For many, professional athletes are pretty much superheroes. And given the physics-defying moves, M/WNBA fans watch their favourite players perform every season, how could we not look up to them? It’s all too easy to assume the likes of Kahleah Copper and Natasha Howard must be made from the stuff of stars.
But what about when pro-athletes let us down? Now and then, an athlete may post a misguided tweet, become involved in a domestic dispute, or, in the case of Courtney Williams and Crystal Bradford…get in a heated brawl in front of a fried chicken food truck. So, how do we reckon with the shortcomings of our heroes? In the case of Williams and Bradford, both free agents have been released from the Atlanta Dream as a result of a video of the altercation. Williams—in a remarkable display of tone-deafness—posted a video on her YouTube account earlier in the month making light of the fight.
Penalizing athletes who step out of line is one way of handling their falls from grace. Another way of grappling with the missteps of our heroes is to remember that shockingly, they’ve got personal lives, too (cue gasp). In thinking about the repercussions athletes face when they test the limits of what they can get away with; it’s worth considering whether these penalties are equally doled out between male and female athletes.
After all, LA Lakers point guard Rajon Rondo was knee-deep in legal turmoil last year after being sued for an altercation between himself, his girlfriend, and a woman in July of 2020. Rondo, though, faced no NBA-issued repercussions, instead signing a $2.6 million single-year contract with the Lakers earlier this year.
Of course, there are differences between the altercations of Williams and Rondo. For one, Rondo was not the one throwing hands. Rather, Rondo’s girlfriend, Latoia Fitzgerald, accosted a woman by the name of Toktam Jorshari, claiming her car was parked inappropriately close to Rondo’s. Though Rondo wasn’t the one physically barraging Jorshari, he sure didn’t try to stop Fitzgerald. In the leaked video of the incident, Rondo acted as the ultimate bystander. Not only did he fail to intervene. But he also seems to encourage his girlfriend near the end of the video.
Now, I’m not going to suggest that actually hitting someone is just as much of a transgression as watching someone else do the dirty work. What I would like to bring up, though, is how the W/NBA handled their respective situations. For one, Marcus Crenshaw—Williams’ and Bradford’s agent—stated that the Dream was made aware of the altercation months ago. Yet the team only took penalizing action after the incident became public knowledge. In layman’s terms, the Dream is doing some serious ass-covering.
But this ass-covering did result in tangible punishment. I’d go so far as to venture that in a league that is only just beginning to be recognized, and which produces tremendous role models, Williams’ and Bradford’s behavior did merit penalization. Though Rondo didn’t physically engage in the altercation between his girlfriend and Jorshari; he failed to intervene and demonstrated a certain level of zeal for trashy aggression. Had a WNBA player made a failure of this sort, it’s very plausible they would have not have been able to get away with it. They certainly wouldn’t have signed a million-dollar contract afterward.
Now, I’m not saying Rondo deserves to be waived like Williams and Bradford—he doesn’t. But the parallels between these two altercations can teach us plenty about the societal perception of pro-athletes: their superhuman feats on the court allow them to get away with much more than they should. Let us be reminded that if not for the Williams and Bradford video leak; the two players would almost certainly still be signed.
So, what can we take away from the respective Rondo and Williams/Bradford incidents? It seems that in the case of professional athletes, they hover somewhere just slightly above the rest of us…with male athletes towering every so slightly above their female counterparts: it doesn’t take a fortune-teller to know that if Rondo were to swap places with Williams or Bradford; his name would still be listed on the same roster as LeBron James’ and Anthony Davis’.
Follow Beyond Women’s Sports throughout the year for more sports coverage. Emma is on Twitter too. Follow her @Blashphemma.
