A Middle Finger Cost Me My Livelihood as a Woman Athlete

[RandySF]

It took a split second for my whole world to come crashing down.

My teammates on the University of Connecticut’s women’s soccer team were jumping and screaming and hugging each other. We had just won a championship game. It was one of the happiest moments of my life — my first championship win at the collegiate level. Without thinking, I flashed a middle finger in celebration as I embraced teammates on camera. I couldn't have known that split-second, mindless gesture of celebration would cause UConn to suspend me from the NCAA tournament, revoke my scholarship, and completely upend my life as I knew it. All for a stupid mistake.

Right away, UConn issued a press release calling the middle finger “unsportsmanlike” behavior. I cried the whole way home through the airport, and apologized to my team. Luckily, my teammates were so supportive. But UConn was not finished punishing me.

At that point, I knew I was suspended, but I didn’t really grasp what that meant until I tried to join my teammates in watching the NCAA selection show, which is always a big deal every year. I was essentially barred from seeing my team on campus. I wasn’t allowed to go to any team functions or even enter the locker room. I wasn’t allowed to wear any gear or to identify myself as a UConn athlete, either. And then over winter break, I learned that I had lost my full-ride scholarship. Without it, I could no longer afford to attend UConn. I had to transfer to another school with a partial athletic scholarship mid-year. That’s when I decided to take legal action against UConn. This was about more than a tournament, and even more than a lost scholarship. This was about discrimination on the basis of sex. UConn’s harsh punishment left me feeling ostracized. They attacked my whole identity as a career athlete. And I don’t think the same thing would have happened if I were a male athlete.




https://www.aclu.org/news/womens-rights/a-middle-finger-cost-me-my-livelihood-as-a-woman-athlete/?initms_aff=nat&initms_chan=soc&utm_medium=soc&initms=201219_blog_tw&utm_source=tw&utm_campaign=&utm_content=201219_womensrights_blog&ms_aff=nat&ms_chan=soc&ms=201219_blog_tw

[Skittles]

1. watched the video

that's a seriously ridiculous overreaction by UConn

[lpbk2713]

2. Totally blackballed.

They went way too extreme with this.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. I Never Heard About This

The school lost its collective minds on this decision.
Over a middle finger, she lost a scholarship?
Geez, at Baylor the administration covered up sexual assault to protect some athletes! (Male)
I think she has a solid point, here.

[efhmc]

4. I never heard about this.

I wish it were on Twitter so more people could know about it.

[ellie]

6. I went to the link

and posted it on my Twitter feed.

[TheRickles]

7. It would be the Tweet of the Day.

[luv2fly]

5. Who flips off a camera "in celebration?"

Total overreaction on the university's part but who gives a camera the middle finger to celebrate?

[Yeehah]

9. Who cares?

Nobody should give a shit.

[Kaleva]

16. I certainly am not going to lose sleep over this.

If things work out for her, that'd be fine. If not, that'd be fine too.

[3catwoman3]

10. I had the same question. Is not "flipping the bird"...

..pretty universally regarded as a gesture of disdain/disrespect?

ITA that the university’s response was over-the-top.

[lunatica]

13. She didn't say she flipped off the camera

She said she did it in a moment of jubilant celebration.

[Ms. Toad]

18. Watch the video.

1:08 - 1:15.

What she says does not match the video.

I think it was an overreaction by the school - BUT - she is rationalizing her behavior.

[LisaL]

24. But what is the behavior?

She held up one finger for a split second, then realized a camera was on her and made it into a peace sign. Sure doesn't look like she was trying to flip off the camera.
Anyhow, it's ridiculous to take away her scholarship for a hand gesture that lasted a second.

[Ms. Toad]

30. She was deliberately flipping the finger at someone -

Watch her actions, watch her face. Whether she knew the person she was flipping off had a camera isn't clear. But it is disingenuous to suggest her behavior was not directed at the person holding the camera.

I agree - it was ridiculous to take away her scholarship. But I have no tolerance for gaslighting at this point.

[cwydro]

37. Agree.

She needs to take responsibility for what she did.

[Tommymac]

17. If you are an underdog I totally see flipping off the naysayers...

and doubters in a moment of unreasoned and unrestrained celebration.

Our 'President' flips off everyone everyday on social media...and not in celebration.

Something is seriously wrong here - I'd say misogynistic even.

[Zipgun]

29. More common with some musicians, Johny Cash even did it once, but it's not unheard of.

Jay Bruce gave his own dugout the middle finger after breaking a slump. Larry Csonka, Blake Griffin John Buck all gave the bird in a not serious way. Like I said, it's pretty common among musicians to flip cameras and each other off, among psychobilly musicians it's downright common. It seems to be the kind of "locker room" behavior that would be more tolerated by male athletes.

[PatrickforO]

8. Where is common sense? The punishment ought to fit the crime.

Somebody in authority at UConn has a serious rectal-cranial insertion problem.

[LisaL]

11. Yep.

Surely there was a less severe punishment they could have come up with that didn't involve taking away her scholarship.

[marble falls]

12. "And I don't think the same thing would have happened if I were a male athlete. " Sez it all ...

... this was a nothing sort of violation as compared to what male athletes, especially in football "programs" get away with weekly.

[ProfessorGAC]

15. Number Of People Hurt: Zero

Ask the woman at Baylor & Michigan how many people were hurt.
The answer is not zero. More like triple digits.
And the athletic departments, and/or the college administration, helped with the cover up.

[marble falls]

20. No harm, no foul. Of more import: Was there ever a time the refs called traveling in the NBA?

edit: I hadn't read the full post before I replied.

What men get away with actually is a lot of the time criminal.

[ProfessorGAC]

25. That's Where I Was Going

Men, athletes & people in positions of power got away with it, for the most part, at those 2 schools.
No rescinded scholarships, no suspensions, no public humiliation, despite their transgressions being many orders of magnitude more severe.
As to your add on question:
The traveling rule is badly understood by most fans. There's far less violating of that rule than the casual fan thinks.
Since the 1960s, the NBA wouldn't call a half step extra if it didn't create an advantage.
In the 70s, neither did colleges or HS. I know that for sure, because I played in the 70s.
So, yes they called it in the NBA, and they still do, if it is used to create an advantage over the defender.
I watch basketball with a very analytical eye!

[RandySF]

21. I saw a male World Cup player sent home for flipping off fans, but that's a different issue.

They're grown, highly paid adults and it didn't ruin his career.

[niyad]

22. I keep thinking of brock turner.

[ProfessorGAC]

26. There Were Going To Expel Him

But, he left the school.
That fiend spent only 3 months in the slammer, and had his probation reduced by 10 or 12 months.
Given his offense, he got off easy, too.
Should have been 6-10 years.

[iluvtennis]

19. It was a split second and she turned the bird sign into a peace sign. What an overreaction. Fingers

crossed she wins the lawsuit. This is absurb.

[crimycarny]

23. How many times have we seen a male athlete crab his crotch and pull up on it as a taunt?

In fact, a quick google found this video of Oklahoma quarterback (Baker Mayfield) who grabbed his crotch and dropped f-bombs. He only had to apologize.

What happened to Mayfield? According to Wikipedia:

“Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley announced that Mayfield would not start or be the captain during the upcoming game against West Virginia due to his actions against Kansas.”

Double-standard? Oh h*ll yeah.

[BrightKnight]

36. Yeah, the scale of the response is the issue for me.

I suspect the the response for most athletes would be more like what happened to Mayfield. She probably has a point that they held her to a higher standard because she was a woman.


With just the hands I am tempted to say it was a dexterity issue but with the facial expression it was not.


It is an important life lesson that a single little wrong choice at the wrong time can have a huge impact on your life.

Also, most young college students make some bad decisions.

[Snake Plissken]

27. "A Middle Finger Cost Me My Livelihood as a Woman Athlete" is a bit over dramatic

This did not end her livelihood as a woman athlete, it didn't even end her collegiate career as a women athlete or as an athletic on scholarship.

She played in nine games for UConn and scored no goals before being kicked off the team

The cold hard truth is ... if she was a player that UConn needed on their roster to win games they would have found an infinite number of excuses to keep her on the team. This happens all the time in male athletics, players are not essential to winning are expendable, and players who are essential to winner are protected.

Legal filings in the case show that the UConn athletic department helped Radwan transfer to another school and that she had been admitted to Hofstra University with a soccer scholarship at the start of the spring semester in 2015.

Which is far more than they had to do.

She then sued UConn for monetary damages and of course the suit was thrown out.

She was given a full athletic scholarship and failed to represent the university in the manner she agreed to when she accepted the scholarship.

Do they make exceptions and look the other way for other athletes, of course they do, it's a business where winning is everything.

Athletic scholarships are granted on a year to year basis and are often not renewed for various reasons, and rarely do universities go out of their way to help them land scholarships at other universities, she is just looking to cash in on this situation.

I don't see anyone here crying for all of the students who actually have to pay out of their own pocket to get an education, or for students who do not even get accepted to a university to make room for athletes who are less academically qualified, or for the student athletes who don't get a scholarship but walkon and pay their own way.

I'm not buying this "If she was a male, she wouldn't have to be accountable for her actions" argument.

If she was good enough to make a professional team, she would have been able to make it her livelihood, but she didn't, it's that simple.

There are more than 460,000 NCAA student-athletes, and almost all of them will go pro in something other than sports.

[Klaralven]

31. I'd guess the coaching staff was disappointed with her before this incident

[Yeehah]

32. Rationalizing completely unfair actions by the university

Take a good look in the mirror.

[getagrip_already]

28. well.....

I get youthful expression of enthusiasm. The punishment exceeded the offense. Not questioned.

But people need to realize that fingers, whether raised in the one finger salute or the the froggie symbol of revulsion, mean specific things. They aren't innocent, and they don't mean nothing. You meant to offend, and you did.

If you want to make a political statement - go for it. I'm behind you and at times in front - but expect consequences and don't whine. I don't care if you burn a flag or a bra. It's protected speech.

Sorry. Action and reaction is one of those physics lessons with multiple applications.

[Turin_C3PO]

33. It was a sexist reaction.

If she were male nothing would have happened to her. Her maximum punishment should have been a short suspension.

[getagrip_already]

34. I agree i was an over reaction...

It's not clear whether it was a sexist response. I'm NOT saying it isn't. But it's just as likely the schools patience is wearing thin with negative publicity over self inflicted errors. For all we know this was just the first infraction after a policy change.

Action. Reaction. Think before intentionally offending.

[MineralMan]

35. When did flipping the bird become a celebratory gesture?

Now, I don't think she should have been punished for it, but doing stupid things in public often has repercussions.

To whom was she giving the finger? The losing team? Well, that's not nice. To the fans at the game? Not nice, either.

I guess I don't get why she made that gesture in the first place, really.

Play stupid games; win stupid prizes...