And you know what else is stupid? Los Rockets. This is not a Spanish phrase.

Sports (and the Rockets), believe it or not, are not particularly important things in life

the hell you say? Blasphemer!!!

And it sucks

I’m all for women being fans, but the sport is the sport. The atmosphere is the atmosphere. I don’t have a problem with being more open, but what does that actually mean? I think it would be sexist to assume that’s group hugs or more Britney music, but I feel that’s the info out there. So what does it mean?

There are two points she makes and one is not necessarily related to the other.

1. NBA/Team marketing ignores or dismisses a significant portion of the fan base in a fairly serious way.
2. People on the internet are often crappy, particularly to women.

1.

I do think that not having any authentic items, or giveaway items in sizes to fit women is a problem and a blind spot. I don’t think those items have ever appeared, so it can’t be said it was tried and there was no market. Sure, some women will want pink rockets jerseys and so forth. But if a woman doesn’t want pink, what’s her option? Swimming in a male-sized shirt, evidently.

Should the Hornets and other teams ask Tolscer and others questions specifically as women? Do we really need to get to the question of whether some women are correct in asking that their gender be considered in media/marketing approaches to them? It comes down to whether there is such a thing as “general marketing” or is what we think of as “general marketing” simply marketing to males. I honestly don’t know. I’ve answered those surveys, and I’m not sure what a female oriented questionnaire would look like.

For example: On a scale of 1-5 rate the freshness of the concession offerings.

That said, if there are well-reasoned complaints, from real fans who represent a big slice of NBA demographics and a bigger slice of purchase decision-making, then it behooves the NBA and teams to take that seriously.

And never underestimate that decision-making/influencing power. It used to be that companies that sold pools centered their advertising around bikini-clad hotties lounging around a pool. Then some changed to ads featuring happy families swimming and having fun together. Guess which sold A LOT more pools? Guess who made the decisions about pools?

2.
On the internet side. Well what can you do? On the internet no one knows you’re a dog. Gender need not come up either, unless you want it to. For a long time I think there was no gender association for me. My handle has no gender, my avatar is an ugly fish.

As for the tone, well, now that I can moderate interaction somewhat here, I’ve wondered where to draw the line. No nasty misogyny allowed, obviously, but do I wag my e-finger at someone for writing “Tracy McLady”? There are plenty of things written in very questionable taste, and that’s far from the worst of it. I think that stuff is largely part and parcel with the general incivility of the internet. When it’s more than that, time to do something.

… is an excellent one and one I now wish I’d made. You’re absolutely right. Why be down on women or men for being “casual” when that is in fact the majority of the fanbase? Look at the ridiculousness of the yearly All Star voting. (Oh hey. Rockets blog. You guys probably love it. Haha.)

I do believe that the NBA could do a better job of “sucking in” more women to be hardcore fans, by making a small— and less misguided than the “Basketball 101” class that apparently comes with the Ladies Night promotion at some NBA arenas— effort to reach out.

As far as moderating comments goes, I realize that’s not the NBA’s problem. But I guess the way I see it is, if male fans become more used to seeing female fans around the arena and in roles that involve being fully clothed, and see female writers… they’ll eventually become more tolerant of the idea that sports being a space that’s “theirs” is outdated. On my site, personally, I delete EVERYTHING that’s questionable. I own the space, I pay for it, and it’s not polite to walk into someone’s living room and say gross things to them. That’s probably an extreme. But as I said, it’s my site. Everyone else has to find what works for them.

Not sure what else to say except a hardy “amen” to the extremely intelligent linked post. Even though it’s all men on the court, being a fan is gender-neutral. You don’t have to be male to appreciate a thrilling win, observe player personalities and styles, enjoy esoteric trivia, etc. My boyfriend is the one that got me into the Rockets as an adult (I was around for Clutch City as a kid and he lived elsewhere), yet now he’s the one who asks me about Rockets-related news because I’ve gotten so into it.

As for the Rockets’ specific marketing to women, I was a little peeved to see the most recent Guys’ Night Out featured a matchup against the Celtics (good Eastern Conference team [oxymoron, har], was a heartbreaker in the end but at least contentious, got to see some stars like KG and PP play), yet Ladies’ Night features a real womp-womp of a pairing with the Clippers. zzzzz. Not sure what the appeal would be—are the ladeez supposed to get excited over seeing Steve Novak again?

Most of the marketing I appreciate is gender-neutral, because anything marketed “to women” is clumsy and pandering (the Basketball 101 mentioned above, pink jerseys, etc.) I do have more than one Rockets ringer tee in women’s sizes, but they’re women’s versions of already extant men’s shirts. I don’t need anything pink, frilly or lacy to entice me to buy gear. If anything, I would love to see the men’s warmups they sell in the Rockets shop in women’s sizes for working out at the gym or what have you.

or the HP entry; however, I did read all of this post and the original one.

The crux of OAL’s argument is

So if the NBA isn’t doing a very good job of incorporating women into its marketing, then the appropriate response from men is not to question whether or not they are deserving of equal treatment – it is to ask what we can do to help change that.

1. This is problematic inasmuch as it is contingent on men being the one to respond – in order for this to make sense, there needs to be data displaying that men control marketing operations for the NBA.

2. This notion of men answering the call of the female fan can be just as indoctrinating for women, maybe even more so. This particularly contradicts the notion of condemning ‘feminizing’ NBA gear (a la pink jerseys) – answering the call can be just that [the pink jerseys]. I don’t find them tasteful (especially since some of them have bedazzled side-stripes), but these very objects potentially fulfill the criterion you set forth.

3. Separating the casual and ‘extremist’ fans within the female demographic is key to understanding the need of marketing to the latter – just because 40% of NBA fans are women, to me, just isn’t convincing enough to inaugurate a radically different marketing platform.

Now, on to Tolscer’s argument. I think the crux of it is here;

Studies show that women purchase or influence the purchase of 80% of consumer product sales in the United States. This means we’re buying the tickets. And we’re deciding whether the tickets are part of the household budget. And we’re deciding whether to buy the tickets for our kids, ensuring that a whole new generation of NBA fans gets hooked. We’re buying a product we aren’t even sure you want us to be buying. Because we love basketball. And sometimes I feel like we’re putting up with a lot, just to love basketball.

First, this is just bad method at its finest – just because women purchase or influence 80% of consumer product sales does NOT mean they hold that same clout over NBA investments – they could hold 0% and just put out huge numbers in other markets. The logic behind this argument is so bad that I had to say something that wouldn’t get lost in the fold.

Second, the ‘putting up with’ thing is largely gender-neutral, I think. I’m a 21 year old male college student, and I also don’t enjoy the stupid ‘family-friendly’ nature of some aspects of time-out rituals, nor do I particularly enjoy watching the mytouch phones float around while trying to guess which one is ‘100% chuck.’ She’s not alone, nor is the female demographic, in finding that shit annoying.

Third (and this is somewhat of a repetition of an earlier comment, but in more detail), I can sympathize with her not feeling like the NBA is listening to the demands of relatively ‘abnormal’ fanbases, by NBA standards at least. I am not the typical dude-bro caricature that we think of when we are asked to describe the normal sports nut (or basketball nut, for the sake of precision). At the same time, we have to be rational and ask ourselves, ‘how many ’hardcore NBA fans’ are female?‘. If that market is a small one, then the Association is making a strategic move by not producing a product that isn’t going to sell well. To me, if this demographic is a large one, the NBA would’ve already capitalized on it because it would only make more money for the industry.

Fourth, Tolscer’s notion of the Woman wielding the power over children’s interest in the NBA is something I find both indoctrinating (reduction of Woman to mother) and silly inasmuch as a mother’s interest in the NBA may very well turn children off of it (because it’s cool to be counter to your parents interests, at least for some it is) or children simply won’t care about the position of their mother [or father, for that matter].

As a side-note: the ‘Ladies Night’ promotion is WAY better than ‘Guys Night Out’ – same price, and you get nachos (better than a hot dog) and margaritas?!

The jerseys don’t exactly fit men well, either. Unless you’re really tall and well built.

It’s an important topic, one which is largely ignored by the general sports loving fan. But to continue, I’m a lot like Xiane, I have enjoyed being gender neutral, but as OAL pointed out gender is a very “central part for most people’s identities” so I would like for people to know if I am male or female-but it’s not like the opportunity presents itself on a daily basis.

OAL mentioned that someone from this blog commented on HP about not revealing that she is a female on this site-well that would be me. I have been a reader for a long time, and an active member for several months. I have greatly enjoyed blogging and have felt extremely welcome here, but was content with the anonymity, for many reasons. First and foremost, I have read on some of the other SBnation blogs as female bloggers have revealed their gender and they were labeled “the resident cougar”, asked to put a picture of themselves as their avatar, and flirted with. But after seeing the level of respect that this topic is getting, and that if anyone on this site tried that kind of crap they would get the “e-finger wag” I feel much better about revealing my gender.

But I have a few comments of my own to add to the subject. The NBA really doesn’t market to their female fans, be they “hard-core”/“die-hards” like myself, who are knowledgeable and engaged in the sport, or be they the causal fan. We are not marketed to in advertising, merchandise or promotions.

I would personally love to buy an authentic jersey that doesn’t come down to my knees, but no, I am forced to buy a poor quality youth sized jersey. About a year ago, I bought a McGrady jersey and got it signed by McGrady, but if I wanted to sell that jersey it wouldn’t be worth much because of it’s poor quality and size-and the fact that it’s a T-mac jersey :).

About the entertainment, I’ve never particularly enjoyed our Power Dancers but neither have I felt like their presence objectified females-but I would understand if somebody felt that why. Yet if we have to have that kind of useless entertainment, I prefer the Launch Crew over the Power Dances, simply because they’re more entertaining and I like the fact that it’s a mixed gender act, which doesn’t involve stripping off your clothes.

Lastly, Tolcser brought out a good point, that women aren’t spotlighted in places like an NBA executive. I would like it if they were, but there is that misconception that sports is a man’s league and that women do not care. Personally, I enjoy the commentary of lets say a Doris Burke, but how many Burke’s are out there? Not many. Are there any female chouches in the NBA? Nope. How many high profile female writers? Not many.

This could be a problem I end up fighting for a long time. I’m getting my degree in journalism/communications, with the goal of becoming a sports journalist. But the comments on this blog are very encouraging, as it appears that most of you respect Tolcser’s opinions and recognize this as a problem. And I do hope that one day, women will be represented in the sporting world, not just because they are women and/or beautiful but because they are knowledgeable and intelligent about their sport.