Amidst much less fanfare than in years past, the USNWT took the field early Sunday morning to face Sweden as a participant in the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Most of the faces on the team weren’t readily recognizable, but one person made sure everyone knew who she was. Of course, I’m talking about Meghan Rapinoe, the lesbian political activist who has done her best to marginalize her teammates over the years so she can enjoy the spotlight.
Here she was just days ago, dancing on the field for the cameras.
A big mood, indeed. Unfortunately, the mood wasn’t winning, and that’s what played out in the match against Sweden. Rapinoe turned out to be the goat, ending her career with a missed penalty kick that sent the USNWT headed home in embarrassing fashion. The team, which was predicted to win in all, didn’t even make it to the quarter-finals.
If you aren’t quite as online as others who will be reading this and need a refresher on Rapinoe, I’ll offer a brief one. Things began during the kneeling craze, where Rapinoe started taking a knee on the field. She then made her chief cause (for a moment, at least) “equal pay” for women, claiming that because the USNMT got paid more, she was being discriminated against. That was a talking point that dominated the news media because, apparently, journalists have no critical thinking skills. In reality, the women’s team got paid less because they brought in far less revenue.
Once that 15 minutes of fame ran out, Rapinoe went looking for her next political dopamine hit. She dabbled in various social justice causes for a while before jumping into the debate on trans-women (i.e., males) playing in women’s sports leagues.
Rapinoe infamously proclaimed in 2022 that parents need to “get over themselves” because their “kid’s volleyball team just isn’t that important.” Naturally, she never had to deal with a man beating her out for a spot on the team and her opinion came just as she was getting set to play her last year before retirement. How very convenient, right?
She wasn’t done, though. Rapinoe recently slammed Dave Chappelle for “directly” causing violence against “trans people” because he told some jokes. Once again, the back slaps from the press poured in because Rapinoe is supposed to be taken very seriously.
Do you see the problem here with mixing politics and sports? You are asking human beings endowed with human nature to ignore the rantings of insulting partisans to cheer for a team whose most vocal elements disrespect their own country.
There’s a reason you heard very little about the Women’s World Cup this year (unless you specifically follow soccer, and most Americans don’t). It’s because the well with so many Americans had been poisoned, and very few were paying attention compared to years past. There was once a sense of unity around national sports teams. Now, there’s just a sense of politicization, at least regarding the USNWT and some individual Olympic athletes. That’s a shame.
