# Brandi Chastain **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 12, 1999, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandi-chastain/2103 "1999-07-12T01:53:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 1999, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandi-chastain/2103/61 "1999-07-18T02:06:00Z")
In American Football there are long breaks between plays, defense and offense are not even the same players and different plays use different players. Baseball has almost one entire team sitting at any one time and even the team in the field isn’t running around for better position. Basketball uses a tiny court and substitutions are unlimited. Hockey is on a small, ice (which allows gliding into position instead of more strenuous running) and also allows unlimited substitutions. Football uses 11-14 players who are almost constantly running with intermittant sprinting (except for the goalie). Unlike the other sports I mentioned it uses the legs(mainly) to control the ball so that running around directly affects the energy you have left to control the ball. A break for water only occurs at halftime or when you can get to your team’s sideline and get someone to pass you water and hope that you are not needed to cover someone. I think that this comparison, coupled with the low goal scoring of football, shows that, unlike other sports, football does not fit well with the idea of extending play until someone scores. Humans can only stretch their endurance so far. Plus would you like it if you tried to get an autograph and the player was so tired from 3 hours of playing that she couldn’t hold your pen? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 1999, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandi-chastain/2103/62 "1999-07-18T03:03:00Z")
Well put, HeadlessCow. There’s one additional point I’d like to make about forcing players to play for hours - the added risk of injury to the players. Outside of the US, very few domestic games **have** to end with a winner, so mostly when we debate this subject we are talking about international games. Well, it isn’t the international games that pay a player’s salary - they’re contracted to their team - and their team isn’t going to want to send them to internationals if they risk getting them back unable to play for weeks or months. I can’t see the players being thrilled about it either. This isn’t a minor concern. * * * Never regret what seemed like a good idea at the time. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 1999, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandi-chastain/2103/63 "1999-07-18T03:32:00Z")
ruadh posted: > [@](#): > > Maybe, but most other sports in the world either aren’t as physically intense, or rarely end in draws. It’s an apples and oranges thing, really. As is this statement. A few sports come to mind right off the bat for physical intensity: American Football, Australian Rules Football, Gaelic Football, Boxing, Wrestling (not the WWF stuff), certain Track and Field Events, Rowing. The list just goes on. But it’s an apples and oranges and bananas and citrons and…and…and…thing. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 1999, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandi-chastain/2103/64 "1999-07-18T13:52:00Z")
> [@](#): > > The > pennant races in 1997 spring to mind (were the Indians and Marlins really better than > the Orioles and the Braves? That’s debatable). (CARTMAN)Hey!(/CARTMAN) I think there’s little doubt the Indians _were_ better than the Orioles, and I don’t say so just because I live in Cleveland and used to work for their flagship radio station. 🙂 OTOH, the Marlins were a fluke, and a travesty. That Series should be stricken from the books. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 1999, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandi-chastain/2103/65 "1999-07-18T15:20:00Z")
I suspect having all those women behaving jocks has upset alot of delicate sensibilities. Sometimes it takes time for people keep up with or even be aware of shifts in social or cultural paradigns. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 1999, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandi-chastain/2103/66 "1999-07-22T12:00:00Z")
## \<\\> I agree: she was posing with her shirt off (perhaps for future ad revenue, playboy revenue)and so violated the demeanor of the entire women’s cup. These women had successfully focused attention on the _sport_ until the very last moment: a woman ripping off her shirt thus focusing attention on her sexuality, not her achievement. It was a sad moment for the sport. She blew it. Then to swear in public afterward: This is not how I want my daughter to act. “Valenton del mundo!” ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 1999, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandi-chastain/2103/67 "1999-07-22T12:23:00Z")
> [@](#): > > These women had successfully focused attention on the _sport_ until the very last moment: a woman ripping off her shirt thus focusing attention on her sexuality, not her achievement. Yes, that’s right–if a man does it, it’s “celebrating the victory”; if a woman does it, it’s “calling attention to her sexuality”. I can’t believe I live on the same planet as some of you people. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 1999, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandi-chastain/2103/68 "1999-07-22T13:12:00Z")
Phil! You and I agree 100%! Just because a woman does something that some men might find sexually stimulating does not mean that she “called attention to her sexuality.” The fact, as I understand, is that the men in soccer rip off their shirts in celebration, and the women have simply followed suit. Like you say, as of yet I see no posts complaining that the men have been doing this for years in an effort to call attention to their sexuality. Is this a prudish American phenomenon, that we think seeing a woman’s sports bra is going too far? Representatives of any more open-minded cultures care to voice their viewpoints? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 1999, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandi-chastain/2103/69 "1999-07-22T13:34:00Z")
I found it very tasteless to rip off your shirt (especially since it was just a PK goal) and then curse in the interview afterwards, ESPECIALLY when we’re the host country and ESPECIALLY when its a World Cup game. Gender does not play a role in my feelings about this- we simply have a higher standard for international events and, IMHO, rightly so. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 1999, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandi-chastain/2103/70 "1999-07-22T14:29:00Z")
> [@](#): > > If you don’t see why some people could be upset at a public display of one of the ten commandments being broken by a greatly admired athlete, then I cannot help you. Uh, Nickrz, help out the biblically challenged here and identify which commandment you are referring to…I can’t think of one that applies to someone taking off their shirt. (although her abs are so sculpted I suppose they could qualify as a “graven image.” LOL * * * Live a Lush Life Da Chef ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 1999, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandi-chastain/2103/71 "1999-07-22T15:11:00Z")
I think Nickrz was referring to the cursing and the commandment regarding using the lord’s name in vain. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 1999, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandi-chastain/2103/72 "1999-07-22T23:00:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Now, I saw her take her shirt off on the highlights during Sportcenter. > And **again** on the next show, and **again, and again** … Arg :::snicker::: ## Ya know Arg, oh nevermind. . . . \>^,^\< KITTEN Coarse and violent nudity. Occasional language. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brandi-chastain/2103.md?page=3)