Comments on: Elizabeth Lambert: Where is the Outrage?

By: Sarah and the Goon Squad » On Mean Girls and Soccer and Violence

Sarah and the Goon Squad » On Mean Girls and Soccer and Violence — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:02:10 +0000

[...] lot of people were shocked and offended when they saw this [...]

By: Jim Hemenway

Jim Hemenway — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:57:56 +0000

Can I offer a third option? Coaching. I played for coaches in high school and college that demanded that we strike back. I played with a guy who got benched for not leaving the bench when we got into it with another team in college. I have also spoken to guys who played for teams whose coaches taught disciple and poise in those types of situations. Perhaps the BYU coach falls into that segment of the coaching population.

By: Riley

Riley — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:46:38 +0000

I think the lack of reaction on part of the women is just pure shock. I don’t think it’s BECAUSE anyone is female, but Lambert’s behavior is in such violation of the norm, that I think these women may not have really had a chance to react out of pure surprise. I know that a similar thing happened to me once in a sporting event, and it took me a few beats to realize what happened, because it was so unexpected. Later, I thought to myself “why didn’t I turn around and wallop her?” In the moment it was so “WTF?” that the anger didn’t set in until the moment had long passed.

Totally woulda kicked her ass after the game though, if given the opportunity!

By: Lisa Creech Bledsoe

Lisa Creech Bledsoe — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:22:03 +0000

I suspect there is some gender factor at play, too. I feel it myself when someone treats me poorly; I have to work to remind myself to stand against it because my default seems to be to just walk away.

I wrote about it once recently: http://www.theglowingedge.com/new-rule-if-they-tee-off-on-you-you-can-take-their-head-off/

Tough to overcome.

By: Lance Bledsoe

Lance Bledsoe — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:11:43 +0000

I have no idea whether being a Mormon has anything to do with it, but I can guarantee that nothing like this would ever happen in a men’s game. Not that men don’t display unsportsmanlike conduct in sporting events; you see that all the time. But you would never see that kind of conduct continue over a long period of time because someone would let the offending player know, in very clear terms, that he was out of line. Either the player who was attacked would retaliate, or one of his teammates would, or you’d have a bench-clearing brawl, but no team of male players would ever just let that go by.

Which makes me think that the reason none of the players on the white team ever retaliated against number 15 has to do with the fact that they’re female. Maybe they were waiting for a ref or a coach to do something about it, maybe they find retaliatory violence repugnant, maybe they just didn’t know how to deal with such a bizarre display of unsportsmanlike conduct. But if number 15 was a man playing against a men’s team, the problem would have been taken care of immediately.

By: petrel

petrel — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:36:15 +0000

I was stunned at what happened, and then my wife explained it to me. “They’re Mormons. They wouldn’t fight back.” I don’t know if that’s ridiculous stereotyping or essential truth, but it was definitely a different perspective.