On Elizabeth Lambert of University of New Mexico
2009-11-06 00:15:00
Edit: A brief post on Labert's apology and initial suspension.Elizabeth Lambert's demolition job on BYU's strikeforce is in heavy rotation on the intertubes today:
ESPN's coverage of the event appears to be pretty evenhanded, focusing on "Julie Foudy, tell us in your vast, infinite wisdom: how the fuck wasn't Lambert sent off?" Overall, not too different from ESPN's usual coverage of sports with a niche following - wait until something bizarre like this happens and put it in rotation.
Over on Twitter some are saying that Lambert got just as good as she was giving, others are saying she's the dirtiest player alive. I tend to agree with the first crowd - there's no question Lambert was getting provoked. Before the hairpull Lambert gets taken down by Kassidy Shumway, and immediately before the hairpull Shumway is grabbing Lambert's shorts. We also see Lambert get elbowed before she punches the other player in the back. While Lambert clearly went over the line with her retaliations, it's not like the refs weren't allowing the game to be played at a very, very physical rate. I think this picture of Lambert and Shumway from cougerblue.com says all you need to know about how tough this game was:
The pony-tail pull to cripple her opponent from behind was undoubtedly Lambert's tour-de-force that will get get her a suspension. But let's be honest, some of you sorta wish someone would do something like that to Beckerman.
And of course there's the sexism in the mainstream reaction. Headlines like, The Devil Wears Shin Pads, New Mexico Women's Soccer: Probably Tougher Than Cristiano Ronaldo, and innumerable cat-fight references are popping up all over. The real fun is in the comments to Bill's post:
I'd do her.
Though, her bio says her favorite food is "tacos" so perhaps New Mexico isn't the only other team she plays for. - Sandon Mibut
I don't care what she does, she's HOT!!! The fact she can slap some other fems about like rag dolls makes her even HOTTER!!! (starts a shrine)
She's like a viking chick! A super villain woman! A... never mind she's just crazy. - MightyMouse
Yeah, the worst fights I've ever seen have been between girls. Specially if a) It's over a guy. B)alcohol is involved or c) it's during a sporting event.
I mean, shirtless redneck meth heads have more decorum and sense of fair fighting than some of the girls I've seen in scuffles. And the majority of these took place when i was in college, so these nutters were members of a institute of higher learning. -StingerC
[She wasn't sent off]^^ Because guys (ref's included) LOVE chick fights!! -Oldsmobile
The fact that the officiating crew ignored all of it is rather pathetic (but at least we get the side benefit of watching some hot girl-on-girl action). -Timon19
Besides reaffirming that there is "no homo" in the comment thread, several posters brought up that the women's game is often dirtier because referees don't make the calls they should, and that until that changes, stuff like this will continue to go on. Is that another over-generalization? I haven't watched a ton of women's soccer at as many levels as people like Andy Meade probably have, but I can't say that in what I've seen it's appeared to be a whole lot worse than the men's game. I mean, Jay Heaps has played in MLS for a decade.
Edit: Dan pointed out in the comments that there were a grand total of 4 ejections in 70 games the first WPS Season. Contrast that with 82 in 225 MLS games this year. No, I'm not adding up the cautions.
So yeah, it's good stuff. While I think it's sad that women kicking the crap out of each other apparently fits in the "man bites dog" news cycle or the "OMG HOT LESBIANS" meme, or the "women are vicious toward each other" stereotype as opposed to "women are just as tough as men" or not gendering the incident at all, at least there was some more soccer on tv. And now we all have something to talk about.
Damnit, I need to get to practice.
-FS
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