I'll keep it short and simple. I've never really tried to be the shining beacon of light for female hockey fandom in this blog; this blog really helped me vent out the ridiculous things and focus on the minute aspects that really stand out to me as an awkward fan (AKA I say some pretty ridiculous things which seems to convince my friends that they don't want to see me smashed).
When I read the hlog post on Elliott's own predicament, it did infuriate me a little. It's a little strange really, I feel lucky that any friend who speaks sports with me respects my opinion. I'm going to be a play a little Devil's Advocate - don't hurt me but I'm going to pour my heart out here. But a serious-minded female fan in my opinion is either seen as one or another: a sexless devotee or a kind of spectacle. I can't explain or speak for most women, because what worries me further is that a female sports fan must speak in the tongue which is commonly accepted. What I really mean is that most writers who openly state their female status have to talk in a somewhat childish manner which will give away further that she is in love with only the aspect of being in love with the sport. We should only talk about the partying, "oh a hockey game is fun because you know, it's long enough for a date but short enough to blow someone off early" should reprise often in our prose along with "A is hot but B's goals made him hotter. I love my team!". And no one will take you too seriously, you have fun which is always a good thing in sports. But you're in a safe position, no one will criticise you for caring too much.
And let me belt out a cliche, it's okay to write what we feel - but never what we see. Case in point: I hope Koivu scores 3 goals! versus Souray just did a stupid giveaway in the third period for the last goal. The former tends to be received better than the others.
But if you want to talk with an air of investigation, talk the actual core being of a sports team - slow down missy you're going too fast. We shouldn't be talking about prospects and the draft without people wondering whether we thought of it on our back with one of the players. If you personally see some talent in a player - it's got to be because you are attracted to him. And to be honest, females talking real hockey seems almost threatening in a sense. I don't mean it as in "oh no who's gonna make the sandwiches now!?" but rather a somewhat hostile response if you speak differently. No one will take heed of your argument really - even if they eat crow in the end.
But essentially when you say something which can be debated, as Elliott's predictions did - the uglies come out. Certain kinds of fans try to pretend that they are not prejudiced or misogynistic by attempting to speak objectively, but they're really merely hiding their ignorance until they can reveal it from an advantageous position. The truth with most of those fans is that they'll never take you seriously because of your whole gender. You can't critique a player's own skill (unless that's the common trend) without being overlooked or attacked with an abundance of misleading fallacies. You can't understand what it is to face a pro-level (which leads you to believe that professional sports are only a struggle for males and never for females because *cough* the talent pool is smaller? [really this sounds absurd for me to be saying this but people do believe it... And it makes perfect sense to them]) or see what a coach sees. You have too many attributes that make you emotional, unable to make rational decisions and as well you're a female - they're men. It's not absurd for women to not care about the other part of the team because they aren't attractive but it's a lot more absurd for male fans to blindly follow the player with the highest points or hype without looking at the overall gameplay (of course they play well, they have so many numbers!).
In short what I guess I want to say is that female fans can only be seen as a non-threatening bunch of girls who like to squeal and cheer and paint our faces. However female fans who argue and debate are often seen as a rare bunch but as well so rare that if someone under the guise of an actual serious fan emerges, they're a female and most female fans don't care about people not named Crosby, Ovie or Pyatt - so what's the harm in seeing your opinion as something irrelevant and inferior? If you make a sexual comment, it merely enforces that you're just a simple minded fan. I want to stamp my feet and get mad but apparently that's just taking things too far. So yeah, fuck you all who think being a female or acting like one is a vice and is mutually exclusive from actual sports debates.
More fun reads? This CDC forum thread.
In other news aka Jordi land, we went to karaoke for a friend's birthday but ran out of time to sing Journey's Don't Stop Believin'. I did manage Sweet Caroline though!
Friday, May 25, 2007
#136 - Why Jordi hates stupid fucks.
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4 complaint(s):
it is, sadly, the way of the modern world, not just sports analysis. it sometimes seems like every woman i've ever known has, at some point, been put in a position where she has to efface her gender in order to be respected professionally or intellecually.
i think in hockey it's enhanced by the fact that most men seem to have a very close attachment to players based on a sort of vicarious masculinity, and they're inclined to see various hockey qualities as metonyms for manliness. so even though many male fans/commentators know no more about coaching or playing professionally than you or i, they do feel (maybe subconsiously) that their gender gives thems some intuitive understanding of how the men in the sport think and act. it's bullshit, of course, but it's not rational, so no amount of air-tight arguement is going to convince a guy who really believes that hockey is a man's game that a woman can understand it just as well as he.
on the other hand, i don't think it's quite as pervasive as you seem to suggest- the vast majority of male fans i've met (in person and online)have respected and engaged with my views on the nuts-and-bolts of the game honestly and directly, without condescension or insult. on most of the hockey blogs i read, female writers seem to be treated with about the same amout of credulity as male writers. there are some very vocal misogynists out there, but i wouldn't take them as representative of male hockey fans as a whole- no more than i'd take the occasional truly moronic female fan as representative of the group.
I think a lot of people are more than happy to chat hockey with people with sound and interesting views. And with hockey blogs - well the quality is rather good overall.
But I'm probably zooming on a very small thing - probably because I think the overall feeling is people do take the moronic female fan as a rep of the group more than the male fan. The male fan is a diverse being, they're all bound together by a sport. A female well, maybe her boyfriend's taking her? I don't know but I see it a lot of times, where an actual female fan is so rare that it doesn't matter rather than an ingrained hatred of women. And most guys usualy shrug and go "well it's the truth, female fans will never reach the same passion as male fans". And it's the whole gender thing again.
Hahahaha. I should've known this was inspired by that cesspool known as CDC. It's inspired quite a few rants of my own.
I love you for writing this. This brings to mind quite a few other stigmas attached to other kinds of hockey fans, which I'll have to write about in my blog because if I don't, I'll end up writing an essay in yours.
A short story, however: I work as a receptionist at a small clinic near my house. I've worked there for over 3 years, or the majority of my university career. For a small clinic, business is booming, and I talk to a lot of the patients. Usually it's idle chatter to smooth over any anxiety (and there's a lot when you're going to see a docor), but over time, as I get to know a patient more and more, our conversation turns to things other than the weather and traffic. Hockey's one of those subjects.
I genuinely like about 90% of our patients. They're very nice people. Some have strong opinions, while some are more open minded. Those 90% are always respectful. But I can't count how many times a patient - and always male - remarks, "boy, you know a lot about hockey for a girl." It's like, God forbid that this girl, the receptionist/secretary at your doctor's office, should be able to speak about hockey intelligently. No matter how professionally I behave or intelligently I speak, they've somehow trapped me in a box when it comes to hockey.
I know a lot.
For a girl.
Thank you for writing this!
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