January 17, 2007
Wizards Need to Recognize the Ladies
In a few short weeks, your fearless editor will finally be attending her very first Wizards game, and I'm getting more excited by the day. I've reportedly got a great seat (thanks, Matt!), the Wizards are having a fantastic season, and the game in question will find the boys facing down the Los Angeles Lakers -- a team I would be hard-pressed to despise more. Awesome. So of course, in preparation for the big day, I started doing what any girl does when she knows she's got a special occasion coming up: Shopping!
But lo, what dreadful news I soon discovered once I began looking around for the perfect Agent Zero jersey -- the Wizards are one of the few NBA teams who don't have official jerseys cut for women, nor do they seem to have any acceptable T-shirt alternatives. The first option I found was a tragic embroidered polo shirt, named the "Remarkable Polo", pictured above. Remarkable, indeed, but not exactly for conveying either of the two things fan apparel ought to (style and superfandom), rather more for looking like something one would wear to a polite golf party. The second and only other official Wizards T-shirt cut to fit a woman is this pink baby T. Because girls all like to wear pink, apparently. And wear baby Ts to basketball games.
And that's pretty much all the Wizards are offering their female fans in the way of apparel. Sure, I could get a hat, I suppose. And yes, I thought of ordering a regular men's T-shirt, but there are few if any styles which come in something smaller than an X-Large. But what I really want is one of those hott official jerseys cut for women, like the hated Lakers, and many other NBA teams already offer. Are we female Wizards fans somehow less worthy of looking good? Do the Wizards players themselves want to see dowdy, shapeless women in the stands during games? I think not.
Luckily, DCist Kyle quickly pointed me to the much more fashionable MotheringHut, via the fantastic Wizznutzz, for fun and funky Wizards T-shirts made specifically for ladies who don't want to look stupid. Hooray! But still. My heart wants what it wants, and it longs for an official jersey. So Wizards merchandise management, take notice. The ladies of D.C. demand better fan apparel. And we shall not be silenced.
UPDATE: I'd also like to say that I completely agree with Mary Buckheit at ESPN.com, the whole Pink Fan Apparel craze must be stopped. My cry for ladies Wizards apparel has only to do with size and the cut of the shirt. I would never in my life wear a pink team jersey.
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an official jersey cut for women? i didn't know there was such a thing.
Well of course, by "official" I mean made by the NBA and not a knock-off, not necessarily an official jersey that's exactly like what the team wears, since that would be impossible.
So why not get a real jersey and wear it over a long sleeve T-shirt?
lucas, from what I can tell, the men's jerseys only come in varying versions of XXXX-Large. I guess I could wear it as a dress? They're just enormous.
Like nearly all good ideas involving basketball, Mark Cuban's already got a jump on everyone. The Dallas Mavericks Store has a big selection of Womens clothes, including hoodies, tshirt, jerseys, and pants. Cubes even expanded the line of T-Shirt jerseys because none of the DFW schools would allow regular jerseys due to the dress code. Hell, I wish they had this in guys styles.
Help this clueless male out, what's the difference between a baby T and a regular T-shirt?
The pink jersey with glitter all over them are hilarious.
Tim, baby doll t-shirts, on many women, look way hotter than regularly cut t-shirts.
Baby tee's are cut a bit more narrow, so they hug a females's body more and tend to be shorter (for all the tummy revealing you want to do at a wizards game...)
a boys' XL or L jersey cuts pretty well, but I'm with you...a woman's cut would be nice.
Baby T-s are slimmer cut shirts meant for slimmer women and girls to wear slimmingly. Recently they have been co-opted by whiny dudes with Mister Spock haircuts that wear women's jeans and write pensively in their journals about the scars that life has laid upon their spindly little hearts. Stores sell Iron Maiden baby T-s nowadays for this consumer market.
God help us all.
If you think that their clothing apparel options for women are a wee bit biased, just wait till you go to a game. I have been to and enjoyed professional games for a lot of sports. I have never felt discriminated against because I was female until I went to a wizard's game a few months ago. There is even a separate entrance (and only one mind you) for women who are carrying purses! Talk about discrimination.
You think the Wizards are bad? The entire NHL offers only pink jerseys for women. My sister was not so pleased when she got that gift. Hockey News even did a piece on the public outcry from female hockey fans.
You chicks just get no love, it would appear.
I wanted to buy my sister gear from her favorite teams - the Patriots and the Red Sox. Lo and behold she almost got the pink panties because they were so shocking. Seriously, whose idea was that?! Would a guy even give that as a gift? Maybe the XXXL jersey wouldn't be so bad if it came with a matching belt!
A-FARKING-MEN on the pink fan clothing. I had season tickets to the Cubs in Chicago when I was there and had a lot of chances to observe the phenomenon. The women/girls wearing pink caps, shirts, tank tops, etc. were all dates who were dragged to the occasion by guys and who'd spend the whole game bored and/or drunk.
For those with the bods to pull it off (which basically means anyone who can safely wear a babydoll T): check out the kid sizes. Large and XL "youth" t-shirts fit a lot like S/M and L girly shirts, they are longer, and since it's a demo sports teams aim at, there are a lot of options. And they don't get the "woman's clothing" markup. For almost every Cubs game I attended, I wore an XL youth shirt in genuine Cubs bright-ass blue. Not a pastel to be seen.