Little Girls Take Offense to Crisp’s Comments
Young girls across throughout Massachusetts were appalled by being compared to Tampa Bay Rays last night by Red Sox center fielder Coco Crisp. Crisp was involved in a dust-up with the Rays in which he was tackled by Dioner Navarro. Akinori Iwamura, Carl Crawford, and Jonny Gomes then proceeded to claw and flail away at the subdued Crisp, who was pinned under Navarro.
In his post-game interview Crisp compared his fellow combatants to “little girls,” saying the Rays were “trying to scratch out my eyes” and “trying to pull my hair like little girls... [i]nstead of throwing some real punches or something like that�”
Elspeth Roeniger, a 13-year old student at Matthews Martial Arts in Medford, Massachusetts bristled at the comparison. “I’ve been taking classes for three years here and I can hold my own. I would never do anything as unsporting as scratch or pull hair.”
Fourteen-year old Sachiko Moreno of Roshankish Tae Kwan Do School of Martial Arts, also in Medford, echoed Roeniger’s displeasure. “Lots of people think girls can’t defend themselves or resort to underhanded measures in hand-to-hand combat. I can tell you most of the girls I spar with here have better form than that pitcher dude [James Shields, Rays starter].”
“Crisp had pretty good form,” conceded Moreno. “I just hope he stops comparing girls like me to those Rays because that’s pretty insulting. I’m a Red Sox fan and all, but when someone like him buys into stereotypes like “girls can’t fight,” it’s discouraging.”
Both Roeniger and Moreno stated they would be happy to demonstrate basic fighting techniques to the Rays so that they will no longer be an embarrassment to little girls across the nation.
