Yep, I said it. This maybe the most opinionated thing I've said in my blogging history. But Elizabeth Lamber is the missing link between the popularity of female and male sports.
To start, maybe you need to know who Lamber is. This video via YouTube (via ESPN) should do nicely. You watch it. Pretty messed up stuff huh. But after the initial viewing, I actually thought about it. Hair pulling aside (meow), which was pretty brutal, she was guilt of playing hard and, sure, a little rough.
As a male who played sports in some organized capacity since I was 8, I have grown accustom to the physicality of competitive sports. Honestly you just don't make it very far in male sports unless you can battle. Are females not competitive? No, but I would argue that with sports there is a big difference between the top and the bottom of the competition spectrum. I feel this same spectrum is narrower in male sports because more males play with what is called a "killer instinct".
Michael Jordan is widely considered to be the greatest player in basketball history. Did he train harder then most players, absolutely. But what really made him the nest is that he wanted to be the best at any cost. Namely, he was a dick. He has done a great job of hiding it during his time in the NBA, but one only has to look into his basketball hall of fame speech (or the cliff notes version, via this Rick Reilly Blog entry on the same subject). He is self- serving, egotistical, and even upon winning 6 NBA Titles, still not completely satisfied with how he left the game. Its not enough to kill the horse, he get his joy out of beating and dismembering it.
Another example is Kobe Bryant. We all know he is willing to take what he wants... But as arguably the best player in the game today, he plays the game the way it has to be played to get ahead. Rough. He twice in as many weeks got fined for elbowing a player in the face after they blocked his shot (all in a fluid athletic motion, damn you Kobe). Last year he got heat for elbowing Houston Rockets player Ron Artest in the face during the playoffs. The results? A NBA title and now Artest is a Laker. Artest respects the way that he and the Lakers play the game. Probably how much they pay as well, but really Artest, a hard nosed defensive stopper, wants to play with like-minded rough players. Aka Winners. Brutal, sure, but its what get and keeps people interested.
You can say what you want about lack of athleticism in female sports, but that's bullshit. There is plenty of talent there. I could care less if there is dunking in the WNBA, what bothers me is the divide between the good and the not as good. The ones who will play rough to get ahead, and those that complain about it.
Some of Lamber actions in the New Mexico - BYU game were a bit much, but even she hit it on the head when she said to the New York Times that she is being judged differently because she is a girl.
“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.”
When more women can play aggressively and physical, the attention from the masses will notice. Anyone who has ever seen a Premier League Futbol (European Male Soccer to us Yankees) knows that all of those things that happened during her game, happens in the first half of most games. Why can't it happen in female sports too. I'd watch more often. Maybe that's sexist, but I prefer to think its really just survival of the fittest.