I'm no sports nut. Football does not light my hair on fire like it does my fellow Ohioans, but I do love tennis (and the Olympics, but that's a story for even numbered years). I especially enjoy the US Open and I recently discovered the joy of watching my favorite sport in HD. Of course, we are waaaay too cheap to pay for HD cable, so we use our fancy digital tuner and watch CBS locally. It fills the screen and it looks beautiful.
My point is, I would prefer to watch tennis on my local CBS affiliate, as opposed to ESPN. Ya know, for the pretty.
Wet weather in New York really screwed with the whole schedule for the open. The women's final should have been played on Saturday, but instead it is on tonight. Earlier today I watched a men's semifinal, on CBS. It was made clear that the women's final would be shown on ESPN in primetime. Now, at first I was just annoyed that I would have to watch the match in standard definition (I know, you all feel really sorry for the well-fed, SAHM who has to watch tennis on her flat screen WITHOUT HD. They're writing my Hallmark Hall of Fame movie as we speak). Then I started wondering why my girls were getting the shaft. Most people have cable, but it's still sort of an insult to be relegated to ESPN. I took a gander at what was playing on CBS. What could be so important that it couldn't be interrupted by a Gram Slam Final? Was the President speaking? Nope. CBS is playing a Big Brother clip show. Seriously?
Tomorrow, the Men's Final will play on CBS. Of course, that will only be interrupting Katie Couric reading the news and a re-run of How I Met Your Mother. Way less important than a rehash of Big Brother 11.
Are the men so much more interesting to watch? Certainly, this year the women were way more compelling. Serena Williams threatened a line judge. Melanie Oudin came out of nowhere and Kim Clijsters returned from baby retirement to kick some serious ass. In fact, Clijsters is the first wild card player to ever make it to the finals of a grand slam and if she wins tonight she will be the first mother in 30 years to win a major title. The men were boring by comparison, predictable even. Andy Roddick choked and Federer couldn't be beaten. No surprises there.
It's subtle, but gender bias is at play here and it annoys me. I guess the men just sell more razors and luxury cars and investment services than the ladies.
It still sucks.
5 days ago
