Sugar and Spice and Sports Fanatics

In addition to Obama's presidency, another sign to me that the world is a better place today than my childhood is the significantly increased number of legitimate female sports fans
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I’m sure female sports fans, particularly on Twitter, face a certain amount of sexism about authenticity of their fandom. Here’s my theory…
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The biggest jerk of a male sports fan knows a woman is capable of enjoying & knowing as much about sports as any guy. However…
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Most guys as boys dream of being a sports star someday. Some know it’s just a dream from start, some think it may really happen for years
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When you grow up fantasizing about pro sports stardom (which I still do all the time, btw), it deeply invests you in fandom. You’re living vicariously
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Most women don’t come to sports fandom through quite the same route. Rarely envisioned themselves as pro QB for obvious reason
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So illogically or not, due to his boyhood daydreams a sexist dude will conclude his sports fandom is far more legitimate than that of any woman
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Does this mindset extend to women who are pro sports journalists and broadcasters and commentators? Yep, no doubt. Especially when they’re easy on the eyes
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Not that these guys don’t recognize a place for women in the testosterone fueled world of sports. That place would be on the sidelines and those women are called cheerleaders
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And as Penny Marshall taught us, women less interested in the condition of their nail polish than their sisters in estrogen do have leagues of their own. But the female fans of which I speak are not those drawn to the WNBA. I’m talking about those who root for sports played at the most elite level, and that means watching the guys
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There are men who will never truly accept/acknowledge the existence of women who live for highlight reels and walk off victories and knockout punches and thunderous dunks and bone crunching tackles and recitation of stats from memory as much as them
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But these dudes need to get over themselves and realize they now have more things to talk to more women about than ever before.
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Current stream of thought reminds me of a day when I was playing 2-hand touch with my crew as a kid and this girl wanted to play with us
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She ended up having an amazing game, not because she was so athletic, but because we were afraid to mistakenly touch girlie parts
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This girl was not very attractive. Only thing worse than being slugged for touching boobs is being slugged while deriving no pleasure from it
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I wonder to this day if she thought she was too fast for us to catch or realized the secret of her success.
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I watch and know A LOT about sports but concede A LOT of women in my tweetstream know more than I do. No knock on my manhood.
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Sports blogs that routinely show bikini clad women (which I personally appreciate in piggish fashion) to attract men probably alienate more potential readers than realized
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This is my second time blogging about women’s appreciation for sports. The first time I posed a question and learned that the answer is FOOTBALL

Are You Ready For Some Football?!!

I

conducted an informal poll on Twitter amongst ladies only in search of an answer to the following question. What is your favorite sport and why? Sports is supposed to be a guy thing, or at least it used to be. I talk to guys about sports all the time, a tradition passed down to me from my dad. Women allegedly have more profound conversations about feelings / emotions / yada yada. But it has become increasingly apparent to me that women have gotten into sports in a big way, not merely as casual fans, but die hard fanatics just like those of us in possession of the testosterone. So I posed my query and wondered if the leading vote getter would be baseball or basketball or football or golf or tennis or boxing? Turned out that either in spite or because of its violent aspects, the winner was NFL football by a landslide. See below for commentaries. I'm certainly not about to argue with them. I'll simply add -

Go Jets!!!!!

@bermudaonion I love college football!

@GFillustrator I’m late but vote for football.

@ltma nfl football. 1 reason is because of the high production values of the game broadcasts

@PigsknLvngLady #football #NFL It was the first sport taught to me by my brothers and hubby. I won't mention the players...good gawd! LOL

@TeeJay0122 Really late joining the poll and sounds like maybe football has it won, but just wanted to give my vote for boxing. I like to see the passion and fire in their eyes and determination to win. It could be looked at as barbaric but I guess that a lot of sports could really that makes contact...anyway just my two cent vote. :-)

@abetterjulie Baseball a serious first. Football a grudging second. Can't stand basketball. Baseball is just the best.

@thenflchick Football baby! #FOOTBALL #FOOTBALLL #FOOTBALL #FOOTBALL #FOOTBALL

@MDSteelerGal <-- this is a TRICK question, right? #football

@itsjustgoldie My vote is for basketball.

@girliesportsfan Baseball's my #1

@biblioaddict I'm going to have to debunk your theory and say that my favorite sport is football. I like the drama and action...Although, I do find it a little too violent sometimes. I think there are few things more dramatic than men tackling each other. Though I like basketball, it can't beat that. :)

@TamaraCG I am a big basketball fan but on your football point, it's complicated but you can enjoy it without knowing the details.

@MissChantelle It’s because of the ripped bodies in tight pants acting out in ultimate displays of masculinity. God bless football! Lol.

@pussreboots It's a toss up between baseball and golf. Aussie rules football is also fun to watch but it's hard to follow in the States.

@booknerds Football. By far. Particularly college.

@ScorpioDiva81 FOOTBALL!!!!! The ONLY sport that matters!

Well said, ladies.

Although football won fair and square I'll end this posting with a favorite quote of mine that happens to be by a woman about the sport that's still officially considered to be America's pastime.

"Saying that men talk about baseball in order to avoid talking about their feelings is the same as saying that women talk about their feelings in order to avoid talking about baseball."
--- Deborah Tannen

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Confessions of a Sports Fanatic

I am addicted to sports, this I proudly confess. There is no way to calculate how much time I have spent over the four + decades of my life absorbed in a contest between world class athletes. Back when there seemed to be only two teams to root for in the NFL (three if you include the Raiders who attracted those with a rebellious streak), I opted to cheer for the blue collar Pittsburgh Steelers over America's Team - the glamorous Dallas Cowboys. I did admire the latter's cheerleading squad though. Eventually I decided to move my allegiance to a hometown football team, going with the beleaguered NY Jets over the more accomplished NY Giants, and I have sat in Gang Green camp ever since. Later on basketball was added to my list of favorite sports and I became a devout follower of the NY Knicks. The start of my Knicks obsession (which they have sorely tested with the ineptitude of their post-Patrick Ewing years) coincided with the career of one of the greatest b'ballers of all time - the injury plagued Bernard King whose tenure I believe would have rivaled that of Michael Jordan's had he managed to stay healthy. When I was a kid the biggest boxing matches were shown on free TV, the heavyweight division ruled as it was supposed to, and a guy named Muhammad Ali was called The Greatest for good reason. He was past his prime by the time I got to watch him. In fact, he wasn't even actively fighting during the peak of his career due to well known political reasons. But I saw enough of his epic battles to become a boxing fan for life, even if the sport has done much to alienate me in recent years by moving most of the top fights to Pay Per View, maintaining far too many championship belts per weight division to keep track of, and handing over the prized heavyweight division to fighters from Eastern Europe. And I must confess that I miss 15-rounders although the reduction to 12-rounds is perfectly understandable for health reasons. The fiery John McEnroe along with the similarly enthusiastic Jimmy Connors first drew my attention to a racquet sport, then it was the contrasting greatness of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, followed by the emergence of dominant African American players (granted they were all in the same family - Williams) that increased my enjoyment of tennis over the course of time. But what made me a die-hard fan rather than simply a follower of a few big names like Venus and Serena was when I started to play tennis and immediately became hooked like Jaws grabbing hold of the explosive device that spelled her doom.

Before football and basketball and boxing and tennis, the sport that grasped my attention and imagination first and foremost was the great American pastime. And as it so happens, baseball is also the first sport I've basically abandoned. Nowadays you will rarely find me following more than an inning or two on TV. I will always appreciate the game that introduced me to sports in general, but now simply find it too slow for my personal taste. If basketball is comparable to high speed internet connection, baseball is dial up service. Nine innings may as well be nine days worth of commitment to a game. As a boy my collection of baseball cards was my most cherished possession. If you traveled back in time to 1986 you'd find me in a fever pitch as I watched nearly every inning of the NY Mets dramatic march to glory. By 1990 after a major strike squashed a season, my interest had considerably waned. I'm not entirely sure how/why I outgrew my first sports love. What I do know is that the baseball of today barely resembles the baseball of yesteryear. The pre-steroids era was marked by what appeared to be actual passion for the game by those who played it. Baseball's most legendary records were not broken every year by whoever was most effectively cheating that season. Pete Rose is currently marked as a villain, but it was the infectious attitude of players like him that made me love the sport. If I was a kid today I'm not sure A-Rod would have the same effect. Give me the arrogance of a Reggie Jackson over the calm highly endorsed coolness of a Derek Jeter any day. Back when I craved baseball I don't remember being bombarded with news of the players' gargantuan contracts, designer drug accusations, grand jury testimonies, baby mama dramas, etc. Perhaps it's the innocence of youthful perception, but I recall it simply being about the game and those who played it, for money certainly, but also for the pure joy of putting on a uniform and getting it dirty.


The cast of characters who played back then could have been featured in multiple reality TV shows. Fortunately we were spared such nonsense and instead got to watch The Love Boat and Fantasy Island, shows with actual actors and professionally scripted plots. But more memorable to me than anyone else in the Major Leagues was a pitcher by the name of Mark Fidrych, nicknamed "The Bird" after our feathered friend from Sesame Street, who in 1976 put on a season for the ages. It was not merely his dominance over batters that I vividly remember, but the entertaining way he went about his business. Watching him talk to the ball, verbally demanding that it be thrown for an out making strike, manicuring the mound with his hands, tossing balls out of play that he believed had hits in them, was a real treat to witness. He did not play for my beloved Mets, but whenever he was on the mound I temporarily became a Detroit Tigers fan. His skill and endearing enthusiasm put him on the cover of Sports Illustrated twice, made him the first athlete ever to grace the cover of Rolling Stone, and won him Rookie of the Year honors. But like Bernard King his body betrayed him, and 1976 was to be the only full season of professional baseball he ever played. In it he compiled a 19-9 record and league-leading 2.34 ERA, with 24 complete games thrown out of 29 starts. The amount of games he pitched from first inning to last is perhaps his most impressive feat, particularly when compared to the modern game where starters are typically done after about six innings, give or take a pitch. Star baseball players of today are basically one man corporations. But back in the 1970's they were just ordinary guys with zest and determination and skill at a game that everybody watched and loved, and among the various greats, none was greater or more lovable than The Bird. He was found dead Monday in an apparent accident at his farm at the age of 54. An era, at least as I see it, has now officially ended. R.I.P. Mark Fidrych and thanks for the memories.

- Roy L. Pickering Jr.

SPORTS IMAGERY