Here is a general thing to know about me: I am not athletic. I stopped thinking I was after finishing my last organized sport in 8th grade. And time has not helped this. Somehow my knees get worse everyday. After doing middies (2 weeks of just canoeing, one week spent doing 70 miles on the Delaware river over 4 days) I swore off multi day paddling trips. My shoulders just can’t do that anymore. I did marching band in highschool and my back will never forgive me. I’m not even great at watching sports. That’s what this post is mostly about. Let’s dive in.
Like any good second grader, I played soccer. I was pretty awful on the field but generally pretty good in goal. I quit soccer because a boy told me I was the worst player on the team. I had a vendetta against soccer for a while after that. I didn’t want to play anymore. I didn’t want to know anything about the world of soccer after that. It wasn’t until later in high school that I started learning about some bad-ass ladies on the US women’s national team (USWNT). They were amazing. They were clearly better than the US men’s team and they didn’t take shit from anyone. They were barrier breakers and game changers and I was instantly hooked.
I followed them through college. I would watch USWNT games when I could and if my friends were watching an NWSL game I would happily join. The year I graduated was the women’s world cup in france. I had moved into camp already at that point but that didn’t stop me from watching every game I could (thank you Cecilia for letting me drag you into the madness). We watched the USWNT team go full smackdown on and off the field. Not only were they about to show the world that they were the best, they were also going to show that anyone can be discriminated against. This was the best team in the world, you’re telling me that they still get paid less than the men’s team? That can’t be right.
As I dove more into becoming a fan, I wanted to watch more NWSL games. I didn’t have a favorite team. Really, I just hope they all have fun. Everyone is so good. But that wasn’t my main problem. My main issue was that I couldn’t find anywhere to watch the games. They are near impossible to find on mainstream TV and now, they’ve added paywalls to watch the majority of games. The men’s games always seem to be on ESPN(2) anytime they’re playing. Even the international leagues.
Why is it so hard to watch women’s soccer? Then I started to think about it more. Where can I watch ANY women’s sports? And that’s what this post is about. It’s 2021, and I can’t watch professional women’s sports without having to put in extra work. I can’t just flip on a game whenever it’s on. I’ve always known this was the case having been someone who has spent a fair amount of time advocating for gender equality but I never realized how bad it was. It’s like it’s being actively kept away from me. I don’t have a solution for this.
In conclusion, put women’s sports on TV you cowards.
…okay that’s not really how I’m going to end this post. There are some things people can do to help this problem even for the most casual of fans *cough me cough*. Some easily things can be following players on social media, buying products, and of course watching games when you can both in person and on TV. So come and join me on this journey of trying to make women’s sports more accessible and get the attention it deserves. Plus, it’s really good.
And with that, I won’t talk about sports again. (No promises but I really have no business talking about anything athletic).
