The case for gender separation on Super Bowl Sunday

Jewish World Review ^ | 2/7/05 | Mitch Albom

[rhema]

Some things in life are not meant to be shared by men and women. Hair curlers. The Three Stooges. Picking a prom dress.

The Super Bowl.

Oh, I know it's fashionable to make the Super Bowl a coed experience. It is also wrong. The annual overhyped NFL championship game, which is played tonight, should be one of those times when a woman looks lovingly into her man's eyes, lets her voice drop to a sexy whisper, and says, "Go downstairs."

Now, don't misunderstand. I am not saying women can't appreciate football. Women can appreciate football fine. Women can appreciate it, at times, more than men.

But they should do it by themselves.

Because what men really want out of Super Bowl Sunday, especially as they get older, is a chance make believe they are not getting older. A chance to scream, scratch, belch and act like an expert when in fact they don't know a single player besides the quarterback.

They can do that with guys.

They can't do it with women.

Sorry. Even Dr. Phil can't fix that.

Let's say it's the second quarter of the Super Bowl. By now, the average man has ingested two plates of nachos, four slices of pizza and three beers. He's feeling cocky. He points to the TV and growls, in his best coach-like voice, "They gotta pass here. Got to pass. No way they run."

And they run.

If his wife were in the room, she would rightly say, "Honey, they ran. You said they would pass." Men know not to do this. Men know to either snicker and say, "Nice call, Al," or to stare in silence, politely ignoring their buddy's complete misunderstanding of the game, because they know their turn is coming next.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

My daughter is sophisticated, conservative and intellectual, but not only can she quote most of the Three Stooges verbatim (part of the common family allegory) but she knows football better than most men could tell it her. I watched the game yesterday with her and my wife, and never felt the lack of male company.

[dbwz]

Men want to scream when a player breaks free. Men want to holler "go baby, go baby, go baby!"

Umm, I'm a chick and I do this.

This article asumes that women have no appreciation for the combination of strategy and brute force that football is, and maybe with the majority that's true - but there are exceptions to every rule.

[TheRightGuy]

I once lived with a woman who claimed to be a real big time football fan. Turns out, her favorite part of the game was whenever the "special effects teams" would come onto the field ... for punting, field goals, kickoffs, and such.

[Rubber_Duckie_27]

I like football...at least college football. ;-) We have season tickets at my alma mater and I thoroughly enjoy the games. Sure, it took a while for him to explain some of the more arcane rules to me, but I have a good idea of what's happening on the field and I can get VERY into it.

Several friends of his bring their wives to games and they all end up hanging out on the concourse chatting. None of that for me! I pay good money for those tickets and I'm not wasting them with chat!

[mista science]

To: rhema Use of the word gender is for Latin languages and plants--not several extra, imagined sexes. Linguistic activism to use it to refer to the two sexes of men and women is anti-family. 10 posted on 02/07/2005 3:57:20 PM PST by familyop ("Let us try" sounds better, don't you think? "Essayons" is so...Latin.)

See gender, and sex. OTOH, "When I use a word, it means exactly what I want it to mean—nothing more and nothing less." Humpty Dumpty.

[familyop]

Anti-family linguists do put improperly extended definitions in dictionaries for selfish reasons. Feminazis and homosexual linguists are notorious for that.

But they are not right or correct in doing so, simply to suit their pathologies.

Notice the entries, "homophobe" and "homophobia" in that dictionary, for example. It's there, because many people who agree with linguistic activism and like to play in feces wanted a new personal insult against healthy people who love real families.

[al baby]

wow do you need a boyfriend?

[Vote 4 Nixon]

I must confess the hype of todays pro football and the superbowl in particular has totally turned me off from watching pro sports. I know a lot of women even my own wife about to have a hissy over the superbowl, never having watched a single game all year long and not even able to tell me who was playing in the game, superbowl, superbowl, superbowl. If you really want to see a good game watch college or high school football, these guys are playing for their future and for love of the game, when they make pro its all about the money, the majority have a play it safe mentality, don't get hurt put in your seven or so years and retire a millionaire, and frankly sitting around letting myself be brainwashed into watching a bunch of greedy millionaires going through the movements of a pro game these days sickens me to the bone.

[Tall_Texan]

Men are supposed to ogle the cheerleaders in their skimpy outfits. Women are supposed to ogle the players with their exaggerated shoulder falsies and extra-tight pants. Plus, the guys have those masks on that add an air of mystery to them. Football is equal-opportunity sexism.

[Fruitbat]

My husband and I have a great time watching football together. I'd rather watch football than sit around with a group of women listening to them bitch about how big their butts are getting and how Sue's boyfriend done her wrong again. I'd prefer to hang out with a bunch of burping, cheerleader-ogling men any time.

And you say you have a husband already...?

:D