I've been an massive fan of all sports for my entire life. I love pretty much everything. Later this week, you'll find me positioned directly in front of the tv for hours a day watching the world's greatest endurance race ( The Tour De France ) commence. Pretty much everyday starts off with me watching Sportscenter, and ends the exact same way. I could write an entire blog about my love of my Chargers, Clippers, Mets, and Chelsea FC, but I'll save that for another day.
Instead, I want to discuss why women's sports teams are absent from modern games. I really enjoy watching women's soccer for example. In the US, the only soccer team we can expect to be the best of the best, is the US Women's National Team. This past week, Abby Wambach surpassed Mia Hamm's all time scoring record with a 4 goal performance against Korea. Now why can't I relive this moment in Fifa. Its a crime.
These women gave everything they had in life to pursue a lifelong dream, and they should be rewarded with a video game likeness. Why can't Brittney Griner dunk over Chris Bosh in NBA 2K? Why can't Alex Morgan crack a strike from outside the box past Gianluigi Buffon? Its unrealistic, sure, but so is pretty much everything in gaming. Fifa already gives you the ability to have the best soccer players of all time against current teams, why can't women take the pitch alongside the men. Sports games are perfect for these what if scenarios. Whether its seeing Michael Jordan and LeBron go head to head, or Pele schooling the 2013 Spanish National Team's defense, as Kevin Garnett put it, " Anything is possible!" in sports games, so why not include women's teams.
I just don't understand what the hold up is for these features. Yearly iterations come and go without the most glaring omission being put into the game. I know several people that have never watched an English Premiere League match, but strain their vocal cords rooting on our Women's National team. Fifa has no problems selling millions of copies, but I have to think including women would open up a wider audience. There are several young girls who have Alex Morgan or Hope Solo posters on the wall, and grow up idolizing these players. Why can't they use their heroes in a game like Fifa, or Why can't WNBA fans watch Maya Moore dominate the competion in NBA 2K. It just boggles my mind. It might be a graphical reason for excluding them. Anyone who has played Madden knows that Clay Matthews' hair spins around like a helicopter blade, or UFC fans know that Clay Guida and George Sotiropoulos couldn't be in UFC Undisputed 2010 because the developers couldn't get the hair and body shape correct respectively.
Its just absurd that we don't have women's sports teams yet. Whether its developers undermining the popularity of said teams, or just an inability to make women's teams for some reason unbeknownst to me, hopefully the next generation of sports games will do the intelligent thing and have women take their rightful place alongside men on the court or the pitch.