OT: Great Article- "Women's Soccer Isn't Boring. You Are"

[vtinct]

Fabulous article. Not just about soccer but women's sports in general. It drives me nuts when people say UConn and women's basketball in general are "boring" to watch.

"But college basketball -- and the Women's World Cup -- is only boring if you choose not to care. The same goes for women's sports. People like Benoit toss out these justifications for not watching women's sports out of some sort of faux sports purity, like he's really just out to watch the pinnacle of athletic achievement every night, like anything less than the "best" and the "fastest" and the "strongest" is somehow a waste of one's time. But this isn't why we watch sports at all; we watch because every game we watch, we have a chance to see something we've never seen before. Dismissing that out of hand isn't a way of demanding the highest quality performance every game (as if that's something that could be done anyway); it's a way of confirming your preexisting biases. It also devalues the actual athleticism on display, and the amount of work it required of everyone to get there."

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/132376138/andy-benoit-thinks-womens-soccer-is-boring

 

[Wally East]

People like Benoit toss out these justifications for not watching women's sports out of some sort of faux sports purity, like he's really just out to watch the pinnacle of athletic achievement every night, like anything less than the "best" and the "fastest" and the "strongest" is somehow a waste of one's time.

If people wanted to do this, college sports would have no fans. People would only care about the pros and then only the good teams, not their own team.

I have had people use this line of reasoning to explain why they didn't watch UConn women's basketball. They didn't see the contradiction in the fact that they did watch UConn men's basketball.

 

[calpedaler]

 

[meyers7]

Pretty good.

 

[Beemer]

There are still too many people [men & women] who refuse to take women's sports seriously. I don't know what can be done about it.

 

[Orangutan]

I loved the article in the OP. Can't wait to watch that Seth & Amy clip on my break.

In addition to women's sports, I also watch a lot of golf, so I have to deal with "how can you watch this? it's so boring" frequently. It's all about context but if you try to explain the context their eyes will just glaze over.

What's odd specifically about women's sports is that people who don't like women's sports aggressively want you to know this and will offer their opinion on how terrible women's sports are completely unprompted.

 

[Orangutan]

There are still too many people [men & women] who refuse to take women's sports seriously. I don't know what can be done about it.

My female roommate who never watches sports was watching the NBA finals. I remarked that this was odd and she said that she actually likes watching basketball and had been following the playoffs (a total lie, but I didn't challenge her). She then hastened to add "but I can't stand to watch women's basketball".

I found this totally odd because 1) I watch women's basketball frequently and she's never even attempted to watch a couple minutes and 2)I didn't say anything about women's basketball at that time.

So here we have a woman going out of her way to tell me that she doesn't like women's basketball despite never having tried to watch it. The struggle is real.

 

[Husky25]

This "controversy" exists only because the guy is a Sports Illustrated writer. If you buy a magazine, do you feel compelled to read every word, cover-to-cover? Even the articles you really couldn't care less about? The guy's allowed to have an opinion and is allowed to share it. It has a scant amount of chauvinism to it, but it's not as if Benoit tweeted that women shouldn't be allowed to wear watches (My wife hates that joke...for obvious reasons). He should absolutely be ridiculed on late night talk shows, but (in my opinion) it really should end there.

All due respect to Will Leitch, but we do not "watch because every game we watch, we have a chance to see something we've never seen before." We watch sports to be entertained and/or we have something invested in the match. Pure and simple. If something happens that we've never seen before happens, that's all well and good. But 1987, this era is not. Most every game is broken down to the nth degree anyhow and if a play is truly spectacular, it will be replayed on the half dozen sports channels, the umpteen sports specific shows, and on YouTube before noon.

Am I watching the Women's World Cup? Only the matches involving the Americans. Why? It's entertaining and as an American, I'm invested in the competition. Do I watch the UConn men? Appointment TV, I'm irritable if I am delayed or miss a game for any reason. Why? It's entertaining and as an alum, I'm invest in the competition. The Women? Sometimes when they are on and I'm flipping channels. On the whole, it's not as entertaining, but I'm still invested as an alum. Do I watch the WNBA? I couldn't care less about it. To me, there are far more and better alternatives competing for my time. It's certainly not because I'd rather watch the NBA. I don't find that brand of basketball particularly entertaining either. Does that make me sexist? I certainly don't think so. I don't think Benoit should be painted with that brush either.

 

[tomcat]

I loved the article in the OP. Can't wait to watch that Seth & Amy clip on my break.

In addition to women's sports, I also watch a lot of golf, so I have to deal with "how can you watch this? it's so boring" frequently. It's all about context but if you try to explain the context their eyes will just glaze over.

What's odd specifically about women's sports is that people who don't like women's sports aggressively want you to know this and will offer their opinion on how terrible women's sports are completely unprompted.

I agree. I don't especially like NBA basketball, but I don't walk around getting in everyone's face about how stupid I think it is.

I remember one time when my wife and I went into the local watering hole because they had a UConn WCBB game we couldn't get at home. We were sitting at the bar watching the game, when an old and somewhat drunk guy walked by, looked up at the screen and starting making noises about how women's basketball was lousy basketball, etc. Was he surprised when he found out there actually were people at the bar (us and maybe a few others) who were actively watching that TV and not the other TVs. I think I told him something like, "We've got our one TV. You've got all the rest. Mind your own business." Strangely enough, he did. It helped that I was bigger than he was.