# Are women forbidden from playing on NFL teams? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 26, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-forbidden-from-playing-on-nfl-teams/600914 "2011-10-26T22:43:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-forbidden-from-playing-on-nfl-teams/600914/21 "2011-10-27T15:01:57Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > So, hypothetically, if she had set her sights on playing center field for the Dodgers instead of going to the Olympics, might she have succeeded? I could see it. Sorry, but I seriously doubt she would even make it to AA ball. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-forbidden-from-playing-on-nfl-teams/600914/22 "2011-10-27T16:01:31Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Sorry, but I seriously doubt she would even make it to AA ball. If she had at, say, age 20, decided, “I want to be a baseball player instead of a track and field athlete”, I agree with you. I think it’s just too difficult to pick up a new sport at a high level like that. If she had pursued baseball from her youth, given her tremendous athletic abilities, who knows? It’s difficult to say if she would have been able to be a good hitter, since there isn’t anything in track and field which maps well to batting. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-forbidden-from-playing-on-nfl-teams/600914/23 "2011-10-27T17:44:24Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > If she had at, say, age 20, decided, “I want to be a baseball player instead of a track and field athlete”, I agree with you. I think it’s just too difficult to pick up a new sport at a high level like that. > > If she had pursued baseball from her youth, given her tremendous athletic abilities, who knows? It’s difficult to say if she would have been able to be a good hitter, since there isn’t anything in track and field which maps well to batting. Michael Jordan, despite being a superb athlete, was unable to move from basketball to major league baseball. Certain reflexes, motor skills, and coordination have to be developed before a certain age if they are to develop fully. See [Why Michael Couldn’t Hit](http://www.amazon.com/Why-Michael-Couldnt-Harold-Klawans/dp/0380730413/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319737027&sr=1-1) by Harold Klawans for a complete explanation of this and other neurological issues. On the OP, where sheer strength is an issue, as it is in all the major sports I can think of, women are obviously at a general disadvantage. Sure, the strongest woman may be stronger than the average male, but she is not going to be stronger than the elite group that is the tiny percentage of men who are successful in major league sports. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-forbidden-from-playing-on-nfl-teams/600914/24 "2011-10-27T18:51:58Z")
I’m not saying Jackie Joyner-Kersee WOULD have succeeded in baseball- merely that, given her athletic skills, there’s no reason she COULDN’T have. She certainly had greater speed and arm strength than a lot of men who HAVE made it to the major leagues. If she had started playing baseball as a kid and pursued it as seriously as she pursued track, I don’t find it so outlandish an idea thta she might have been good enough to play pro baseball. Whether she’d have been a good hitter, obviously, we’ll never know. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-forbidden-from-playing-on-nfl-teams/600914/25 "2011-10-27T20:12:20Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I’m not saying Jackie Joyner-Kersee WOULD have succeeded in baseball- merely that, given her athletic skills, there’s no reason she COULDN’T have. She certainly had greater speed and arm strength than a lot of men who HAVE made it to the major leagues. I’m not sure about that. At best, her arm speed and strength would’ve been average and she would’ve needed to bring something else exceptional to the game in order to make it. That may have been tactical nous, or exceptional accuracy but there’s nothing to suggest that she was likely to be in possession of such traits over and above an number of similarly strong and fast “average” male athletes. In most sports that require hand-eye co-ordination, speed and strength, there is a massive gap between what the top females and males are capable of. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-forbidden-from-playing-on-nfl-teams/600914/26 "2011-10-27T20:42:42Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > On the OP, where sheer strength is an issue, as it is in all the major sports I can think of, women are obviously at a general disadvantage. Sure, the strongest woman may be stronger than the average male, but she is not going to be stronger than the elite group that is the tiny percentage of men who are successful in major league sports. It’d certainly be an issue for nearly any position in football, though (even beyond kicking) there may be a few positions, such as wide receiver, in which strength may not be as important as speed and agility. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-forbidden-from-playing-on-nfl-teams/600914/27 "2011-10-27T21:27:57Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > It’d certainly be an issue for nearly any position in football, though (even beyond kicking) there may be a few positions, such as wide receiver, in which strength may not be as important as speed and agility. Speed, agility AND the ability to take hits regularly from Troy Polamalau or Ed Reed after making a catch over the middle. Even if a woman had the speed and hands to be a receiver, I can’t picture too many women taking such shots and getting back up to do it again. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-forbidden-from-playing-on-nfl-teams/600914/28 "2011-10-27T21:38:47Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Speed, agility AND the ability to take hits regularly from Troy Polamalau or Ed Reed after making a catch over the middle. > > Even if a woman had the speed and hands to be a receiver, I can’t picture too many women taking such shots and getting back up to do it again. Fair point…though, in D&D terms, is that Strength, or is that Constitution? 🙂 Some women claim that, if men had to deal with pregnancy and childbirth, the human race would have died out by now. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-forbidden-from-playing-on-nfl-teams/600914/29 "2011-10-27T23:14:56Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Fair point…though, in D&D terms, is that Strength, or is that Constitution? 🙂 Some women claim that, if men had to deal with pregnancy and childbirth, the human race would have died out by now. Women being better able to handle pain is a myth. [http://www.unethical-studies.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/2010-06-29-Woodrow-548.pdf](http://www.unethical-studies.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/2010-06-29-Woodrow-548.pdf) [http://www.rps.psu.edu/probing/painthreshold.html](http://www.rps.psu.edu/probing/painthreshold.html) I’d imagine that Jackie Joyner Kersee would have the lowest arm strength in the MLB. Women also have slower reaction times than men. I doubt she’d be able to hit at anything near an acceptable rate. I don’t think that there’s any mainstream sport that a woman could play professionally with men. I guess maybe a place kicker, but you’d probably be giving up 15 yards on field goals. If they were extremely accurate otherwise, maybe it’d be worth it? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-forbidden-from-playing-on-nfl-teams/600914/30 "2011-10-27T23:44:05Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > I guess maybe a place kicker, but you’d probably be giving up 15 yards on field goals. If they were extremely accurate otherwise, maybe it’d be worth it? There are certainly teams which have employed older kickers, who didn’t have strong legs anymore, but were very accurate. Often, those teams will have someone else (frequently the punter) handle kickoffs, and occasionally long field goal tries. So, at least in those situations, it was considered to be worth it. ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-forbidden-from-playing-on-nfl-teams/600914/31 "2011-10-28T16:28:54Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > And she was HOT! Which is a major problem when playing hockey. What with all the ice and all. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-forbidden-from-playing-on-nfl-teams/600914/32 "2011-10-28T17:52:23Z")
> [@Interrobang](#): > > Which is a major problem when playing hockey. What with all the ice and all. I don’t know, the league seems to be managing with Ryan Kesler… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-forbidden-from-playing-on-nfl-teams/600914/33 "2011-10-28T19:25:44Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Agreed; it was an experiment on the part of Charlie Finley. After a little over a year, he apparently decided that it wasn’t working, and cut Washington. > > (Similarly, in the 1980s, the 49ers tried to make champion hurdler Renaldo Nehemiah into a wide receiver, with limited success.) I’m not sure how long Herb Washington would have stayed around, but what CINCHED his dismissal was his big foulup in the 1974 World Series. Charlie Finley didn’t forgive screwups in the World Series- ask utility infielder Mike Andrews, who was bounced from the roster DURING the World Series, after he made an error against the Mets. In 1974, with the A’s trailing the Dodgers by 1 run in the ninth inning, Herb Washington made the final out by letting Mike Marshall pick him off first. Finley was probably leaning toward ending the experiment already, but after THAT blunder, Washington was history. . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-forbidden-from-playing-on-nfl-teams/600914.md?page=1)