When I was a freshman in high school, I played on a junior-varsity girls’ soccer team. I wasn’t very good, but the team was, and we won several games back-to-back by so many goals that some of the other teams called it quits halfway through. And we celebrated. We jumped up and down, screamed with pride, and smashed a pie in our coach’s face. Several years later, I still remember the joy and pride I felt after playing such a minor role in what was then considered a big accomplishment.
Now, imagine taking home the World Cup.
The U.S. women’s soccer team won its second straight title in France last week, and their fans met their return to the U.S. with a celebratory parade in New York City. Feeding off the energy of the crowd, the champions reveled in confetti and champagne and accepted the keys to the city from New York officials. Yes, there was profanity and rowdiness. After the presentation of the keys, one of the players posted a video holding her key, saying, “Hide your kids, hide your wife! And lock your f—ing doors ‘cause we got the keys to the motherf—ing city! And I’m coming for all y’all bitches.”
The language — certainly distasteful — prompted critics to slam the women’s soccer team as unprofessional, un-lady-like, and even unpatriotic.
Far-right pundit Sebastian Gorka called the female athletes “insane” and said they are trying “to destroy everything that is wholesome in our country and in our Judeo-Christian civilization.” It was just yesterday that Gorka referred to a Playboy reporter as an “asshat” in the White House Rose Garden.
Later, another video surfaced of Megan Rapinoe, an outspoken forward who was the tournament’s top scorer, holding the championship trophy and saying, “I deserve this!” Pundit Glenn Beck weighed in by thanking Rapinoe for “being a great example of everything my children should not be,” and declaring that one day she will “receive what you deserve — humility.” Is Rapinoe cocky? Sure. So what? I don’t recall Beck criticizing the dozens of male athletes who have stroked their own egos after hard-earned wins. In fact, no one does — because we’re right there with them, celebrating the talent and athleticism of great players who represent our nation.
No one cares when James Harden “cooks it up,” but when Alex Morgan “disrespectfully” sips tea, there’s a visceral reaction. Lebron James’s “silencer” has become a status quo on the basketball court, but Rapinoe’s arms-wide-open pose turned the game into the “Megan Rapinoe Show,” according to some pundits. Cam Newton can unveil his Superman logo, but when Alex Morgan counts to five, she’s told to focus on the game.
The truth is, Gorka and Beck and the other pundits don’t actually care about the women’s soccer team’s decorum. They care that Rapinoe is an outspoken liberal, and that the team decided not to accept an invitation to the White House because they disagree with the Trump administration. This decision certainly deserves criticism. Rapinoe’s reasoning is all wrong. She should engage ideas that conflict with her own. But it seems that Gorka and Beck suffer from the same one-sided blindness. Just like Rapinoe, they’re unable to separate the politics and humanity of a person.
It’s fine to disagree with the way the women’s soccer team chose to celebrate its victory. I doubt I’d use profanity on live television. I’d probably just opt for the cherry pie. But then, I’ve never won a World Cup.
