You're Doing It Wrong

Happy (belated) Valentines Day errryone! We have a special gift for you on this Hallmark-made holiday: A Rant.


Before we get to the real point of this post, a disclaimer: We know we are not the most serious of blogs, the most interesting of blogs, or probably even that good of a blog. For God's sake, we're pink!  So we know we're not the greatest authority on everything on baseball culture.  But one thing we do know a lot about is what it's like to be a female who is obsessed with sports.  That's who we are. That's why this blog exists.  So that's also why we were kind of disturbed to see the emergence of a new baseball app for women which you can read about here.


Basically, it's a fantasy baseball league for women (or men, we guess!) where the user picks a "Baseball Boyfriend."  The user accumulates points based on their "boyfriend's" stats of the day, and you can dump and choose a new boyfriend at anytime. Well we're all for free enterprise, but for the creator of this application, we have something to say... you're doing it wrong!


More raging after the jump...
We just want to say this right now.  Women don't need silly doodles of hearts to be interested in sports.  We're sure that's not what the creator of Baseball Boyfriends (BBBF) intended, but that's the message it's sending. BBBF's 1950s style of advertising ("While the men watch the game, the women can clean up after dinner and pick which ballplayer to go steady with. Eeek!!!") is pretty freaking offensive to all women who have even the slightest interest in any sport. Its message clearly says that the only thing girls are good for in sports is going dream husband shopping. 


Now, obviously that was not the intention of this app. If it was just some small-market seller who made it, and it had more than JUST trading around cute baseball players (like, maybe you could learn something through it??), it could be pretty fun. Maybe even be a gateway for younger girls to become interested in baseball. 


However, there's one big problem. It was made through CBS Sports, one of the biggest sports media outlets in the country. Now, what does a woman with a high sports IQ think when seeing an app with baseball players' visages enclosed in hearts? Confusion. What does said woman think when seeing CBS Sports' name connected with said app? Horrible marketing strikes again.


The creator, a woman named Missy Wedig, says that "in order to win the game you actually need to know a lot about the players." Cool, Missy. We can dig that. We also appreciate that the app has a target audience--women who think baseball players are hot--and isn't shy about admitting it. Hell, neither are we. But what this app implies is that all girls are good for in baseball are thinking ballplayers are cute. 


There is nothing wrong with that, but can't there at least be some common ground? Can't we have educated sports fans with knowledge of the game who also think Rick Porcello is sexy?  


We've touched on the subject of feminism in sports before. We don't really like to get preachy here, but the argument of women having valid and educated viewpoints in baseball has always provoked us into rants. Have you ever been on an ESPN or CBS Sports comment board and seen a woman make share some sort of opinion or statement? No doubt there are a few replies to it saying stupid crap like, "get back 2 the kitchen" or "ur ugly" or something stupid like that. The same goes for sports articles written by women on the same websites, only the disrespectful replies come tenfold. 


At the same time, if men can freely objectify and comment on an athlete's physique, why can't women? That's what we find so frustrating about being girls who are heavily interested in sports--double standards everywhere.


This argument obviously isn't a new one, nor are our opinions fresh and original, and we've shared them in the past. But we feel like the questions that needs to be answered are: Why are women only marketed to the frivolous side of not only baseball, but all of professional sports? Why can't females be taken more seriously by the sports media and the male-dominated sports world? 


Why women are constantly slighted for thinking an athletes is hot and ignored when they have insightful viewpoints is lost on us. The three of us want to see a change that makes it so women CAN have it both ways. That's what this blog is all about.


One last final note: today marks the 1-year anniversary of the start of our blog! Happy Birthday to us!!!!! Thanks to everyone who has read our posts and encouraged us so far.