Why do women watch football?

[Jimbo S]

or baseball for that manner, as I notice two DU women in my area post on yesterday's game causes me to ponder.

Just seems to me those two sports are misogynist, although I watch them myself. But I follow women's athletics as well.

[Book Lover]

1. Why not?

If I couldn't ignore what some sexist asshole is saying while I'm trying to enjoy watching something, I'd never leave the house.

[Lyric]

2. We watch ice hockey too. And sometimes PLAY! :)

My beloved partner was a goaltender for a women's amateur hockey team in Charlotte, NC a few years back. They were called the Charlotte Phantoms. She played pickup games with both men and women on the evenings when they didn't have official team practice, and could hold her own with the guys.

Both of us are nuts about ice hockey. Our favorite team is the Carolina Hurricanes--my partner was SO glad to see hockey come to Charlotte when the Whalers went south. We're the kind of girls who head down to the local sports bar and scream and yell and eat wings and drink beer with the guys on game nights.

[BarenakedLady]

9. Hockey is the only sport

I've ever REALLY gotten into. When I was living in Boston...woohoo I was the biggest Bruins fan (still am, of course). I haven't been watching this season though. I kind of lost interest in it. :shrug:

[Jimbo S]

18. Went to my first women's hockey game last month

Wisconsin vs. Minnesota-Duluth. We had fun.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. What an asinine assertion.

Just flat out ridiculous.

[Avalux]

4. A few reasons from me.

I watched Steelers football as a kid with my dad and uncles and learned the game. I wanted to be in there watching football with them instead of in the kitchen with the women cleaning up from Sunday dinner. So much more fun. In the 1970's in PA - the recession was so bad that football kept everyone going and I guess I plugged into that.

Also, I am highly competitive and enjoy football for that reason, plus I do appreciate great athletic talent (unless the athlete is a complete jerk).
I don't like baseball much, but I love ice hockey.

I don't buy into the misogyny angle, and I know both football and hockey better than a lot of men.

[Dulcinea]

40. Hear, hear!

I've been a devoted Steelers fan since I was a kid! My heroes growing up were Jack Lambert & Lynn Swann (who has been returned to childhood hero status since his gubernatorial bid was shot down.)

I also love hockey, & the DH & I take our daughters on family Thrashers outings. I'm a Pens fan & he's a Sabres fan, so we support the Thrashers as a family. My girls like going to the games.

I don't follow baseball, find basketball boring & don't get the appeal of NASCAR. If I want to watch cars drive around in a circle, I'll sit next to Interstate 285.

I also don't find it misogynistic. I can talk football with nearly anyone!

[Avalux]

43. Wow - that's cool (oops - response to Dulcinea).

We have very similar backgrounds. I am still a Steeler and Penn State football fan; also still follow the Penguins although I've lived in Texas for a long time. We go to Dallas to see the Stars when we get the chance, so I like them too. One of the best games ever - it was several years ago when Lemieux returned; Jagr and Kovalev were still on the team - the Pens played the Stars in Dallas. I got to watch all three of them score and I think the final was 6-5 (Stars) in OT. Didn't matter to me the Pens lost, it was a great game. :hi:

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[KitchenWitch]

6. Why do some men knit????????

:eyes:

[billyskank]

12. There you go attacking my manhood again

:cry:

:P

[KitchenWitch]

13. I would NEVAH cast asparagus on your manhood!

:rofl:

:hi:

[WindRavenX]

7. because it's fun?

:shrug:

[soleft]

8. How about because it's fun to watch and even more fun to play

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

10. I'm a men's college basketball fanatic

There is nothing I'd rather do than watch great hoops. Conversely, I absolutely despise shopping, I don't go gaga about shoes and I couldn't care less about the latest fashions.

[Jimbo S]

21. So why do women follow men's sports more than women's

In liberal Madison, WI the men's hoops team will draw 17,000 each game while the women struggle to get more than 5,000. I support both teams, I will attend two or three games of each this year.

I guess the qustion I have that prompted the thread is why won't women support women's athletics, although they enjoy the male sports?

[PVnRT]

25. How do you know they don't?

They don't get televised because the ratings suck. That doesn't mean there is no support for them.

[Jimbo S]

34. Look at the attendance figures and TV ratings

paying customers is directly proportional to support.

Men's figures >> Women's :(

[Patiod]

11. I played softball as a kid, so I enjoy baseball

plus I've been attending Phillies games since I was a kid. Nothing like sitting out on the deck on a hot summer night with a good book and the ballgame on in the background.

Why is baseball misogynist? The men's game is more interesting. In other sports (tennis and golf come to mind) the women's games are equally interesting.

[Jimbo S]

23. I think it's somewhat misogynist because

society allows men to dream, compete and achieve their potential while the women have minimal organizational outlet to do the same in sports like football and baseball (not softball). The highest expectation many men have of women is to shake a pom-pom.

Any time I try to discuss women's sports with friends or co-workers I get a blank stare.

[Shakespeare]

28. That doesn't mean the sports themselves are inherently misogynistic.

The men have a 100-year head start on us, so it'll take awhile. As long as we keep Title IX intact, I think we'll continue to make forward progress. The WNBA does pretty well, and other sports like tennis are almost equal in the attention they pay to men and women.

Football and baseball don't have women's teams on a national or even regional level, so it's hard (and not really fair) to call the two sports misogynistic.

[Patiod]

29. I detest the concept of cheerleading, that's for sure

one of my friends was an Eagles cheerleader, and it was creepy - she had "fans" who would approach her, and tell her they followed her around the field as her squad moved. Ick.

More importantly, the concept of getting little girls into cheering vs. competing - WTF is with THAT? I've heard the argument that it's gymnastic, so why not get the kid into gymnastics, then? I'm a Title IX baby -- I was on our school's first track team -- so I SO appreciate the importance of equity in high school and college sports. Have seen the male coach kicking and screaming because he had to share the track (and have heard that 15 years later, the same coach because a huge supporter of women's track & field when his baby girl turned out to have athletic talent!)

I guess I've got a disconnect there when it comes to pro sports there - maybe because I hate basketball, the one traditionally male sport where there's a viable womens league (at least I think there is).

You should work at my company - our IT guy is a UConn women's basketball FANATIC, and is always frustrated that no one else here shares his passion.

[Book Lover]

47. What about Danica Patrick then? (nm)

[Bullwinkle925]

14. I love football, baseball and MARCH MADNESS.

Always have - always will. Perhaps growing up in the Midwest had something to do with it?

[Connonym]

15. I don't watch religiously

I'm not a jock by any stretch of the imagination and if the game's dull I'll turn it off. I can't stand the players who strut and overtly show off but when someone does something like catching a ball they didn't think they were going to get they get this incredibly sweet boyish grin of happiness. And the spontaneous lifting one another in the air and stuff...it just reminds me why boys are fun.

[Reverend_Smitty]

16. Because sports are fun to watch and play

just because there may be misogynist assholes involved in sports doesn't mean that the whole sport misogynist. Hell there's even a Woman's Professional Football League http://www.womensprofootball.com/ I love sports (especially football and baseball) so much that I even work in that field. The way I see it is if women avoided any place where they can find misogyny they would never leave the kitchen

[Jimbo S]

19. Madison had a team this year

I hope the team and leauge succeeds!

[Guava Jelly]

17. I can't comment i'm a 40 year old straight male and I don't watch it

Unless i am at the stadium.
Besides I live in Kc Mo and the Chiefs never win shit :)

[av8rdave]

61. I sure wish they had beaten the Ravens Sunday

I'm sooo tired of my brother's gloating.

[Radical Activist]

20. For the same reason men watch college cheerleading competitions on ESPN?

Just a guess. :)

[Shakespeare]

22. Misogynistic HOW?

You do NOT want to get between me and the TV when I'm watching the A's, the Cowboys or the Aggies.

[Jimbo S]

24. Please see post #23

[Connonym]

36. Oh I see what you're asking

Not to sound bitter, but we're used to being second-class with stuff like that. It's one of the ways women are screwn. It would be great to have female professional teams -- or even professional female athletes that could command a fraction of the pay male athletes get. I'm not going to hold that against male teams though. Competition is still fun to watch. And I'm going to go on a sexist limb here and say that I prefer the way men look in football uniforms.

[Jimbo S]

45. How about guys in Speedos? :)

:)

[Connonym]

46. Only European men (and Mark Spitz) can get away with Speedos nt

[1gobluedem]

26. I love football

My father coached high school football and our lives centered around football while I was growing up. I love defense. My family all watches Michigan football over the phone together; we call each other after all touchdowns, interceptions, during tense moments, and after victories. I am glued to the TV for football while my boyfriend is the one running around doing errands and all that other stuff.

I love basketball and hockey too. Baseball is a little too slow for my taste but I don't mind it.

NASCAR? Now, there's a sport I don't watch and don't see how anyone can.

[Name removed]

27. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[huskerlaw]

30. Why do men fail to comprehend

that sometimes a sport is just a sport?

Why wouldn't some women like sports? I guess I just don't understand what's so shocking about it. :shrug:

[azmouse]

31. I love baseball.

And maybe some year my team (the Dbacks) will actually have a winning season again.

A lot of the men I talk to about baseball also follow many women's sports.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

32. I'm a guy who doesn't watch sports.

So I guess a woman watching sports balances me out. :shrug:

[undeterred]

33. I don't actually watch the Packers

but I hardly know anyone else who doesn't in Wisconsin, male or female. When I lived in Chicago, the women would watch football just to be with their boyfriends or husbands, but in Wisconsin women actually like football. I can sit through it if I have to.

[Taverner]

35. Muscular men in tight pants.

Hey, same reason men like women's gymnastics and competitive cheerleading.

[Avalux]

39. Not true for me.

There's nothing sexual about it when I watch - I simply love the game.

[bicentennial_baby]

37. I love football...

It kicks ass. And I read your explanation above, and I agree with the responder that it doesn't make the sports themselves inherently misogynistic.

[Little Wing]

38. Because it's either Football or Nascar

I dunno

Why to people who use mass transit watch Nascar?

[liontamer]

41. how are the games inherently misogynistic?

[Jimbo S]

62. Case study: your local H.S. football team

They get the weekly pep rallies. They get the "Friday Night Lights". They get the media attention. The prima donna treatment.

Do those opprotunities exist for the girls? Limited. Maybe if the girls basketball team is state tournament caliber.

[Shakespeare]

65. That still doesn't mean the sport itself is inherently misogynistic. n/t

[nini]

42. why do men like to cook?

:shrug:

[cwydro]

44. I would imagine women watch football for the same reason

that men do. They like it.:shrug:

[Sugar Smack]

48. Exactly. Perfect answer.

:D

[cwydro]

49. Why, thank you.

:hi:

[redqueen]

52. yup, that about sums it up. n/t

[LeftyMom]

50. You do realize that women actually play those sports, right?

We watch sports for the same reason men do, because we find it fun to do so.

[Jimbo S]

54. Then why do women watch the male dominated sports

and most of those same women follow women sports less passionately?

That in a sense is what I was trying to get at with this thread.
1. Why watch a male dominated sport (football), which in a way subtly reinforces male dominance in this society.
2. Why many (not all) women don't seem to have a similar interest in women's sports.

I would think they would like to help their own cause.

[Shakespeare]

55. Can you please tell me which channel I might be able to watch such a thing?

I can't. You can't. None of us can. As I said in a previous post, the men have a 100-year head start on us. That doesn't mean we're not helping our own cause by watching the NFL or professional baseball. And it also doesn't mean the sports are inherently sexist.

[Jimbo S]

58. Fo x Sports, ESPN

ESPN has quite a bit of women's basketball.

Fox Sports has volleyball and softball game of the week.

A local channel will have local college women's hoops, as well as our PBS station.

[Shakespeare]

63. No, I'm talking about football and baseball, the two sports you've indicated.

I know all about (and watch) WNBA, women's tennis, volleyball, etc. You're missing my point, perhaps deliberately.

[Jimbo S]

67. Now I get your point

Thought you were referring to sports in general.

To answer your question, obviously there isn't.

But the question I've been trying to get answered is why attendance/interest is so much lower at women's events. I know you and I are doing our share, but it's evident many men and women watch the (99%) male sports (I'm aware of female footballers) and nothing more. Maybe it will take 100 years for society to progress to a state of equality.

[nytemare]

51. Watch football? I played it.

I absolutely LOVE football. I grew up near DC, with 3 generations of Redskins fans in the family, and from the time I was a toddler, I couldn't get enough of it. I love the strategy, the fact that all sorts of different athletes have a place on the teams, and the excitement.

I played on a Women's league in Germany, and here, and have never had so much fun in my life.

It seems not many women share my opinion, but I suppose I may be a different breed. I was in the military, as well, so Barbies never appealed to me.

On edit: Here is a video story the Washington Post did on their local women's team, the DC Divas

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/custom/2005/07/06/CU2005070601691.html?nav=lb

[crim son]

53. There are women who watch football?

:shrug:

[lies and propaganda]

56. this female football fan finds your post so ridiculous

its hard to respond. Why are men a fan of food, i mean its mostly women cooking and thats anti male.
:sarcasm:

Raider Nation :(!

[Mythsaje]

57. I don't know why ANYONE watches football, or basketball either, for that matter...

The only sport I can really tolerate is baseball...it's just so easy to do something else while watching a game. I can read, or write, or whatever.

As far as mysogynistic? Never saw that.

Remember that movie, A League of Their Own? My grandmother was in that league, way back when. One of the many things that will always give me a soft spot for the Great American Pasttime.

[Katina]

59. because we like it

nothing deeper than that. I don't understand why anyone would would have a problem with women liking football or baseball or any other male dominated sport.

[av8rdave]

60. Some people just get into the game

my daugher (17) loves football. That's her on the left with legendary Husky QB Sonny Sixkiller.

[Missy Vixen]

64. Because I love it

I watch more televised sports (football, baseball, and when it's on, hockey,) than my husband does.

Julie

[Phillycat]

66. The same reason men do?

What a stupid question.