Category: Opinion

. . . Her talent would weigh more than her looks. Do fans want a sexy vixen in the game? Do they really want someone who is hot, or do they want someone who is talented? Is it possible to be plain, or even an ugly Betty, and still garner respect as a female athlete? I would argue the results are mixed, but society still lean towards good looking women for TV ratings and respect.

For example, there are several sexist statements about female athletes and the argument is female athletics is hard to sell I have heard. Why? Beause there are people who do not want to see masculine looking women or women who play “violent” sports. Or, there are people who believe women are to be ladies and certain sports like hockey or football are designed for men. The best one I ever overheard was a question posed to a sibling, “She knows way too much about sports. Are you sure your sister isn’t gay?” (No one should be judged for their orientation or preference by the sport s/he plays.)

There is evidence that more and more people are shedding these types of chauvinstic notions of what is appropriate for a female athletes. More people are watching and attending women sports than ever. Women’s UFC and the WNBA both have a healthy following with people watching from their homes. The WNBA viewership was up 91% in 2014. The women’s World Cup, also, held its own with 4.7 million viewers tuning in for the United States-Colombia match.

Women athletes are still admired for their female qualities like beauty and generousity over their brawn and talent. Female athletes are still lacking support in sponsorships, salary, and respect based upon their brawn and talent for lacking the necessary aesthetic qualities.
Serena Williams is the greatest female tennis player in the world, and yet people still criticize her about her looks. Gabrielle Douglas is a world class gymnast, and people were more concerned with the way her hair looked than the fact she was sticking landings in the last Summer Olympics. In 2010, the Bleacher Report wrote an article about the 15 ugliest athletes–number 12 was Billie Jean King–“the” pioneer for women in tennis.

To be fair even male athletes can feel the heat about looks like Prince Fielder in 2014’s summer issue of ESPN’s Body Issue. Fielder was criticized for being “overweight” and nude. Every athlete in the Body Issue was nude. It’s an issue that’s suppose to celebrate the unique physique of the world’s top athletes. And despite, Fielder’s remarkable career in baseball, he was criticized for his physique–the very thing that allowed him to have a great career.

So the statement from Mark Lazarus, an executive for NBC Sports, who stated a year ago that he wished the guys playing in the Stanley Cup would shave off their beards doesn’t really seem so far off based. As Lazarus stated, it would make the Stanley Cup playoffs more appealing to fans especially to female and older fans to see the handsome faces of the players. And one can figure this is one of the reasons the women hockey and football leagues have struggled to gain traction in the television market and media with the exception of the Legends League.

Over the years, players in the WNBA, UFC, boxing, tennis and women’s hockey have allowed themselves to be displayed as sex symbols. The same cannot be said of players within the WFA, IWFL, or the LPGA. But should they? Obviously, their male counterparts are financially and on the field successful without playing up their looks. So, why should the women have to play up their looks to be considered a commodity?
Looking at endorsement deals, the results are mixed. However, athletes like Michael Jordan, Anna Kournikova, or Serena Williams have earned large endorsement deals with their talent and sex appeal. But there have been athletes like Tiger Woods who hasn’t cashed in on his looks but still has had great success in cashing in on endorsement deals.

Even off the field and in the office, ladies like Jeanie Buss, Dr. Jen Welter, Pam Oliver, Becky Hammon or Kathryn Tappen are rated on their appearance, or who they are dating, and not necessarily on their ability to get the job done outside of the sports arena.
The choice is truly up to the athlete. The female athlete or executive has to ask herself, “How do I want to present myself to the world? What is my brand?” If you come from where I do, looks matter in the sports industry and without it you are nothing. I beg to differ. But then again, I would prefer to be like Martina Navratilova–who obviously has talent-than Chris Everett or Kourkanova, known best for looks than her talent.

I think true fans can appreciate talent. “Not being cute” has nothing to do with whether I can wax your behind down the field or destroy you in a contract negotiation. Looks are nice but they do fade . . . records are made to be broken and that takes talent. Talent can be developed, looks can’t. Besides, if I was boy, you’d take me seriously in the sports world.


Source: fdfjfd

Two weekend ago, the playoffs began in the WFA. The WFA is the Women’s Football Alliance. It is one of the homes of the sisters-in-arms to the brothers-in-arms players of the NFL. Along with its sister leagues–WPFL, NWFA, IWFL–the WFA has failed to gain respect and recognition with the exception being the Legends League. The WPFL, Women’s Professional Football League, and the NWFA, National Women’s Football Association, are now both defunct.

Why? Some would say it is because the ladies look like ladies playing football. It is a common complaint about women’s sports. People say women play at a slower pace. Or, people make statements that football, or any traditionally, male-dominated sport, is one that females should not be playing . . . . it is not ladylike.

Well, forgive the female, or NOT. If she was a boy, then she would not have to apologize for loving to play a sport because she was born a girl.

A man would be able to knock another guy down, play aggressively, talk trash and show about it. Some may even find it funny. But let a female athlete behave in such a manner or drop a profanity like the “F” bomb, and one would think the world had stop spinning on its axis with the complaints she would receive.

Sports like rugby, hockey, soccer (futbol), and football were designed to be played aggressively with their speed and agility plays. They are also designed to be played aggressively with penalties being expected to be earned by the players playing those games. Women aren’t expected to board someone (Letang) or take her cleats and stomp on another player (Suh). However, if one ever attends a woman’s football game, they would see these ladies playing like guys.

Or, let’s put it this way, go to a WFA, IWFL or Legends League game and you will see football–good, old-fashioned football. These women train like the men, tryout or hold combines like the guys and play like the guys. Speed may, and that’s a strong may depending upon the female, be a little slower. However, the action is still the same. It is football.

Like the PGA with the LPGA, the USTA, and the NBA regarding the WNBA, it is time for the NFL and fans to recognize and embrace the effort, humble beginnings, and quality–current and potential–of women’s football. If we invest in our women even one eighth of what is invested in our youth each year, the product would definitely be a revenue producer.

And there are progressive sponsors and media outlets like UPMC, Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, American Family Insurance, Root Sports, wESPN–who have the foresight to see these women reach their full potential as an athlete in an untraditional sport for women like football. These sponsors sponsor teams or individual players.

Because if she was a boy, she hit like a girl without giving a damn what someone else thought . . . because she shouldn’t.


Source: Vikes Fans

In the movie, 42, Branch Rickey tells Jackie Robinson that he is medicine. Actually, the exact quote is: “You’re the one living the sermon. In the wilderness . . . 40 days . . .all of it. Only you. . . .You can get out there and hit. You can get on base and score. You can win this game for us. We need you. Everybody needs you. You’re medicine, Jack.”

It’s true. Jackie Robinson was medicine. When Branch Rickey was trying to help Major League Baseball integrate, Robinson was the right man for the job. There have been many who felt it should have been Satchel Paige who was asked to leave the Negroe Leagues to play in Major League Baseball. However, everyone needs to remember the character and temperment of the individual players. Paige was an excellent pitcher, but he was hot-headed. Robinson had the right temperment and skill to show the world what African American baseball players could play in the MLB.

The world changes . . . sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Luckily, sports has been there to help guide the changes. Sports figures have been medicine for nearily a century. Muhammad Ali was medicine. Billie Jean King is medicine. Amy Trask and Jeanne Buss are medicine. Pam Oliver, Jayne Kennedy and Lesley Visser are medicine. Willie O’Ree is medicine. The previous trailblazers showed the world that stereotypes weren’t necessarily the truth. They also taught us that the world may say no but there is still hope.

There is a hope that we can learn from each other about life inside and outside of sports. They taught us that we can take a stand for what is right . . . that women aren’t inferior to men . . . that African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Arabs, Jews and Native Americans have and will continue to contribute to this world . . . that individuals with physical and mental disabilities are not helpless . . . that everyone is equal and fighting for one’s happiness and freedom is fighting the good fight.

Today, we have children fighting to survive a day in school. There are still little girls hoping to prove they are not inferior to boys overseas. Minorities face police brutality with little remorse. In these times, it seems like the world is changing for the worse. But we have new sports figures that are fighting to give us our medicine–You Can Play, Right To Play, the NFL players protest, and the Bell Let’s Talk as well as several athletes’ charities like Torrey Smith Family Fund, the Janis Foligno Foundation and Steve Nash Foundation.

Medicine is created to heal. In this case, it is listening, opening our eyes, and trying to understand one another. It is about the necessary discussions that need to take place to make the world better for our children as well as ourselves. It is about progress instead of the recent regress. These brave individuals and organizations are fighting to give us medicine, but the question remains whether we will take it and get well.


Source: Jason Grzybowski (From the movie, 42)