MORE ON WOMEN’S SPORTS AND SEX APPEAL

This time, from ESPN’s Page 2 Writer’s Bloc. Dan Shanoff seems to grasp the principle:

Look at the LPGA, making a concerted — if controversial — effort to up its “hottie” quotient, understanding Shanoff’s Mother of All Male Marketing Equations: “Hotties (H) X Eyeballs (I) = Money ($),” also known as “HI$.”

Meanwhile, Alan Grant seeks balance:

While it’s OK to notice how someone’s butt looks in their uniform, it’s altogether different to base one’s athletic value solely on the shape of that butt.

But he also senses a bit of jealousy at work:

That same average male sports fan doesn’t want to turn on his TV to see some chick perform a vicious crossover dribble, go to the hoop, score, and give another chick a pound. This is something he could never do himself and I think it makes him very, very uncomfortable.

But if those same women are close to naked, he feels better about himself. He may not become a fan of women’s sports, but if he sees physically desirable women running around with little clothing, he’s less threatened by their athletic skills because bare female flesh helps to maintain that “vulnerable” quality which (for him and his buddies) is the very definition of femininity.

Chuck Hirshberg, though, hits the nail on the head:

And yet, I wonder if this whole sad controversy isn’t less about Blatter’s nincompoopery, and less about sex, than it is about the corrupting influence of advertising. Seriously, I doubt Blatter really believes any male goon will skip an episode of “The Man Show” to see women play soccer, no matter how they dress.

However, the last word goes to David Schoenfeld, who points out that this particular door swings both ways:

Looks like we’ve been debating the wrong topic, ‘Cats. This just crossed the wire (I kid you not):

“Instead of the traditional separate shirt and shorts, Cameroon’s (men’s) players will wear a new skin-tight one-piece uniform in the country’s distinctive green, white and red colors.”

Well, that’s certainly a horse of a different feather.