I hope I'm not the only one who finds this term among high school athletic teams utterly ridiculous. I'm baffled by this whenever I go to a high school game of some sort and I see a handful of girls, sittin' pretty on the team's bench and scurrying around to retrieve water or towels for the players. These girls are referred to as "managers." I have a problem with this.
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| pc: Kansas City |
First of all, there are many other labels that come along with this position: slut, whore, thirsty, skank, you get the idea. Unfortunately, there have been cases where those names have been proven true, therefor condemning the title of "manager" for any girl who has absolutely no interest in hooking up with hot athletes. NEWSFLASH: just because a girl wants to be a manager, doesn't mean she's a slut. It's entirely possible that she may just love the sport.
Take me for example: I signed up to be a manager for my high school baseball team because I love baseball. Always have, always will. Not only do I love baseball, I know baseball. I know how to keep score, I know the leagues, teams, players, and I keep myself updated on minor league news. I know baseball. And one thing I know about baseball is that the manager of a professional baseball team is the guy who makes all the decisions. Who plays where, when, and why. You don't see Mike Matheny collecting dirty uniforms, right? A major league baseball manager is the coach. A high school baseball manager is a water and towel girl. So I think that it's rather unfair and insulting to call these girls managers when they don't make the batting order, they don't decide who starts and closes, and they don't know when to apply a shift or other adjustments to the infield. I guess what I have a problem with is the title "manager." If a girl actually wants to sign up to be a water and towel girl, then good for her, godspeed.
I personally call myself the scorekeeper and statistician because I'm the only, uh, "manager" out of the three girls who signed up who knows how to keep the book. Ideally, girls would have to pass a test of some sort to become a high school team manager. I really think it should be a requirement to know at least something about the sport.
So what are your thoughts? I'm very interested in what other people have to say about this.
Sincerely,
A High School Girl
