Put one on the board for the cute girls.

Alana Blanchard won the Reef Hawaiian Pro yesterday, giving editors around the world good reason to plaster shots of her all over their print and web pages.

By now I'm sure most of you are shocked--SHOCKED! to learn that sexier athletes in sports get far more attention than their butt-ugly counterparts. Yes, sexy athletes earn far more in endorsements than those who actually get better competitive results but are, y'know, harder to look at.

Is this fair?
No.
Will it change?
Absolutely not.

It ain't easy being ugly. Trust me. But being sexy has its own pitfalls. The issue catches fire every time somebody like Pamela Anderson wants to be considered a "serious actress" or Anna Kournikova wants to be known as a serious "pro athlete." That was a tough line to tow for Kournikova when she couldn't win a tournament. She did, however, help the television ratings of tennis. Is that a bad thing?

Women like Anna are often vilified as if they've done something wrong. But have they? Should we hate people because they're beautiful?

Well, until yesterday, pro surfer Alana Blanchard got a lot of heat for being hot. Many quietly expressed doubt whether or not she was, herself, benefiting from Kournikova syndrome. But to her credit, Blanchard buried the issue on the back of some solid backside surfing. Now she's the Maria Sharapova of surfing. After all, Sharapova, who actually wins tournaments and is herself pretty damn hot, rendered Kournikova pretty mute a couple years ago. We don't hear a whole lot about her anymore.

So it all evens out, you see, because whether it's looks or talent, eventually, there's always somebody hotter coming along.