U.S. soccer's Megan Rapinoe says female athletes are 'walking protest'
Megan Rapinoe
Sep 19  2017: USA midfielder Megan Rapinoe (15) against New Zealand at Nippert Stadium  University of Cincinnati. (Photo: Aaron Doster/USA TODAY Sports)
Just where the hell does U.S. women’s national team forward  Megan Rapinoe  get off? Why is it that she and other female professional athletes can’t just go play ball without bringing all this other stuff into it?
“Honestly  I feel like we are a walking protest ”  Rapinoe  said. “The fact that we’re women professional athletes says that in and of itself. We’ve been feeling the inequality; we’ve been struggling with pay equality or whatever it is  or sexism in sports.
Let’s leave the sarcasm of my second paragraph aside and get serious:  Rapinoe  is saying  her  very existence is a protest.  She  and other female professional athletes are bucking societal expectation the moment they get out of bed to fix a cup of coffee.
Can you imagine the pressure and frustration that must bring? Who could blame  Rapinoe  or anyone else if they were to go along to get along by accepting the status quo? If they were afraid to draw any additional attention to themselves or speak out on controversial topics?
 Rapinoe  made headlines this week by saying FIFA didn’t care about women’s soccer  after the organization nominated a little-known college player as  its  top international player of the year.
“The award just doesn’t hold a lot of weight when you’ve got someone on the list I’ve never heard of ”  Rapinoe  told the BBC.
 Rapinoe  was also at the front of a push for a pay raise for the women’s national team.
 She  said the conversation got moved into a direct comparison with the men’s team  but “for us the conversation is always about getting paid what we feel like we’re worth and getting paid as the sport grows and as we help grow the sport – I mean we’ve seen tremendous growth in the sport the last four or five years.”
The push resulted in a new contract   Rapinoe  said  but  she  and four teammates took the matter to federal court. They said they earn about a quarter of what their male counterparts earn  even though the women’s team  which in 2015 won the World Cup for the third time  brought in about $20 million more in revenue than the men  according to a U.S. Soccer financial report.
As for the anthem   Rapinoe  took a knee a year ago  before a National Women’s Soccer League match in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick  who was seeking to bring attention to systemic racism and overly aggressive police tactics in minority communities.
If a group is protesting for its rights   Rapinoe  said  “you need people from every slice of society to kind of get behind that  and at the end of the day we’re all the same  we’re all just human beings; in this country we’re all Americans and everybody deserves the right to you know have life liberty and all the things that we love to hang our hat on as Americans.
Sep 19  2017: [TGT]. (Photo: Aaron Doster/USA TODAY Sports)
Just where the hell does U.S. women’s national team forward  [TGT]  get off? Why is it that [TGT] and other female professional athletes can’t just go play ball without bringing all this other stuff into it?
“Honestly  I feel like we are a walking protest ”  [TGT]said. “The fact that we’re women professional athletes says that in and of itself. We’ve been feeling the inequality; we’ve been struggling with pay equality or whatever it is  or sexism in sports.
Let’s leave the sarcasm of my second paragraph aside and get serious:  [TGT]is saying  [TGT]  very existence is a protest.  [TGT]  and other female professional athletes are bucking societal expectation the moment they get out of bed to fix a cup of coffee.
Can you imagine the pressure and frustration that must bring? Who could blame  Rapinoe  or anyone else if they were to go along to get along by accepting the status quo? If they were afraid to draw any additional attention to themselves or speak out on controversial topics?
 [TGT]made headlines this week by saying FIFA didn’t care about women’s soccer  after the organization nominated a little-known college player as  [TGT]  top international player of the year.
“The award just doesn’t hold a lot of weight when you’ve got someone on the list I’ve never heard of ”  [TGT]told the BBC.
 [TGT]was also at the front of a push for a pay raise for the women’s national team.
 [TGT]  said the conversation got moved into a direct comparison with the men’s team  but “for us the conversation is always about getting paid what we feel like we’re worth and getting paid as the sport grows and as we help grow the sport – I mean we’ve seen tremendous growth in the sport the last four or five years.”
The push resulted in a new contract   [TGT]said  but  she  and four teammates took the matter to federal court. They said they earn about a quarter of what their male counterparts earn  even though the women’s team  which in 2015 won the World Cup for the third time  brought in about $20 million more in revenue than the men  according to a U.S. Soccer financial report.
As for the anthem   Rapinoe  took a knee a year ago  before a National Women’s Soccer League match in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick  who was seeking to bring attention to systemic racism and overly aggressive police tactics in minority communities.
If a group is protesting for its rights   [TGT]said  “you need people from every slice of society to kind of get behind that  and at the end of the day we’re all the same  we’re all just human beings; in this country we’re all Americans and everybody deserves the right to you know have life liberty and all the things that we love to hang our hat on as Americans.