"Women" Archive

After a long battle with cancer, Robert Kraft’s wife Myra passed away this morning. Kraft was known for her philanthropic efforts and the personal connection she

made with players in a business that often demands the opposite.

Former Patriots Safety Lawyer Milloy had this to say:

I’m truly heartbroken today. Myra Kraft has passed away. With my Brisk departure from #Boston, she is the one person that I regret not saying goodbye too. As a young player/man she was a gr8 example of how a woman stands beside, not behind, a man of power! I never got a chance to say thanks 4 that lasting impression. R.I.P. You will be missed.

Former Pats Fullback Heath Evans tweeted this:

We have lost 1 of the greatest women I know & hands down the finest in all of sports w/ the passing of Mrs. MyraKraft. What made Myra Kraft special? Strong but Tender-hearted/Proud but Humble/Bold but Soft-Spoken/ Extremely blessed but lived to be a Blessing. I remember crossing the super dome field wk10 2009 Saints/Pats 2 be greeted by Myra & her asking “by name,” how is Beth, Ava, & Naomi?

Patriots Defensive Lineman Vince Wilfork lamented that because of the lockout he can’t get in touch with the Kraft family saying that Myra was a wonderful woman he and his wife adored. I think that as the lockout ends this is a reminder that no matter how ugly negotiations can be all involved are human. And the NFL can be as much a family as it is a business. If only everyone could remain aware of that during good times too.

If you don’t know by now, ESPN has launched a web site geared toward female sports fans and athletes. I think most of the reactions have been split with most leaning toward opposing the site for obvious reasons-women sports fans don’t want to be marginalized. And female sports are already covered less than male sports, so any sign of decreased coverage on ESPN’s regular site would not be welcome.

Personally, I think ESPN is probably the most woman-friendly sports channel and site there is. On most sites, female presence is limited to exploitation. All the bigger sports blogs and male-oriented channels feature endless T&A. I’m not against looking at women’s bodies, but sometimes that shit is too much. ESPN has one of the only sports sites that doesn’t constantly make me uncomfortable.

The best thing you can do to make a sports site woman-friendly is to stop whoring women out for page views and, also, ensure that the woman writers you hire aren’t ding bats. ESPN.com does well with the first, and could use some work on the second-though there’s definitely some female writing talent there.

Anyway,  I hopped over to the ESPNW site to give it a look and my quick thoughts are:

• The site design is amateurish
• There are way too many colors on it
• The stories aren’t particularly engaging
• At one point, the phrase “you girls rock” was used which made me wince
• Once again, it’s nice to read about sports without having someone woman’s fake titties adjacent to the post
• I never realized how much I don’t give a shit about female sports until I scrolled down the site
• It feels like a blog which I really like
• The writers get a prominent author box, I think that’s a great thing
• One of the writers described NBA player Ron Artest has “having a little crazy in him.” Thought that was pretty insensitive for a woman’s site given the fact that he’s admitted to dealing with mental illness. We’re supposed to handle those subjects better than those pesky penis havers.

We have to remember that the site is just starting out, and like any site (including this one) it does take some time to find your voice. And hopefully ESPNW will find one that works. I think it may have been helpful for them to think about what the goal of the site is…because having all female writers and lots of human interest stories doesn’t really make the site any more appealing to women. And so far, the style of the site is decidedly “young white female.” I think Jemele Hill is going to be contributing to the site at some point, but if she’s writing her usual confusing fluff pieces her contributions won’t make a difference in that regard.

I went over to ESPNW, ESPN’s new site for women sports fans and athletes, to check out the site so I could do a review here. The very first post on the site is one about athletes and cheating originally written for ESPN.

Anyway, the article reiterates what we already know: cheating is a lifestyle in the sportsworld (for those who want to) and some men will work entirely too hard just to get some side you-know-what. The article is about 3000 words, so I’ll share a few highlights here:

On Enablers:

There are unspoken codes in the big leagues. On football Sundays, some NFL players are known to dole out their tickets to two different mates in separate parts of the stadium — the wives’ section and the girlfriends’ section. Their paths are never supposed to cross. The lifestyle, in many locker rooms, is accepted.

Even the women who marry pro athletes often quickly learn the codes and unwritten rules of being an athlete’s wife.

Never is that more pronounced than when wives travel on the road. They know their husbands’ careers and earnings are foremost, so even if a wife sees a married teammate with another woman, she is expected to remain silent and keep that information to herself — even if she is close to that teammate’s wife.

Vikings Tackle B. Mckinnie on waiting until retirement to get married:

“A lot of coaches and players have a lot of distractions at home, and it will cause them not to play well,” says Bryant McKinnie, an unmarried left tackle for the Minnesota Vikings. “At the rookie symposium, we learned that 75 percent of NFL marriages end with divorce within two to three years after retirement. And that’s just something that’s always been on my mind.”

He has a point, but given the fact that a lot of athletes are caught up in drama involving women who aren’t their wives or even girlfriends, not being married isn’t the only key to avoiding distraction.

On repeat offenders:

Toni Blackshear doesn’t date athletes anymore. She knows she’s going to come across as a groupie. She is 41 now and doesn’t really care. She has a 16-year-old daughter with former NFL player Chuck Smith whom she dated when both were single.

She’s also had relationships with a handful of NBA and NFL players who generally had one common denominator: They couldn’t stay faithful.

Girl…

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This week three NFL teams’ players hosted events strictly for their lady fans. New Orleans’ Saints’ SS Darren Sharper and RB Reggie Bush invited 300 women to a session in which the ladies learned everything from defensive schemes to referee signals. Sharper said the ladies were already knowledgeable but looking to learn a little more. Bush stated that he hoped he could help ladies “bridge the gap” in some relationships since Sundays are for football women should be able to enjoy the games just as the men do.

The Chicago Bears hosted a ladies night that was a little more intimate. Attendees got dinner, a special gift, a Q&A session, autographs and time to talk to players. I thought this was pretty cool.

The Steelers also hosted a ladies event with 400 women-completely sold out. The event included tours of the locker rooms and some great stories by the Steelers’ very charismatic players.

I think this is a great thing for the NFL to recognize how much of its support (read: MONEY) is coming from the female contingent.

Today, the Washington Post ran an article about how the Redskins affect the local economy, and the first paragraph of the article was about a lady fan who dresses in redskins gear from head to toe (including underwear). Maybe most lady fans aren’t that fanatical, but still we’re out there!

If you know of any other ladies nights, let me know. Has anyone been to one? Would you go?

The Sports reporting powerhouse that is Hannah Storm

If this is your first time reading this blog, I have an announcement to make. Ready?

I have a vagina!

Yes, it’s true. I have a vagina. I love men, and I hope to marry one some day. I also write a blog about football. I may or may not know what I’m talking about.

If you’re still reading, that’s good. That means you haven’t completely tuned me out.

I think every woman sports fan has gone through the frustrating (and even humiliating) experience of having a man openly challenge their knowledge of sports. In particular, their knowledge of the most popular and decidedly masculine ones: football, and men’s basketball and baseball. Men will challenge you no matter the space. Whether it’s on the internet or in a sports bar if you put a bra on that morning you are on fake fan or groupie watch.

My biggest irritation with it is that men don’t give other men the same treatment. Men don’t go out of their way to prove other men are ignorant about sports unless they are arguing about their favorite players or the chances of their favorite teams. Even then, there’s a certain level of respect afforded between men from the beginning is rarely, if ever, provided to women. I can’t figure out why men are so heavily invested in deconstructing the whats whens and hows of a woman’s sports acumen.

Not only do men want to prove you know about sports, they want to know if you know the history and why you know it. Did you play sports? Did you date an athlete? Were you a tomboy growing up?

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