One of my biggest pet peeves is being dismissed. By this I mean having my thoughts or opinions cast off because the person hearing them thinks that I don't know what I'm talking about. What really bothers me is when men do it. Most of the time, it has an air of "Aww, how cute! It's a woman talking about ______." Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I am a football junkie. I eat, sleep and breathe NFL football (and NCAA football for the sole purpose of NFL scouting). I watch SportsCenter and NFL Total Access religiously. I also follow several teams on the Bleacher Report (link). Bottom line, I know my stuff.
Let's face it, most of my sports related conversations are with men because a lot women just aren't into sports (or they love basketball…which makes it worse). So the problem always comes when I'm talking about sports with men. No matter what I say men look at me like "what could you possibly know about sports, little woman?" This irritates me to no end!! Then not only do they question my sports knowledge, they start talking down to me like I'm a child. Being the person that I am, I never back down from a challenge. I just go there with them until they are blue in the face. What I've found out from these encounters is that there are two types of men.
- A LOT of men that pretend to be football fans. They would rather discredit me as a woman than let me
continue to chop their balls off while Ikill them with my superior knowledge. These are the men that watch a few episodes of Sports Center so that they can be considered one of guys but don't know anymore than what Skip Bayless, Chris Berman and Mel Kiper told them. Deep down inside they are embarrassed that a woman knows more than them. These men make me laugh because I love to sniff out a fraud. - Male sports fans are generally sexist. Point blank. Period. These are the easiest to win over though. A woman with extensive sports knowledge is considered to be somewhat of a unicorn. Our purpose is generally served by making their lives hell when they are watching the game and making the best pre-game snacks (sorry ladies…..that's what some of us do *shrugs*). After 30 minutes of blank stares, I will have new male friend.
