I don't umpire softball any longer, but I know there is no rule in baseball that allows someone to be transported around the bases. There is a rule that says: since the ball has been hit out of the park, the ball is dead. The umpire would then tell the coach, "We will take care of the injury and allow a substitute to pinch-run during this dead ball to complete the path around the bases."
So, not to put a damper on the other team's great sportsmanship, which all sporstmen and sporstwomen should and do admire, there was no real need for the defensive team to use their great sportswomanship at all. The umpire erred and should have offered the offensive team the right by the rules to substitute and have that person finish the trip around the bases. Granted, it would not be such a great human interest story if the umpire used the rule book correctly, but that is what should have happened.

I like the way it did happen, though, and congratulate the defensive team's players for doing the right action.

When I saw the soccer player get yanked to the ground by her hair, my first thought was that it constituted an assault charge and went beyond the scope of rules of a game.

My son is a senior and one of the captains of the football team at the private college he attends. Every year I have witnessed the team being treated unfairly by the referees. Every game there are two or three fans for our side who yell rude comments at the refs. The more they yell, the worse the calls become.
At one of the games this year the cheerleaders passed out small cowbells to the fans. This past Saturday, when one of the three fans would start yelling ugly remarks, we rang our cowbells until they stopped. It did not make them stop, but at least the refs could not hear the rudeness, only the cowbells.
Booing and other rude behavior at sports events is embarrassing. It makes the team, the coaches, the school, the parents, and all the fans look bad. Even worse, it reflects on the town as well.

A decline in the evidence of sportsmanship is not a shock to anyone associated with a secondary school. Unfortunately, it is not the students who display the worst behavior at athletic events. Most often it is a small core of parents whose behavior would get them suspended or expelled from school if they were part of the student body. I have been appalled at times by the actions of adults attending some of the athletic events at our school. When kids are witness to this conduct, they learn that sportsmanship is not expected. Kids learn too often what they witness from their parents, regardless of what they are told or taught to do by coaches, teachers and administrators.

What do you suggest the opposing players and coach should have done in response to Lambert's behavior? Holding them somehow responsible for the lack of sportsmanship shown by Elizabeth Lambert because they ignored her behavior is unreasonable and shows a lack of understanding of the rules of soccer.

New Mexico's coaching staff however, should also be suspended from the field of play. They watched and condoned Lambert's behavior by not pulling her from the game. Suspending Lambert after the game seems hypocritical. Why should she be suspended for actions that were supported and accpted by her coaches throughout the game?

My concern about the soccer game is that both times Ms. Lambert was in the spotlight for doing evil, the video failed to also focus on the things that provoked her. I am in no way condoning what that young lady did, but we all have to admit that if someone would elbow us in the stomach or chest, or if someone grabbed the front of our shorts, we would be offended and react in a defensive manner. Just like she did. But we would not have network cameras focused on us or would have the media having a heyday over a one-sided presentation of the event. Ms. Lambert should be held accountable for her actions, as well as the other girls who were involved.

Before I form an opinion on the actions of the NM soccer player, I would need to see more of the game in which the infraction occurred. The few short clips we have watched indicate that the sneaky cheap shot stuff was committed from both sides of the ball. I would also wager that the recipient of the hair-yanking then exaggerated the damage done by remaining on the ground extra long in hopes of drawing a red card, a common practice in soccer. Do we know if the opponent was actually hurt or injured? This is not to condone Ms. Lambert's behavior, but to see the game in the larger context, which is likely an intense and physical rivalry where the rules of contact are violated throughout the game, often a deliberate strategy to draw out reactions similar to the now-villified Ms. Lambert's. To criticize the coaches for not immediately suspending her may also be unwarranted. Did they actually see the infraction? If not, they could hardly be expected to level appropriate sanctions without accurate information, which, in this case, would be viewing replays after the game. Most cheap stuff is committed away from the main play, a private duel for territory between two players.

My point is that we need to be careful in our condemnations and view these behaviors in the context of the game. Obviously, yanking an opponent to the ground by their hair crosses any line of sportsmanship and requires a strong response. But that action likely did not suddenly occur in an otherwise cleanly played game. If we are to criticize the single action, we must also take a critical look at the accepted style of play that led up to it.