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'Girls Night In'? No thanks, GameStop

9:00 AM Fri, Aug 29, 2008 | Permalink
Pamela Reinsel Cotter

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I love football. NFL football. I grew up in Pittsburgh during the Steelers dynasty days of the '70s, and I can't remember a fall weekend when I wasn't glued to the TV watching as much football as I could.

That's why I'm completely offended by the "Girls Night In" promotion GameStop has been running during its launch of "Madden NFL '09" game.

The campaign is designed to get women to try the Wii version of Madden '09, by having a little pajama party around the gaming console. Give me a large break.

First off, the NFL reports that about 40 percent of its viewing audience is female (and these are 2006 numbers, so they may've been higher last season). That's a lot of women who know the difference between a cornerback and a quarterback.

Women who love the game (not just the ones who "bleed Black & Gold," as we Steeler fans say) don't need a list of football vocabulary terms from GameStop, thank you very much. They even have the "balls" to put "half back" on that list, a term that hasn't been useful since the Korean War.

Gee, I guess "split ends" aren't just for hair anymore.

And I'm not alone in seeing this as what it is, a stupid idea that probably gets a lot of female football fans upset. One of my colleagues at our sister paper, The Dallas Morning News, writes the the promotion, "teeters on the edge of condescension, with useful features such as a dictionary of basic football lingo set against more dubious offerings such as a list of 'Touchdown Recipes.' "

Hey, I don't know about you, but when football's on I don't cook. I put frozen chicken wings in the oven and get out the chips and salsa. There's no such thing as a big Sunday dinner at my house during football season.

Because this is the Fitness Inside & Out blog, I'd like to point out that playing Madden '09 in your game room (even the Wii version), isn't a very good way to spend a healthy evening. I suggest doing a little Pilates in front of the TV during the game -- you'll feel better about yourself.

My kids have one of the versions of the Madden games, and they do pretty well at it. I've played it with them. It's not so bad. But GameStop's latest campaign means I won't be buying '09. This pitch was thrown like a girl all the way around: they even put Brett Favre on the game's cover in his Packers uniform.