NFL to tryout first female prospect

Shannon Eastin broke barriers this season in the NFL when she became the first female official in league history. Eastin had hoped that her example would serve a simple purpose:

"I hope to show it really doesn't matter if you are male or female."

That lesson registered with at least one woman, 28-year-old Lauren Silberman of New York City, who is taking it a step further and competing in a regional NFL combine for a shot at a playing spot.

Silberman, a kicker who played club soccer at Wisconsin University, had not even realized she was the first female applicant in the combine's history, saying the most important thing to her is following through on her dream to play in the NFL.

In doing so, Silberman would be breaking a second stereotype - that of a video game enthusiast. It's long been presumed that skill at a particular sport in a video game does not necessarily translate onto the playing field, but Silberman's company, Double Play, is built around the idea that the video game medium can be used to train athletes (the same concept on which she based her Master's thesis at MIT).