A little football, a little fashion and, female fans say, fun

“Touchdowns and Tiaras” started like most afternoons of football do.

Cocktails first, then the game.

The Air Force Academy event Thursday drew a wide-ranging group of about 350 women, almost twice the number organizers had anticipated.

“You know, it’s a chance to be around the Air Force Academy, learn about football and most of all, have some fun,” said Troy Calhoun of the event. He was star of the afternoon, a winning head coach for Falcons football for two years now.

Women, it seems, are the new frontier of the game. Last year the NFL launched a $10 million marketing campaign targeting women, who make up almost half of football fans. The push include yoga mats, nail polish and a collaboration with Victoria Secret.

“Touchdowns and Tiaras” was modeled on similar football get-togethers held across the country, said Calhoun and his wife, Amanda, who was an organizer. This event, which included dinner and a fashion show hosted by Gazette CRAVE fashion diva Tanya Bell, was not about selling anything, Amanda Calhoun said. It was about giving female fans their own time.

Being a fan doesn’t mean you have a great understanding of the game, said Tina Erzen.

“I know offense from defense and most positions, but I don’t know the plays,” she said. “I’m here to learn and hopefully support the Air Force Academy.

“The food and the fashion doesn’t hurt either.”

So, after an introduction by the Calhouns, about a dozen grinning Falcon coaches took their audience through offense (the shotgun formation) and defense (the blitz) plays.

Offensive coordinator Blane Morgan walked the women through the offensive play slowly, gesturing to a dry erase board covered with symbols that looked more like mathematic equations than positions in a game.

“We call the wide receiver X,” he said, “the X factor. Now he’s going to run five yards. That’s not hard to count. It’s five yards apart.”

One woman asked if plays change in the huddle (“We don’t huddle much,” Morgan said). Another stood up to point at a mark that represented the tailback.

“He won’t go to that guy?” she asked of the quarterback. “Never ever?”

There are no dumb questions, said Morgan, “if it helps them to watch the game.”
But might it be a little patronizing to assume that women don’t know about football? Or that to learn about it requires the lure of cocktails and a fashion show?

No, said many, including Amanda Calhoun. One fan, who described herself as rabid, even thanked Calhoun for “not dumbing it down.”

Crystal White agreed. She has been a football fan since her grandfather showed her how to play. And while she admits to be excited by the prospect of seeing the locker room, she's really there to get a close up look at the AFA game. She describes it as pure and finessed, the kind you play when you don't have 300-pound players on the line.

“As a female fan, I’ll never have the perspective the guys do playing,” she said, “even after watching for 30 years. This brings me into the game.”