“The game is at 10:30 AM on a Wednesday!”
I can hear myself saying that on the phone earlier this week to my mother. Whenever I need to rant, she’s the first person I call. “I’m so mad. This is ridiculous. There’s no respect!” I say as I continued on for a good twenty more minutes.
I love sports. I especially love basketball. Considering I played on travel teams, on varsity in high school, and could have played in college, you could say that Women’s Basketball is most definitely my favorite sport to watch and play. But I couldn’t go to the game earlier this week because I had class....just like almost every other student on campus that Wednesday, weekday, morning.
Where is the respect for our women athletes? I get it. I know that most people (I can attest to say not all) enjoy watching men play sports more than women. I have season tickets for the mens team and I go to as many women’s games as possible. However, I can also say for a fact that those women work just as hard and are just as dedicated as the male athletes. How embarrassing and disrespectful it is that they played on a Wednesday morning.
My initial thought was that maybe, since it was on television, it was that early due to times available. While saying this thought out loud to my father, during another rant on the telephone, he pointed out “So, what? Who is going to watch that game in the morning on television? Everyone is at work.” With rage as I walked briskly back to my house and I could feel myself getting worked up. “You’re right!” I squealed back.
Women’s sports may not be as popular as mens sports. However, they deserve to be treated with the same respect as the men. The fact that their games are at such an inconvenient time for most people not just on campus, but in general, shows how unfair it is. These girls work hard, were recruited, and represent our school. They have a great responsibility. The least we can give them is a game time where more people may be available to watch what they work so hard for.
I never understood why the mens and womens games needed to be so spread apart. The womens games are free. Why not have their games played right after the mens. This way, people who are already in the stadium may decide to stay and support the women after watching the men. If not after, why not before? Have the women’s team play, clear the gym, then have the men play after. This would at least make more people aware of the teams schedule and maybe catch some peoples attention. It’s not that difficult to plan games so that more people show school spirit.
I understand that this is not just a basketball thing, but an all women's sports thing. I’m not saying people are disrespectful for not attending the games, I’m saying it is ridiculously disrespectful that the game times don’t even give people a chance to watch the game. For all the women out there working hard for their sport, I hope you all get the respect you deserve.
