Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Love and Baseball

A Q&A with the founder of a "sports learning site for women," who says that women should get into baseball "as a possible way to make a love connection." Her advice, which more or less puts the women's movement back about forty years, has to be seen to be believed:

Q: How can a woman go about learning the rules of the game?

A: If you go to the bar with some basic knowledge, talking to fans around you, making it plain that you're taking up the game and look at it as a journey full of fun, the guys will be encouraged to help out. But if you go in without knowing a single thing, you might get lucky to find a guy that isn't interested in the game who'd rather pick up a great lady.

And really, ladies, isn't all about being "picked up?" What else ya got?

Q: Why do you think sports bars are a good place to make a romantic connection?

A: The 3 Cs, as I like to say: commonality, comfort and chemistry. Men are in their comfort zone in sports bars, and if you provide the common interest (knowing about sports), you can determine more easily if there is chemistry. It beats an old photo of someone on an Internet site who writes a snappy e-mail.

Plus, there's less Golden Tee and fewer beer farts on eHarmony, so you're truly not getting a good read on a guy that way.

Q: Should a woman wear gear for the team she's rooting for?

A: There is no doubt that you will be taken more seriously with gear on; I get men talking to me at the car wash, at stoplights, in the bank and elsewhere just because I have on my gear.

"Man, Drew. I'm really into Stacy, but she's all fluff. Sure, she's a politically-active architect who spends time volunteering at the hospice, but I've never once seen her in a Fisk throwback jersey, so I just can't take her seriously, ya know?"

Q: If a woman meets a guy who is rooting for the opposite team, is a connection still possible?

A: Yes! Sports fans love nothing more than disagreeing about their preferences. Couples who root for the college teams they attended love nothing more than trash talk and wearing the gear around the house all year long. It is exciting, gets the juices flowing, a little bit of a racing heartbeat ... sounds like foreplay to me!

Take it away Jezebel!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Augh, that's so depressing... being one myself, I think it's great when women are sports fans. I've found that men are often either very enthusiastic or very intimidated when they realize I know a lot about baseball. It does lead to some interesting conversations and it's a great way of connecting with people you don't know well-- not just in trying to get "picked up," but in many situations.

That said, this writer's attitude is so disturbing. If a woman enjoys sports, great. If not, there are plenty of other topics to suggest. I love baseball, but I can't imagine myself picking up a guy in a sports bar. Blech.

Craig Calcaterra said...

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one taking offense at this, Melody. I've been married to a baseball hater for 13 years and it has worked out just fine.

Unless she's out cruising sports bars when I'm at work, in which case I'd rather just now know about it.

Unknown said...

This might sound like a stretch, but this is as idiotic a tactic as faking an orgasm. Bear with me. Both are ultimately self-defeating...what happens when the guy you reeled in realizes that you are *not* really a fan, but just used it to get picked up? (as to the orgasm thing, faking tells your partner they are doing a good job, so they will never try harder to please you)

A relationship that is based, from the onset, on a lie has very little chance of being successful...