In a publicity stunt that gave virtue-signaling media a thrill up their legs Saturday, Vanderbilt University soccer star Sarah Fuller appeared for one play in a Southeastern Conference football game. Outkick commentator Jason Whitlock threw a big flag on left-stream media for equating this as a symbolic event on a level with Jackie Robinson breaking the race barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947.
Fuller squibbed a 28-yard kickoff to open the second half in Vandy’s game against Missouri and ran off the field to avoid injury – to a standing ovation. By media accounts, one might get the impression she had accomplished something for the ages. Fuller, who had the message “play like a girl” displayed on the back of her helmet, said it was an “incredible” experience.
ESPN SportsCenter tweeted that Fuller’s kick changed college football. Others said she made history as the first woman to appear in a Power 5 conference football game. The Huffington Post said, “Vanderbilt lost the game to Missouri, 41-0, but Fuller’s addition to the team was celebrated as a big win.” CBS News reported, “Acclimations flooded in for support of Fuller taking the field. The Tennessee Titans tweeted ‘It's your time, Sarah Fuller.’ "
Whitlock is not among the virtue signalers and offers a totally different perspective.:
“I don’t believe she played football. She scored a point in the culture war. The people who believe the only difference between men and women is in how they choose to identify consider Fuller a poor woman’s Jackie Robinson. … This wasn’t Jackie Robinson 2.0. It was Make A Wish.”
Whitlock says, “The people who hate football and the people who spent the whole summer trying to cancel college football over COVID concerns came together to celebrate the game Saturday.
“Sarah Fuller briefly made football socially acceptable for America’s most ardent virtue-signalers. That was her primary accomplishment, pleasing Make A Wish America.”
After losing to Missouri 41-0, Vanderbilt sagged to 0-8 on the season. Whitlock believes the Commodores head coach Derek Mason used Fuller in hopes of saving his job.
Whitlock doesn’t find fault with Fuller. He views her as an accomplished major college women’s soccer player who was baited into believing that competing against men is her “North Star,” but it shouldn’t be. Vanderbilt doesn’t have a men’s soccer program, its kicker has COVID-19 and it needed kicking help. Thus, a virtue signaling scheme was hatched, and by kicking a ball once without confronting a 280-pound man Fuller really didn’t compete against men.
There’s a lot of money being spent by people who hate football to create the illusion that women can and should be playing football against men, Whitlock adds. Football is the epitome of “toxic masculinity” except when women are on the field. Football should not be played because of all the brain damage … unless women are playing. “Oh, and during this COVID pandemic, it’s irresponsible for these Power 5 schools to exploit these college athletes… unless there’s a woman playing.”
Whitlock offered up a few more thoughts on this farce. Fuller’s elite female athleticism does not need to be validated by playing football with men. He rated her “a terrible football player, arguably the worst to ever take the field in the SEC,” one who kicked 14-yard field goals in pregame warmups. Vanderbilt didn’t score equality points for treating Fuller like a special-needs child. Most people understand this, but the media has been hijacked by activists and social media apps designed to amplify the voices of the illogical.
