Soccer. Not exactly the sport one thinks of in America, unless you’re thinking about sports that are loved around the world and ignored in America. Then it would be the first sport that comes to mind. However, most of the time soccer plays second fiddle to our love of football, and, well, mostly football, with a little bit of basketball and baseball thrown in depending on where you live. This was not the case last November when a New Mexico soccer player caused a stir. Her name was Elisabeth Lambert, and her story was spread so fast through so many outlets, that repeating it now seems almost unnecessary. However I am going to repeat the story because there is more to it than most people realize. See the story becomes a story itself as it moves through different media outlets. As time goes on and the news spreads, opinions about it change, and those changes affect the story that the media outlets want to put out.
Here’s the basic background. The day was November 5th, 2009. The soccer game was a Mountain West Conference Women’s Soccer semi-final (say that five times fast). It was between the University of New Mexico, Elisabeth’s team, verses Brighum Young University. At half-time Brighum Young was up one to nothing. Miss. Lambert did not like this, and that’s putting it lightly. During the second half of the game, Elizabeth Lambert kicked, tripped, and punched girls on the other team. Two girls seemed to be the main recipients of Elizabeth’s violence; Carlee Payne, and Kassidy Shumwan. The first was the girl who made the goal in the first half; the second was the stand-out girl on the team. It’s the second girl who was the victim of the now and forevermore infamous ponytail pull. This was no ordinary ponytail pull. This was a ponytail pull that brought the six foot tall girl to the ground. One second she was there, the next she was on the ground crying. America stared in awe at the poor girl. For doing all this Elizabeth only got a yellow penalty card.
All of this, though very dramatic, would probably go unnoticed if it wasn’t for the fact that someone got it on tape. If you can’t predict what happened next, then you haven’t been a member of society for the last few years. The video appeared on, everyone now, YouTube. See the magic of video means certain aspects of Elizabeth’s behavior was noted. The certain aspects being alluded to here is her seemingly lack of remorse. Remember the ponytail pull? How could you forget? Well, after said ponytail pull when Miss. Shumwan was on the ground, Elizabeth didn’t even look down at her. Not even to make sure she didn’t trip over her. This kind of evidence is best exemplified on tape. And the fact that the internet is worldwide, that doesn’t hurt with spreading the news.
From there the story, with compelling video evidence, goes to the major mews networks, and morning news shows. The spin they were putting on the story, that Elizabeth’s behavior was, according to Good Morning America, “despicable losership.” Losership here being a new word inspired by Elizabeth. Ladies and gentlemen this is what violence causes, the addition of words to our vocabulary. Surprisingly, this is a little known fact.
Soon after the story broke, a facebook page was formed, “Ban Elizabeth Lambert from College Soccer.” In just a couple of days, this page gained 3,605 members. Translation, the public was not happy about what happened and they wanted repercussions. The media’s reporting continued to reflect this.
Of course after all of this negative press, two things happened that didn’t surprise anyone. When something like this happens some responsibility has to be taken. First the University of New Mexico suspended Miss. Lambert indefinitely. Elizabeth also offered an apology to the girls, their team, and her own team for her actions. This really shows the effects of things like the facebook page have on situations like this.
For a few days questions were raised about the roughness of soccer games in general, Elizabeth’s playing history (apparently this wasn’t the only time she had played rough), and how could the referees of the game be so oblivious to what was going on in the field. It would seem to most people that if a girl was suddenly on the ground crying, there might be something to that.
Then, just when the public thinks this story is over and done with, and they all have to go back to the ‘relatively’ new Michael Jackson news (that would be a fun timeline to follow), something changes and the Elizabeth is back.
A new question arises in this story, would Elizabeth be getting this much coverage if she were a boy? Apparently soccer is a very physically nasty game. See as Americans we did not know this because when it comes down to it we don’t care about soccer until it involves girls beating up on each other. Part of this newfound breath in the story came from Elisabeth herself. On November 17th she spoke out to the public for the first time since the incident occurred,
I definitely feel that because
I am a female it did bring about a lot more attention than if a male were to do
it. It’s more expected for men to go out there and be rough. The
female, we’re still looked 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 to overly aggressive. It’s a
game. Sports are physical.
She also discussed some key points like how she doesn’t recognize herself on the tapes, and that’s not the kind of player she is at all. Although the New York Times did report on her press conference, the gender issue was really seen on the blogs. People started to stand up for Elizabeth. The blog Crimesider stated, “In both instances of the video where she gives one player a shot in the back and decks the second one by snatching a hand full of ponytail and slamming her to the ground, she was adequately provoked. Both of her acts were in reaction to two dirty cheap shots she received.” (p. 5)
Now the story wasn’t mean soccer girl, it was gender in sports is held at double standers. Just a few days later the opinion changes and the media reflects that again. Did you really think America would stay mad at a cute little blonde girl for very long? Even if she does play rough, she’s an American girl at heart. She doesn’t even recognize herself on the tapes.
Now he story doesn’t end there. See I myself am adding to it right now. Simply by talking about it some of my opinion has leaked through and added to the story. I’ve been adding my own commentary here and there but here, in a nutshell, is what I think about the whole situation. Elizabeth should be banned from the soccer team for her actions. I don’t think the gender thing has much merit because there is a small detail that seems to be missing when people bring it up. The rough and tuff in the boy’s games are pro games in other countries. Again, soccer in the U.S., not a big thing. I don’t think the standers held by people in another country, for a pro game, should matter when it comes to a college game in the U.S. It has nothing to do with gender.
Now I’ve added to the story and am part of its time line. What started off as a soccer game with little rough play has turned into a national phenomenon and a topic for a simple essay. Believe it or not, this is not the only story this happens to. This happens to every story ever reported. All it takes to start is a little human interest. That’s what keeps a story going, human interest. If people weren’t interested then the news outlets wouldn’t report on it because they would just lose money, not a goal in any situation. If people weren’t interested then the bloggers wouldn’t pay any attention because, being part of the people, they wouldn’t care. However the biggest blow due to lack of interest is something I haven’t talked about yet mostly because it’s hard to prove. Conversation. When people are interested in a story they talk about it to their friends and family. This happened with Elizabeth, but it’s hard to prove because there’s no hard evidence of it. Conversation has a huge impact on the spread of news and the development of a story. Every time someone tells the story their adding their opinion to it, and becoming part of the timeline.
If one takes all that into consideration it’s easy to see how a story doesn’t end with its original reporting. The very idea that it could end there seems kind of ridiculous now doesn’t it? News stories are dynamic and constantly changing. You just have to pay attention. Now hurry up and get caught up on all the stuff you missed by insisting on reading this.
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