What's the point of the cox?

Get your head out of the gutter. Cox, c-o-x, coxswain. The guy (or girl) who sits at the end of a row boat and yells at his (or her) team. Yeah, what's the point?

Well, they are supposed to keep the team organized. "Stroke! Stroke!" (and whatnot). The team is supposed to function as a unit. The cox has to be on top of that.

They are also supposed to provide motivation. We don't know how other sports function without on-the-field cheerleaders, but coxed rowing got that covered.

Most importantly, they are not supposed to weigh a lot. Heck, Zoe De Toledo (all five foot and 100 lbs of her), who just coxed Great Britain's eights to a silver medal in the Olympics, actually led Oxford's MEN during the famous Boat Race vs Cambridge. "Maybe it's a role that a Jewish woman is better at doing — ordering men around," Zoe said at the time.

She makes a good point...