I’m a football fan. I know what’s going on throughout season, and I know when draft is. I know what the fouls mean, I know what the terms mean, I have a favorite team (which shall remain nameless), and I can even throw a pretty decent spiral.
I know it’s shocking. Especially because I’m a girl.
No, but in all seriousness, people say that to me all the time: “You’re a football fan? But…but you’re a girl.” Did you know, I ask them, that there are female football players now? Yeah, tackle players that are girls. There’s even a female NFL referee now (woohoo!).
The question irks and confuses me, because I’ve never understood why being a girl and being a football fan can’t be the same thing. When I watch games on TV and they show the crowd, there are always women there with their families, or friends. So I just can’t comprehend why it’s shocking that I, an eighteen-year-old college student, am a football fan. Then I get this question: “Was it your dad or an old boyfriend that got you into it?” Oh.
Then I understand. Then I get why they are confused. They don’t think I became a fan of football on my own; they think it was some guy that made me watch a game, and now that I’m here, away from my dad or possible exes, why would I continue to watch the games? Why would I hole myself up in my room every Sunday to watch games on my computer? “No,” I tell them, “I got into football on my own.”
I got into football about six years ago. I can’t say exactly why, but all I know is that it was all on my own. I think I watched more football than my dad did that first season I really got into it; I know I certainly do now. All I know is that one day, I only watched football during the Super Bowl, and the next, I was catching as many games per season as I could. I latched on to a team of my choosing that had nothing to do with where I was geographically located or where I grew up, and I just learned by watching.
My dad and I do watch football together, but he prefers college to professional ball, which I understand; it’s just easier for me to follow professional football, especially while at college myself. I know he thinks it’s funny, though, the way I keep track of my team, my team’s rival, and most other teams throughout the season.
The point is this: I’m a self-proclaimed football fan (sometimes fanatic), and I wear that title with pride. I’m also a girl, a fact that I am well aware of, and I wear that title with pride too. I’m also a lot of other things, so the fact that I have to be identified as one thing or the other, and never one thing and the other, bothers me.
What I want is the option to be both, and everything else, all at the same time without incredulous looks or questioning glances. I want to be able to watch my team play without someone asking me if I “even know what’s going on.” I want to go to games in a jersey and leggings and be caught on TV looking like I’m having the time of my life with all my friends. I want to dress up while I keep stats, so I look nice and pretty when my fantasy team beats yours.
Images: imperial.ac.uk, espn.go.com