Aw, Ain't She Cute?

I should have been documenting this all along. The sporting press, which is mostly composed of men reporting predominantly about men, has never quite figured out how to deal with female competitors, especially when those women compete alongside men. This is a limited area of crossover, of course, but Michelle Wie and Danica Patrick are no longer novelty items.

Here is the latest bit of editorial laziness that caught my eye. From a news alert on ESPN.com:

Danica Patrick is staying in the IRL -- but switching teams. Patrick, who flirted with NASCAR, has signed with Andretti Green Racing and will leave Rahal Letterman when her contract expires at the end of the season.

[My emphasis.]

Really. "Flirted"? Did Michael Jordan "flirt" with the idea of staying retired before he came back to the NBA? Did Paul Konerko "have a dalliance" with the Angels before re-signing with the White Sox? Conversely, did Tiger Woods "pound some brewskis" before deciding to make his return to the PGA Tour at the U.S. Open?

Copy editors of the world, we get it. Ms. Patrick is a girl. There are actually some contexts in her sport to which that fact is relevant. The same can be said of Michelle Wie when she attempts to qualify for men's golf tournaments. However, randomly dropping cutsie verbiage into your news reports is so turn-of-the-century. The 20th century.