After the NCAA Championship two weeks ago, Florida’s
Joakim Noah complained that some of the UCLA cheerleaders had
called him “ugly.” Noah had called attention to himself
during the game by blowing kisses and talking to the cheerleaders
throughout the night.
By listening to certain female students talk about the game in
the next few days, it seemed as though this discussion of
Noah’s looks and behavior was prevalent around campus. Not a
word was said about his nine rebounds and six blocks by any of
these women. Instead, the topic of discussion was how he was
unlikely to make People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man
Alive” list anytime soon.
We all enjoy sports and supporting our favorite teams, watching
top athletic competition and being a part of the whole atmosphere.
But for some women, there is one added perk. There are some pretty
good-looking athletes to check out as well.
Being cute is not a must to becoming a star in professional
sports, but it certainly helps. A great player will be recognized
by his peers and those who follow the sport, but not by the ladies
out there who are never caught browsing through Sports
Illustrated.
No matter how many World Cup Championships soccer star
Ronaldinho wins with Brazil, he will never be as popular as David
Beckham. Meanwhile, Beckham is still looking to claim his first
Spanish championship with Real Madrid and has failed to capture any
significant tournament as captain of the English team.
Beckham is more than a soccer player in his native England; he
is just as popular as the queen. And while he is probably one of
the best midfielders of his time, this cannot on its own justify
the notoriety Beckham enjoys throughout the world.
A Google search reveals more than 16.8 million Web sites that
mention David Beckham. He has fans in Japan, the U.S. and even
India, who probably would have never heard of Beckham had it not
been for his cheeky smile and perfect abs. All it took was some
smart publicity moves from his wife, Victoria (better known as Posh
Spice), to transform him into a fashion icon. Ladies throughout the
world gasp at his ever-changing hairstyle.
Basketball, football and baseball all have players that appeal
mostly to female fans, but if there is one sport that delivers in
the cuteness department, it is certainly tennis.
There is just something about tennis players, whether they are
professional or not, it doesn’t matter; the
“something” is always there. I asked around to find out
what made them special, but it turned out to be a complicated
phenomenon to point out.
“Tennis is a clean-up sport; you hardly ever see any bad
boys, so I guess that plays a part in it,” graduate student
in political science Ashlea Barr said.
OK, but even the “bad boys” of tennis enjoy their
share of female attention. Chilean player Marcelo Rios repeatedly
won the “lemon prize” at the French Open, a prize
awarded by the press to the “least cooperative” player
of the two weeks. And yet, girls all around the globe dreamed of
the South American’s green eyes.
“Rios was in the first professional tennis match I ever
saw,” second-year Santa Monica City College student Lauren
Schiller said. “I came home with 34 pictures of him and only
two of the other player, and I don’t actually remember who he
was.”
“Tennis players are on their own on the court and have to
make smart decisions to win the point,” graduate UCLA
Extension student Marie Parde said. “Knowing that they are
not completely dumb helps.”
But if the players are wonderful on their own, do the coaches
still matter as much?
I wonder if there is any female tennis player out there who has
never, even for a week, had a crush on her tennis coach. Usually
young, tan and in incredible shape, tennis coaches are far from the
worst people to spend an hour with. Some cliches, like this one,
just might be true.
“You can’t look pretty when you are all sweaty
playing tennis,” Barr said. “But the coach always
treats you well, gives you full attention and never judges
you.”
And looking at the crowds around LATC, it seems as though
college tennis players work their charm as well. When the Bruins
played Stanford two weeks ago, there were definitely more girly
cheers emerging from the stands than masculine shouts. Apparently,
this is the case with other college tennis teams as well.
“We had quite a lot of girls coming to watch us,”
former Division I player Adam Bordow said, who played for Butler
University in Indianapolis. “Being an individual sport, I
guess tennis gives you enough self-confidence to make it easier (to
appeal to girls).”
Tennis gives athletes with that charismatic look just an added
advantage when it comes to drawing female attention and fan
support.
E-mail Cantryn at
mcantryn@media.ucla.edu if you also thought Noah
wasn’t actually that bad looking.