Kristina Dailing
Daily Egyptian
There is nothing I hate more than someone telling me what I can or can't do, what I should or shouldn't like, or who I am or am not.
It doesn't sit well with me that so much of what is appropriate for me to like is laid out in stereotypes that are accepted and encouraged by society.
"Um, you're a woman ... we'll get you some good cook books, a make-up kit and some diet pills."
"Ah, you're a man ... lets get you a TV, a sports channel and a protective cup."
Let's face it. Society wants men to play and watch sports, and women to be the cheerleaders and make the hors d' oeuvres.
Picture this: a group of people are sitting around chatting, when someone inadvertently mentions something about sports.
All other conversations halt, and the sports talk begins. Every male in the group puffs out his chest and makes some comment to impress the other guys.
The females sigh and sit back in their seats. The division is obvious.
There's nothing for me to add because everything I know about sports I learned from my boyfriend.
I sat through the Super Bowl this year, like every year, so I could laugh at the funny commercials.
I watched the World Series because my boyfriend is a baseball fan.
I cheered for our men's basketball team as it made its way to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA.
Any knowledge I have of these sports is from earlier days of watching high school basketball games or from any questions I ask my boyfriend while he is watching the games.
For the most part, I can follow what is going on.
I cheer when we score, and I boo when my boyfriend tells me a bad call has been made against the team we are cheering for.
When the game is over, I forget about it.
I am content never mentioning the game I just watched ever again.
But the time has come for a change.
I realized this at 7 p.m. Monday, after the deadline for my first sports article had long since past. My editor was looking as if he wanted to make me look like Mike Tyson did after his fight with Lennox Lewis.
I was spending all my time trying to find out what ERA meant and what a good batting average was.
Looking up all the terms just made my life too difficult, and it make me realize something.
I can learn about sports.
I can be a make-up wearing, sweet-smelling, purse-toting sports GODDESS.
I am no longer going to sit back and be the passive non-avid sports fan. I am an intelligent woman who is a year away from being a college graduate.
I can handle talking about why (blank) is better than (blank). I should be confident to say that (blank) is a better team than (blank).
My goal for this summer is to be able to fill in those blanks.
My boyfriend's friends, as well as my own guy friends, will start to say, "Wow, that's the girl who knows so much about sports!"
When I walk into a sports bar, a hush will fall over the once rowdy crowd. People will start to whisper, "She's here."
Some guy, thinking he is funny, will yell out, "Hey you, can you answer this?"
He will look around at his buddies with a smug smile on his face.
"What is Cardinal's pitcher Matt Morris' ERA?"
I will smile, and without batting an eye reply, "3.35. He's also recorded one shut-out and struck out 85 batters in 94 innings pitched."
The "Oooh's" and "Ahhh's" will fill up the room as I sit down at the bar and order a wine spritzer.
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
