Tuesday, September 23, 2003
We're Not Being Honest About Women's Sports
We in this country suffer from an affliction. We have trouble being honest to women for fear of damaging their self-esteem. And I'm not just talking about when a friend of yours says, "How do you like my new haircut?" and you say, "Hey, looks great!" even though she now looks like a boy. In our efforts to kowtow and kiss up to women, we fail to acknowledge certain things:
Women are just not as good at sports as men are. Men are stronger, faster, bigger, taller, quicker. That's not an opinion; that's just the way it is. Which means that if you are looking for talent and athletic skill, power and prowess, you will turn to the men's game.
It's not really because many women who play sports, to quote an international man of mystery, "look rather mannish." Hotter women athletes won't truly mean better ratings, more attendance, more revenue. Men don't particularly care if the women playing the game are attractive. Men don't typically purposely sit down to watch Anna Kournikova play tennis on TV--then again, she wins a match so rarely that anyone who honestly would have might sometime be forced to use the unitended punchline "But I was sick that day." If there were more hotties playing in the WNBA--and there is, by my count right now, precisely one--it still wouldn't compel me to watch. They just don't play as well as men, not even close.
We just don't care. And by we, I mean men and women. Most women don't particularly care about sports in the first place, and when they do, they typically watch the men's game anyway.
And women's events are overhyped anyway; not in terms of the sporting world but in terms of society in general. I can't tell you how many people said that the 1999 World Cup victory by the United States women was going to be a great boost for women in society. I also can't tell you how many times I had to shake my head upon hearing such a comment. A soccer victory isn't going to raise awareness about women's issues, I thought to myself constantly. How could it? It's a soccer game; men's soccer doesn't even have enough societal import. And sure enough, I was right. Not only has the WUSA gone down in flames and the WNBA suffered through miserable attendance and failing franchises--one just got dropped by its Cleveland NBA parent team, and another one had to move its games to an Indian casino gymnasium in Connecticut--but we're also still hearing women complain about being discriminated against.
That's all fine, but how could that be, one may ask them, in the wake of such an important--ahem--soccer game? "Wait a minute! Didn't Brandi Chastain kick a spotted ball through a metal rectangle into a net and rip her shirt off? How come that didn't help women? I'm shocked and dismayed at this...uhhh...shocking dismayage!"
Besides, it's not as if the U.S. women beat a bunch of men that day in the Rose Bowl. They beat a bunch of women. The victory by the women's team wasn't, like some said, going to help women in society: A woman's team had to win that tournament, no matter which country it was; it was a women's tournament, for cryin' out loud. Besides, if the U.S. women had lost in the preliminary round, would women have suffered because of it? No. Again, it was a soccer game.
That's all it is. Women aren't as good at sports as men, and that's why men get the ratings. Period. It's not like we watch men's sports over women's sports because we hate women, or because we're interested in keeping women "in their place". It's just a better product, period, end of story. You can say all you want that "women deserve a chance at professional team sports", and they have gotten that chance, and it's not particularly working out.
Wild-Card Rant: Friend of mine, "Smooth", found this on Baseball Prospectus and I just had to read it and laugh. Bud Selig, said Paul Tagliabue, is leading baseball through a "Renaissance"? Just remember when you hear Selig talk about how great he's making basebal, remember that he fucked it up in the first place, pardon my Francais, and he wouldn't have had to fix what wasn't broken. I'm convinced "selig" is a foreign word meaning "Satan" somewhere on Earth.
Just So You Know: Kelly Holcomb led the Browns from a 12-0 deficit to a 13-12 win the fourth quarter this past weekend against the 49ers with a sprained ankle and a broken leg. Okay? I'm just sayin'.
I had a much better record this weekend picking games in the NFL. I missed just one of eight, Buffalo's loss to Miami. My record for the season now jumps from 3-5 to 10-6. How un-Mariner-like.
Women are just not as good at sports as men are. Men are stronger, faster, bigger, taller, quicker. That's not an opinion; that's just the way it is. Which means that if you are looking for talent and athletic skill, power and prowess, you will turn to the men's game.
It's not really because many women who play sports, to quote an international man of mystery, "look rather mannish." Hotter women athletes won't truly mean better ratings, more attendance, more revenue. Men don't particularly care if the women playing the game are attractive. Men don't typically purposely sit down to watch Anna Kournikova play tennis on TV--then again, she wins a match so rarely that anyone who honestly would have might sometime be forced to use the unitended punchline "But I was sick that day." If there were more hotties playing in the WNBA--and there is, by my count right now, precisely one--it still wouldn't compel me to watch. They just don't play as well as men, not even close.
We just don't care. And by we, I mean men and women. Most women don't particularly care about sports in the first place, and when they do, they typically watch the men's game anyway.
And women's events are overhyped anyway; not in terms of the sporting world but in terms of society in general. I can't tell you how many people said that the 1999 World Cup victory by the United States women was going to be a great boost for women in society. I also can't tell you how many times I had to shake my head upon hearing such a comment. A soccer victory isn't going to raise awareness about women's issues, I thought to myself constantly. How could it? It's a soccer game; men's soccer doesn't even have enough societal import. And sure enough, I was right. Not only has the WUSA gone down in flames and the WNBA suffered through miserable attendance and failing franchises--one just got dropped by its Cleveland NBA parent team, and another one had to move its games to an Indian casino gymnasium in Connecticut--but we're also still hearing women complain about being discriminated against.
That's all fine, but how could that be, one may ask them, in the wake of such an important--ahem--soccer game? "Wait a minute! Didn't Brandi Chastain kick a spotted ball through a metal rectangle into a net and rip her shirt off? How come that didn't help women? I'm shocked and dismayed at this...uhhh...shocking dismayage!"
Besides, it's not as if the U.S. women beat a bunch of men that day in the Rose Bowl. They beat a bunch of women. The victory by the women's team wasn't, like some said, going to help women in society: A woman's team had to win that tournament, no matter which country it was; it was a women's tournament, for cryin' out loud. Besides, if the U.S. women had lost in the preliminary round, would women have suffered because of it? No. Again, it was a soccer game.
That's all it is. Women aren't as good at sports as men, and that's why men get the ratings. Period. It's not like we watch men's sports over women's sports because we hate women, or because we're interested in keeping women "in their place". It's just a better product, period, end of story. You can say all you want that "women deserve a chance at professional team sports", and they have gotten that chance, and it's not particularly working out.
Wild-Card Rant: Friend of mine, "Smooth", found this on Baseball Prospectus and I just had to read it and laugh. Bud Selig, said Paul Tagliabue, is leading baseball through a "Renaissance"? Just remember when you hear Selig talk about how great he's making basebal, remember that he fucked it up in the first place, pardon my Francais, and he wouldn't have had to fix what wasn't broken. I'm convinced "selig" is a foreign word meaning "Satan" somewhere on Earth.
Just So You Know: Kelly Holcomb led the Browns from a 12-0 deficit to a 13-12 win the fourth quarter this past weekend against the 49ers with a sprained ankle and a broken leg. Okay? I'm just sayin'.
I had a much better record this weekend picking games in the NFL. I missed just one of eight, Buffalo's loss to Miami. My record for the season now jumps from 3-5 to 10-6. How un-Mariner-like.
