It’s stereotyping but also not.

Every one of those behaviors have been exhibited by men in my presence. The peewee screamer yelled at my daughter because didn’t take kindly to his instructions to kick another kid in the head and stopped playing. She was 4.

If you need to hear the #NotAllMen to feel better about yourself, fine. This trope does not apply to all men. But let’s not pretend there is not a behavior problem among men — otherwise the phrase toxic masculinity would never have been coined. Let’s not pretend this behavior problem does not settle itself around certain things, like sports.

FYI, I enjoy sports too. But there’s a difference between people who like and play sports and people who make sports their whole identity and worth. Especially when they’re doing so vicariously. Let’s not pretend we don’t all know men who fit that stereotype.

I played softball and volleyball for years. I played intramural flag football in college. Where, BTW, I was deliberately injured by a male frat boy because he couldn’t handle losing a play to a girl. He hit me with a full body tackle after the play was called from behind while I was standing on the sidelines. He outweighed me by over 100 lbs. He ripped my hamstring and sprained my knee.

I dated a man who broke my TV by throwing the remote at it after the Dolphins lost a game on a bad pass.

The point is, I and many other women have had enough bad experiences with men who worship at a sports alter that we exclude men who LOVE sports as people to date/marry because it’s just not worth it.

Lots of guys have given up playing sports as adults themselves because the concept of a friendly pickup game is beyond some men. They’ll deliberately start shit with intent to harm. Not everyone can afford to miss work from a ripped hamstring because some guy can’t control himself.