There is no "Eye" in "TEAM"

Is it just me, or does American softball pitcher Jennie Finch, voted "Hottest Female Athlete" by ESPN.com Page2 readers, seem less attractive for the amount of eye make-up she wears during competition? She herself has said, "I think there's so much beauty in female athletes, no matter who it is," and I agree and wish that she'd trust her own natural beauty and dominating talent to make her attractive. Who am I to say what an athlete "should" look like, but to me it seems just as out of place as Red Sox Johnny Damon's unfrozen caveman centerfielder look, which no one has shied away from criticizing. And I don't think there's a double standard here since I would definitely criticize a Major League pitcher if he took the mound wearing a lot of eye make-up. Of course, eyebrows plucked for the previous night's gala event aren't going to grow back that quickly and so some of this can be excused. But in the locker room, do you apply the eyeshadow before or after stretching? This just seems wrong. Although, the more I think about it, the more I'm wondering if there isn't some sort of on-field advantage to this? I've never seen a picture of her wearing sunglasses, and so perhaps she uses the dark mascara as a form of eye-black to cut the glare without obscuring her vision? Or maybe she sees it as a potential way to distract the batter, just as it has distracted me?

Jennie Finch Johnny Damon

I suppose it can be difficult to somehow be both a world-class athlete and still remain "feminine," but this seems the wrong way to go about it. I believe both the LPGA and whatever the tennis governing body is have both called for their athletes to appear more sexy for the good (read TV ratings) of the sport and have both been rebuked for it.