The Patrick/Duno dust-up, followed by the Pierson/Parker dust-up, reminds us that it was male athletes, not females, who filed the first copyright on temper fests during competition. Call it the dark side of sports if you will…or the twilight of sportsmanship. But a lot of fans live for it, especially when the races or the ball games get boring…which has fed some male athletes’ attitude that they can get away with it, even be admired for it.
Many motorsports fans just love the fist fights in the pits, and some male drivers are happy to oblige them, because they know the fans will see it as “being a man…standing up for yourself.” Take a look at any sport and you can find it…the boxing fans, for instance, who thought it was a manly wow when Mike Tyson tried to bite Evander Holyfield’s ear off.
The Patrick/Duno dust-up, followed by the Pierson/Parker dust-up, reminds us that it was male athletes, not females, who filed the first copyright on temper fests during competition. Call it the dark side of sports if you will…or the twilight of sportsmanship. But a lot of fans live for it, especially when the races or the ball games get boring…which has fed some male athletes’ attitude that they can get away with it, even be admired for it.
Many motorsports fans just love the fist fights in the pits, and some male drivers are happy to oblige them, because they know the fans will see it as “being a man…standing up for yourself.” Take a look at any sport and you can find it…the boxing fans, for instance, who thought it was a manly wow when Mike Tyson tried to bite Evander Holyfield’s ear off.
The problem comes when female fisticuffs get massaged by the sports media in a leering, condescending way that male fisticuffs do not….in the direction of “girls gone wild.” The Patrick/Duno thing was certainly pushed that way by some coverage. Neither Patrick nor Duno deserve to be treated that way. But both women need to win some races if they want to be taken more seriously. I liked how Duno stood up to Patrick’s bullying, but I’m glad she just threw a rag in Danica’s face instead of a punch.
Mechelle Voepel of ESPN had this to say about the Parker/Pierson battle: “What happened should provide some pretty basic reminders of a lesson we all learn about life, not just sports: If you keep playing with fire, eventually you’ll get burned.”
To put it another way: Now that women are making new headway in certain big-time professional sports, whether it’s auto racing or basketball, they have equal opportunity with men to make fools of themselves in front of the TV cameras and try to settle with tempers what they failed to settle with their talent. They also have an equal shot at getting sued and sinking their careers if they hurt someone. — Patricia Nell Warren
