Women make up a large percentage of sports fans. (Photo by barcoder96)
Female sports writers abound in the blogosphere
Watching a Major League Baseball game in the downward dog position seems like a very uncomfortable way to spend an afternoon.
The same goes for knitting a sweater while you bake in the stands under a blazing sun.
That’s how the LA Dodgers tried to attract female fans (but less exaggeratedly)—with yoga sessions in the outfield and Stich ‘n Pitch nights.
News flash—women already make up a huge majority of sports fanatics. And they have the blogs to prove it.
“The women’s sports blogosphere has grown tremendously over the past few years and the content is absolutely amazing,” says Fat Louie, who operates Women’s Sports Blog.
“There are some dedicated, hardworking . . . bloggers out there. The community online mirrors the one in the real world: it’s passionate, polite and thoughtful.”
The stats, courtesy of U.S.-based marketing blog She-conomy, show women are a big part of the population when it comes to the number of them who love sports.
> 47 per cent of MLB fans are women
> 37 per cent of NBA fans are women
> 41 per cent of NHL fans are women
> 43 per cent of fans at NFL games are women
This love of sports translates easily into the written word for many women.
Fat Louie says she started her blog to create a place online for fans to discuss women’s sports, and also issues of body image, sexism and homophobia in sports.
“(And) I needed somewhere to post my snarky photo captions,” she quips.
Women’s Sports Blog has 70 subscribers and about 5,000 views in an average month, she says.
And there are dozens more like it that encourage intelligent and informed talk among all women’s sports fans.
The CBC has a number of blogs written by females, who are former and current athletes and have competed around the world in top events.
As Canada’s national news network, it gives the women who blog for its website easy credibility, which only adds to their expertise and talent.
Figure skating coach-turned commentator PJ Kwong writes a regular blog for the CBC, along with former hockey player and Olympic gold medallist Cassie Campbell.
Canadian alpine skier Britt Janyk and snowboarder Katie Tsuyuki have also been writing blogs for the CBC about their preparations for the Vancouver Olympics.
The Women Talk Sports network has brought many female sports bloggers together, Fat Louie says. The website links to the latest breaking news through a number of the best women’s sports blogs.
Created last year, it aims to raise more awareness of women in sports by providing news coverage and working with various associations on advocacy issues and empowering programs.
Though Fat Louie says she has never encountered animosity towards her blog, there are some other female bloggers who discuss the difficulty of ‘coming out’ to friends and family with their love of sports for fear of being judged.
“For a while, I didn’t tell any of my . . . in-person friends that I was going into the sports writing biz. I held off in telling (them) because they know me as someone who’s more hipstery than sporty,” writes Clare in a Blogging with Breasts roundtable on the topic.
“I still haven’t told my family, and I don’t think I ever will.”
Another blogger called Sooze says her experience was more positive, but adds that women who write about sports are sometimes treated differently.
“Once, my town’s newspaper did an article about (my blog) and even my mailman was like, ‘Hey! You’re the girl who likes baseball!’ like I was some sort of alien. The general reaction is very positive and supportive, though.”
Fat Louie says, though there’s a positive online community of women who write about sports, “we’re subject to the same sexism as female sports journalists, which is considerable.”
But that may just give women more fire to write interesting and fun commentary about their passion of sports.
Take Chicks in the Huddle, for example.
It’s a website run for and by female football fans, which was started in 2007. It has 11 contributing writers who represent fans of a number of NFL teams.
It even has the slogan, “For chicks who know there’s more to football than ‘tight ends.’ ”
“The mission of our blog is to take the stigma away from the female football fan,” says its founder, Nola.
“I’d like to think our site is part of the positive, intelligent female sports community. We don’t dumb things down for our female readers (and) we know what we’re talking about.”
Female sports blogs:
Women’s Sports Blog
Chicks in the Huddle
After Atlanta
From a Left Wing
Women Who Serve
Women Talk Sports Network
Playing the Field (lists a number of female sports bloggers)
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