Questions about female fans

The Game Room
1

Some questions for the oft-ignored demographic, female sports fans:
–Who got you into sports, if anyone?
–When you’re watching your favorite team, do you mostly hang out with men, other women, or a mix?
–Does your fandom in any way differ from that of men?

2

I am not female, but my wife is. And she is the sports fan in the family.

1)She got into like any other sports fan. How did *YOU *get into it? Why didn’t *I *get into it?

2)When she is watching her favorite team, she is with fellow sports fans.

3)I can’t see why her different body bits makes her a different kind of fan.

3

My dad was a huge baseball fan as was his dad. My family (mom, Dad, bro, sis (me)) went to baseball games together. We watched baseball and football together. Actually my mom’s female co-workers would come watch the Browns with us in the 80s. My dad and brother and I did a lot of baseball card related stuff together. I played softball from 5-16. My mom came to my games.

But really my dad got me in to sports. I kept myself in to it.

When I go to games it’s with a mix of men and women. When I’m on Twitter participating in the live game tweeting it’s a mix of men and women’s accounts. When my friends talk about sports on Facebook it’s a mix of men and women.

When I am listening to the game on the radio it’s mostly me alone at home

Biggest difference in fandom is that I don’t wear a hat or jersey as much as a guy would.

And every so often but very rarely us lady fans will say something sexual about a player. Last time I can think of anything (Indians-related) is when Grady Sizemore put out some naughty pics of himself. Although someone did mention something today about a former pitcher being fuckable but it was again a mix of men and women who responded positively

4

Mostly my Mom. My Dad watched sports, too, but Mom was the one who knew when the game was going to be on and who our team was playing. It was always her idea to eat dinner in front of the TV on Super Bowl Sunday, instead of in the kitchen like we usually did.

If I’m watching sports with somebody else, it’s usually when I’m visiting Mom, so it’s just the two of us.

I think mostly sports fans are sports fans. I have encountered a few men who will deride you for not being a real sports fan if you can’t, say, name the entire starting line of a particular football team off the top of your head. I haven’t met any women with that attitude. That’s a tiny minority of men, though.

5

IME, female fans tend to be much more intense fans than male ones on average. Not that there aren’t many many male intense fans, but the ratio of casual fans to intense fans is much much higher among men than among women. It might be for social reasons, that females who are not strongly motivated are disincented to be fans, while it’s the reverse with men. But I’ve also noticed that many women seem to go through periods of intense fandom preceded and followed by complete disinterest.

6

I’m sorry, but this is just a really disingenuous answer. Sports fans get into sports in so many different ways. Maybe a parent got them into it. Maybe a friend did. Maybe a spouse did. Maybe they joined a team in grade school, and attached to a favorite team all on their own. The OP offers an honest question, looking for a unique perspective.

And who are those fans? Clearly not you - you said you weren’t a fan. Does she go to the games? Does she head out to a game watch with a local club?

And I can’t see in the OP where that’s even offered up.

To answer for my wife:

  1. It depends on the sport. Her father is a huge UK basketball fan, and she grew up cheering them on with her dad. For football, she initially got into football so she could fit in at college - she went to an SEC school, and you need some passable knowledge of football for so many different social conversations. She later became a lawyer in a sports city, and found the same to be the case there as well. When we started dating, she humored my sports fanaticism for the most part - especially rooting for the KC Royals. The last several years even more so - she has favorite players, developed a healthy sense of dislike for the Yankees and Cardinals, and checks on scores before I do.

  2. She really doesn’t like watching games - the outcome of the games really isn’t too crucial for her unless it’s an important one. She’s far too nervous for the “true fans” of her teams (i.e. me or her father) to get caught up in a game.

  3. I think she’d say that it’s more social for her than for other fans - but I don’t think she’d attribute that to her gender, just to her flavor of fandom.

7

Replying for Ms. Cups:

  1. Her parents were sports fans and it ran in the family. Growing up she had season tix to a couple different NBA teams, often went to baseball games, and is a huge Packers fan (one of the reasons we got together in the first place). She also worked in sports as an SID all through college and also worked in golf tournaments.

  2. Nowadays she watches sports mostly with just me. But she’s always had a mix. She went to a pretty big player in college basketball, so her college friends are a mix of men and women. She even worked with some women when she was an SID there. The people she worked with at the golf association was split about 50/50, and it’s pretty impossible not to find Packers fans of all genders in Wisconsin.

  3. No. She’s just as passionate/interested/knowledgeable about sports as any other dude. Frankly, because she had to manage so many fringe sports (swimming, soccer, volleyball etc.) she’s probably MORE knowledgeable in sports as dudes.