USA Women’s Victory Un-American?
That unfortunate reality is mainly due to the swaggering team captain, Megan Rapinoe.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not an avid soccer fan. However, when Team USA is competing in any sport I pay more attention. Yet for some strange reason, even in a 2-0 championship victory over the Netherlands, the U.S. women’s national team win seems somewhat unpatriotic and unfulfilling. I believe it is mainly due to the swaggering team captain, Megan Rapinoe.
For starters, Rapinoe is a soccer celebrity, a millionaire, and a lesbian icon. She also portrays herself to be a victim of inequality, inequity, and sexism. She has obviously taken too many sips from the cup of political correctness because she’s intoxicated on her own celebrity. As for inequality, it’s a fact that one billion people will have watched the 2019 Women’s World Cup, but the 2018 Men’s World Cup reached 3.6 billion. This isn’t inequality, just consumer ratings. As for inequity, pay structures for women and men’s soccer are measured by viewership, not gender. Furthermore, the gap in talent speaks volumes. Two years ago, the U.S. women’s national team was beaten badly by a team of boys under the age of 15.
As for sexism, there is just a gap in physical competition between men’s and women’s soccer. What people pay to see is their preference. Even the WNBA, the women’s professional basketball league since 1997, has lower viewership than the newly formed BIG 3, a league that includes rosters of former NBA players.
To add insult to injury, Rapinoe also called out President Donald Trump in an interview. When asked about going to the White House she said, “I’m not going to the f—ing White House.” She has knelt during the national anthem in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick and said, “I’ll probably never put my hand over my heart. I’ll probably never sing the national anthem again.” I don’t understand how she can represent her country, but at the same time disrespect her country on one of the world’s biggest stages.
This is the embarrassing entitlement that rejects appreciation for the country that has given her so much. Rapinoe turned a back-to-back historic World Cup victory for women in America into a political rivalry. Living in a country that affords you rights, privileges, and a celebrity status is an American dream. She single-handedly makes it seem un-American.
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