An article in today’s Philly Inquirer irked me to no end. The headline: “Female fans turned on by the Phils.” The premise: there are a lot of serious female baseball fans! And it’s not just because the ballplayers are cute!
What’s one of the big rules of journalism? You don’t write “dog bites man” stories? The fact that in 2010 there are serious female baseball fans who actually like the game, keep score and know what the hell they’re talking about is a dog bites man story. This story, however, seems like it was premised on just how unexpected it is to find such exotic beasts. The “turned on” verbiage from the headline seems like a giveaway.
But of course the writer found several serious female baseball fans. Such a thing should be easy, especially in a city with a rich baseball heritage like Philadelphia. Which makes me wonder what the point of the article was in the first place.