Honestly, there’s nothing I absolutely despise more than a dumb ole double standard.
Scratch that; I downright hate it.
We see double standards quite a bit, honestly, and none of them are good.
Like, when the law tells you to stop texting and driving, yet cops have a laptop, radio and dog in their cruisers all at the same time. Who can resist petting a dog?
I digress.
Where this all relates to sports is quite simple, actually. Turn on ESPN right now, and you’ll see what I mean.
Steph Curry is leading the Golden State Warriors on an unprecedented run.
The team won 73 games, dethroned Michael Jordan and is probably on its way to a second world championship.
Multiple championships … Hmmm, where have I heard that before?
Oh, right! when the University of Connecticut (UCONN) women’s basketball team won its fourth national title in a row.
But, who cares about that? The Warriors are making history.
How many teams can say they repeated as national champs?
Let’s see here: Jordan’s Bulls and Kobe’s Lakers did it twice, LeBron’s Heat did, too.
Can’t forget all those times Bill Russell did it in the 70s and the same with the Minneapolis Lakers in the 50s.
Well, now. In retrospect, NBA teams repeat all the time.
Why is Golden State’s run so unparalleled, then? Why is UCONN’s four-peat rendered as boring, and the Warriors’ run hailed as historic?
If fans and sportswriters alike can condemn UCONN’s success as “repetitive” or “predictable,” then what the hell does that make Golden State’s success?
According to VegasInsiders.com, the Warriors currently have 1/2 odds to win the Western Conference title, and 4/7 odds to win the NBA title.
Basically, you shouldn’t bet against the Warriors.
Still, fans and writers raved for the season about how good these guys are but blew off the UCONN women’s team because they don’t have any competition.
Maybe they don’t have competition because they’re just that good.
Either way, what UCONN did was historic by nature; teams don’t just win four titles in a row. And if they do, you better believe they’re far and away from the rest of the pack.
Something historic just flew by our eyes, and everyone laughed it off.
It wouldn’t be the first time fans and writers laughed things off this sports year, though.
Everyone laughed off Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane’s rape allegations, saying there was no way a sports superstar could commit such heinous crimes, and attacked media members who floated the idea that Kane might actually be guilty.
Others laughed off the rape allegations against Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston’s, too. Maybe they missed the Tampa Bay Times article from April 1 that was about how Tallahassee Police Chief David Perry spoke to FSU athletes about rape.
Perry said to the Tampa Bay Times that his talk touched on the basics, such as consent, knowing when to stop and other hot-button topics concerning rape.
But, he also said this puzzling line: “Don’t get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time because someone is making the choice to grope someone inappropriately, or someone is not able to give consent because they have had too much to drink.”
“Don’t get caught?”
Okay, sure.
This, of course, comes after the New York Times investigated Winston’s rape allegations in April 2015 and found neither Tallahassee police nor FSU conducted any real investigation.
Have I mentioned Greg Hardy yet, whose domestic assault conviction was ultimately dismissed?
ESPN’s golden boy Adam Schefter interviewed Hardy exclusively April 4, and Hardy kind of sort of flopped all over.
“I’ve never put my hand on any women … in my whole entire life, no sir,” he said. Schefter then asked about the incriminating photos posted by Deadspin about his assault, and the next answer was worse.
“I will stop you there and say that I didn’t say that I didn’t do anything wrong,” Hardy said to Schefter. “That situation occurred and that situation was handled but … saying that I did nothing wrong is a stretch, but saying I am innocent is correct.”
Remotely, he was guilty and innocent at the same time.
When I say that double standards are the worst, I mean it.
Male athletes all across the globe are celebrated as heroes; why does that mean female athletes can’t have the same grounds for celebration as well?
Furthermore, while we do celebrate these male athletes with such vigor, can they really be held above due process of the law when they’re accused of disgusting and awful crimes?
Not a chance.
Too bad the rest of the sports world doesn’t agree.
The New York Times, and Tampa Newspaper were essentially advocates for the accuser. There is a thousand pages of evidence in the Jameis W case. Evidence that 90% of journalist choose to ignore. Talk about a double standard!