In soccer, as in any sport, pretty girls = good ratings

While it may be the oldest TV broadcasting maxim in the book, it is still interesting for me to hear it so prominently proclaimed.  In this short behind-the-scenes video from Fox Soccer Channel's Football Fone-In, we see male co-hosts Eric Wynalda and Nick Webster tout the addition of former Arizona State University soccer standout Temryss Lane (twitter) for boosting their show's ratings.  Again, it's an obvious connection, but it's almost flaunted by her male counterparts in the vid below.

The boost in ratings, furthermore, has not gone overlooked by Major League Soccer and their website - which produced an article on Lane's rise, put together a photo gallery of Lane that dates to her playing days at ASU, and featured her - along with the rest of the Football Fone-In cast - on yesterday's MLS video podcast.

What is Lane's role on the Fox Soccer Channel's prime call-in show, you might ask?  She is charged with breaking down highlights for the WPS as well as responding to e-mails and Tweets - not altogether unlike the role currently held by another female in the realm of cable sportsdom...that is, the role that Jenn Sterger plays on Versus' The Daily Line, a nightly sports talk show where Jenn blogs, conducts a live chat, and reads Tweets during the telecast.

The Daily Line hosts. And I ask, why is Jenn's head 

so disproportionately tilted?

I guess these women are just another pair in the long line of women relegated to the sidelines of sports broadcasting, seeing as both are typically shown (by themselves) to the fair right or left of the show's main desks.  But in the digital age, it's interesting to see that the sideline - for these two shows at least - is now the Internet...a place where both Lane and Sterger - as aspiring models - have their own followings.

Boston Bruins fans have some interesting dating rules...

I think there is one major difference between the Northeast and the South (the only two regions in which I've lived) when it comes to sports.  In the Northeast, fan alliances are primarily geared towards professional teams, while in the South, alliances are typically based upon collegiate teams.  Please note that I have not forgotten the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry, I just don't consider it geographically relevant at the moment (either way, ESPN has already chronicled that rivalry's dating rules).

FSU Dating policy?

One element that seems to cross geographical borders is the notion of dating someone who roots for/attended a rival team/school.  But for all the t-shirts espousing the idea (FSU normally carries several in its various bookstores), I think the Boston Bruins have put the most daring foot forward in pleading for its fans to avoid romantic relationships with rival sports fans.

Exhibit A is an advertisement that aired at the beginning of the 2009-2010 season.

Exhibit B is a billboard that was recently spotted outside of the Bruins' TD BankNorth Garden.  It's all the more relevant since the Bruins are currently playing the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL's Eastern Conference semifinals.

Clever gamesmanship, but does it say anything about the interconnectedness of sports, relationships, and gender roles?  The FSU t-shirt seems to suggest that a father wouldn't allow his daughter to date someone who wasn't from FSU, while the two Bruins ads seem to also favor power in the male side of the relationship...as in, "Hey guy, there's never a good reason to date a girl who is a Canadiens/Flyers fan."  Understandably, most sports audiences are male, so these ads play upon that dynamic.

Yet, if you're not taking these ads seriously, what is the message that the Bruins are trying to instill?  Is it a depth of fanship that is implied?  Some interesting food for thought.

Lindsey Vonn Controversy Continues

The controversy that has had the web in a stir recently has now been extended to The Seattle Times and the Boston Globe.

This week, Vonn is on the cover of Ski Magazine, with the following quote from the publishers on the mag's Facebook page:

"Sports Illustrated put Lindsey Vonn on the cover of their Olympics issue; so did we.  Which is better: their staged shot of Vonn looking like a delicate snow bunny?  Or our high-speed race shot of Vonn looking like the world beater she is?"

Vonn in action

For point of reference, the Lindsey Vonn Sports Illustrated cover is here:

Snow bunny?

Many comments online have cited SI's corresponding Sidney Crosby cover as the same thing as doing the same thing as Vonn's cover.  I highly disagree, but here is the corresponding SI cover for Canada is here:

His helmet is off, but the focus of the shot is on his face

Thoughts, anyone?

The Sexiness of the Nike Swoosh...

I have to carry this idea of sexiness over from my earlier post.  Instead, however, of discussing the issue of sex and female basketball players, something else from the photos on the FSU website caught my attention: namely, the prodigious placement of the Nike Swoosh.

In each shot, the basketball is an equal subject to the body.  And, even though these basketballs also feature the FSU logo, it is the Nike Swoosh that is given prominence.  Just another example of Nike's careful image management...which, also happens to marginalize the school in favor of the corporation.

So, is this for us, the ticket-buying populace, or for future student-athletes, this affirmation of FSU's connection to Nike?  That affirmation has made its presence known on FSU football, with the recent launch of the FSU Pro Combat jersey...

With nearly a dozen Nike Swoosh logos on the uniform above, and with the logo invading every part of student-athlete promotion, will we ever reach Nike overkill?  Or is it simply an accepted part of collegiate sport?  Is it inevitable?  It seems so, because...well...in the words of Horatio Sanz, "it's just too sexy!"

Too Sexy?

There was a fabulous Saturday Night Live skit from a few years back where Chris Kattan would play Antonio Banderas on a show entitled "The How Do You Say, Ah Yes Show."  At various moments throughout the 'show,' the bandleader, played by Horatio Sanz, would exhort Antonio to keep his shirt buttoned and scream, "No, no, it would be too sexy!"

This rambling brings me to a debate about women's college basketball and the issue of sexiness.  Jayda Evans of The Seattle Times asserted in a recent blog post that the Florida State University's women's basketball website (link here):

"...has blatantly...sexualized basketball.  Sure it may draw recruits...but what are they selling?  You do get a sense of the players as people on the site, yet there's not much basketball going on.  And if anything is placed before 'athlete' isn't it supposed to be 'student' not sex?"

Pretty clear, but not the first time that sport - even women's college sport - has used sex to sell tickets...and let's face it - that's what the goal is here.

For Evans, however, these sexualized images are problematic because they may "continue a different, damaging constant in women's hoops - homophobia."  Apparently, the drive to show women athletes as powerful beautiful, and strong, is a veiled attempt to only portray them as heterosexual.  Evans even cites the WNBA as guilty of this trend, holding sessions at rookie orientation about how to wear makeup and offering other fashion tips.

There's an interesting counter to this argument over at Women Talk Pro Sports, in a blog posting from Chantelle Anderson, a former college and pro basketball player.  I think it's obvious to link sports and sex and, while Anderson has her points, I wonder about the issue of implied hetero-normativity in these posters and websites.  (Is there a sport out there that avoids this implication?  The recent rollergirls trend, perhaps?  And no, I'm not talking about Drew Barrymore...)

In either case, underscoring this debate is the notion that a league or a team believes that producing these kinds of "sexy" images is the best way to sell tickets.  And that is an issue that won't go away - especially this year, when officials at Wimbledon pushed more attractive, but lower-ranked (lesser-skilled) players to Centre Court...and the Lingerie Football League was established.  Where is Horatio Sanz when you need him?