3.6.10

The NHL and it's sex appeal.

Oh hello, I'm back again. The Stanley Cup Finals hasn't interested me much at all thanks to me being bitter towards Chicago, and I just dislike Philadelphia. Thus equals me not watching very much hockey lately but Twitter has managed to keep me up to date on everything - including a very disturbing article I just read on how the NHL has 'a lot of sex appeal' and that's why a ton of women are beginning to watch it as of late.

Being a woman myself, I can't disagree with the fact that there are many good looking hockey players out there. There's a lot more attractive guys if you happen to love bumps and bruises on a person. The scars, the scraps, are in my opinion sort of sexy. However, I know very many intelligent female hockey fans who enjoy the sport for THE sport, not for the guys. You may have your favorite players, but you tend to love them for their skills instead of how they look with their equipment off.

Now yesterday, the NHL's Twitter retweeted the article I mentioned above which...I don't exactly know how that's supposed to make me feel. The NHL should know that not all of the women who watch the sport are like some of these people who were quoted in the article. For example:
“I watch the games with my husband and I have no idea who anyone is,” says Sue Loeb, a mother of two from Clifton, New Jersey, whose husband, Dan, is a rabid New York Rangers fan. “But then I see pictures of these guys in magazines and online without their equipment on, and you see how good-looking they really are.”
Perhaps, but you could at least try to understand the game and get to know who the players are. Everyone starts out not knowing who anyone is, I mean, that's how I was. Then after a few games I could name all the players and understood most of what was going on.

Also, the article talks about how various celebrities are now finding love with hockey players such as Carrie Underwood and Hilary Duff. Oh, so I guess we have them to thank for getting their fans to see their sexy boyfriends which causes a mass amount of females to start watching the sport? No thanks. How about growing up in a family that just happened to love hockey or live in a hockey town? It's more than just celebrities and looks that attracts fans to sport - at least the ones that actually give a damn. For shame on the NHL for even retweeting that article in the first place. I felt embarrassed reading through the entire thing. I just think that all female fans shouldn't be placed into one group because a lot of us have different reasons as to why we watch the game.

Here's the entire article for those who wish to read up on it: Hockey's Hottest Men and Hollywood Wives.

5 comments:

Angelica Rodriguez said...

I would propose a collabo of female bloggers/fans to talk about this, but it's already been done, to no avail. I honestly don't know what more can be said on this topic, other than the league does NOT understand its female fans like it believes it does, and I'm tired of being privy to all of this mindless frilly crap. whoever handles the NHL Twitter account should be ashamed to have RT'd this. It's gross.

Good article, Shelby. Point well said.

Shelby said...

Thanks Ange!

I really would like to know what the person running the NHL's Twitter was thinking as he hit that retweet button. I'm sure any person in their right mind realizes not all female hockey fans are like that.

k of c said...

Appreciate the post on this. I RT'd the article minutes after I saw NHL tweeted it. I think they just wanted to promote the celebrity aspect of it (which I don't have a problem with, famous women dating hockey players is more interesting than dating reality-TV stars or whatever) and didn't notice or care how offensive the rest of the article was. Diamond rings? Hot players?

I think most people, especially sports fans, know this just isn't true.

Shelby said...

k of c; maybe women who are into hockey purely for the sport are getting too uptight about this? I mean, I never thought of it in the way that people are probably laughing at the article after realizing how much of it just is not true. I'm slightly offended by some of the comments but I guess as long as I don't think I'm in that category of female sports fan then I have nothing to worry about.

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