Let’s get one thing straight here. Girls. Know. Sports.

Yes, some girls would rather comment about another girl’s shoes than a .598 batting average, and maybe some girls do think shopping sounds like a better pastime than attending a basketball game.

That’s not speaking for everyone, of course.

Watching a sporting event with a few unnamed males, I can never be too careful when I decide to comment on a game. If I remark on a penalty that wasn’t accounted for or a play that didn’t work out, I get rebutted.

‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Or another example:

‘What are you even saying?’

Excuse me.

Since when was it such an alien concept that a girl might know what’s going on in sports? Can I not watch ESPN without getting questioned?

It’s not rocket science to figure out that a touchdown puts points on the board, or that a goal requires the ball to actually go into the net. Girls even know the nitpicky details all sports include.

There will be times when I disapprove of a team or share my views about a specific player and I immediately get interrogated.

‘Name one reason you don’t like them.’

‘I bet you don’t even know what position he plays.’

Let’s not forget about the sports that aren’t in the realm of football, basketball, and baseball. Guys might know every statistic there is about the three most common athletic pastimes in America, but there are other sports that exist. Do guys know everything about cricket, rugby and lacrosse as well?

It also can depend on the sports people compete in. Girls probably know more about softball and volleyball because they’re female dominant; and maybe that’s why guys think they know more about football–girls never had the chance to play it. We learn it from the sidelines.

In the stands of a football game, some people are legitimately confused about what’s going on, both genders included. I’ve heard guys ask questions about what happened during a play too. Maybe sports just aren’t their thing.

This is what you don’t do: assume girls have no idea what they’re talking about. It’s rude–and in the case of girls who watch sports, completely sexist–to make assumptions about what someone knows and what someone doesn’t know.

Girls who do know sports are not unicorns; they exist.