Megan Rapinoe As Usual Is Wrong Again
In the history of American Sports there have been a lot of controversial athletes. For one reason or another, political or otherwise, many have been disliked by a large segment of Americans. Megan Rapinoe though has entered rare air, despised for her off field antics as much as for her on field shenanigans, Rapinoe has consistently demonstrated her contempt for America. From her on field kneeling and bullying of teammates to conform, which began in support of police hater Colin Kaepernick, to her most recent blasphemy of a God that most American’s worship, Rapinoe has proven herself to be someone that is easy to loathe.
She, and her obnoxious teammates, could have become the first team to win three consecutive World Cup Championships. Yet, when they entered the tournament, many Americans were actively rooting for them to lose. When the women from Sweden (that actually looked like women), put them out of their misery, there were images of bars where the patrons were loudly celebrating. America loves to win. They especially love to win when a victory equates to something that has never been done before. Still, in spite of the soccer team having the potential to do that, many were rooting against them. A clear demonstration that Rapinoe’s influence over the team and their smug attitude towards the United States, had realigned sports fan’s alliances.
On Saturday night, Rapinoe was playing her last game. Just several minutes in, she suffered a non-contact injury, that may turn out to be a ruptured achilles. Despite her off-putting character, if you had been watching the game, you may have felt a twinge of regret that her career would end that way. That twinge, no matter how slight, is an indication of caring. It shows that even though Rapinoe’s attitude has always been consistently despicable, the human emotion of feeling sorry for someone could even extend to the likes of her.
That feeling wouldn’t last long and as usual it would be Rapinoe herself that would sabotage any possibility of caring about her untimely injury. In her post-game press conference, she took detestable to a new level.
She started off by jokingly saying that she would contact the same surgeon that repaired Aaron Rodger’s achilles. A reference to the fact that Rodgers claims his recovery time will be considerably shorter than most achilles tears take to heal. However, then Rapinoe veered off into a subject that she obviously knows nothing about. She stated as much to start her rant.
“I’m not a religious person or anything, and if there wasn’t God, like, this is proof that there isn’t, because this is f**ked up. So, yeah, it just, it’s just f**ked up, you know?”
Just like that, she demonstrated her true colors again. It’s almost hard to imagine that someone could be so narcissistic as to believe that her injury proves that God doesn’t exist. In Rapinoe’s universe, she is the sun and everyone and everything revolves around her. It’s that same narcissism that blinds Rapinoe from the truth. In fact, in this case concerning her injury, she couldn’t be more wrong.
I remember attending a business convention where Joe Theisman was the keynote speaker at a luncheon. In case you’re not familiar with his story, he was the starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins. On a Monday night football game against the New York Giants, he suffered a catastrophic injury when his leg got caught underneath him resulting in a compound fracture. I was watching that game and knew of the injury, but I didn’t know the background story behind it.
Theisman explained that he had always been the ultimate team player, but he was in a contract year, and he was going to make that game all about him. Since it was a stand-alone game on Monday night, he believed it would be the perfect platform for him to showcase his skills. He was going to show the entire league what a great player he was. As the players run from the locker room onto the field, there is a sign above the doorway that says something about teamwork. It was tradition for every player to reach up and touch the sign as they ran out. For years he had followed that tradition, but on that night, it was the only time he didn’t slap the sign. After suffering his injury, he never played again.
Theisman was humbled by his injury. The one time he placed himself above the team was the last time he would play. The lesson, although painful, wasn’t lost on him and with a new sense of humility he went on to have a satisfying and lucrative career as a sports broadcaster and public speaker.
The contrast between what Theisman learned and Rapinoe didn’t couldn’t be greater. Theisman saw his injury as proof that God existed. He saw it as an awakening. He had grown to full of himself and needed to be brought back to earth. Once grounded, he went on to more success.
Rapinoe on the other hand has learned nothing. She was eager to wear the uniform and play on the U.S. team because it gave her a platform. A platform that she used to mock the country whose uniform she wore. She represents a paradox of the worst kind, a user that took advantage of what she was given for personal gain, while taking the circumstances for granted.
No Megan, your injury actually proves that God does exist. Since you were unable to see the frailty of your human circumstances because of the blinders you wear concerning reality, God gave you a reminder. Hopefully, your universe will now contain more than yourself. Perhaps now you will take the time to reflect on how your actions were selfish and caused others pain.
Your injury wasn’t some horrible misfortune, your achilles was torn to open your eyes.
