Yes and some that I know are fanatics about football! Being a ref would be their dream job. Good to see progress in the NFL.

When I watched the superbowl one year with a group who had girlfriends that were not NFL fans, they talked louder than the announcers the entire game.... uhg

#fail

#readingfail

so early in this thread to start the nonsense.

On the other hand, you ask a question with the OP, then immediately let everyone know that no disagreement is to be expressed. That right there is some world class nonsense.

says more about the poster saying it than it does about women or their physical abilities.

Hers?

Seems to me that you are the only one making that connection.

Your reference is quite meaningless as that thread was a hot mess and god only knows what motivations were in play for many of the posts.

and linking to the permalink reduces the likeliness that anyone would catch it.
Here's another post of her's from that sub-thread.

What I provided was a link to the post and someone can easily see the posts surrounding it.

To be honest, the context actually makes the poster look worse.

happy now?

though she also says some other stuff though...yikes.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2952192claim

with an attempted smear campaign against a long time donating DUer with a squeaky clean record.

the poster who accused LGBT posters of only caring about same sex marriage as opposed to caring about all civil rights issues?

who is this squeaky clean poster you speak of?

http://metamorphosis.democraticunderground.com/1014800179#post65

on having female referees. Try to make things about the issue and not the poster, how's that?

besides nonsense.

Want to say that to Ronda Rousey's face?

How would he fare?

In fact I am all for it. Pretending women have the same strength as men based on a UFC fighter is silly though.

Facts:

The average man is stronger than the average woman.
The strongest men (those in combat sports, heavy contact sports, and strength sports such as weightlifting) are stronger than the strongest women
The strongest human being alive (how do you qualify? Deadlift? Squat? Bench press?) is almost certainly a man.

That said, there are MILLIONS of women in the world stronger than the average man. And 99.9999% of jobs there are millions of women able to meet said qualifications. An NFL referee is one of them.

Saying women can't do x job because women are too weak is nonsense. Unless it's competing with men in highly physical sports there are enough women who can do the job that we shouldn't even consider a blanket exclusion. Not for a firefighter or combat soldier and sure as hell not for an NFL referee.

posted though (this is a side note).

Not that they could defeat him in a UFC fight.

Many people even here on DU will say "men are stronger than women" (direct quote) though.

Last edited Sat Apr 4, 2015, 09:21 PM - Edit history (1)

No I'm preempting the arguments that brute strength is all that matters. Which is what sexist usually do and why they hang onto war and football, since those are the only things that can be said to require it and that men overall have more of it.

Don't let hatred of people who once disagreed with you take over your reason.

it's all they have ever had

It sounds like Ms. Thomas has made the cut in a field that doesn't have many openings (there can be only so many refs) so congratulations to her.

The NBA has had female refs for a long time. And it's not like the officials are blocking, tackling and running through the defense with 11 monsters trying to separate their head from their shoulders. Some of the geezers I have seen on NFL gridirons over the years are surely less fit and able than a younger woman official would be.

but the refs I see running to and fro are not 6'4" and 300 pounds. I'm sure that if she is accidentally knocked down, she won't sustain much more injuries than anyone else.

I wish her good luck!

there are holds on every play- most just don't get seen.

if anything to be the first woman chosen to be a referee, it's likely they were far superior to other possible candidates.

if you want to say that the playing field is level, have the guts to say it.

and we'll disagree.

oh, nevermind, if you won't, then I will:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025669085#post2

You ask such an ignorant question?

apparently not.

..the football they play in the 25th century is nothing like the football they play now.

The first sport to be integrated is baseball, then what U.S. Americans call "soccer," and past that the women playing hockey on mixed teams in the 22nd century will make conservative older male fans born in early 21st century shit their pants. It's almost like ballet combined with kung-fu, with an occasional elbow or knee to an opponent's solar plexus and downed players sliding across the ice to gracefully leap over.

Until science can come up with the drugs that can "muscle up" and "grow" a woman who can actually complete with men in these particular sports, and sports leagues allow it, this is how it's going to be. (If any of the major sport is integrated, it will be soccer, since endurance is such a major factor in the game, and not brute strength.)

It's physics, science, health, and whatever else you want to call it, but it's not because conservatives don't want women to play those sports. Women simply can't compete at that physical level.

The beauty of baseball is it is played in bursts of athleticism with long periods of rest between bursts. If you play third base, you only have to practice athleticism when (1) you are on offense, (2) someone hits or throws the ball into your area of responsibility or (3) a player on the other team makes it past second. If you're a left fielder you practice athleticism when you're on offense or someone hits or throws it into left field. When your athleticism is complete, you just stand there and wait for the next play.

I know..."but women can't hit big league pitching!" Since the World Champion San Francisco Giants had a team BA of .255 in 2014, it's safe to say a lot of guys who are currently on MLB active rosters can't consistently hit it either.

The vast majority of male players will never make the major leagues. And I do contend that "power" plays a major role at bat. When they do hit the ball, they want to hit it with as much power as possible. Women just don't have that upper body strength. The very best women will not be competing with the very best of men unless, maybe,

Soccer, on the other hand, is a game of endurance, and is played with a ball filled with air, so power is not needed quite as much, but I must admit to not following soccer very much until World Cup fever hits. Still, I think it will be very tough for women to compete at World Cup level with men.

"encyclopedic knowledge of the rules of professional football and their practical application on the field of play"

and

"situational awareness and mobility sufficient to get out of the way of 20mph brick walls like Kam Chancellor, Ndamukong Suh and Vince Wilfork."

I can't see any reason why a woman who meets both those requirements wouldn't be as good a ref as a man who does - ESPECIALLY since the first one is more of a guideline than a hard-and-fast demand.

nt

I don't have a problem with it.

During the officials strike a woman was an official during an NFL game.

Her whistle and hat are on display in the Hall of Fame.

When I go back for a visit to Ohio (haven't been there since 92) I will stop by Canton. The last time I was at the Hall of Fame was 1981

And of course the same old D-Word's hop into this thread to spout their same old D-Word bullshit.

Sad little fuckers.

some try to be more subtle since some know they're on a short leash, but the sentiment is sadly obvious.

short, or otherwise. You gave treestar a bunch of crap up above, and tried to imply that she is a man. Are you now trying to imply that she's a dog on a leash?

The men doing have worked long and hard to get where they are at, as has Ms. Thomas. Her moving from the NCAA to the NFL is the same path the guys take, and she has put in her time. If she can acclimate to the speed of the NFL (not everyone can) then she should have the job.

You go Sarah

I'd love to see female officials. The NBA already did it.

Women play fantasy football, watch football, spend their money on football, so yeah, let's see female officials.

it doesn't change the nature of the game.

That is, female officials should not be treated any differently than the male officials are.

The players should not try to avoid running into them because they're women, thereby missing running yardage or catches.

OTOH, players should not purposely try to run them down if, for some reason, they happen to think that women don't belong on the field in an officiating role.

All things being equal, people should be able to do jobs they're able to do, mentally and physically.

why in the world could a woman not be a ref?

They had the chance years ago and refused...