As you can see from our recent posts, we here at Don't Do That have gotten very into the World Cup, even though our beloved USA team went down to defeat by the better defense and better acting abilities of the Ghana team. We love it for the constant action, the crazy athletic abilities involved in running around a field continuously for 90 minutes with one short break, for the amazing goals and often even more amazing saves, and the crazy personalities involved. Currently, a popular feminist blog is running a World Cup feature that's all about how hot the players are, which is pretty much their sole discussion about the World Cup. Do we think that the players are hot? Oh, yes we do. Do we like it when they take their shirts off at the end of a match? Oh, we like that too! Is that why we watch the World Cup, or any other soccer game? No.
I've been watching football (the American version) since I was a little kid. I distinctly remember The Catch, I lost my voice yelling at the TV during a number of tight games, and I stood up and made the touchdown sign as the sole 49er fan in a Washington D.C. sports bar during the amazing Young to Owens moment during the playoffs (and still have kind of fond feelings towards Terrell Owens because of that, despite all of his crazy). I love sports for the amazing moments like those, the breakaway runs, the insane interceptions run back for touchdowns, the unpredictability, and the crazy personalities.
Sports has brought us Chad OchoCinco and his delightful twitter feed, that crazy 10+ hour long tennis match at Wimbledon last week, and the hilarious live blog that went along with it, the Miracle on Ice, and that completely impossible and unbelievable comeback by the Red Sox in 2004.
At awkward family moments, instead of talking about the weather, we talk about sports. My uncles and cousins and I argue 49ers vs. Raiders, my mom gets outraged every time a field goal kicker misses a kick and insists that she could do it better, my best friend's husband (who has very different political views than I do) and I bond over the NFL draft, our fantasy football teams, and how much we despise Ben Roethlisberger. I have met so many strangers in the past few weeks as we crowd around TVs at lunchtime and during coffee breaks to watch the World Cup, I high fived people on the street after the US victory last week, and I've had long conversations with random people in bars that started with "What's the score?"
Sports is pure fun (when it's not pure misery), it's built from incredible athleticism, and bold and distinct personalities, and it has this way of bringing people together. If you question that? Just watch the video below. Sports, we love you, in all of your forms, and for so many reasons.
Do we think that the players are hot? Oh, yes we do. Do we like it when they take their shirts off at the end of a match? Oh, we like that too! Is that why we watch the World Cup, or any other soccer game? No.
ReplyDeleteI love this post, but I don't think "the players are hot" versus "I love the sport" has to be an either-or thing for women fans (or gay male fans, for that matter). It's basically asking us to deny one part of ourselves either way - either we're silly ladies who only like cute boys, or we have to act like we're asexual. Neither is a good option. I'm for a "both/and" understanding of my sports fandom. We shouldn't have to deny that attractive people are, in fact, attractive in order to be taken seriously as fans. (And I don't think your post is saying this, and I agree that nonstop chatter about Player X's abs is annoying. But we don't need another false dichotomy.)
Well that's what I'm saying -- We do think that the players are hot! I'm not asking anyone to make it an either or, just make it a both. It gets really annoying when women get branded as watching sports solely for the hot players, but not appreciating anything else about sports. We love us some Benny Feilhaber and his abs here, but even if we didn't, and if those players didn't take their shirts off and show their pretty pretty abs, we would still watch sports. I mean, we get lucky in the World Cup, those men have fantastic bodies...but lets face it, football and baseball players (Chad Ochocinco notwithstanding) often do not, yet those sports are still close to many of our hearts.
ReplyDelete...but lets face it, football and baseball players (Chad Ochocinco notwithstanding) often do not, yet those sports are still close to many of our hearts.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's not even mentioning hockey players and The Hair.
Yeah, I thought we were in agreement - that other site you're talking about had a post up last night about how "real fans" don't care about that, and that irritated me. So I didn't think this post was saying that, but ... I just have a lot of feelings? ;)
ReplyDelete(Also, one of my Twitter friends pointed out that you may have meant 2004 for the Red Sox comeback and not 1994?)
Hee, thank you, fixed! I was aging myself even more than I meant to.
ReplyDeleteI hate when anyone makes any claim about "real fans" almost as much as I hate when someone makes a claim about a "real American." Which is to say, a LOT.
If I was only rooting because of looks, I would have been for Portugal, because objectively Cristiano Ronaldo is lovely. Too bad his personality ruins it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I would *not* be rooting for my beloved Red Sox, because the 2010 edition (silver fox Mike Lowell notwithstanding) is one fugly bunch.
I could get sucked into watching a close game of hopscotch though, so the hotness is just a happy side-effect of my sporting obsession.
I hate when anyone makes any claim about "real fans" almost as much as I hate when someone makes a claim about a "real American." Which is to say, a LOT.
ReplyDeleteReal fan, real American, real woman ... it all bugs.