He Told me He Hates Women's Sports
I’ve been on many dates, in a few relationships, but mostly I’ve been impressed by the diversity of experiences I’ve gained by simply going out on dates. So, to kick off the storytelling portion of my substack, here’s my latest dating story. You can be the judge if it’s a good one or not, and, if you also have sharable dating stories, I’d happily compare notes. Enjoy.
Recently back from Europe this summer, after focusing all my attention on race preparation and training, I returned home to Colorado with a renewed sense of community and motivation to put myself out there. Unsure of where to start, I turned to my phone and downloaded Hinge. I was going to be picky. Sick of dating the Peter-Pan type of man in the front range, you know, those guys who are in denial of real life and confuse hobbies and pastimes for direction in life – I wanted someone more serious. Minimum requirement, have a real job with healthcare benefits.
After a few days of scrolling and increased skepticism on why I was on here in the first place, I ‘matched’ with someone who seemed pretty normal, and to my disbelief, rather interesting. We agreed to meet up. Maybe this was a bad idea, but we went up a 14er for our first ‘date.’ I let him lead up the hill – not wanting to assert any dominance in fitness. We talked and laughed and actually had a great time! I felt hopeful and optimistic for the first time in a long time about dating and meeting new people. We continued our date for post-outing food.
Maybe we should have stopped while we were ahead.
I was asking him questions about his life, job and interests outside of sport – you know, trying to get to know this guy and see if there was any depth. Until somewhere along the way, he tells me he doesn’t like women’s sports. Unsure if my ears heard this correctly I asked him to please repeat.
‘I just don’t like women’s sports,’ he said again. ‘They’re boring, not as exciting and they’re never going to be as popular as men’s sports.’
I think my jaw was still on the table – unable to respond – so he kept going.
‘Serena Williams even said it – she would lose to any guy on the men’s tour. She knows it. Women’s sports just aren’t that good.’
As I was formulating a diplomatic response in my head – aside from expletives and pure frustration - I simply asked ‘you know I’m a professional athlete right?’ (yes, I knew he knew, he bragged about googling me before we met up and insisted that ‘I take it easy on him’ for the 14er). His response ‘I don’t want to have a big discussion about it. I just don’t like women’s sports.’ Translation: I’m right, you’re wrong and I don’t care that you are a pro athlete, I still don’t like your sport.
Of course I couldn’t just let this slide – so I pulled out some statistics for him to mull over. Here were a few highlights:
· Participation: Since 1972, U.S. high school girls’ sports participation increased from 300,000 to 3.4 million. Female college athletes grew from 30,000 to over 220,000.
· Viewership: Events like the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup (1.12 billion viewers) - he was a big soccer fan so I had to throw that one in, and 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship (9.9 million viewers) broke records. WNBA viewership grew 16% in 2022.
· Sponsorship: Major brands, including Visa and Nike, have increased investments, while many competitions now offer equal prize money – hello Wimbledon and Serena Williams.
· Cultural Shift: Public interest surged, with 84% of sports fans now engaged with women’s sports, supported by movements advocating for equality
Of course I pointed out, although men’s sports is overall more popular in terms of numbers of participants and viewership, women’s sports is surging, and it seems, a lot of people are invested and interested in them.
Now, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and I can respect that, so in this case, I’ll share mine: you suck, bro.
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