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SHE’S A KNOCKOUT….ON THE FIELD AND OFF Christopher Costigan originally published in CTN Magazine
Anita Marks is looking to change that misconception once and for all. In fact, she considers herself a pioneer in what could one day become a thriving sport, Women’s Professional Football. It is easy to see the appeal in this game. Dana “Sparkles” Karwoski, a fellow teammate, commented to this regard: “Roy Barker, who played for the San Francisco 49’ers once told me he knows why women come out to watch men play football, ‘because your asses look real good in those tight pants’ and I shot back that ‘when it rains, we women see right through yours’.” There is definitely a degree of sex appeal when it comes to the female sports, and even the men’s sports to a certain degree (just don’t tell any men that). Anita certainly does not lack any sex appeal. After all, it was only a few months ago she took it all off to appear in the pages of Playboy. Just as Tiger Woods has helped propel golf to another level and how Serena Williams won over a whole new legion of fans for tennis, so too has Anita Marks made her mark in the world of Women’s Professional Football. People are coming out to see her and more and more they are becoming acquainted with Marks through her various media appearances and early morning radio broadcasts as part of the Morning Bullpen trio on 940 AM Fox Sports Radio South Florida. In case you were wondering, Anita has garnered the title of Ultimate Sports Chic. She’s done it with the type of chutzpah one would expect from an independent attractive and extremely self-confident woman who won’t let anything stand in her way…..except maybe her mother (a la the time she made Anita trade in her football uniform for a High School prom gown). The days of doing “girly” things only lasted so long because once in college she immediately joined her university’s flag football team and guided them to four consecutive championships. So much for Girls are not supposed to play football! Anita is every bit the marketable commodity for her own sport as Tiger Woods is for golf. She’s got a tougher challenge ahead of her, however, being that few people know Women’s Professional Football even exists. The fact that none of the games are televised adds yet another strike against this startup league. CTN: What impact would televising these games have on the sport of Women’s Professional Football? ANITA MARKS: Let’s put it this way, we pretty much rely on sponsorships, but they are hard to come by. We’re talking $20,000 to $30,000 sponsorships. Few companies want to sponsor something that is not televised and that really bothers me because we have companies like Nike interested. Fact is if we were televised I would be a millionaire by now. It is pretty frustrating for me. I’ve been told up front by potential sponsors “We would give you a $200,000 to $300,000 sponsorship because you are beautiful and heterosexual, but you’re not televised.” CTN: I know you are doing a lot on your own to try and promote yourself and the league but what more can be done to take Women’s Professional Football to the next level, similar to what has happened with the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association)? ANITA MARKS: Paul Tagliabue, you need to get off your butt! (Tagliabue is the Commissioner of the NFL). If the NFL can come in and create the WNFL this would have to start with Paul Tagliabue. One needs to only look at the success of the WNBA, now in its seventh year, to realize the potential of a Women’s Professional Football League tied in with the NFL. Though not a phenomenally successful concept, the WNBA has managed to thrive and actually has a higher percentage of regular season games televised nationally than America’s favorite pastime, baseball. Press coverage of WNBA as well as women’s soccer has increased the possibilities for professional women athletes in recent years. The WNBA enjoys a television presence beyond the wildest dreams of any new sports league and this is mainly because of its tie in with the NBA. This is the first year the WNBA will function apart from the National Basketball Association backbone. While not yet profitable, the league continues to sell 80% of all available tickets and has doubled in size since its inception in 1997. Such growth would not have occurred without a direct affiliation to the NBA. And we are talking here about a bunch of lanky 6 footers and up wearing oversized shirts and baggy pants, hardly the quintessential sex appeal sport. The WNBA though has done a woeful job of marketing itself over the years and in many ways the WPFL continues to study its mistakes, if only the league had a platform in which to capitalize off of.
CTN: So if we were to attend one of these games, chances are you would see mostly families and young girls? ANITA MARKS: The current breakdown is this: 1) Lesbians; 2) Families with young girls and 3) African American men. The majority of our fans come from the Lesbian community, same for the WNBA. CTN: And is this one of the reasons you chose to do Playboy, as a means of attracting more of a male audience? ANITA MARKS: The reason I chose to pose in Playboy was because I wanted to show there is a Women’s Professional Football League and that, yes, some of the women who play in the league may be appealing to those who read Playboy. CTN: There had to be some drawbacks to appearing in Playboy. For one I understand you took some flack from fellow teammates. ANITA MARKS: Playboy has been a double edged sword for me. Some great things have come out of it, TV, radio, articles, but at the same time Monday Night Football is televised on ABC Television and ABC Television is owned by Disney. This is significant because I tried out for the sideline reporter position vacated by Melissa Starks and the Playboy thing wasn’t going to help me get in there. Lisa Guerrero got the position. And, yes there were teammates who were not happy I posed for that magazine. At the same time, I appeared in the July issue of Muscle and Fitness Magazine as a direct result of posing in Playboy. CTN: But there are those who feel that posing in such a magazine might be degrading to women. ANITA MARKS: I don’t agree. You won’t find this type of mentality in Europe. Nude beaches are everywhere and nobody is disturbed by it like we are in America. Here it is seen as sleazy. Playboy is a very upscale magazine. I am merely trying to demonstrate that it is okay to be beautiful and still play football. Chances are if male professional athletes were paid the same measly salary as their female counterparts, they too would be posing naked in various publications if given that opportunity. For example, WNBA players make between $30,000 and $79,000 whereas the worst NBA players are making in the area of $500,000. As one website pointed out: Olympic swimmer Jenny Thompson was featured on the cover of a Sports Illustrated issue with her hands clenched over her bare breasts. We did not see Tiger Woods naked on the cover with his hands placed strategically over his golf balls, so to speak. There is no need for Tiger Woods to shed his clothes. He makes way too much money endorsing Nike, there is no need for him to do so. This double standard is what enables and entices women to shed their clothes. But then again, in Anita Mark’s case, the Playboy piece probably had less monetary value as reports claim she made considerably less than $100,000. Marks has always contended her primary reason for posing was to draw publicity to Women’s Professional Football and to dispel stereotypes about female athletes. While she may be considered a knockout off the field, Anita is an even bigger knockout on the playing field and she’s not afraid to bang heads with the best of them. She’s small compared to the rest of her teammates (the line averages between 5’10 to 6’ tall and between 230 lb and 280 lb). She’s the starting quarterback though and considered the best in her league. Anita started with the Miami Fury back in 1999, one of more than 90 teams in three major professional women’s football leagues. The WPFL, for which Anita plays now, started five years ago under the tutelage of former Minnesota Vikings Corner Back, J.T. Turner. As it turns out, Anita Marks is not the only one who is drawing attention to her sport. J.T. Turner was released after the discovery that he had been stealing an undisclosed amount of money from the league. Meanwhile, Catherine Masters, owner of the National Women’s Football League, has fought a legal battle with NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue to keep her league’s name. That suit she lost but it garnered her a significant amount of press. Some big household names have shown interest in the sport as well from an owner’s standpoint. Ray Jones Jr., for example, owns the Pensacola Power. Don King, with his strong ties to the South Florida region, at one time expressed an interest in owning the Miami Fury. ANITA MARKS: To own a team requires around a $40,000 investment but operating a team will cost close to $300,000. There are ten games in a season, which translates into lots of travel and it is all by plane. We are not going to be subjected to riding around the country in a bus. We only travel with 30 on the road but that is 30 people that need to sleep and eat. CTN: Give us some idea of the expected turnout depending on what city you are playing in. ANITA MARKS: Dallas definitely has one of the bigger fan bases and they average around 7000 people per game and they actually are a profitable team. A place like Houston you’ll get 3000; New York City, 3000. The Florida teams are lucky if they see 2000. The most we ever had for the Fury was 800. I’m confident that with our new team, the Florida Sting Rays, Angela Beldin (owner) will bring in 2000 the first game. Our Super Bowl is played in the city that draws the most fans, which will likely be Dallas. CTN: Now the Stingrays is a new team but made up mostly of former Miami Fury players, why the switch? ANITA MARKS: Better management, better coaches, better league. Angela (Beldin) also has a strong business and marketing sense to carry this team to the next level. 35% of us were with the Miami Fury and all their key players are now with the Stingrays. I do think we will make it to the playoffs because there is a lot of talent in this organization. CTN: Does one not have to worry about being traded or free agencies, etc… in Women’s Professional Football? ANITA MARKS: Nope. We basically just try out for individual teams. Each year we have about 100 or so girls try out for each team. CTN: One of the reasons I suspect High Schools do not offer football to girls has to do with the "daddy's little girl syndrome" and fear of her getting beaten up. Now having watched your team in practice I can honestly see where that might become a reasonable fear. Surely you must have suffered some form of injury during your playing years. ANITA MARKS: I have had bi-lateral ACL reconstruction, both knees reconstructed, a broken nose, AC joint separation and shoulder impingement.
"I have had bi-lateral ACL reconstruction, both knees reconstructed, a broken nose, AC joint separation and shoulder impingement." - Anita Marks
CTN: Anita, we spoke one time over the radio and you became very animated in regard to the situation that still seems to exist in the Boston sports scene. I’m speaking about racism and you had a personal experience while checking out the local Women’s Professional Football team there. Tell us about that experience.
ANITA MARKS:
I did not realize
how racially segregated Boston is until I visited with the New England
Storm football team. There was only one black player! Let’s face
it, they (African Americans) are more athletically inclined than
Caucasians. Whether it is the fine twitched muscles or whether their
Achilles Tendon is longer, there are genetics involved that make them
superior athletes. I am like “What is wrong here?” and I told them “I
think you need to go recruit some more African Americans for this team” so
the coach responds, “But we really don’t go into that part of town.”
This was a rude awakening for me, how segregated Boston is. It’s not like
that down here in Miami. I’ve personally dated more Black men than White
men. You also need to look at the make up of most other teams in the
league, normally it is 75/50 African American. In Boston, it was more
like one percent or maybe even one half of one percent. To top it all
off, the coach who's telling me this just happens to be Black. ANITA MARKS: I basically told them I was not interested in playing for their team because of the poor racial makeup. CTN: You also have a problem with professional athletes who dismiss the notion that they are role models, correct? ANITA MARKS: Here is the thing, I’ve had people tell me that their daughters want them to switch the radio station over to hear me on The Morning Bull Pen every morning. They tell me things like, “Our daughter has your poster hanging up on her bedroom wall.” I cannot stand (Charles) Barkley’s bullshit about not being a role model. You are a role model! God graced you. You have a responsibility to the kids to be a positive role model. You don’t see me avoiding people and running to the locker room. It’s a shame the mentality of male professional athletes. I have people ask me my favorite male professional team and I tell them “I don’t have a favorite team, just favorite players, athletes that have some humility and involvement in their community.” In the end, Anita realizes she is a human being and at age 33, there may not be many years left in her playing career. That does not matter to her though as she sees herself more as a pioneer than anything else. ANITA MARKS: This is an exciting time for women in sports. I am realistic in that I’m paving the way for those who are younger than me. Whether it happens while I am still playing, I expect to still be here lobbying for the sports of Women’s Professional Football. CTN: Do you see coaching in your future? ANITA MARKS: Coaching? I would love to coach. I personally think I would make a better coach in the NFL though. CTN: A lot of people don’t realize you are an all around athlete. I know you competed on your High School Track team, what other sports do you enjoy playing? ANITA MARKS: Basketball and golf. I’m actually in the process of training for the Professional Celebrity Golf Tour and eventually in October 2004 I will try to go to Qualifying (Q) School to make the LPGA Tour. CTN: And are you confident that Women’s Professional Football will eventually catch on with the mainstream and maybe even some day be televised? ANITA MARKS: I hope so. It’s a shame. The talent is out there. The entertainment value is out there. It just needs to be harnessed. If we got this out there we would have the cream of the crop involved. I see so much potential for this sport. Someone is seriously missing the boat here.
---- Christopher Costigan, Sports911.com Originally published May 2003
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South
Florida born and bred Anita Marks is not one to let a small thing like
gender get in the way of a blossoming professional football career.
As a young girl, Anita once spray-painted the street in front of her
family’s home to resemble a football field. Growing up, she was so
enamored by the game, but Mom refused to let her play and demanded instead
she try out for her High School track and field team. Girls are not
supposed to play football.
ANITA
MARKS: 
Marks
is certainly not shy about speaking her mind as she does so often as a
cohost and “Ultimate Sports Chick” for 940 AM Fox Radio’s Morning Bull
Pen. Among her pet peeves, they include racism in sports and
professional athletes who do not see themselves as role models. 