Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

It's time that men know what women want in sports. While this assessment represents only one woman's view, I feel confident that fellow female sports fans will agree at least in part, if not in whole, with my list:

Pre- and post-game are as important as the game itself. The nurturing side of women comes out in sports. We love entertaining before and after games. A tailgate party to a female fanatic is more treasured than a candlelit gourmet dinner and dancing. We are perfectionists when it comes to having the right foods at our tailgate parties, knowing that the food we consume on game day has a bearing on the final score.

Weather is critical. Most women pray for good weather for outdoor sporting events. Our greatest opponents are heat, humidity and rain. Our makeup beads with perspiration, our hairstyles go flat or frizzy, and worst of all, our mascara and eyeliner often run. The only women who will sit in a pouring rain to watch a sporting event are either mothers or lovesick girlfriends. The real reason most women prefer basketball to football is that it's easier to look our best in a temperature-controlled indoor arena than in a crowded out-door stadium.

Clothing is a top priority. The majority of women go to painstaking trouble to be sure they have the right outfit for the game. We often buy two or three outfits, making the final decision on game day. Color is a given; it matches our team's. Shoes must be comfortable, yet stylish. Purses are important; you want one that can withstand a season of spilled Coca-Cola or Pepsi and large enough to hold binoculars, sunglasses and plenty of Kleenex for perspiration control.

Our clothing fetish also involves the team. We can hardly wait to see if the style of our team's uniform has changed. As important as who wins the starting quarterback slot is what the Razorback uniforms, under new coach Bobby Petrino, will look like. Most women prefer their teams in a conservative (a la Brooks Brothers) design. And for the Hogs, all red (jerseys and pants) is too much. As for basketball, several women I know were fond of this year's North Carolina basketball jerseys with the crew neck, rather than undershirt, look. Here's hoping Steve Shields, John Brady and John Pelphrey are reading.

We want drama. We hate runaway games. Women like to be on the edge of their seats with the winner being determined in the final seconds. This is yet another reason most women prefer basketball, famous for last-second endings, to football. We enjoy watching the team and fans rush onto the field or court after the game. We enjoy – actually, we require – a good cry or two during each sports season. The Miracle on Markham in 2002 and Scotty Thurman's high-arching 3-pointer in Charlotte in 1994 are but two examples.

We appreciate good sportsmanship. It makes us mad to see our fans boo the opponent, much less our own team. We've been known to provide a mother-like lecture to booing fans. Why did some Arkansas fans boo Texas when they took the court at Alltel Arena during the first-round NCAA Tournament recently? Sure, we read Texas coach Rick Barnes' comments before the game, but that was no excuse for fans to be rude to out-of-state visitors. Some call it passion; most women call it tasteless.

In closing, women make good sports fans. A woman's intuition makes it possible for us to sense problems on the field or court before they occur; we can tell a coach's mood as he walks to the sideline and we know from the pre-game warm-ups which team is likely to win. There's a reason why all the national television networks have female sideline reporters. Women know what they want in sports. Now men do, too.

(Brenda Scisson of Little Rock is serving her second term on the War Memorial Stadium Commission. She served as the state's first female sports reporter in 1972 at the Arkansas Gazette and is a former state tennis champion. Today she is a public relations counselor at Stone Ward.)