As the tears streamed down Megan Rapinoe’s face after USWNT’s humiliating early exit from the Women’s World Cup, she was asked if there was one memory that stood out from her entire career as an international footballer.
Was it a particular trophy, perhaps?
Or an especially memorable match?
Or an outstanding goal?
Or, as many others might have said, the sheer honor and pride of playing for her country?
Nope, none of those.
Ms. Rapinoe, who had earlier sparked outrage when she laughed after missing a crucial penalty kick, collected her thoughts for a few long seconds, then replied: “Probably equal pay chance. This team has always fought for so much more and that’s been the most rewarding part for me. Of course, playing in World Cups and European Championships, and doing all that… but to know we’ve used our really special talent to do something that’s really changed the world forever, that means the most to me.”
It was peak Rapinoe: Supremely arrogant, annoyingly self-aggrandizing, and all about the money…
Later, President Biden tweeted: “@USWNT, you’ve made your country proud. Congratulations on an incredible run. This team is something special and I’m looking forward to seeing how you continue to inspire Americans with your grit and determination – on and off the field.”
Sorry, what?Not for the first time, I was left completely bemused by Biden’s words, which, like most of his public utterances these days, bore no relation to reality.
This team isn’t “something special.”
In fact, in terms of performance, it’s the worst USWNT team in history.
For the first time in all nine Women’s World Cups since the competition began in 1991, it crashed out in the Last 16 knock-out stage, and that was after it had become the first USWNT team to earn fewer than six points in the group stage.
So, Biden’s right that this team is “something special,” but only because it’s uniquely bad.As for supposedly inspiring Americans with their “grit and determination,” I very much doubt a single American felt inspired to open a bag of chips after watching USWNT’s trainwreck World Cup campaign.
Frankly, I’ve seen grittier and more determined displays from the Kardashians on a red carpet trying to steal paparazzi attention from each other.
But it was Biden’s assertion that USWNT “made your country proud” that really stuck in my gullet.
Has there ever been a more disingenuous statement from this President other than his now demonstrably untrue insistence he never helped his son Hunter with his corrupt business dealings?
It’s hard to imagine an American sporting team that’s made the country feel less proud than this bunch of “activist” prima donnas.
Putting aside how poorly they played, the refusal by most of them to sing the National Anthem throughout the tournament, or place their hands over their hearts, was an absolute disgrace.Each game, as the Star-Spangled Banner was played, they stood there like stuffed dummies at Madame Tussauds, only revealing they were humans when their pinched faces creased with undisguised dismay at having to show they give a damn about representing America on a world stage.
They may as well have flipped the bird while they were at it.
And I don’t believe for a minute that they were doing it to protest about racial injustice or police brutality, as Rapinoe and others have claimed.
They were doing it because they think being “activism warriors” is good for their brands.Rapinoe’s the ringleader for all the unpatriotic garbage – she boasted in 2019 that she would probably never sing the anthem again – and her self-described status as a “walking protest” has made her very famous and very rich and earned her huge honors like the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which she received from Biden last year.
But the act doesn’t play when you lose as badly as this team just did.
Who wants to follow warriors who are so pathetically spineless in battle?
And at the heart of Rapinoe’s campaigning lies a blatant conceit.
She professes to be all about “equality.”
That’s her driving force, she says, to fight for equal rights for everyone.
But is it?
Several weeks ago, she launched a furious attack on moves to ban transgender women from competing in women’s sports.
‘We as a country are trying to legislate away people’s full humanity,’ she told Time magazine. ‘It’s particularly frustrating when women’s sports is weaponized. Oh, now we care about fairness? Now we care about women’s sports? That’s total bulls**t. And show me all the trans people who are nefariously taking advantage of being trans in sports. It’s just not happening.’
This is a lie.
It’s happening in women’s sports all over the world, as biological males shamelessly and shamefully use their physical advantage to beat biological females.
Rapinoe’s not stupid, she knows this.But she can’t bring herself to admit it because it would destroy her hard-fought reputation as the world’s No. 1 woke, virtue-signaling athlete.
In the same interview, Rapinoe said it’s ‘extremely transphobic’ to suggest a trans woman “taking a ‘real’ woman’s place” and said she would welcome a transgender woman onto the USWNT.
“We’re putting this all through the lens of competition and winning,” she said. “But we’re talking about people’s lives. That’s where we have to start.”
No, it’s not.
Sport is about competition and winning — otherwise, why keep score?
And actually, we have to start with fairness.
It’s indisputably unfair that trans women compete in women’s sports.
Leave a Reply