Lingerie Football League Giving Women's Sports A Bad Name

I thought I would have a hard time finding another topic to discuss until a friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, for sake of embarassment, sent me a link for lingerie football. I actually cannot believe that these women actually get paid to play. Really, women running around playing full contact football in lingerie? This is pathetic and quite sad. Women have a hard enough time trying to prove themselves in the sports arena compared to their male counterparts and in athleticism, without throwing in a curve that depicts them as sexual objects while playing a game.

The Lingerie Football League (LFL) is an indoor football league that was founded in 2003, but the inaugural season did not begin until this year. It is not a surprise to find out that the the administrative offices for the league are located in none other than, West Hollywood, California. The idea for this league originated from the Superbowl halftime special the "Lingerie Bowl" which is aired annually on pay-per-view, opposite the Superbowl halftime show. To add another flame to the fire, most of the teams are coached by former NFL players and coaches. Maybe Michael Vick can take this up as an extra-curricular activity instead of his former dog-fighting arena. Yes, I am putting both into the category of being morally wrong. The only difference in my opinion is that one is illegal, the other is not. The whole thing is nothing but an exploitation of women that further makes women's sports fall a little further to the wayside.

There are 10 teams in the league and some of team names speak for themselves:

Philadelphia Passion

Chicago Bliss

Miami Caliente

New York Majesty

Tampa Breeze

Dallas Desire

Denver Dream

Los Angeles Temptation

San Diego Seduction

Seattle Mist

As you can see, some teams chose very appropriate names for themselves when you think of women palying football in lingerie. Unfortunatley, I do have to provide you with a link to this topic, although I in know way support it, I will spare you the many u-tube videos available and send you to the official site http://www.lflus.com/.

Who Says Women Can't Play Football

In 1999, two businessmen decided to start the Women's Professional Football League. They started the league becuase they thought the sport would be perfect for today's market. The league started out with only two teams, but has expanded quite a bit since the first years.Unfortunately, due to most of the teams moving to other leagues, such as the National Women's Football Association and the Independent Women's Football League, the original league is in jeopardy. Unless the league is able to get more teams they are going to have difficulty keeping it going especially since there are other football leagues that teams can choose from. The WPFL now only has two teams left and more than likely, those teams will move to another league for the 2009 season.

Another reason why the league has trouble surviving is that women are only paid a small amount of money to play and most have jobs away from the football field. Trying to maintain a full time job, as well as trying to find time to compete makes it very difficult for the league to survive. This is a problem that pertains to all of women's professional sports.

The IWFL offers players incentives and a chance to earn performance bonuses in an effort to offset the fact that professional women athletes just don't make alot of money. The league offers 16 cash prizes totaling $13,500 in the following categories:

Pre Season (Prizes will be awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place)

Bench Press (max reps of 150 lbs) – All Registered Players

40 Yard Dash – All Registered Players

Regular Season (Prizes will be awarded to all players that meet the set goal in each category)

Offense

Total Touchdowns – Prize: $1000

Total Rushing - Prize: $1000

Total Receptions - Prize: $1000

Quarterback Accuracy - Prize: $1000

Sacks allowed (this is a group bonus for the O Line) - Prize: $1000

Defense

Total Interceptions - Prize: $1000

Total Sacks - Prize: $1000

Total Tackles - Prize: $1000

Special Teams

Extra Point Accuracy - Prize: $1000

Field Goal Accuracy - Prize: $1000

The WPFL has opened many doors for women's sports in general and has proven that women can play any sports that men can. It has lasted almost a decade and although it hasn't officially shut down, things are not looking good for the women's football league that started it all. If you think about it, most sports were very sexist (some still are) and 40 years ago there were very few women athletes because of the sexism. All of the

leagues are  full contact and the women play the sport just like men do. If you love watching the hard hitting action of the NFL, you should check out the action of women's football. They can hit just as hard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UzVGW5-0u4.