“So are you a real Yankee fan or do you just say you’re a Yankee fan?” I was asked this exact question while I was on break at work, eating a sandwich I had packed in a Yankee lunchbox which I received for being one of the first 18,000 fans at a game at Yankee Stadium. When I proceeded to tell my coworker that I was, in fact, a true Yankee fan, I was bombarded with questions. “Do you know this person? Who’s your favorite player? How many games have you been to?” One wrong answer resulted in a disappointed sigh.
I’ve never seen a guy interrogate another guy to find out if they are really a sports fan. A guy can still be a real fan if he is not able to recognize one obscure baseball player that played thirty years before he was born. Yet, if a female is not able to do so, they are cast aside as a girl who just says she likes sports, but doesn’t really know anything, just as I was by my coworker (that is, until I lectured him for five minutes on the statistics of Thurman Munson, Yogi Berra, and Derek Jeter).
Women and sports have always had a tumultuous relationship, as men have never thought that women can play, understand, watch, or be sports fans. My entire life, people have expressed their pity for my father, as “it must be really disappointing to have two daughters when you love sports so much.” Others believe that female sports fans are only fans because we find certain professional athletes attractive.
I didn’t fight with almost every single person I came in contact with over the A-Rod/steroid controversy because I thought he was attractive. I didn’t list the reasons Michael Phelps would return to swimming after his retirement in 2012 because I was bored. I didn’t weep the day Derek Jeter announced his retirement because I don’t know any other baseball players and who will I say is my favorite player now?
No, I fought with people over A-Rod because I believe it is ridiculous that professional football players are allowed to use steroids and human growth hormones, but baseball players—who have the longest season of 162 games during the hottest time of the year—cannot even take steroids when they are injured. In addition, I thought that former-commissioner Bud Selig was on an uncalled for witch hunt against Rodriguez and that his season-long suspension was ridiculous compared to everyone else’s (i.e. Francisco Cervelli, Ryan Braun, etc.) when they had all broken the same rule.
I hoped and prayed that Michael Phelps would return to swimming, not because I think he’s attractive. If that is the reason I watch swimming, I would have no problem finding another attractive swimmer to follow. No, I argued that Michael Phelps was far too young to retire (he is only 30 now), and there was still so much more he could accomplish for himself and the sport of swimming. I admire Phelps, especially because I dislocated my shoulder the first time I ever tried to swim butterfly as a competitive swimmer, and knew that he still had something left in the tank to compete in Rio.
Derek Jeter is not my favorite baseball player of all time because he is the only name I know. I didn’t spend more on his jersey than my prom dress just because I thought he was cute. He is my favorite player because of the way he carries himself on and off the field—he has more confidence, grace, and humility than any other person to ever play the game. Jeter has been my role model since I was ten and I wrote an essay on him as part of a requirement to receive my black belt. I didn’t cry for no reason—even though I am female, I do not cry at the drop of the hat like many people think I do; I cried when Jeter retired because it was the end of an era, the end of the Core Four, and the end of my childhood in some ways because I had never known another Yankee captain or shortstop.
I wouldn’t root for these athletes if I didn’t know anything about sports, but I am never allowed or invited to share my knowledge. I am not allowed to be a “true” fan if I am female. I am given a bad reputation because of instances like these:
where girls spend an entire baseball game taking selfies instead of watching the game, and the male announcers feel it’s appropriate to ridicule them on live television.
On the season 41 premiere of Saturday Night Live, Pete Davis made a joke about how he watches politics like his girlfriend watches sports: “who are we rooting for? That guy is cute! What team is wearing blue?” But the point of Davis’s jokes was that it’s all funny until it becomes a problem. Women can be sports fans if given the chance, and men can come to realize this if they just take the time to ask fair questions.
If people realized that the stereotype is no longer funny, women might gain more respect in all aspects of the sports world.
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