Short version: The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team behaved like unsportsman-like assholes while trouncing the Thailand team 13-0 in Riems, France.

A 13-0 score in international soccer is approximately like a 25 to nothing score in professional baseball.

Long version: The U.S. women obviously were far superior to the Thai team, but still celebrated every goal like it was the accomplishment of the century.  Complaints about running up the score were, as they always are (except in school sports) absurd: as several commentators said, a pro team should always play as hard as possible and as well as possible, whatever the score and whoever the competition. To do otherwise insults the opposition, the spectators and the sport itself.

Celebrating excessively after every goal, however is obnoxious, violates the Golden Rule , and amounts to taunting once the game’s outcome is no longer in doubt. Just to put a bright, ugly cap on the bad conduct, team captain Megan Rapinoe, who has previously “took a knee” during the National Anthem while representing the United States in World Cup events, stood silent during the anthem this time, after telling the media .that doing so was a “fuck you” to President Trump.

Nice.

Asshole.

But let’s get back to the team’s disgrace. TSN analyst Kaylyn Kyle got it right, saying on the air, “They’re the No. 1 team in the world and for me, I’m disgusted, honestly.  … For me it’s disrespectful, it’s disgraceful,” For this accurate ethics assessment, she got death threats: there are lots of assholes out there. Another former player and analyst, Clare Rustad, also had it right, telling her listeners,  ‘”I just think they could have won with some humility and grace, and they just couldn’t manage to do that.Celebrating goals later in the game like this is just completely unnecessary. What is this?’

The defenders of the taunting were universally ethically obtuse. But first, here’s the dumbest, most pandering, and embarrassing:

This so stupid that I won’t insult MY readers by explaining why.

This tweet, by former star Abby Wambach, apparently expressed an agreed upon rationalization, the “if you dream about it, then its OK to act like a total jerk” excuse:

Side note: Yes, men behaving like that would be equally criticized if not more. Abby couldn’t resist the cheap gender bias card, I suspect because she knows she’s playing a losing hand.

Fox Sports’ Aly Wagner got the same talking point memo, saying, “It’s a World Cup. You score, you celebrate. This is a dream for these players.” And that dream justifies being a jerk? Gee, I thought women could control themselves when etiquette, proportion, respect  and compassion require it. Guess not, at least, not American soccer playing women. They dream, you see.

In closing, it’s only fair to Senator Gillibrand to show that her’s was not the absolute worst opinion on this fiasco. That honor would go to Stephen Colbert fave, feminist comic Samantha Ruddy, who tweeted,

Signature significance for a moron.  That’s a lot of stupidity in one tweet, don’t you think? She evokes the repeatedly debunked “77 cents of every dollar” fake stat, which was baloney when Bernie Shaw quoted it in the debate between George H.W. Bush and Dukakis in 1988. And nobody complained that the team was too good to celebrate goals—that wasn’t the issue at all. Finally,  the reason the women are paid less than the men is that they aren’t nearly as good. If there’s any doubt, maybe the U.S. men’s soccer team should slaughter the women’s team and celebrate every goal like it had clinched the World Cup.

I do think that Samantha Ruddy should consider running for President….

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Facts: Daily Mail