It is a very interesting time in the sporting world right now. It appears that more athletes are getting in trouble, more media sources are coming out with stories, and more people are throwing each other under the bus to get the attention off of themselves. Hope Solo of the Womens National Soccer team has been involved recently in a light domestic violence dispute, in NO way should she have to be punished as severely as one like Ray Rice of the NFL has. Her case is completely different then his, or anyone elses that has been in the news recently.
Hope Solo is perhaps one of the greatest womens soccer players of all time. She is the Goal keeper for the United States, and does a fine job. As the article states, she is on the verge of breaking many records, and showing to the world just how good she is. So now that were all caught up on who Hope Solo is, let me give you a run down of the situation she has found her self in. Back in June Hope was arrested for what they are saying is a domestic violence abuse towards her sister and her nephew. The incident occurred at 4:15 am when she got into a confrontation with her sister where she alledgedly beat her and her 17 year old nephew.
Several people have spoken out against this saying that she isn't being punished, that the "system" is going too light on her and will eventually let her off the hook with this. I think they should! There is no sound evidence yet, there are so many different stories going on around it right now, like this one from the New York Post, saying there was a party at her house and she was the one being beaten. Then you read this article from USA Today and they say the police were called to her sisters house.
There are reports from her lawyer that said he isn't worried about this because she is actually the victim and once they go to court and can present the facts, this will all be blown away because all she was doing is defending her self. People are calling for her to be suspended and banished, and fined all for something they know nothing about. Yeah the police were called, and yeah there were attacks, but the only reason this is in the spot light is because its Hope Solo, of course the media is going to put a negative spin on it, because she is famous. Because she is known, because she is rich, all of which are great ingredients for a good story. Where at on the news do you see anyone reporting that she is innocent, that her sister was just as much involved as she is, NO WHERE. You have to dig like I did to find articles which have been written that show the other side of the story.
In no way do I condone violence of any kind, I fully agree that when people do something like this, they should be punished. I don't agree however with how athletes or famous people, when they make mistakes, everyone calls for their joba, to fine them millions of dollars, to have them kicked off teams. Why? Hope Solo who is the face of the United States Women's Soccer team, should absolutely not be kicked off the women's team because of a scuffle with her sister. Yes it was escalated to a higher level then many would have liked, but to kick her off? Can any of you even name another person on the Womens Soccer team? She brings in millions, the fans love her, and she wins ball games for team USA. So for people to say that her image is tarnished, or to throw her off the team, is just ridiculous. She made a mistake, and she will pay for it when she goes to her court hearing in November. But to say that she needs a similar punishment as the one Ray Rice got for his domestic abuse charges is just simply ridiculous. What Ray Rice did was knock his wife out cold, and then drag her out of the elevator. Hope Solo did not even come close to that. His incident was caught on tape and shown to the world. Her incident was seen by three people and was arguably self defense as her lawyer said.
Yes I do believe all sports, whether its the NBA, NFL, MLB, or women's Soccer, all should be on the same page when it comes to off field issues like this. They all need to set standards, and be examples because they are in the public eye, they are being watched by millions of people. So they need to be ready be in the spot light and be able to be on their best behavior at all times, BUT they are human too. They are going to make mistakes, and slip up, and leave it to the good old puplic fan base who know nothing about the situation to call for their heads. Ridiculous! Can the sporting world hold up higher standards and make sure their stars are held accountable? Absolutely. But each incident is going to be different. You cant draw a line and say okay, if you did this and this, than your punishment is this, if you do this and this, then your punishment will be this. You just cant do that. It has to be done on a case by case basis. And a prime reason for that is because if everyone got the same punishment for the same crime in sports, then what your saying is Hope Solo deserves to be fired, released, fined, and put to jail, just like how they have done with Ray Rice. The two had completely different incidents, and are being handled as such. So for one to claim they are similar and deserve the same punishment is so off base. The only thing the two incidents have in common is they can both be considered domestic assault cases and that's it.
Until we know the facts, and until we know the story. People need to stop casting opinions and making claims on things they don't know about. The reason Hope Solo's case is being handled different then Ray Rice, is because it is different. They don't deserve the same punishment, they don't deserve to be put in the same category and they shouldn't ever be compared to each other because they so different on so many levels. Kicking Hope Solo off the team will do more harm then good. For her, her family, and the United States. No one in the sporting world seems to care she made a mistake, or they might care but not enough to call for her job, so why should we, who know no details, who don't know Hope Solo, and know nothing about the situation, sit back and decide she shouldn't be allowed to play Soccer anymore? If the people running the Womens Soccer team felt they needed to punish her the way the NFL punished Ray Rice, then they would have. Obviously they are also of the thinking that the two incidents are very different and should be handled as such.
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