What A Girl Wants – Women Sports Fans

Posted by Jayme Joers on August 9, 2010   Jump To Comments

During some reflection time on Friday I was sitting around thinking about the woman sports fan. Finding a truly “savvy” well sports educated woman fan can be difficult. We are a small club. It’s a shame really. I’ve found that more people ask me, upon finding out my near neurotic obsession with sports, if my Dad was a big sports fan. And he was. But honestly, it was my mother who was the passionate one. In college I dated a guy who for the life of him couldn’t spot an offensive holding penalty. It drove me insane. How can I love someone who does not have the dedication to watch a play and notice when a lineman just magically disappears and yell “Holding!”?  And so with all these thoughts bouncing around in my head, I started to think about how women are generally stereotyped as bad sports fans, but if you really examine gender stereotypes, women should make the best sports fans, leaving men in the dust.

1. Women and Fashion.

All women love to shop and accessorize. Right? Right. (Remember we’re talking stereotypes here, so my free use of the words ALL and EVERY are completely justified). Being a fan of a team basically gives a woman a color pallet and says “Go Crazy”. Buy shirts, pants, hats, gloves, jerseys, headbands, etc. that will all match! It’s like a woman’s dream come true. And every year there’s a new team member, or jersey style, or throw back look. More opportunities to shop and stay of the cutting edge of fan fashion.

2. Women and Emotions.

Women are emotional time bombs. We make decisions based on emotions, we see everything as relating directly to our emotions and we get emotionally invested in things that might not warrant it. Hello Sports!! I will 100% admit to being “this woman”. I cry when my team loses; I feel joy for days when my team scores a big win. I have superstitions, I believe – even though it is completely against logic – that whether or not I’m watching the game affects how my team plays, I am emotionally invested in sports. What are sports fans if not emotional nuts? Anyone who dedicates honest time, money, and passion to a team or a sport is truthfully emotionally investing in something that they have no control over and that offers them little pay out. Women yell, scream, cry, jump around when they are overcome with emotion. Pan to any male filled section of a stadium and you’ll see men doing the same thing after a great or horrible play.

3. Women and Relationships.

Nice guys finish last. Why? Because women are drawn to men/significant others who they need to work on, who are “bad” for them, who always let them down. I love my team. But taking the NFL, there are 32 teams, if the goal and success is measured by winning a Super Bowl, odds are, your team is going to let you down. You invest every Sunday (Thursday or Saturday or Monday) to your team. You make lavish meals, plan parties (see number 4 for how fun this is), cover yourself head to toe in team colors, and learned all the rules and bam, what did they do? They couldn’t stop the other team for a last minute touch down and now you’re forced to spend the next six months sitting around pondering what went wrong. I’ve been let down my fair share of men. Its the same story.

4. Women and Party Planning.

Give us an event and we’ll plan the day lights out of it.  What woman wouldn’t love spending a Sunday morning in the kitchen cooking wings/brats/chili/etc?  What woman wouldn’t love buying special serving dishes (bowls shaped like footballs) and experimenting with new dip recipes?

5. Women and Thinking.

Okay, so women suck at math and science so the stats part of sports they should also suck at.  But one thing women are is over-analytical.  “What did she mean by that?”  “You’re not listening that must mean you don’t love me!!”  Therefore, who better to sit and ponder, “Why did they run on third down when the defense had all those people on the line of scrimmage?”  or “How can we possibly stop the deep threat?”  Combine a woman who is over emotionally invested and you could come out with the best sports analysts ever.

6.  Women and Entertainment.

I found this one on a website about gender stereotypes.  “Women like bad entertainment.”

You can’t keep me away from Teen Mom, even though I know its one of the cornerstones of what is ruining our country.  Ask Ocho Cinco, or anyone who’s stepped foot inside the new Dallas Cowboys stadium, the NFL is all about entertainment.  From cheesy dancers/cheerleaders to players doing flips into the end zone.  Personally I don’t appreciate the entertainment aspect of the NFL, its a game, shut up and play, but like it or not it exists.  And supposedly I’m preconditioned to love it and seek it out.  Therefore, women should be flocking to the NFL.

7.  Women and Eye Candy:  The players wear tight pants/sexy shorts/and are genetically superior to most other men.

Okay, there’s nothing particularly exciting about a 320+ lb man in spandex – except to ponder how such a thin material keeps that much contained, but put nearly any wide out in stretch pants with their arm muscles showing in front of a woman and they’re likely to take a second glance.  (side note: I have always tried to convert women into soccer fans for the simple fact that they take off their shirts at the end of each match)  What’s not to love?

I remember gym class in elementary school, I remember Ms. Kirshbaum explaining how each team had four downs/”chances” to get ten yards, and since then I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love football.  My crazy, hormonal, woman-blinded-by-emotions tendencies made it so that as soon as I learned about a new sport I fell deeply and fully in love with it.  Maybe its time men stopped assuming women know nothing of sports or can’t fully appreciate it.  Maybe its time women opened their hearts to something that on a stereotypical level they were created to enjoy.  Maybe its just finally time for some players to get on the field and finally start hitting each other.  Either way, I’m a woman, I love football, and I love my Green Bay Packers.  You should too.

You can email Jayme at Jayme@brentfavre.com or find her on twitter @jaymelee1