tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6165780438929797577.post7514938204632564999..comments2024-03-21T00:30:32.509-07:00Comments on From A Left Wing: Fan Letter: Yrsa Roca Fannberg Paints BarçaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6165780438929797577.post-86549843635063271672008-04-21T10:43:00.000-07:002008-04-21T10:43:00.000-07:00From one academic nerd to another, I appreciate yo...From one academic nerd to another, I appreciate your comments about the conversation--or lack of one. As a guy, I appreciate your insights on why there may have been some hesitancy on these fellows' part to let you "play." <BR/><BR/>JoeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6165780438929797577.post-32853973241463790922008-04-15T04:30:00.000-07:002008-04-15T04:30:00.000-07:00hi global gam & thanks for the compliments! yeah ...hi global gam & thanks for the compliments! <BR/><BR/>yeah - as soon as i posted this one, i thought that conversation wasn't the best example, as there's no way to tell the story without making me out to be the big academica nerd that i am - which has its own problems. but that anecdote was just one of a long string of such experiences - i find that a lot of guys just don't feel comfortable with welcoming an informed woman into those sorts of conversations, no matter what the point of entry - sure, it's ok if she doesn't know what the hell she's talking about, but if she does? if she can comment on the arc of her team's season and the limits of its training philosophy? you can feel yourself disappear socially in those moments. but, fact of the matter is - it's the same thing most of the time with straight guys no matter what the topic. it could be Marx, or Hong Kong action flicks, and it's be the same thing. <BR/><BR/>i should say - i've never found this conversational thing to be a problem with older men - partly because when i've talked to older men (at the pub, on the tube, or at a game) they are often by themselves. but they've given me the impression that they find it really really fun to talk with women of any age or orientation about football if football is their passion. i love those conversations - those grandpas really know their stuff, and i think sometimes they are very happy just to have someone listen to them, and talk with them - just like women in such settings. for women, one of the real pleasures of playing football is just meeting other women with the same interests.<BR/><BR/>some might think that women on a women's football team might talk about other things - their partners, families, etc - but my experience has been the opposite - that it's all about football - about the teams we support, and how we are playing, etc.Jennifer Doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05004554513454749517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6165780438929797577.post-26267157600734553612008-04-14T17:06:00.000-07:002008-04-14T17:06:00.000-07:00This is a very interesting read, and I'm grateful ...This is a very interesting read, and I'm grateful to know about these watercolor paintings.<BR/><BR/>I think a complicating factor in the train conversation you describe may have been the introduction of substance into the sports chatter. If, in Umberto Eco's description, sports badinage involves "talk about [sport], the talk about the journalists who talk about it,” then by actually adding content - mentioning a book the so-called experts had not read - you were transgressing in some way. It's been my experience that the Venn diagram circles of sports talk and the academic study of sport only barely manage to share turf. So sports fans don't feel that academics should interfere, and intellectuals, for the most part, leave sports alone.<BR/><BR/>Thankfully, you have found very fertile ground in the intersection of the two worlds, and your writing should be celebrated.The Global Gamehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03220608481757780209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6165780438929797577.post-33107406158336331502008-04-13T07:00:00.000-07:002008-04-13T07:00:00.000-07:00you are most welcome, and thank you for your comme...you are most welcome, and thank you for your comment. and yes, no doubt, if they'd been gals - if you'd been there instead of that lunk-headed american guy - we'd have chatted about football from paris to london non-stop!Jennifer Doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05004554513454749517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6165780438929797577.post-39110739437716417522008-04-13T03:42:00.000-07:002008-04-13T03:42:00.000-07:00i,ve been a raeder of your blog for some while now...i,ve been a raeder of your blog for some while now and it is always fascinating, intriguing and there is not a chance to read anything like this on the web. If i were those guys on the train i would of engaged in the conversation about relegation even though i dont know much about the economics of football in the US. Fantastic read thank you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com