Rey Maualuga moved to number one in the blogosphere's collective heart recently when
he did a little shimmy-shake behind
Erin Andrews. It was baller and hysterical all at the same time. Well, not so fast, my friends. Turns out
Donna Lopiano, a former CEO of the Women's Sports Foundation,
didn't think so.
"[Maualuga is] my first-round pick for 'offensive' player of the year" and his dance behind Andrews "another example of a narcissistic, high-profile athlete believing that any behavior, no matter how inappropriate, is acceptable because of his status. For those who would laugh off, celebrate or enable this behavior, think twice. Ms. Andrews could be your sister, daughter or wife."
Since this is a serious matter, I'm not going to make the seemingly requisite "Erin Andrews as my wife" blogger joke. You know how I know it's serious? Rey even apologized (Go on. Kiss it.) according to a statement from USC.
"The situation was addressed immediately," the statement said. "Rey both e-mailed and spoke to Erin and apologized to her. He realized he made a mistake and used poor judgment. He deeply regrets his actions."
I see the inherent sexism that could be pulled out of this little stunt, but I also kind of tend to think that Andrews would (and probably did) laugh this whole thing off. That being said, it's still pretty awkward anytime a football player pulls off a
sexist-related act on the field towards a female reporter, so, yeah, this is probably how it should have worked out.
