"Athlete of the month? My Call (may suprise you)" Topic

That blonde girl, the New Mexico Sate soccer player.

I saw those clips, and her performance meets or exceeds every criteria for how competetive athletics should be played.

Granted, she could have used the "short left hook" or "phantom right to the head", "kick to the face" in combination with those throw downs, but it's easy to 2nd guess.

It's not sportsmanlike to use unneccessary or "cheap shot" violence, on someone in all situations, and it seemed she was careful not to cross that line.

I only used the "drive defender's back of head onto floor with knee to throat" move a few dozen or so of times in my entire basketball career (two or three well witnessed times early in a season was sufficient to deter others from trying to take a charge when I was driving to the hoop).

I need more film of her, but from the clips I've seen, she is definately my athlete of the week.

BTW, reminded me of those two NCAA soccer games I played in ( emergency situation during a college soccer tournament, our team needed a body, and since I was available and already an eligable school athlete, I got the call). I kncoked out the opponent's goal keeper and had an assist for goal (on same play)less than one minute into my first ever time playing soccer!!!

(

Wow, that girl is crazzy. Can't believe the coaches would keep their team out there against that psychopath. Red card her or forfeit--that's insane.

Link?
Name?
Anything?

OK, I found it.
YouTube link

Smokey, if you are serious, you are nuts.

As the Olympic athlete said in the commentary – over the line.

Methinks Smokey got his definition of "competitive sports" from too many nights of watching "Ultimate Smackdown", WWF and pay-per-view cage fighting.

And no, his choice of "heroine" doesn't surprise.

Wyatt

I would not be surprised to see that BYU player got a neck injury from that hair yank.
Indefensible on every level.

Monstrous.

Time to start wearing the hair short.

mjc

Competition always brings out the worst in some people.

From the highlights the BYU girl gave her an elbow to the stomach to start the process. Reminded me of the messin' with sasquatch tv ads.
Best soccer action I've ever seen!

The wife was so angry (we have a little "impressionable" girl who plays, you see) she wrote a letter to the New Mexico Coach and Athletic Director.

Shockingly they responded! Probably a form letter, but still…

The player, Elizabeth Lambert, has issued an apology and been suspended from the team indefinitely.

Don't mess with the wife!

Wow…she makes Brandon Spikes look like an angel! She should be banned from playing again.

NM coach should have removed her from the game before it got real ugly, though. What game was she watching?

"The player, Elizabeth Lambert, has issued an apology and been suspended from the team indefinitely."

Have any of you that played high level competetive contact sports, find this that big a deal?

(about 1 in every 3 times I drove to the basket, at least one player clotheslined, elbowed, took out my legs, lowered a shoulder, clawed across my face, and everything else imaginable. And I'm not talking about plays where a foul was even called. This was stuff you had to expect, and couldn't ever let it effect your shot)

In high school hoops, it was much worse (back then, walking up and punching an opponent in the face, as long as the ball wasn't in play, was a one shot technical foul.)

What the girl did is routine stuff in basketball, hockey, whatever. That's what fouls/penalties are for. Ejections and suspensions are for intentional acts that are not "part of the game".

Watch closely, the next college hoops game, and focus on what players without the ball are doing. (for a real treat, watch an old Pistons game and focus on Bill Laimbeer ). Especially once a shot is in the air, or when players are setting/fighting through picks.

We were coached to A: waylay the shooter by backing into him, "boxing him out", and quickly rushing towards hoop, away from fallen shooter, while the refs were watching the ball in the air.

B: If you lost your dribble and were being trapped, you looked one way, and fired a "no look pass" the other direction, which accidently happens to be where the defender's face is. (a very hard thrown basketball hitting your nose from a foot away will cost you a second in recovery time, which the offensive player uses to grab rebound off face and go.)

and my favorite, C:(left the 20 bad words out)typically screamed at you while coach is shaking you by your collar:

"If he (opponent)takes another shot and doesn't end up in the third row of the stands, you'll be on the bench till the year of 2000!!!!" (LOL! This was in the 80's)

BTW, the girl was elbowed first. Thats how you respond to physical play, you fight back or get pushed around.

I might as well not mention college tennis matches that featured punches, elbows or football style hits on an opponet?

Those where always very hard to justify, even though they were completely justifiable. Doubt the majority here would find it exscusable.

It was hard not to look like the aggressor when you make the first physical contact in tennis. :(

Have any of you that played high level competetive contact sports, find this that big a deal?

While I am not as inclined to action as my wife, I think the punishment is appropriate. (yes, I played "high level contact sports")

In high school hoops, it was much worse (back then, walking up and punching an opponent in the face, as long as the ball wasn't in play, was a one shot technical foul.)

I'll give you a pass for hyperbole. Yes, we are more strict as a society nowadays, but a blantant punch to the face was still an ejection.

What the girl did is routine stuff in basketball, hockey, whatever.

I played HS football in western PA, "Linebacker U".
My favorite line from a coach screaming at me (full volume)for running past the B-Gap and breaking outside during a game…
"You wanna dance like that, the girls cheerleading squad has an open spot and a pair of painties to match. Next time you get the ball, you better hit that gap and hit that kid so hard, he quits the ****'ing game."

Um, usually tennis players are on opposite sides of the net. Yes Basketball involves jostling and elbows flying, but elbows draw a foul at some point. It is even illegal in US football to pull a player down by the hair – Troy Polumalu gets away with his long hair for that reason.

Jlunmdberg, you can pull a guy down by the hair in football if he has the ball.

Yes, in tennis, you play on opposite sides of the net, but switch sides after every odd game.

Believe me, when players are calling their own lines, as in college tennis, some harsh words, an elbow, shove or melee during changeovers, or during arguements, happens about 3 or four times a season,

(depending on the individual and his propensity to answer an opponent's cheating with violence) Some players just cheat back, but I could never do that.

So, if a player were blatantly cheating in a college match against me, good chance he would get an earful, a warning, and if it continued, I might accidently bump into the opponent and send him flying into the bleachers or fence on changeover.

My doubles partner in college thought force or threat of force against a cheting opponent was unsportsmanlike, and that making a bad call in response was entirely approprite.

We had many arguements in our doubles matches on dealing with continual "hookers" (that's what bad line calling is called in tennis, at least back then), I wanted to jump the net and rush the opponents, my partner wanted to just call their next couple of serves "out". Interesting sportsmanship/moral dilemna.

Usually resolved by him calling their next shot "out", they get mad at us for counter cheating, Smokey runs his mouth, manages to get the opponents so mad the whole thing turns into a bench clearing brawl.

Think about it this way. If wide recievers in college footbll had total authority to call pass interference on the defender, their would be some heated debates over the calls?

Guiscard, I am not exagerating. Loophole in Florida, for years we could lay out opponents on court during a dead ball, and it was a one shot technical.

(but if it was an elbow, curiously, they could eject you.)

And LOL Guiscard! Yes, not hitting the gap is one of those things that unless you do it in a game and get big yardage, will trigger rage in any coach.
a

Don't you guys realize she's Majoring in "Jello Wrestling" and she was working on her Master's Thesis?

Watched the footage again.

Great stuff. I missed that one clothesline to the head.

Seriously. Most of that, except for the throw down by the hair bit, was perfectly acceptable.

And the hair takedown is so funny, and executed so well, that It should be studied as one of the GOAT women's sports moments. She yanked her down! And the BYU player got what she deserved!