Cal Sport Media via AP Images14 years of pro football experience. Masters Degree in sports psychology and a PhD in psychology. Two gold medals. Sounds like an ideal candidate for a professional football team to us.
Oh, and she also happens to be a woman. But that's neither here nor there because her resume speaks for itself.
The Arizona Cardinals have announced the hiring of Jen Welter, a former collegiate rugby player and veteran of the Women's Football Alliance, to their training camp and preseason staff as an intern coach. She'll be working with inside linebackers because obviously she's a badass. She won two gold medals for Team USA in the International Federation of American Football Women's World Championship and she was the first female to have a non-kicking position in a men's pro football league when she played running back for the Revolution arena football team.
"Coaching is nothing more than teaching," head coach Bruce Arians said. "One thing I have learned from players is, ‘How are you going to make me better? If you can make me better, I don't care if you're the Green Hornet, man, I'll listen.' I really believe she'll have a great opportunity with this internship through training camp to open some doors for her."
Arians added that after speaking to the veteran Cardinals players, they were all "very cool" with Welter taking on the position.
You know who is not "very cool" with Dr. Welter? Humans who still think women are the inferior sex and shouldn't dare set food out of the kitchen. Also known as people who apparently time-traveled from 1951. What bummed us out most about seeing these comments on Facebook and Twitter is that a lot of them came from women. We're bumming hard over that, you guys.
Here are actual comments pulled from articles about Welter's hiring and from Twitter, and we want to stress the word "actual" because we can't make up this level of misogyny and stupidity. Seriously, we had to bust out the ol' [sic] a lot:
"This is objectively immoral on so many levels. I find this telling [sic] that our society cannot see this."
"If they blitz on every down she's on her period just saying."
@jwelter47 @AZCardinals @BruceArians wtf are you guys doin?? females don't belong on an NFL coach staff or football field for that matter...
? Cody (@CKujawa22) July 28, 2015"Women have no place in a mans [sic] sport, they should be home cooking and taking care of the children."
"Women don't belong in the NFL. Just like men don't belong in the LPGA or Women's Football Alliance. Now it won't stop until there are women suited up on the field w/ the men."
"This ranks higher on the stupid scale than that female replacement ref."
"oh well 0-16 this year but at least shes hot."
Keep them ALL away from football https://t.co/2mxWgt7e4O
? Americas Choice (@Des4gr8ness) July 28, 2015"Hormones coaching testosterone. What the f--k is happening to the NFL? Can I at least see how a female coach does in the Lingerie Football League first?"
"Should stick to womens [sic] leagues. don't think these guys are gonna be taking lessons from her to be honest. publicity stunt and a stupid one at that."
I'm all for gender equality but there are boundaries...no way a woman should be coaching in the NFL unless she's a PT
? Etser Edouard (@Pasterr_22) July 28, 2015"Whats [sixc] gonna happen when all the players are taking a shower and walking around naked? does she have to go in another room for a nudie timeout? or is she gonna sue the cards for sexual harassment?"
"Women need to stop trying to force themselves into our sports and stay within their own. There's a reason why women's sports suck and nobody watches."
So there is now a female coach for the Arizona Cardinals that will be coaching inside linebackers. I'm sorry but wtf.
? Chris Ossa (@ossa2717) July 28, 2015"A female can offer no insight to a male game. Prime example is how awful female sports is that no man will watch it [sic]."
"Football will fall once women really start getting integrated into the league."
Basically, it's the same comments that were spewed from the mouth of morons when the NFL hired its first female ref. If you don't want to go back and read those reactions, we can sum it up for you:
"LOL she's gonna get her period so she can't ref a game!"
Seriously. That was the gist of it.
To everyone who is excited over this hire and can see the importance of it—and there are thankfully thousands of you, cheers to you for having a brain and using it to, you know, think. We were able to spot you easily among the sludge because of your usage of proper punctuation and grammar. It made weeding out the idiots a lot easier, so thanks!
And congrats on the new position, Dr. Welter!