Ursuline football fanatics defy gender stereotypes
Mary M., Esha E. ‘10, and friends drove to Arlington to watch the Cowboys beat the Eagles.
January 27, 2010 • Mary M. '10
Filed under Sports
Picture the ultimate football fan. What do you see?
Probably a twenty-something male, with a few days worth of stubble, painted head-to-toe in his team’s colors, hurling insults at the opposing team’s fans.
Or maybe you see a middle-aged man, sitting on the couch, beer in hand, watching game after game after game.
Chances are, you did not picture a teenaged girl.
But the truth is, there are plenty of high school girls who are also knowledgeable, devoted football fans.
Esha E. ’10 is one such fan.
Each weekend, Esha watches the Dallas Cowboys game and every good matchup from start to finish and catches bits and pieces of the other games that are on TV. But she only really started getting into football this year.
“My heightened interest in football was really just a combination of Mr. Schneider’s Cowboy points — he gives extra credit points when the Cowboys win — and Miles Austin,” she said.
Waiting to see if she would receive extra credit points on her next AP Psychology test, Esha began watching the Cowboys games and then got hooked.
Miles Austin secured her interest because “he’s just so exciting to watch. I mean, in the Kansas City game, he scored two touchdowns and had 250 yards. I was never a huge Romo fan, which is why I wasn’t a die-hard Cowboys’ fan before. But now there are players I like watching,” she said.
And it doesn’t hurt that Miles Austin is cute.
Katy E. ’10 agrees that football players’ looks are at least part of the reason why she watches professional football — at least one game per weekend.
“Looks — are they a distraction? Yes,” she said.
Marti W. ’10 watches football every weekend and gets very into the games. She even calls Katy E. occasionally on Sunday nights to discuss the day’s football results.
But even Marti has been known to scream at the television screen, “Yes, we knocked him down! Stay down. Stay down. Wait you are cute, get up!”
Girls do not just get into football because of the excitement and the cute guys in tight pants.
“I also like football because it is so strategic,” said Esha. “You have to adjust your team each week to beat the other team. Like against Minnesota, Dallas’ offensive line needed to hold in order to win. They didn’t, so we lost.”
And when her team lost in the second round of the playoffs, Esha went into mourning, donning black sweatpants and a somber gray top.
“Actually,” she said, “I just couldn’t wear my Cowboys jersey after they lost, so I put on the first shirt I could find and my black sweatpants are very comfortable.”
After another disappointing loss for a Texas football team this year — the University of Texas Longhorns’ 37-21 loss to the University of Alabama Crimson tide, Ursuline girls discussed the game in detail the next day at school.
“My lunch table must have spent twenty minutes talking about and analyzing that game,” said Katy E.
So is it unusual for girls to not only like football, but to follow it?
“Not in Texas,” said Courtney S. ’10.
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