Only Slightly Off Topic: In Response to Joe Cowley

Chick pilot. Should I be OK with that or am I just a sexist caveman?
— cst_Cowley (@cst_Cowley) April 29, 2012

All the ugly ones should probably be put down. RT @cst_Cowley: I'm more likely to see a Squatch before I see a hot flight attendant.
— Sloane Martin (@SloaneMartin) April 29, 2012

@SloaneMartin By the way Sloane, the chick pilot did good ... Even though she had to come back and ask for directions twice.
— cst_Cowley (@cst_Cowley) April 29, 2012

@SloaneMartin By the way Sloane, the chick pilot did good ... Even though she had to come back and ask for directions twice.
— cst_Cowley (@cst_Cowley) April 29, 2012

@SloaneMartin ... Although something tells me she knew where she was going ... Just more Mr. Handsome problems!
— cst_Cowley (@cst_Cowley) April 29, 2012

@SloaneMartin I have a feeling Sloane is the next unfollow. But it's a fact women followers stay attached to me longer. #MrHandsomeproblems
— cst_Cowley (@cst_Cowley) April 29, 2012

@cst_Cowley that was just the classy and unapologetic response I expected from you. Guess I'm an outlier b/c I only made it through 3 days
— Sloane Martin (@SloaneMartin) April 29, 2012

@SloaneMartin Three days? Not bad. And we didn't even get to debate what a joke Title IX is... Another time ... You'll be back. #cantquitme
— cst_Cowley (@cst_Cowley) April 29, 2012

@SloaneMartin And when you come back, hottie up that pic a bit more. You look like the Russian icy villain from a 70s Bond movie. XOXO.
— cst_Cowley (@cst_Cowley) April 29, 2012

How do I even begin to respond to this? As a female sports blogger (one who needs to keep up with a more regular schedule, I will admit), something in me feels obligated to respond to this "media meltdown," as Deadspin.com so cleverly labelles it. Actually, I should remove the "sports blogger." As a female, as a human being, I feel compelled to address this in a public forum.

Now, I know that this particular twitter conversation is not about sports, but rather about an idiot who feels that women are only there to dote upon his "MrHandsome"-ness and that only men should have the responsibility of holding high-risk jobs. I know that this exchange only peripherally touches on Sloane Martin's profession as a baseball writer and blogger, and that there is so much here that I could write about. Because this is my sports blog, and this is what I have experience writing about, I'm going to write about sports-one of the last few areas where men can feel free to by misogynistic and cruel and derogatory.

As many of you know, I'm a regular poster on both OurDailyBears.com and LoneStarBall.com, the SBNation sites for the Baylor Bears and the Texas Rangers, respectively. Up until a little over a week ago, I did not make it overtly public that I was (gasp) a girl. Yes, it was in my profile information, but no one actually reads that. In fact, when I decided to add "I'm a girl and I do stats when I'm bored. Deal with it." to my sig, it came as a shock to some people.

Now then, in this age of equality (as I've been told several times), why did I feel it necessary to disguise the fact that I was a female sports fan? It was because I felt that my opinions would be dismissed, my amateur expertise disclaimed and my self harassed simply because I don't share the same genitalia as the majority of internet-going sports fans. Before you pull the "suspicious without reason" card, this has happened to me in the past, in person. It is the absolute most humiliating experience to attempt to discuss baseball with a group of guys (most of whom I thought would never do this) and be dismissed, fact checked, and laughed at for attempting to assert that one player was statistically better than the other (I was right, by the way.)

Why is it that we are still in a place where the "female sports fan/writer" is still an exotic animal? Why is that male sportswriters can make cracks about Title IX and telling a fellow sportswriter to "hottie up [her] pic" and not be immediately condemned or fired by his employer? Why is it that I feel the need immediately start on the defensive any time I make a stats post on ODB?

I will admit, I have been fairly lucky. The folks over at LSB have been decent-to-awesome, and the one time an obvious troll went after me, the general response was to mock and decry him. I've also been around on the internet for a very long time, so I'm well versed in ignoring idiots. It's just that whenever this kind of thing happens-sports related or not-it deserves to be called out by every person who can.

If you think that women cannot hold high profile stress filled jobs, you are wrong. If you think that it is funny to assert that women are lesser than men, you are wrong. And if you think that you won't get called out on it if you do, you are most certainly completely and totally wrong.


BREAKING: Joe Cowley deleted his twitter account. That's one way to deal with things.

I did not make this .gif

But it is so beautiful that I have to post it.

Look at that. Just look at it.

That's just ridiculous.

[Late!] Rangers Thoughts! (2-0 over the Yankees)

Well, that was an interesting game. I meant to have this post up last night, but I kept getting distracted watching .gifs of the pitching.

I actually started watching this game with a really good feeling. Having seen Yu Darvish's improvement across his other starts, I thought that he could at least have a good night. I, however, wasn't even remotely prepared for the wonderful baseball sight that I was about to behold.

I'm no pitching expert and I will be the first to admit that. I've watched baseball my whole life, and everything I know comes from that (and independent study of internet resources, usually around finals time). Last night was some of the best pitching I've seen my entire life, and yes, I'm counting watching Cliff Lee with the Rangers.

Honestly, I didn't know that baseballs could do what they were doing last night*. After the scary top of the 3rd, he just seemed to get better and better and better. I could tell just watching him how much more poise and confidence there seemed to be. As someone intimately acquainted with nerves, his first two starts looked jittery. This time, however, I could tell there was a difference when he took the mound in the first. Even from out here in Waco I could tell there was a calmness-and that showed in his command.

Yes. Yu Darvish has found his command, and according to him he can still get better. How terrifying that must be to everyone else.

On to the other side of the game. For some reason our offense seems to be cooling off a bit, though that could simply be the effect of facing some elite pitchers in a row. I'll be interested to see how they fare tonight, as well as nervous about how the Yankees fare against Scott Feldman. Ian Kinsler's 429-ft homer in the 1st was a great start, and Josh Hamilton's RBI single in the 3rd inning added a run that would turn out to be all the insurance the Rangers needed.

Elvis Andrus deserves everything for his performance at shortstop yesterday. I might drop a link in here later to the gif of his amazing spin-off-balance-no-look-throw-to-first, because it seriously is that good. I want him to be a Ranger for a very long while. He's gone 50 games without an error, a streak that is ridiculous to even think about.

It's too early to be worried about our offense, honestly, even though they've only scored 11 runs over the last four games, as opposed to 44 in the four games before that. They've faced some very impressive pitchers in these last four games, and I have no doubt that things will begin to pick up again soon. In the same vein, I will plead neutrality on the subject of Mitch Moreland, for the time being. I don't think that it's quite time to be calling for his replacement, but I do wonder who that substitute could be.

Tonight's game is the last in this series, and starts at 7:05 CT. The Rangers have tomorrow off, and play the first in a 3 game series against Tampa Bay on Friday at 7:05 CT.






*I knew, I just didn't quite believe it.

Quincy Miller to Leave Baylor for NBA

Baylor F Quincy Miller has decided to leave Baylor in order to be eligible for the NBA draft.

I know that a lot of people are going to be very angry about this news, and honestly, while I think that anger is an overreaction, I can't blame them. Quincy held a press conference earlier this month announcing that he would be staying at Baylor for another year, and those of us who like to try to predict things way before their time gladly pencilled him into our imaginary line-ups. I, for one, was really excited to hear that he was staying. I felt that he could really benefit from another year of college basketball and (selfishly, as a Baylor fan) that the team would be better than even this year with his experience and talents setting the tone.

If Quincy has been assured that he will be a draft pick and will get a contract this year, then I can definitely understand his decision to leave. There is always the spectre of injury that looms over every year not playing with a guaranteed pay-check and sometimes the risk-reward scales tip in favour of leaving. As an objective viewpoint-he made the best decision for him.

As a fan, however, I do wish that this had happened before he had announced that he was staying. It hurts us, as a university fanbase, to think that he's spurning the opportunity to lead our [his] team to greater heights (some of us were likely even daydreaming about NCAA titles). When someone says that they love their team, love their school, and love their fans the way that he did, it is a shock when things suddenly happen like this. However, Mark C Moore (from Our Daily Bears) has it right- Quincy didn't stop being a Baylor Bear today.

I wish him the best of luck, and, for his sake, I hope that leaving Baylor was indeed the right choice to make. As a fan, I can only think longingly of what could have been.

The Unlikely Fanatic is back!

So I know that it's been a very long time since I actually bothered to post anything on here. Sometimes, college is frustrating like that.

The Year of the Bear. That's what everyone is calling this crazy time here at Baylor University. If you had pulled me aside as a freshman and told me that when I was a junior, I not only would still be in marching band, but Baylor Football would be 10-3, have won the Alamo Bowl and that RG3 would have a Heisman, I would have laughed in your face. If you had told me that the men's baseketball team would have made the Elite Eight and started their season 17-0, I wouldn't have laughed quite as hard but I might have wondered what drugs you were on. The only team I might have believed you about would have been the Lady Bears, and that was just because I knew that Kim Mulkey rocked.

Of course, it didn't help that my freshman year I didn't really care. I only got in to the Lady Bears when they were in the NCAA tourney, and I could have cared less about any other sport (except Texas Rangers baseball, but more on that later).

I would go on about how I became a sports fan, but that's an op/ed column for another time. What I am here to say is that we are at 80 wins in major sports, Baylor Baseball is tearing it up, and this blog is no longer just about Baylor.

I'm an unlikely fan of many things, but I am a totally likely fan of baseball. I've been watching Rangers baseball since I was 4, and listening since before even then. I figured it was time for me to actually stretch my sportswriting legs and talk a bit about some baseball. Expect gameday wrap-ups (except for days where, because of life, I miss the game entirely), player[s] of the game, and the inexpert analysis of someone who's been watching her whole life.

I'll also still be posting about Baylor sports, so don't worry. Come fall, there will still be far too long diatribes on various football games, and I'll be able to bring you my "courtside" view of basketball games all season long.

Sic 'Em, and Let's Go!
Kate