Alex Morgan needs to own her celebration, stop blaming gender inequality

Alex Morgan has been taking some criticism for her tea-sipping celebration after scoring a goal against England in the semifinals of the Women’s World Cup on Tuesday, and she has been uncomfortable with the criticism. She dislikes it so much that she has tried to deflect the blame and responsibility away from herself for her actions and instead wrongly transfer it to the sensitive societal issue of gender inequality, doing a great disservice to herself, women, and society.

Morgan scored in the 31st minute of the game Tuesday to give the United States a 2-1 lead, which ended up being the final score. After scoring, she pretended to sip tea — against a country well known for drinking tea. It seemed like a clear mocking of England, though Morgan claims she was making a reference to a “Game of Thrones” actress. Some people loved the celebration, while others did not and found it to be disrespectful and distasteful.

Morgan tried to defend herself on Friday by blaming gender inequality for the negative response she felt from some.

“I feel that there is some sort of double standard for females in sports, to feel like we have to be humble in our successes and have to celebrate, but not too much or in a limited fashion,” she said, per Graham Hays of espnW.com. “You see men celebrating all over the world in big tournaments, grabbing their sacks or whatever it is. And when I look at sipping a cup of tea, I am a little taken aback by the criticism.”

Morgan could not be more wrong and should be called out for this.

The response to her actions has come down to a matter of how fans and observers feel about celebrations, which is an issue of sportsmanship, not gender inequality.

Sportsmanship is a concept that involves being humble in victory and gracious in defeat. It involves treating yourself, your opponent, and your sport with respect. The idea of sportsmanship has been included in sports for as long as they’ve been played, with young boys and girls being taught about the principle at an early age.

Speaking about the matter on ESPN, former Olympic gold medalist and Women’s World Cup winner Julie Foudy said girls are taught to “be nice and humble.” Guess what, Julie, boys are taught the exact same principles! This is not unique to women.

Sportsmanship is so strongly tied to sports that the NHL hands out an award for it annually at the same time they announce the league MVP. That award is called the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, and it’s awarded to a “player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.”

Some will argue that sportsmanship is overrated, or even a hindrance to maintaining a competitive edge against your opponent. For instance, in baseball, Yasiel Puig has said that he is not the same player when he suppresses his celebratory urges and emotions. He feels he plays better when he shows his emotions. He is not the only athlete — male or female — who feels that way.

Athletes are entitled to believe that celebrating is an important factor in them reaching their full potential on the field and act accordingly. I might argue that such celebrations could have long-term negative consequences against themselves or their team as it could backfire and motivate opponents for the rest of the game or future contests, just as it did with Louisville in the College World Series this year. Plus, sportsmanship and success on the playing field are not mutually exclusive. Wayne Gretzky, the greatest hockey player of all time, won the Lady Byng Trophy five times. Five players in NHL history won the sportsmanship award and MVP in the same season.

But this is not about whether celebrations are acceptable in sports or not. This is about understanding that if you want to celebrate, you have to be aware of the consequences and willing to accept them.

If you celebrate, you are drawing attention to yourself. You have to understand that you may be offending your opponent, as well as fans who are proponents of sportsmanship. In Morgan’s case, you may be offending an entire country.

The US Women’s National Team is playing on a World Cup stage, representing our country, and being watched by millions. They want equal treatment and equal pay and deserve both. Part of equal treatment is being held by some fans/critics to a high standard of conduct while representing the country, and being criticized for unsportsmanlike behavior just as a male athlete would be.

Guys like Puig who celebrate recognize and understand this. That’s why he openly stated he will not be offended if a pitcher celebrates against him. He understands that fans might not like him either because of it.

I cover sports for a living and have been doing this for nearly two decades. I can point to countless examples of male athletes facing consequences for celebrating. Here’s one from MLB. Here’s another from the NFL. Here’s another from the NBA. Joe Buck infamously called Randy Moss’ fake mooning celebration in Green Bay — a play on what Packers fans do to opposing team buses — a “disgusting act.” Terrell Owens, Odell Beckham Jr., and more recently Derek Dietrich are just a few male athletes who come to mind who many fans dislike due to their flamboyant celebrations.

Many people simply don’t like athletes who call attention to themselves, or ones who display poor sportsmanship. That’s what Morgan was doing.

Morgan is used to being the beloved face of the women’s national team. She’s in commercials, she does children’s books, she is an inspirational figure to many young girls. The national perception of her has been resoundingly positive. That’s what she’s used to. But after she caused some waves with her celebration on the stage of the World Cup, for the first time in her career, she faced negative backlash. That’s not something she was used to. It was uncomfortable and she didn’t like it. And rather than own it and admit her behavior wasn’t sportsmanlike, or just tell her critics who didn’t like it “too bad”, she tried to spin it as a gender inequality issue. That’s problematic. It’s the same card Serena Williams tried to play to cover up her completely unsportsmanlike behavior when she was losing at the US Open last year.

These women know that as soon as they mention “gender inequality,” they will instantly get feminists and male sympathizers to perk up in their defense without evaluating the circumstances. Those people are not truly evaluating the matter to recognize Morgan’s complaint boils down to reactions to unsportsmanlike activity rather than people being offended by a woman doing something a male would otherwise get away with.

If you are going to celebrate and draw attention to yourself and disrespect your opponent, you have the freedom to do so. But you are not free from the consequences as Morgan apparently feels she should be. If you don’t like the consequences, the answer isn’t to blame gender inequality so feminists and sympathizers come to your defense and feel badly for a controversy you created. The answer is much simpler: don’t celebrate or troll your opponent.