Being a girl who really likes sports can be a tough business. Which is interesting, because most girls I know have at least one sport they really love to watch.
Some girls really like football. Many don't understand this because, as women, we've never played organized football. Flag football, maybe, but football is apparently considered too physical for females too play. Not that I'm complaining, because the thought of getting chased and tackled scares the hell out of me.
Some girls really like soccer. People seem to get on board with this one easier. Girls love soccer! For a while the U.S. women's soccer team was really popular.
My sport (if I had to pick just one) is probably baseball. I read about it, I watch it and when it's the off season I'm still thinking about it. I don't know a lot of girls who are huge baseball fans. So, I often get surprised reactions when people find out I love baseball.
I remember when a guy asked me if I was a Royals or Cardinals fan. I'm from Kansas City, so the obvious choice was the boys in blue. After I said this he said he bet I couldn't name five players. If he had asked I would've named the entire roster and part of the disabled list.
The problem is, when you're a girl and you like sports people think you're just saying you like sports. Some people think you want to seem cool or relatable to guys or something ridiculous like that.
It's almost in people's nature to stereotype this way. Girls grow up surrounded by pink dresses and barbie dolls with the expectation that we will all become girly-girls. Boys, on the other hand, get blue t-shirts and little nerf footballs.
The only problem with that is after we are initially interested in the barbies and the footballs we can change. Maybe the little boy grows up and realizes he hates sports. It happens. If that happens, then maybe the little girl can grow up and ditch the barbie doll.
Women are considered to not be knowledgeable about sports. This could be the reason people comment on how attractive (or unattractive) female sports casters are when it doesn't matter. No one looks at a guy sitting behind the SportsCenter desk and says, "Hey that's a pretty good looking guy," or "Wow he looks great, no wonder they hired that guy." It just doesn't happen.
Maybe it's time for women to be able to go to a sporting event, or talk about one, without having someone question whether they actually know what they're talking about. Sometimes we actually know what we're saying. Sometimes we read the sports section of the newspaper and understand every word of it. Crazy, I Know. It happens, though, so people might want to realize that.
