The Elizabeth Lambert Incident: Too tough for a girl?
"Look, I don't care what your chromosomal deal is, XX, XY, whatever -- you come into MY HOUSE and I WILL TEAR YOU DOWN BY YOUR GREEZY PONYTAIL LIKE THAT! KABLAMMO!"
OK, so that is not a quote from University of New Mexico soccer player Elizabeth Lambert in today's New York Times, regarding her "incident" a couple weeks ago in a game versus BYU. During said athletic contest, she played rough. Some people got upset. She got a yellow card. She got suspended after the game. She got some pervy emails from sketchy dudes. So what's the bigger lesson here? Looks like people like their womenfolk nice and cuddly, not, as it were, throwing elbows like Mike Richards on the field of play.
What Lambert DID say was something like this:
“I definitely feel because I am a female it did bring about a lot more
attention than if a male were to do it,” Lambert said. “It’s more
expected for men to go out there and be rough. The female, we’re still
looked at as, Oh, we kick the ball around and score a goal. But it’s
not. We train very hard to reach the highest level we can get to. The
physical aspect has maybe increased over the years. I’m not saying it’s
for the bad or it’s been too overly aggressive. It’s a game. Sports are
physical.”
Here! Here!
Of course, that ponytail pull was pretty damn brutal there, Elizabeth. But in a game famous for grown men grabbing their shins in agony when they've CLEARLY just barely grazed the arm of another player, this seems almost kind of refreshing, non?
BEER wrote what you just read on
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
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Category :
Soccer
Comments(29)
So what.. She played rough and got a yellow.. Big deal! This is being blown out of proportion simply because she's a female. a guy had done the same it wouldn't even have been worth a column at the end of the sports pages.
And you got it dead on the money about the fact that at least there was no faking in that game..
Posted by: shelley | Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 05:36 PM
for any action on the field in north america to take notice is in the right direction, as a big fan of the game, it goes to show you how stupid people in north america are when it comes to football( i call it football because you use your feet not your hands like that isanine game north american called football and you use your hands). enough said about northamerican mental state. as a person that grew up with hockey , and baseball i must say that watching women pulling hair and elbow to the face its like watching a new sport with no rules in football, but then in baseball you see grown men grab themself and spit and kids love that. i would pay money to see these ladies do this, but then it would only be succsseful in northamerica because you have to check your i.q. at the front gate.
Posted by: john | Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 06:22 PM
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.
The 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.
Posted by: Montana | Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 10:46 PM
^^ So... why the attack on North American sport fans? Check your I.Q. at the front gate... like those are rocket scientists brawling at every single football match in Europe?
Posted by: Jo Momma | Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 10:52 PM
What the heck you talking about John. You apparently have no clue about hockey nor baseball and have even less insight on sports and competition. These kind of occurences, no matter what sport it is, don't only happen "in North America". Yes we do get aggressive and carried away during matches but North America , by far, is not the only place on the planet that these things happen. Anyone that has competed at a high level of athletics understands that there will always be an instigator, enforcer, hothead, a - hole on a team that causes problems...stirs things up..keeps the game interesting. What she did was probably excessive but that's what happens during the heat of the moment. She may not have the respect of others for her conduct but she may get their respect for her toughness.
Posted by: Todd | Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 11:06 PM
Funny how they show the first elbow, but no one is mentioning that it was in retaliation..notice the shot the short haired girl gave her first?
Anyway, yeah, this is being blown out of proportion. Yeah, it was rough and brutal, but I've seen far worse done by men. Heck, a football game (Sorry, John, American football game..you know..a sport for men..not the girl's game of soccer...) can't go by without some type of fight where the refs have to step in. In the middle of a pile in football they are beating the snot out of each other.
Posted by: Bill | Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 12:53 AM
I have been watching sports all my life and one thing remains a constant, no matter if its a man or woman, a cheap shot is a cheap shot. She thinks her actions are accpetable becasue she has some deluted thinking male athletes perfom in such a manner.
She has only diplayed the depths of what a poor athlete is willing to do when the skills are less than their opponents.
Get an education because the sporting world has little to offer you!
Posted by: gary | Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 08:02 AM
Agreed Gary, a cheap shot is a cheap shot. My question is why is this even news? Obviously this type of play is not condoned but notice this is the only time you ever hear of women's university level soccer? Seriously, the only reason this is even in a blog is because it was done by a woman. Like I said before, so what? She was penalized appropriately for the play.. Although there are a few other things that should be looked at too, like the shot before her elbow. End of story.
Posted by: shelley | Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 11:24 AM
Sure it was a cheap shot, no question. But I have to say the author nailed it on the head with this comment: "But in a game famous for grown men grabbing their shins in agony when they've CLEARLY just barely grazed the arm of another player, this seems almost kind of refreshing, non? "
I mean for athletes in the kind of shape these guys have to be in to play the sport, they act like a bunch of pansies rather than grown men, falling all over the field and crying about getting barely touched. And this type of play is encouraged. Compare to hockey where, though there is diving, players who do it are the object of scorn and ridicule, and derided as dirty players.
To the entire soccer (or football if you prefer in deference to our European friends) playing world, I suggest you all collectively grow a pair and play like athletes rather than spoiled children who just got sent to bed by mommy.
Posted by: Alex | Friday, November 20, 2009 at 02:38 PM
to these gentlemen who thinks soccer is a girly sport, its funny that only comes from people who are from north american. first i agree that their are some soccer players should be playing in the female side of the game but lets be clear about something whenever soccer players compete against other sports (e.g.american football, baseball, basketball, etc .)they always win,remember what happen in 1975-76-77 in the competition on a.b.c.'s superstars of sports. the one came way ahead in every competition was a soccer player from a lower rank compare to the other athletes. but lets not get in the way of facts here. i grew up in american sports i'm not a european like somebody stated, i admire athletes who are truly athletes not so called athletes who are protected by 100lbs of equipment and then go on the field and a 300lb of fat takles him to the ground , get serious here. i'm 6'3" and weigh 220 and i played most american sport and let me be cleallar when you get takle around your ankle its very painfull and good lead to serious injuries,especially when you have little protection. i watch american football because i gamble but let it be clear its not the sport that 99% of the world watches.
Posted by: john | Friday, November 20, 2009 at 05:38 PM
That is the funniest thing i have seen in a long time. I have never watched soccer but i think i might start.
Posted by: grant | Friday, November 20, 2009 at 05:50 PM
LOL>
Take a close look. The girl she punched threw an elbow into her first.
The girl whos hair she pulled had a hold of her by the groin. Probably pinching her
Posted by: hypnogorium | Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 06:51 PM
I think I'm in love. First she gets elbowed in the solar plex. then the other girl grabs at her crotch area, trying to hold on to her shorts, trying to keep her tied up. She did nothing wrong. If this was men there would have been a serious fight. Especially if some dude is trying grab at another guys crotch tugging at his shorts. The big deal is it's a young woman doing it. Women's lib people. This woman is just passionate about her sport. Someone trird to grab my package, there gonna get alot more than a haur pull.
Posted by: John | Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 01:50 AM
Know Your Role.
Clearly - the first Jabroni elbowed her in the ribs - while smiling, and the second one - grabbed her pants.
If they did not expect any backlash whatsoever , I have one question...How Do They Like Their Lips ?
If you cannot take it - don't dish it out. Lambert was just defending herself.
Posted by: The Rock Says : | Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 02:19 AM
Soccer was ruined by overpaid fairys from South America point one!
point two, American football should lose the helmets and armor and
get down to the nuts and guts of the game.
Point three, all North American sports are played by two teams who stay
on the field for 30 seconds or less,and then let on another two teams play another 30 seconds??!!?? Are overpaid, and are satisticly overboard in meaningless media driven dribble.
Cricket ..... well! total different story some other time. but as dull as baseball.
Now this girl belongs on a rugby pitch!!, where it gets a little rough at times.
I played for 25 years, quit when I was 30 years old cause I was getting to ugly!!
Was never payed a penny for playing it (has changed now) loved every minute on
the field of play, Two halfs of nonstop 40 minute action split by a 2 minute slab of orange and magic sponge with cold water and happily licked my wounds in the bar with the other team afterwards.
God bless Rugby, am so hoping God has a rugby pitch in heaven for people
to unwind a little. men and women!!
Posted by: Mr Rugger | Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 07:22 AM
um for ppl saying that if a guy did this well a guy don't pull each other by the hair for one thing pulling hair is kinda of a bitch thing to do only bitches pull hair also she played dirty fair and square and she needs to own up or don't go back on team. she wants to play like this go to a sport that plays rough you are sending a wrong message to little soccer girls watching sure its not your role to be a role model but you are playing a sport that children watch and little girls watching this don't need to see a player like you .
Posted by: prilzy | Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 10:15 AM
no matter what was done to her nothing on that level was done to her. that is completely outrageous. the so called pinching doesn't call for someone yanking as hard as they can on your hair and pulling you to the ground
Posted by: niagara falls soccer | Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Personaly I think we human beings are in a lot of trouble if we have become so empathic
to the violance that takes place in the world and then can allow or accept it in are games and entertainment. Will we do anything just to win at a game. If there is a GOD I am terrified for all of us. Most of the coments I read posted her only make my statement allthe more true.
Posted by: andrew | Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 05:40 PM
All three girls should have been yellow carded for unsportman like behaviour. The school was right to reprimand her for her actions but I think that a suspension was harsh ... send her to anger management classes.
Posted by: ed | Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 05:49 PM
That would have been a red card in a men's pro game as anyone who knows anything about soccer would attest. Whether male or female it is a dirty play especially for a game like soccer, where non-incidental contact is punished. Doesn't matter whether it is in retaliation or not.
The chick who threw the elbow should have got a yellow card, Lambert a red. Since it is amateur/collegiate soccer where sportsmanship is still trying to be instilled into the game a suspension is approapriate in my view.
Posted by: Rowlie | Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 08:54 PM
She's a cunt
Posted by: P. Kelly | Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 11:00 PM
like I sai she,s a cunt
Posted by: P. Kelly | Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 11:01 PM
MIKE RICHARDS DID NOT THROW AN ELBOW.
It was a clean hit, Booth was just too busy admiring his mediocre backhand pass to see it coming.
As for this video, that's not playing rough, its playing dirty. Playing rough is fighting for position, or using your body to get by a defender. Its ridiculous the kind of things you soccer players resort to, what with the headbutting and and hair pulling nonsense.
GROW A PAIR (and girls.. well I guess you get the point)
:)
Posted by: Bouncer | Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 11:35 PM
Ok the lady is reacting to what they did to her first,. number 7 hit her with her elbow first, and a sestiver spot, and the hair pulled lady attached her first, number 15 is just reacting, who started this, did anyone notice. There is an old saying, don;t play with the cat if you can;t handle its claws.
Posted by: MJ | Monday, November 23, 2009 at 01:40 AM
I love all these manby pambies who say she was too rough. Until it happens to you, then you'll whine like little bitches. First she's elbowed and you can tell by the smirk on the girl that did the elbowing it was completely intentional. Then she gets groped in the crotch area having her shorts tugged on, you can tell by the actions of the two girls on the other team they were instigators. So to all the crybabies here who say she retailated too hard. Lets see what you do if someone elbows YOU and gives your Crotch area a little grab and pinch! Always with the condemnation, till it happens to YOU. I would have cuffed the person across the head. Better yet she should have pantsed the girl who grabbed her crotch.
Posted by: John | Monday, November 23, 2009 at 03:59 AM