Women have been shut out from the tarps-off phenomenon exploding in Major League Baseball and other sports, but Dani Wexelman and Katie Nolan want to change that.
The viral trend that sees men of varying ages strip off their shirts and wave them around like rally towels began last year in college football, but it emerged at a St. Louis Cardinals game earlier this season and has since spread to games across Major League Baseball. Naturally, women have not wanted to take their shirts off among other sports fans, but that shouldn’t exclude them from participating in the trend.
Cardinals reporter Dani Wexelman joined Katie Nolan on her Mad Dog Sports Radio show on SiriusXM this week, where they discussed ways of getting women involved.
Girls just want to have fun too!@katienolan & @DaniWex have officially entered the discussion about MLB’s viral “Tarps Off” movement… Baseball may never recover 😂⚾️
🎧 Listen to Katie’s show Fan Service: https://t.co/QwtC5RBF1r pic.twitter.com/p7nU9cxf5B
— Mad Dog Sports Radio (@MadDogRadio) June 10, 2026
“Tarps off is a phenomenon,” Wexelman noted. “And I have been thinking hard about this because women deserve to participate in the section, but I don’t think they’re going to take their tarps off, so we need to come up with an alternative…they deserve to be in the section too.”
Nolan suggested women could take their pants off and participate that way — assuming they have underpants on — but then decided a pants-off trend wouldn’t work as well as tarps off because it would be harder to notice on the broadcast. Wexelman said maybe a “tarps off” shirt or rally towel might be sufficient, but this is still an untested working concept for women.
“Men love to take their tops off and swing it around their heads,” Wexelman explained. “Their bellies are hanging out…but they don’t care, they’re unabashedly just being themselves.”
A month ago, fans who weren’t going topless at sporting events probably expected the trend to fade before inventing a way for women to safely participate. But as we enter the warmer months of the baseball season, tarps off still seems to be growing in popularity. And if the trend is going to keep growing, then why not find ways of bringing in new participants? But maybe keep their pants on.
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com