The ultimate sports insult ever imagined by kids comes from the Sandlot. When insults are flying and they are progressively getting worse, what else is there to do but insult someone’s manhood? And that is how, “You play ball like a girl!” became the mother of all insults and the end of the name calling. But is playing ball like a girl so bad?
When I was growing up, I played baseball and basketball. I wasn’t the best, but I wasn’t bad either, I even made the All-Star team a few times. I tried soccer for a year, but that wasn’t for me. My sister, on the other hand, played soccer for much of her youth. Her first tryout, with no experience or practice, she was picked for the “A” team and they were really good. They stayed together for years. And won. A lot.
Apparently to my dad and uncle, this meant that she was more athletic than I was. While I would argue that this is not true, I don’t want to start an argument about whether or not girls or boys are more athletic, especially in today’s climate of gender neutrality. Boys and girls are built different and they each excel at different things. But a team winning does not equate to an individual being better or more athletic. How many great athletes get recruited to bad teams and never win a championship? Winning is not an indicator of talent on a team level.
Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better
The whole argument reminds me of a Gatorade commercial from the 90’s. It had Michael Jordan, arguably the best basketball player of our time, against Mia Hamm, arguably the best women’s soccer player of the time (I haven’t kept up with this to know how she compares to players today), in a competition of anything you can do I can do better. It had them facing off in different sports with different outcomes.
Of course this is all scripted, but it proves an excellent point. Girls can do anything guys can do. They should be given the same opportunities as boys. Can girls do everything boys can do, no, and vice versa. That’s just how it is.
With all that said, it is insulting to tell a guy they play ball like a girl because of the insinuation of the phrase, however, the truth of the phrase is misguided. There is no doubt that guys are built stronger than girls. Testosterone simply helps with muscle mass. But strength should never be an indicator of athleticness (is that a word?). I have 4 daughters, and I want them to grow up knowing that they are just as good as boys and they can do whatever they want to do. It isn’t the gender that makes someone better than someone, it is the determination.
