Women and football

[RabidPatsFan]

I'm a woman and I love football!

 

[DarrylS]

My wife is a Pats fan, and there is no one I want to go to a game with or watch it on TV with..

 

[mgm79]

Women's inability to understand football is a gentic thing that they can't really overcome....like bad driving and poor math skills.























(No i wasn't being serious )

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I think the differences, gender-wise, between football and baseball fan bases are driven somewhat by the fact that women are less likely to have played football in school than guys. but every school district and town has a women's softball or baseball league and many actually have mixed teams. so, this probably has something to do with why there are fewer female football fans than you find in baseball.

However, if you go to Dallas or Green Bay or Houston football fan bases or to the NCAA football fan base in places like Oklahoma and Nebraska or in Alabama or Georgia, you'll find that most women are fans and many who are just as fantatic as guys. so, some of this is a regional phenomenon as well.

BTW, Tom Brady has singlehandedly turned many women into football fans. My teenage niece came over with my brother in law to watch SB XXXIX. She was completely disinterested, until they did a profile on Tom Brady and she declared him a "real cutie," after which she didn't take her eyes off the TV when the Pats were on the field. She is now a Patriots fan.

 

[xmarkd400x]

Quote:
Originally Posted by xmarkd400x
... you just happen to be posting on a male-dominated board.

Nah ... Ya think? Actually, there are some very cool female fans here at Patsfans.

Your statement of fact is not a counterpoint. I believe both are correct.

Quote:
Originally Posted by xmarkd400x
To insinuate that anyone who is not a straight male does not understand (and therefore does not like) football is asinine.

No insinuations at all here, just the factual statement that many women shy away from the sport because they don't understand it.

Your poll has the option I'm gay/lesbian/bisexual/hermaphrodite and find this poll irrelevant . Maybe this was meant as a joke and I read too much into. I got the impression that (according to you) people who fall into those categories do not like football. I agree that a fundamental understanding is essential to enjoying the game, and for some women this is a barrier.

Quote:
Originally Posted by xmarkd400x
Get a grip.

On what? Your insulting attitude? That's self-evident.

Irrelevant personal attack in response to my irrelevant attack.

Quote:
Originally Posted by xmarkd400x
I know plenty of girls who like both football and baseball. It just happens that more females have experience with a baseball like substance (softball) and therefore have a more fundamental understanding.

A "baseball-like substance" ... Won't go there for now, but you're contradicting yourself and reinforcing my point by suggesting that women more readily embrace baseball because it's more familiar to them.

I am saying that people who play the sport as a child/teen tend to like that sport as they get older. Softball is very similar to baseball. In no way does this affect a woman's ability to understand football. Not knowing and not being able to learn are different. One of your poll options is I'm a woman and I'd like football if I could understand it . Women, as a whole can understand football. Whether they do or don't is not relevant to the discussion of could.

Quote:
Originally Posted by xmarkd400x
Women would learn about football if they chose to. They don't need "encouragment" to help their (seemingly implicit) feeble minds.

I don't understand the sports of curling or jai ali, does that mean I have a feeble mind? I'm not at all suggesting that women have feeble minds. Many of them simply feel put off by football's inherent complexity compared to other sports, and willingly become fans given an understanding of the basics and encouragement by someone who cares to share it with them.

I was saying YOU implied they had feeble minds (See previous response). I made no such implication. And no, I don't think football is any more or less complex than basketball, baseball, soccer or hockey. The barrier is that most women did not play football as a child/teen, and therefore do not develop a fundamental understanding of the sport the same way a woman might learn basketball, softball, or other sports.

In summary, I agree with what you said. I do not agree in the manner with which you said it.

 

[AirForcePatFan]

BTW, Tom Brady has singlehandedly turned many women into football fans. My teenage niece came over with my brother in law to watch SB XXXIX. She was completely disinterested, until they did a profile on Tom Brady and she declared him a "real cutie," after which she didn't take her eyes off the TV when the Pats were on the field. She is now a Patriots fan.

LOL... I had a party the night of the Chargers/Patriots game and invited the folks that were off from work and some rottie friends over... One of my female co-workers, whose also a great friend, hadn't watched football and had no interest in it,she was just coming over to socialize and eat the food... That all changed when she saw Tommy boy and declared him a hunk, and said she just became a Patriot fan and actually watched the game, and asked alot of questions... She now watches the games when they show on TV down here... lol...

 

[Patti37]

There are definitely more women following and understanding football than ever before...and this is a very good thing. There is nothing more exciting than football.

When Schaeffer Stadium first opened, when I would go to the ladies room, there would be literally no one in there. That doesn't mean there were no women at the stadium...they were just few and far between.

Edited to add that there are many rabid and knowledgeable female football fans on this forum.

 

[DESERTPAT]

I should also mention that I don't like baseball, I find it immensely boring to watch so if the Sox lose, you will have no sympathy from me... It's football and horse racing for me...

My kind of woman!

 

[Patti37]

As usual, you are right on.

I believe that many women, AND many men as well, don't understand football for a number of reasons.

1: Other interests

2: Football is just plain violent.

3: You sometimes need some kind of mentor/father figure/older brother to foster that interest. Especially in Boston, which is the ONLY city in the country that follows baseball more than football.

There are certainly millions of women who watch and understand football, or at least enjoy it. Same goes for men.

Women are clearly catching up to men in football knowledge, and closing the gap BECAUSE WOMEN ARE SMART AND THEY DO WHAT THEY WANT.

I think more men can relate to a sport which involves hitting people, but there are plenty of men out there these days who are push overs and there are a lot of women who seem to be getting aggressive. But you can be a fan without participating in the underlying angry psychology of the game.

My wife and my sisters all watch football. I mentored them by taking the time to explain the game, just like I would have if they were boys.

Women are playing catch up when it comes to watching football, and the NFL will do everything to insure that most women don't ignore football like they may have twenty or thirty years ago. No problems there.

Patchick: As far as the ads that go along with football, it is a truly pathetic and disgraceful sign of the times that we live in. What burns my ass is when they show dead women on those atrocious CSI commercials at noon time on Sunday. WE GET IT ALREADY. This vile crap has no place on TV, and ads have no right to show disturbing images at noon on Sunday.

This issue goes way beyond what your politics are (I don't support either political party, BTW).

I agree with a lot of what you said. When I was young my father and my uncles took the time to teach me about football. I would play football with them on Sunday mornings. Someone my father managed to put together the money to get season tickets to the Patriots when they played in Fenway or at BU. I don't remember which. On Sundays we not only watched the Patriots but any team that was on...didn't matter. At times we had two TVs going.

I always say that my love of football was a birthright.

I know this may sound crazy...but I love the violence that is the NFL. That is part of what attracts me. Now...I don't want to see people get hurt but I like the hits and the intensity. Hey I also love mixed martial arts.

 

[PatsDeb]

There are definitely more women following and understanding football than ever before...and this is a very good thing. There is nothing more exciting than football.

When Schaeffer Stadium first opened, when I would go to the ladies room, there would be literally no one in there. That doesn't mean there were no women at the stadium...they were just few and far between.

Edited to add that there are many rabid and knowledgeable female football fans on this forum.

Patti - I laughed when I read this. I often become nostalgic while waiting in the huge line at Gillette for the ladies room in the north endzone of the old Fox where I would be either one of two or three ladies in there, or sometimes alone, even at half-time! I would joyfully walk out past the line of several hundred men standing in line for the mens room. This is the only crowded place where I have ever experienced this phenomenon

 

[bakes781]

I wish I could meet a lady that was passionate about the Pats/football & not just b/c Brady has a tight butt. At the same time I like a girly girl who takes care of herself.

 

[Sariana]

I am female and I LOVE Football!

My husband wasn't a fan of it when we met...and he used to laugh at me when I would scream at the Ref on the TV for a bad call.... or pound on the floor yelling when we missed the winning field goal (true story).... and yet now, he seems almost as much a fan as me.... even wants his Own Bruschi Jersey...lol

Course what worreie me about this poll is the 3 that voted saying it was a "Man's game"

 

[Hoodie]

I'm a woman and I fell in love with football when I was 7 years old and I learned the game at the knee of my Mom.

 

[patchick]

I'm a woman and I fell in love with football when I was 7 years old and I learned the game at the knee of my Mom.

As my 7-year-old daughter is learning from me.

 

[RPMCanes]

More women in any situation is a glorious thing.
I was talking with a lady one time, and the conversation got to how some receiver in some game hauled in a bomb for a TD, and the lady said in that situation it's better to tackle the receiver and take the flag than give up 7. I fell in love right there.

 

[PATSNUTme]

If women didn't like or know football, then why did they come up with the Lingerie Bowl?

JUST KIDDING!!!!

 

[gomezcat]

To those of you who voted that Football should just be a man thing, and who weren't joking ( I suspect most of the votes were tongue in cheek), I defy you to go head to head with the likes of patchick and the other women on this board. I reckon they will kick your arses in terms of their football knowledge.

 

[Tommysgirl]

I'm a woman and I love football. Between my Dad, the boyfriend, my two brothers and my two sons, I'm the most obsessive in the house. Sorry, all Sox haters, I'm baseball and basketball obsessed also.
The men in my life love to bait other men at bars and parties to talk sports with me. They call it the man card game and see how many they can collect in one night. Not to down men, but for the most part, most men see a blonde in front of them and automatically think I'm an idiot.

 

[Mike the Brit]

All I could see was the spitting. Spitting on the floor, spitting on their hands, spitting on the field...there's just a constant stream of goo coming from those men's mouths. The only guys not spitting were the ones chewing giant wads of gum with their mouths open. What the heck???

:rocker: So it's a gender thing to think this is disgusting in the U.S.? I thought it was just Europeans that found it revolting. Ah well, another reason to like women ...

 

[PatriotsReign]

Following up on World Series-related discussion from another thread, I made the following observations:

Many women embrace baseball because they understand it and shy away from football for the opposite reason. I hear this time and time again from women, "I'd like to get into football but I don't understand what's going on. It just looks like a bunch of players running into each other, falling down, getting up and doing it again."

If more women understood football -- which is a more inherently exciting, colorful, emotional and action-packed sport -- I'd bet they'd choose football over baseball. The NFL, the Patriots organization and fans like us can and should do a better job of educating women about football. The best female football fans are those who grew up watching the game with fathers and brothers took the time to explain what's going on.

I personally would LOVE to see more women getting into football and have it be less segregated, and we guys only have ourselves to blame for that not happening. One aspect of that is men using football Sunday as a reason to get away from the family/wife/girlfriend for "guy time" for a day. That's understandable to a degree, but I think we have more to lose than to gain by not encouraging them to share the passion of this sport along with us.

What are your feelings on this subject?

None of your selections fit my feelings so I couldn't vote. Here's how I feel on the topic of women & football;

-I don't care either way if more women want to become football fans.
-I prefer to watch the BIG games with guys
-I do like when I can talk to a woman who knows her football
-I NEVER want to hear a woman be the lead play-by-play person
-I can not imagine hearing a female voice scream "OH! and he's NAILED on the 1 yard line!"...just does NOT work for me.
-I do believe of all the major sports, football is a MAN'S sport more than any of the other 3.