We’ve all heard the stereotype that women who are fans of softball and enjoy watching it are lesbians. While obviously there’s nothing wrong with being a lesbian, this kind of stereotyping is a problem. Softball is important to me for reasons completely separate from my sexuality.
In May of 2014, I got my wisdom teeth out. The day after the surgery, I found myself stuck at home with bags of ice pressed up against each cheek. All I could do was watch television, sleep, and sulk. As the anesthesia was starting to wear off, I wanted to watch something on TV that would be constant throughout the day as I would spend hours drifting in and out of various states of consciousness and pain.
Lucky for me, the women’s college softball regionals were on. It was time for the final games before the Women’s College World Series, or WCWS. I had never seen a complete game of softball before in my life and never played it at a competitive level, but from that instant, I was hooked.
In 2014, I arbitrarily decided that LSU was my favorite softball team without having any prior knowledge of the program or even any alliance with the school. Why I chose them I don’t really know, but it probably has to do with the drugs I was on at the time. I also established a liking for Michigan and Tennessee, but something about LSU pulled me in from the start, even if they did lose to Arizona in their 2014 regional tournament, stopping short of the WCWS.
I had somehow forgotten about softball throughout all of 2015 and only started to get back into it as the regionals were starting up again in May. But I was so invested that I insisted on watching my team play even during the annual Memorial Weekend beach trip I take with my friends. In a triumphant and fitting win against 2014’s victor, Arizona, LSU finally made it to the WCWS and finished fourth.
This year, I am determined to watch any game that I can. Lucky for me, most all of LSU’s games are streamed live online through the SEC ESPN Network. They are currently ranked seventh in the nation, and I will be rooting for them for as long as they last in this year’s regionals. Hopefully they will make it to the WCWS again.
I have not met a single person who, like me, is so invested in softball without ever doing as much as pick up a bat. I am well aware of the stereotype that all softball players and fans are lesbians, and have been accused of being a lesbian myself just because I enjoy watching the game. Though I find absolutely nothing wrong with being a lesbian, as far as I know, I like boys. It’s not that I am insulted that my sexuality is questioned, but I am insulted that my sexuality is boiled down to something as simple as what sports I like to watch.
Why is it that nobody questions the sexuality of a male football fan? Men who follow football are known to be the “manliest men,” but in reality, they are just watching a bunch of dudes in tight pants put their hands all over each other.
But softball doesn’t just celebrate the pretty young girls in their late teens or early 20s who play on the field. In the world of softball, women are coaches, umpires, and announcers. This representation is nonexistent in baseball. And though there is a professional women’s softball league, it is very small and unpublicized. College play is the big time for these girls, and their passion for the game is apparent. It will most likely be absent after graduation.
I like softball because it’s a game about finesse, but it’s speedier and more explosive than baseball is. I like big home runs and double plays, and I like strength both on and off the field. In essence, I like to watch a bunch of women be total badasses and I can do that without wanting to make out with them.
Image Credit: LSU Sports, Shreveport Times