ESPN's Keith Olbermann last night called for the "immediate suspension, with all rights of appeal," of U.S. national women's soccer team G Hope Solo after new information surfaced over the weekend following her arrest on domestic violence charges last June. Olbermann also said U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati and U.S. national team coach Jill Ellis "should be immediately dismissed" for not disciplining Solo for the alleged assault. The USSF continues "to be in denial even after an ‘Outside The Lines’ report in which Solo's half-sister spoke for the first time.” Olbermann asked, "Where has the U.S. Soccer Federation been in all of this? While it took no action against her despite the original charges, while its president promised to respond to new information, she was not suspended.” Meanwhile, Ellis prior to the U.S.-Australia match Monday at the FIFA Women's World Cup said the team had "moved on" from Solo's arrest. Olbermann last night said, "Domestic violence in this country is at epidemic levels. ... The coach of the women's national soccer team of this country is not only willfully ignoring unresolved domestic violence charges against her star goalie, but she also seems proud of ignoring them. The president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, who insisted he would carefully consider new information about the Solo case, has not even interviewed Solo’s half-sister, nor responded to her public comments. He has not yet risen even to the same initial minimum standard of responsibility Roger Goodell got to on his own. And unlike the NFL cases, these are not merely professional athletes in professional sports that we are talking about." Olbermann: Solo, Ellis and Gulati "are representing this country ... and clearly none of them is qualified to do so, certainly not now" ("Olbermann," ESPN2, 6/9).
EQUAL TREATMENT? SPORTS ON EARTH's Will Leitch wrote there has been an "undeniable struggle of the sporting press to figure out how, precisely, to put Solo's alleged offenses in context." On one hand, it is domestic violence, the "big red glowing hot-button issue in sports today." Then again, "She's a woman, and she hit a man." This is a "double standard, but it's one we've all collectively decided to apply to this situation, even as U.S. Soccer is dissembled and hid from the story the whole time." But we "obviously do not care enough to be truly Moral Beacons about it, because Solo is still playing and I honestly haven't seen anyone say she shouldn't" (SPORTSONEARTH.com, 6/9). In Salt Lake City, Scott Pierce notes the NFL was "pilloried for how it dealt with domestic violence," but U.S. Soccer "has largely escaped criticism." Part of it "is because women's soccer has a much, much lower profile than the NFL." Meanwhile, Pierce criticizes ESPN The Magazine and ABC's "GMA," which both "allowed Solo to lie without challenging her." Robin Roberts "tossed softball questions at Solo in a fawning interview" for "GMA." The contrast between the "hugely sympathetic profile of Solo published in ESPN The Magazine and the report on 'Outside the Lines' is stark." If the media is "going to be consistent then Solo deserves all the scrutiny that Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Greg Hardy and Ray McDonald received." The "OTL" report "was a step in the right direction" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 6/10).
