Racism - Always and Forever

In America, women's individual sports are popular, team sports are not. Doesn't matter the color of the participants.

The Deadspin piece is a shitty Hotep take.

 

It also doesn’t change the fact that the entire reason he was one of the first registered slave owners is because Johnson’s white neighbors “stole” one of his indentured servants and Johnson claimed the man was actually his slave and sued to get the guy back… I mean, there’s bound to be some reason why Johnson had to sue to get his neighbors to respect his ownership of slaves, while his white neighbors didn’t have to worry about that…

While it’s true Africa isn’t the source of all Natives, there’s a pretty good chance there was pre-Columbian contact between Africa and the Americas.

 

Not uncommon with American tunnel vision and self entitlement.

 

Except soccer.

My take -

1) The general fan knows that soccer is the world's largest game and that the U.S. sucks at soccer. (Compared to basketball.)

2) Thus when the U.S. women started winning World Cups that felt like a big deal to the general fan.

3) Plus the women were "relatable," meaning conventionally attractive and mostly white.

So yeah, I do think color is part of the story, but so too is soccer being the world's game. The general fan doesn't know how many countries take softball seriously -- I mean, I have no idea -- but winning in soccer certainly feels like winning in the bigger pond.

 

I wouldn't say that. I mean, I wouldn't say the WNBA gets "huge" coverage, but its coverage crushes that of NWSL.

As far as national teams go, yeah, for sure. But IMO, that is primarily a vestige of the 1999 World Cup. The 1991 and 1995 Cups weren't a big deal. It's the one we hosted that gave that team a head start it has never relinquished.

Also, implicit in the difference between team and individual sports is that in women's athletics, sexuality and attractiveness play a big role. Basketball players are really tall. Soccer players are normal size.

I think because this board has, I think, no regular female contributors and only 1 or 2 semi-regulars, we continually underrate sexism and overrate racism.

 

Is Sue Bird wrong tho? WNBA teams are more diverse than NWSL teams. That’s not to say NWSL teams don’t have POC, but it’s much less than WNBA teams…

 

Megan Rapinoe is so well known that Republicans campaign against her. She's probably the fourth most famous female American athlete -

Serena Williams
Simone Bile
Venus Williams
Megan Rapinoe

Plus there was Mia Hamm. She promoted Gatorade, Nike, Pepsi, Powerbars, and Dreyer's ice cream. She had her own video game. I doubt you will find any women's basketball player with that advertising portfolio.

 

Ehhhh. Race is still a factor in how popular women of similar talent are.. I mean, there’s a reason Maria Sharapova regularly pulled in more endorsements than Serena Williams despite the large gap in relative skill..

 

Race is an issue, sure. Looks are also an issue. I doubt that Coco Gauff (I should have mentioned her, she might be up there with Rapinhoe) would have received so much attention if she had been built like Lindsay Davenport. And of course, to your point, Maria Sharapova wouldn't be known at all by casual sports fans if she had Lindsay's build.

 

What difference do you see for the victims?

 

Wow. Nice pwn goal there.

Are we supposed to pretend Maria Sharapova is NOT extremely attractive? I mean, Serena is real-life attractive. You see her in the gym, you take a second look. Maria is Hollywood attractive. Whole different level.

 

And part of Sharapova’s looks is her whiteness. Unlike her sister, Venus kept her “feminine” shape for most her career and never reached similar endorsement levels.

 

I present 20th seed at Wimbledon Coco Gauff.



(At least I think that's her. That's literally the first good picture I could find of her not playing tennis.)

You mentioned Mia Hamm, who was not as good as Michelle Akers. Younger fans are saying "who?"

Exactly.

 

OK, I guess we are pretending.

Whatevs.

Look, I don't think it's RIGHT. We should be allies to women working to be judged by their talents and accomplishments and not their looks.

But lifting up stupid Hotep takes to erase sexism ain't helping The Cause.

 

James Harden was in a car with weed. So, that 8 second video still evidence of racism?

 

Growing up I followed the Red Sox, NY Giants, Celtics and a bit later the NY Cosmos. Once my family started between work, chores, coaching, reffing and Recreation Committee etc, etc, etc I was unable to stay awake to watch the replays. When the kids were in HS, if it was game day in mid-week I'd leave for work @ 3AM, drive to the Vt/Can border and be back in time for the match. Once they were in college in opposite directions, as I did not have a Lear Jet, I missed a few.

Ps... the kids had just begun to play soccer when Toby Charles hooked them back in '76!

 

Mia Hamm was great but Akers was on a whole other level.

 

In the words of my genZ kids

 

Perhaps - but when they likely landed somewhere in South America, they probably just ********ing killed them so they wouldn't be colonized

 

Nah, female golf isn't popular. Neither is tennis. Some female players are popular, tho. Understand the diff.

And as sports go, period, the USWNT is quite popular.

lol

Agreed, and even beyond skin lurks some kind of almost pedo culture, as referenced by your point below (without your meaning to do so). Sharapova doesn't really have much in the way of curves, and that seems to be the preference with some... cultures

Wait, what? Feminine like Olive Oyl, maybe.

Venus doesn't look like a preteen boy/girl on her own, but next to Serena, she does. I see that you have "feminine" in quotes, but are you actually saying you can look at Serena's body and see anything but feminine?