Separate and unequal

As I grew older, I stopped being a sports spectator. Investing time, money, and emotions on people playing does not appeal to me anymore.  Yet, I follow the news about major sporting events because, well, it is news after all.

When I read in the news that a losing semi-finalist at the French Open cried, I couldn't but laugh.  Crying over losing in a sport?  A sport?  At least the Tom Hanks character was dealing with a player crying in a bygone era; but in 2019 a professional cries about losing in a sport?

There is also the soccer World Cup going on.  It is not much talked about though, even by soccer fans, because, well, it is the women competing.  A sport really matters only when men play. That's why the women playing in team America get paid only 38 cents on the dollar compared to the men's team.  Does it matter that the men's team has never won the championship but the women have?  Three times the World Cup champions American women soccer teams have been.

But, nobody cares, and they get 38 cents on every dollar the loser men get!

During the last World Cup, the men's team did not even qualify for the tournament!

And, oh, the women's team has practically ruled at the Olympics ever since it became an official sport there.

You can see why the news interests me.  What women do and accomplish matters very little:

this summer marks the 20th anniversary of the legendary 1999 World Cup final in which the U.S. women’s national team defeated China on penalty kicks before 90,000 fans at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The '99ers remain American sports icons, but they also epitomize U.S. Soccer’s neglect. The team returned victorious from that World Cup as national heroes poised for huge commercial success. An outline of Brandi Chastain on her knees in exultation after her winning goal could have become a logo as ageless and commercially valuable as Michael Jordan’s Jumpman.

Such is the state of the world!  The high ranking for the team does not translate into prestige and money:

Serena Williams, asked by reporters to comment on the women’s soccer team’s lawsuit after a second-round victory at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., called the pay discrepancy “ludicrous,” adding, “I think at some point, in every sport, you have to have those pioneers, and maybe it’s the time for soccer.”

A rational person would think so!  But, the soccer-loving men simply don't want the women's tournament to be shoved down their throats!

Oh well ... What do I know anyway! ;)