll return to watching women make mincemeat on television in another game. The "Game of Thrones."

Update 3:33 p.m.

The U.S. women's soccer team has won gold. The victory belongs to a team that includes Hope Solo from Richland and players from Seattle's Sounders Women team.

Also, I do have some thoughts on the earlier controversy over Solo's tweets criticizing former player Brandi Chastain's broadcast commentary, and whether Solo should have been disciplined. The answer is no, and it's not a story. The question of discipline would never have asked if Solo and Chastain were men.

Kobe Bryant and Charles Barkley are engaged in an ongoing slap fest about how the 2012 men's Olympic basketball team compares to the 1992 Dream Team. No one has suggested the men's basketball coach discipline Bryant, because that's just male athletic bravado.

We should expect nothing less of our women. The calls for Solo's discipline came from a presumption that women athletes should play hard, but behave ladylike.

Perhaps we should also call for disciplinary action against female athletes who sweat. After all, horses sweat, men perspire and women should only glow.