When I was 16-years-old, I watched the L.A. Galaxy soccer team play the Vancouver Whitecaps.

I noticed two things I considered to be terribly wrong: first, the ratio of people wearing Galaxy jerseys to people wearing Whitecaps jerseys was alarmingly higher — second, from a soccer player point of view, David Beckham wasn’t doing anything productive.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t to say that David Beckham isn’t a talented soccer player — I’m just not so sure all of his fans support him solely on his talent.

I will admit that I once had a poster of him on my wall and it wasn’t up there because it was some awesome picture of him shooting a ball or doing some crazy footwork.

During the game, it was clear he was put on the field only for show. After all, his legs are worth millions of dollars. But really, what’s the point? It would’ve been more worth everyone’s time to go and see a David Beckham fashion show — at least people would know what they were paying for.

This does not apply to those who paid to watch their home team play a game of soccer. This applies to those (such as myself) who came to see Beckham.

Soccer, of course, is only one of many sports in which you see this superficiality trend. It’s become a consistent and normal state of mind.

Football and hockey carry stigmas of their own. Many (but not all) women think it’s sexy when a man plays either of these sports. From a psychological point of view this makes sense, as these men often fight in games and therefore women subconsciously feel a sense of protection given off by the players.

Again, this has nothing to do with the sport itself or how well the athlete plays the sport. It’s all right to acknowledge that a talented player is also attractive, but the best players and the best looking players should be kept separate.

This brings us to the old debate about how it’s attractive for men to play these kinds of sports, but many find it unattractive and manly for women to do so.

Why is this?

The only reason I can think of is that, in these environments, women are being openly physical and fighting — which is perhaps threatening to some men. But again, shouldn’t it be about the sport? And if women want to play, why should they be judged more on how they look and act while doing it, than on how well they play their game?

I was recently on the website for the U.S. Open, and at the bottom of the page I noticed a link to a website called poll4us.com. When I clicked on the link, it brought me to a page which said, “Are you put off by the grunts of Maria Sharapova; do you find it appealing or are you irritated by it?”

Who cares what kinds of noises she makes? I don’t ever remember there being a rule about silence while playing tennis.

Athletes should be judged on their performance and how they play their game. If they are going to be judged on looks, sounds, or anything else, then they should be considered as any other non-sporty person is — as a human being.