Elizabeth Lambert? Who the hell is Elizabeth Lambert?
Second, Lambert was been provoked on many occasions however none of the news reporting even mentioned that. For the greater part of the game the BYU players tugged and grabbed the New Mexico players. Just watch the famous hair-pulling video and witness the secretive shorts-grab by the BYU player, who subsequently goes down (and stays down in typical European soccer fashion…) with a tug on the hair. How about the strong elbow to the sternum that Lambert received before retaliating by driving her own elbow to the back of the offending player, BYU forward Carlee Payne.
What really gets me is how none of the BYU players have mentioned anything about this. Yes, they have a conference final to focus on however this young woman’s soccer career is taking a relatively unnecessary beating after all, this is sport, is it not? The recipient of the hair-tug should at least come clean and speak about the issue and same with the recipient of the elbow to the back. Kudos to Carlee Payne for not going down like she was shot (like so many others do...)and also for not retaliating physically but just calmly pointing out the score to Lambert.
Third, if these actions did indeed warrant an expulsion for Lambert (as some reports have suggested), why did the referee and linesmen fail to see it that way? After all, there is a referee and linesmen (or lineswomen) in college soccer, isn’t there? The referee offered only one yellow card to Lambert and it was the sole yellow card issued in the entire match. Yes, the match was intense and we would not be far from the mark to suggest that the referee failed in calming down the tensions between the teams however if the actions of Lambert were so severe then it would be reasonable to assume that the referee would have handled the match very differently and would have disciplined Lambert more severely.
Fourth point. Would we be talking about this if this were men’s college soccer? Don’t kid yourself. Absolutely not. If you read that a male soccer player pulled the hair of another male soccer player you would probably not read the article (unless you are a fan of the L.A. Galaxy, I imagine this is how they play). Would the article suggest banning the offending player? Not a chance. The over-reaction to Lambert’s actions is unbelievable. Like Saddam’s WMDs, like the threat of SARS and now H1N1, the media is over-reacting to a story. Ok, now I am overreacting!
When I first read this story I thought Lambert must have came close to deliberately trying to kill a fellow competitor out on the pitch. After seeing the video myself, I can’t believe all the negative attention it is receiving. Not only is the mention of Elizabeth Lambert being banned for life unfair, it is laughable to all true soccer and sports fans. Lambert has apologized to all those affected, including her teammates, her school and the BYU players and as far as I am concerned, the story ends here and we should be able to watch her play next year, with a little anticipation…a little.
We should take this story for what it is: a female soccer player acting unprofessionally to provocation. It’s a slight injustice that we are even mentioning Elizabeth Lambert’s actions in national media however it’s an even bigger injustice that we are not showing more of Carlee Payne. Come on people! More Carlee Payne, damn it!
Many times over, the Internet has made many an instant celebrity. The cold truth is many of these celebrities are made for the wrong reasons. William Hung, the Jedi-kid, Numa Numa and now a New Mexico female soccer player by the name of Elizabeth Lambert. Well, she’s a celebrity in the sports world for at least fifteen minutes.
For those who have no idea what or who I am talking about, here for your viewing pleasure is what is making the rounds at less-credible sporting news websites.
Many sports reporting websites have covered this story and you may have heard it already. Lambert is shown on video as going in overly aggressive on several challenges, giving a punch to the back of an opponent during a deadball situation, throwing a punch to the face after a 50:50 mid-air challenge and last but not least, pulling the hair of an opponent.
Yes, Lambert was a terrorizing machine on the pitch. What makes this so watchable is that this is a female soccer player. Let’s not make anything more of this, she’s female and this is why this has gotten as much attention as it has. This kind of behaviour in soccer or any physical sport may not be new however the fact that this is a college female soccer player, it has garnered national US media attention, even talk of a possible life-long ban.
I feel sorry for Lambert. Solid academically, this above-average junior defender has attracted such negativity towards not only herself but also her team, her school and her sport. All this attention would not have been such if she was male. I am shocked that national television news shows are even mentioning this story.
First, this is amateur sport. Elizabeth is not a professional soccer player, nor she is a seasoned veteran. I am sure that many of us that have watched or participated in various amateur sports have seen situations similar to this. Not only similar situations, many of us have witnessed worse situations and in some cases much worse. Here are some examples of the dirtiest plays in sports.
For those who have no idea what or who I am talking about, here for your viewing pleasure is what is making the rounds at less-credible sporting news websites.
Many sports reporting websites have covered this story and you may have heard it already. Lambert is shown on video as going in overly aggressive on several challenges, giving a punch to the back of an opponent during a deadball situation, throwing a punch to the face after a 50:50 mid-air challenge and last but not least, pulling the hair of an opponent.
Yes, Lambert was a terrorizing machine on the pitch. What makes this so watchable is that this is a female soccer player. Let’s not make anything more of this, she’s female and this is why this has gotten as much attention as it has. This kind of behaviour in soccer or any physical sport may not be new however the fact that this is a college female soccer player, it has garnered national US media attention, even talk of a possible life-long ban.
I feel sorry for Lambert. Solid academically, this above-average junior defender has attracted such negativity towards not only herself but also her team, her school and her sport. All this attention would not have been such if she was male. I am shocked that national television news shows are even mentioning this story.
First, this is amateur sport. Elizabeth is not a professional soccer player, nor she is a seasoned veteran. I am sure that many of us that have watched or participated in various amateur sports have seen situations similar to this. Not only similar situations, many of us have witnessed worse situations and in some cases much worse. Here are some examples of the dirtiest plays in sports.
Second, Lambert was been provoked on many occasions however none of the news reporting even mentioned that. For the greater part of the game the BYU players tugged and grabbed the New Mexico players. Just watch the famous hair-pulling video and witness the secretive shorts-grab by the BYU player, who subsequently goes down (and stays down in typical European soccer fashion…) with a tug on the hair. How about the strong elbow to the sternum that Lambert received before retaliating by driving her own elbow to the back of the offending player, BYU forward Carlee Payne.
What really gets me is how none of the BYU players have mentioned anything about this. Yes, they have a conference final to focus on however this young woman’s soccer career is taking a relatively unnecessary beating after all, this is sport, is it not? The recipient of the hair-tug should at least come clean and speak about the issue and same with the recipient of the elbow to the back. Kudos to Carlee Payne for not going down like she was shot (like so many others do...)and also for not retaliating physically but just calmly pointing out the score to Lambert.
Third, if these actions did indeed warrant an expulsion for Lambert (as some reports have suggested), why did the referee and linesmen fail to see it that way? After all, there is a referee and linesmen (or lineswomen) in college soccer, isn’t there? The referee offered only one yellow card to Lambert and it was the sole yellow card issued in the entire match. Yes, the match was intense and we would not be far from the mark to suggest that the referee failed in calming down the tensions between the teams however if the actions of Lambert were so severe then it would be reasonable to assume that the referee would have handled the match very differently and would have disciplined Lambert more severely.
Fourth point. Would we be talking about this if this were men’s college soccer? Don’t kid yourself. Absolutely not. If you read that a male soccer player pulled the hair of another male soccer player you would probably not read the article (unless you are a fan of the L.A. Galaxy, I imagine this is how they play). Would the article suggest banning the offending player? Not a chance. The over-reaction to Lambert’s actions is unbelievable. Like Saddam’s WMDs, like the threat of SARS and now H1N1, the media is over-reacting to a story. Ok, now I am overreacting!
When I first read this story I thought Lambert must have came close to deliberately trying to kill a fellow competitor out on the pitch. After seeing the video myself, I can’t believe all the negative attention it is receiving. Not only is the mention of Elizabeth Lambert being banned for life unfair, it is laughable to all true soccer and sports fans. Lambert has apologized to all those affected, including her teammates, her school and the BYU players and as far as I am concerned, the story ends here and we should be able to watch her play next year, with a little anticipation…a little.
Also, maybe Americans see soccer violence as out of the ordinary and rare, unlike much more popular sports such as American Football or mixed martial arts. This is, of course, not the case as soccer (on the pitch) violence is fairly well known as most Americans now know the name of Zinedine Zidane. In 2006, on soccer’s biggest stage the 2006 World Cup final between Italy and France, Zinedine Zidane delivered a famous head butt to the sternum of Italy defender Marco Materazzi who was provoking him. The head butt was delivered with such force it knocked down the 6'6" defender. This was a far worse action than anything Lambert has done.
We should take this story for what it is: a female soccer player acting unprofessionally to provocation. It’s a slight injustice that we are even mentioning Elizabeth Lambert’s actions in national media however it’s an even bigger injustice that we are not showing more of Carlee Payne. Come on people! More Carlee Payne, damn it!
Posts
Elizabeth Lambert is a junior at the University of New Mexico, and plays for their soccer team the Lobos originally from California (too bad for California). So, this loser knows they are going in to a game that they will most likely lose and since they do not have the talent to score they resort to this kind of play, it has very minor thought to it than let’s say passisng the ball through your opponents defense and scoring a goal.
ReplyDeleteThe other issue is the where were the referees, were they all older white men with their tongues out, enamored and unable to call the game objectively (this game had so many penalties that did not get called), I mean what are they getting paid to do. Who has paid these guys off? Do we have to change the game where only women referees can call women games. After watching the video someone was paid off, that is my conclusion.
And Lizzy, watch you back and please stay out of soccer (you real should be banned, the game does not need people like you in it), so many will be gunning for you now. Who knows maybe you were just drumming up business for your “Occupational Therapy practice”, yah good luck with that, I doubt your bed side manner is any different from your sportsmanship.
My favorite is the ol' kick the ball to the opponent's face trick. Wow. What a bad attitude.
ReplyDeleteLetting only women referees is what Fifa does. It does make sence.