Great for Team USA Women's Soccer. But...

[Silver King]

..like Flip Wilson, The Devil’s advocate in me makes me do this:

Hope Solo, charged with Domestic Violence; dismissed. She will go down as a hero after tonight in women’s sports.

Ray Rice: charged with Domestic Violence; dismissed. he’s a Pariah out of the NFL so far.

Now I was darn elated at hitting the Japanese back kind of like we did at Wake Island, and think Ray is a punk for sucker punching his woman, but what’s the difference in these domestic violence charges and how each is viewed in the sports world?

 

[gatorman-uf]

The charges against him weren't quite dismissed (see below), but Rice has several things working against him. First, the video. The videos him dragging her out of the elevator and the punch are devastating.
Second, he is a RB in a pass happy league. RBs are have an average career of 2.5 years. They are cogs in a machine and nobody is going to take a chance on him and the media $hitstorm that it will bring.

As for Hope Solo, her charges have been dismissed, but the city is appealing. ESPN did a good long summary of the event. Story
After reading it, it seems like a bad episode of Cops, but there will be he/she said stuff from the incident.
More interesting to be is Hope's half-sister and nephew still haven't forgiven her while Rice's fiance did.




May 1: Rice rejects plea deal, applies for pretrial intervention program

Rice rejected a plea offer that would have spared the running back jail time in exchange for completing probation and undergoing anger management. Instead, he pleaded not guilty and applied for a program for first-time offenders that could clear him of charges in as few as six months. The program would require Rice to stay out of trouble and attend regular counseling.

May 21: Rice accepted into pretrial intervention program

Prosecutors allowed Rice to go into the program rather than take the case to trial. Under the terms of the deal, if Rice completes a 12-month program and stays out of trouble, the case will not show up on his record. The program is typically used for crimes that don't involve violence and "victimless crimes." A report from Outside the Lines in September revealed that the pretrial intervention program was granted in less than one percent of all domestic violence cases in New Jersey between 2010-2013.

 

[Choctaw_fan]

The bottom line is our sports heros aren't always human heros. I watched the game and not see a lot of save that any other goalie would not have made. They could have sent in the back up goalie and still won.

I'm just thrilled that they did win. I spent my childhood in St Louis (the mecca of US soccer at the time) going to my brother's games and the sport didn't open up to women until after Title IX. I finally got a chance to play my sophomore year but the high schools did not have teams for several years after that. The girls today have so many opportunities to excel. I love to watch when they do!

 

[Silver King]

Yeah with having the Japanese dizzy dealing with thet attack, and the speed of the defense, I probably could have stopped a couple of those shots that came right to her. I too am delighted they won. It was actually my youngest son who brought that up and we had a short discussion about it.

 

[Neutral 0bserver]

Nu'Trelle wishes that violent crimes by athletes could be greatly reduced, but honestly, the hope of seeing any appreciable improvement in the near future is dim. Reason being: We seldom see any real punishment handed down until a thug maims or kills a victim.

Case in point, Aaron Hernandez finally got his due. But what did the dude have to do to finally get his due? He had to be convicted of murder. No other crime brought him his due. He kept getting pardoned. Someone had to die in order for society to finally deal effectively with Hernandez.

Will we essentially "look the other way" (I.e., make sure he doesn't spend any time in prison) with Ray Rice? Absolutely. Will prosecutors in Seattle remain reluctant to pursue assault charges against Hope Solo. Of course they will. And it's easy to explain why. They're sports heroes ... and sports heroes are not supposed to be held fully accountable until they gravely injure or, better yet, kill someone.

Will football get along fine without Rice or Hernandez? Stupid question. Who's gonna miss either thug? Would the U.S. soccer team be better off without Solo, a person who has clearly demonstrated the propensity to lose control of herself? Not a tough one to answer if you consider that most people who did what Solo did less than a year ago would have been watching the World Cup Final from jail.

So who's the real victim of society's failure to hold today's sports figures accountable? Answer: An entire generation of kids. They're learning that, if you're a jock, it's okay to be a thug.

Think lotsa kids playing youth football in the Sarasota area aren't waiting anxiously to see what happens this fall? You better believe they are. They're waiting to see if the school board believes it's no big deal to be a punk, commit crime and live life as a thug.

 

[Silver King]

Extremely well articulated.

 

[ProSetEye]

Yeah with having the Japanese dizzy dealing with thet attack, and the speed of the defense, I probably could have stopped a couple of those shots that came right to her. I too am delighted they won. It was actually my youngest son who brought that up and we had a short discussion about it.

Hope Solo's execution, against the 6 previous teams in the tournament, showed what she is made of. No goals scored by Germany, China, Colombia, Nigeria, and Sweden. Only 1 goal scored by Australia. Just knowing that she was protecting the goal against the high powered Japanese offense was a moral boost for the USA team. Regardless of a couple off off field antics she still shows up ready to play and to support her team. She is still recognized as the best soccer goal keeper on the planet.

 

[Bocefous70]

And OJ Simpson is still regarded as one of the best rbs of all time despite being a scumbag. A couple off the field antics? She beat the sh*t out of her nephew then had the stones to threaten the cops while handcuffed and gets a slap in the wrist? Of course she showed up ready to play she didn't have any reason not to.

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_...-case-includes-reports-being-belligerent-jail

 

[Silver King]

Best Goalkeeper must have missed charm school. Here's a recap from an article today:

"The police were trying to book her into jail, but Solo was so combative that she had to be forced to the ground, prompting her to yell at the one officer, "You're such a bitch. You're scared of me because you know that if the handcuffs were off, I'd kick your ass."

Solo, perhaps the best women's soccer goalie in the world, had repeatedly hurled insults at the officers processing her arrest, suggesting that two jailers were having sex and calling another officer a "14-year-old boy." When asked to remove a necklace, an apparently drunk Solo told the officer that the piece of jewelry was worth more than he made in a year."

So, the best goal keeper will get a pass and gets to come home as a conquering hero. Contrast that with the FSU kid who got kneed, punched and (according to him anyway) had racial epithet hurled at him, who gets booted from FSU.

But I get it now; if he were a Heisman candidate, those would be "off field antics."

Bravo Jimbo for taking such quick and decisive action. Oh wait, Everett Golson is coming - bet if he wasn't this would have been in the antics category. Like Neutral says, it all is what it is. To defend it any other way just shows why we are where we're at in this country.

 

[Choctaw_fan]

They all need to start acting like intelligent human beings, not idiots. What's a 19 year old doing in a bar anyway?

 

[Neutral 0bserver]

In the case of Hope Solo, crazed sports fanatics might choose to write-off her history of personal shortcomings as a matter of trifle (e.g.., citing dismissed criminal charges as "off field antics"), but those of us who are rational enough to forget about soccer and look at Solo strictly as a human being would probably tell you that Solo is a person who is struggling with several extremely serious, if not life-threatening, problems.

Problem 1: She has huge issues controlling her temper.
Problem 2: She has a history of substance-abuse.
Problem 3: She lacks the ability to control her own actions.

Sooner or later, bad things generally happen to people with this profile. Solo will probably be no exception. It's probably not a matter of "if" she'll eventually crash and burn, but "when".

Hope Solo doesn't need praise or adulation from an adoring public. She needs help. But she probably won't get it because too many people in today's society will continue to overlook reality in order to envision Solo as a sports heroine.

 

[ProSetEye]

I agree that Hope Solo is not the poster girl of the year. However, neither are a great amount of the thugs in the NFL and NBA. Not much outrage when it comes to them.

 

[Silver King]

That's kind of the point of this whole post, there should be outrage and it should be without bias.

 

[peezy28]

Why do they have to be thugs tho.... Why not call hope a thug... Just sayin.

 

[peezy28]

They all need to start acting like intelligent human beings, not idiots. What's a 19 year old doing in a bar anyway?

Come on Choctaw... while not condoning it we know why... Its college... there were probably 100 19 year olds in that bar. Most of the bars and clubs in Tallahassee are 18 and up but of course 21 and up to drink. Thing is that doesn't stop you, you get someone else to buy your drink or you pre game then go to the club.

 

[Choctaw_fan]

Teenagers and alcohol. Never a good combination!

Hey, I have a non-related question. Does it ever stop raining down here in the summer? I visited here many, many times but don't remember treacherous thunderstorms every single day. Oh well, I'll definitely enjoy 70 degrees in the winter!

 

[peezy28]

Nope it doesn't stop raining

 

[Silver King]

Where did you end up Choc? And I was lucky when I was in college in Kansas they had 3.2 beer bars that you could drink in at 18, in fact that weighed heavily during my recruiting trip to Dodge City. I understand being 19 - never hit a woman though ever, and two of the hardest shots I've ever taken were thrown by women (I probably deserved both).

 

[redfishron]

The elephant in the room is our changing attitudes on the double standards regarding gender in our society.
One would think that people that are physically more powerful than others should refrain from imposing said power on others. Hope Solo was more powerful than the relative she battered, she assumed she was more powerful than the cops she was threatening (hooked up and prone, BTW, drunk and bulletproof), and DJ, definitely moreso than Drunky McBeal.
If DJ had dotted the eye of Drunky McFratboy, this whole conversation would have a different tone. Meggs and everyone else would be uninterested, except for McFratboy's attorney. As would we be slightly amused and smirking if Solo had punched out her athlete boyfriend (wink.)
At what point do obnoxious adults enter the acceptable "tune up area"? These are different points of delineation depending on one's gender. Does one's possession of 4 appendages as opposed to 5 get to hit from the ladies tees? Believe me, if Ronda Rousey wants that bar seat, ALL of us better defer to discretion rather than the valor of our next cocktail.
How about this? Don't start shoving and grabbing and half assed drunken punching if you don't want to run the risk of taking a punch? Even better, how about resisting the urge to fight over a more strategic position to get turnt?

 

[Choctaw_fan]

No one of any sex, especially fit athletes, should hit others. But, how do you teach an athlete to be agressive on the field or court but walk away off? It's hard for any human to do that!

SK, I settled in a condo in Naples, right off I-75 and Immokalee. I'm loving it except for all the thunderstorms. I get to see family at least once a week. My nephew plays on a traveling baseball team and I have been to several of his games. We also went to Miami to see the Cardinals beat the Marlins. That was a great trip!

My only concern now is whether my SSN was stolen from OPM and when will my retirement pay be fixed. I only got about 25% of what I should have received. Gotta love the government!

 

[Silver King]

Well, welcome to Southwest Florida Choc. Glad you're enjoying it. We have a lot of Naples folks and some restaurants moving up this way looking for Naples 30 years ago.

 

[redfishron]

No one of any sex, especially fit athletes, should hit others. But, how do you teach an athlete to be agressive on the field or court but walk away off? It's hard for any human to do that!....

Especially in Tallahassee, it would appear.

 

[Silver King]

Damn, I woke up yesterday and whose on the TODAY Show, Hope Solo getting all the love New York City could provide. Heck she could have shown up in a Confederate Flag shirt and they still would have fawned over her.