Right. I'm a Courage fan. In none of my posts above do I indicate that anyone should stop booing. I just want them to own their reason for booing. Booing and heckling (within reason) are part of professional sports.
My two cents...... Anyone who criticizes the booing (of her) is likely not part of an oppressed/marginalized segment of American society ; Hinkle put it out there with her public statements (dish it out, gotta take it) ; members of our society do not have to tolerate the intolerant ; She is a great soccer player, congratulation to her, she is still a hater (hate is a fact, not an opinion). Boo away.............
Thank you. I don't criticize the booing, just some of the claims around it. I understand, and sympathize, with why the booing occurs.
Another thing we've discussed at nauseam on another thread, the Hinkle situation. IMO, the booing is stupid. What are you booing? The right of another person to believe in her religious conviction? Jaelene Hinkle never denied anyone the right to wear the LGBT themed uniform. SHE just didn't want to wear it. IMO, USWNT and USMNT uniforms should be without any political signs, logos, colors. As I said before, what if in her mind by her religious conviction, wearing the LGBT themed uniform jeopardizes her possibility to go to Heaven? Who are we to judge her on that? Her refusal to wear the LGBT uniform on her own body has been twisted in all kinds of directions from her being a homophobe to a hater, etc. Her teammates have said she is one of the nicest people to know, and I believe them. I wish they would leave Jaelene Hinkle alone. She has done nothing wrong to anyone, she has not discriminated against anyone, she has not denied anything to anyone. I may not agree with her or may not do as she has done, but I support her right to do so as this is about HER not wanting to display the theme on her body, no one else.
Good god, are we really having this conversation? Do you really not know why they're booing? It's professional sports. Any pretext is good enough. Courage fans don't boo her because she's part of their team. Other teams are going to boo her because she's not - and a notable subset of fans of women's soccer have very personal reasons for wanting to see her fail. I honestly can't believe we're wasting virtual ink (pixels?) on this topic. Of course they're booing her, and they're going to continue booing her until 1) she joins their team or 2) marries another woman.
A voice of reason. You do not expect anyone to actually listen, do you? I have said much of what you have said but I said it in a much more disjointed manner. However people will behave badly given the chance and I expect that the Portland fans will be no different than any other mob that has existed before or will exist after and they will boo her without any thought to how stupid and boorish it makes them appear.
Andy, you need to get out a little more out of NC. This booing has nothing to do with professional sports. The Red Stars fans that have booed her, (granted it's a small number) at Toyota Park and even at the Watch Party the other night was because of what she did/said, not because she plays for NC. She is the only one being booed on the NC team. One person even yelled out F--- You, you homophobe!. I'm serious. I was slammed for defending her. I guarantee you she will be booed at Providence Park not so much because she plays for NC but because of what she did/said. I feel bad for her because she doesn't deserve to get booed for that reason. Andy, you weren't a part of this, but a couple of months ago when she got called into the USWNT then release, we discussed this on and on and on...
My question was asked in the context of labor law. I thought that by using a specific legal term, everybody would understand that. I should have been clearer. My mistake.
Because if we defined "hostile work environment" as "booing," we have to cancel all sports. I agree wholeheartedly with the distinctions made above. If you're booing or heckling someone for something that's out of their control, that's abhorrent. The absolute nadir of such behavior was when the son of a slain U.S. diplomat was heckled -- with a direct reference to the killing -- at a college basketball game. (No, it wasn't at Duke. My fellow Dukies have done some nasty things over the years, but not that one.) If you're booing Hope Solo because she threw tons of teammates under the bus in interviews and her book (or because she accused Boston fans of racism and stuck by it **even after the accusations were soundly refuted**), it's hard to argue with that. If you're booing Jaelene Hinkle because her beliefs are theologically unsound (speaking of Duke, it's just a few miles away, and perhaps she should go chat with some folks in the Divinity School), that's your prerogative. If you're booing Landon Donovan because he didn't play well in the 2006 World Cup ... OK, that's going to backfire. At least it did when D.C. United fans did it. He absolutely buried United in that game. And if you're booing a hockey player because he unleashed a dirty hit on someone on your team, have at it. Common sense should prevail here. I wouldn't boo or heckle a high school kid. I can't blame people for heckling Grayson Allen.
I not only understand but I pretty much agree that it is as you said. My characterization of the the booing as bullying was also ignored. It seems that we allow behavior in sports that we would never tolerate in other environments. If the hostility was the other way around then it would not be tolerated. It is OK to harass as long as the person being harassed is not a member of a perceived minority. If the boos were racial or homophobic or misogynistic or any other previously condemned harassment we, and even FIFA, would be up in arms. But because the boos are directed at a person that has offended a minority they are seen as OK or even somehow commendable.
Oh, what the hell? I'll make another comment. I think people have a right to boo -- just like they have a right to pay attention to motivational speakers and fundamentalist preachers -- but that doesn't alter my belief that the people who are booing Hinkle are boorish. I boo when I think a player has been dirty, or unsportsmanlike. I boo when I think a ref has made an incompetent decision. I boo coaches who throw chairs or bully players. I boo tennis players who shout obscenities at officials. I don't usually boo people who have beliefs different from mine, even if they are motivational speakers or fundamentalist preachers -- although I might snicker if they fell off the stage.
Unmentioned is that having the booing, for most of the fans there (whatever their beliefs and opinions of Hinkle) was very unpleasant. It was a distraction from the game itself. Also not condemned here by those condemning the booers is the fans wearing Hinkle shirts and standing so other fans couldn't see the game -- most likely intentionally.
Actually I did condemn, although not very thoroughly, the instigators. I do apologize for not being as strong on them as I was, and am, on the booers. However, in my and other's defense, the T-shirted hooligans were not shown on the broadcast so the impact I feel and felt from their actions is minimal. Also if those hooligans were not quickly dealt with by the arena security then the problem in Portland runs much deeper that I thought. Any person or persons disrupting the view, and therefore the enjoyment, of other fans should be summarily ejected and if they resist or otherwise make a further disrupting action they should be arrested and banned from the facility. Sports venues during matches are not the place for any disruptive political actions. I would imagine that the reason those hooligans were not shown is the same reason the people running onto the field are not shown. If they are not shown then they get less reward for their stupidity.