Megan Rapinoe was miscategorized at the Sports Oscars
Megan Rapinoe won Best Female Athlete in a Supporting Role at FanSided’s 2020 Sports Oscars, but the USWNT icon clearly deserved to have been in the Leading Role category.
You can always count on the Academy to screw something up, even in the inaugural Sports Oscars.
We’re happy to see the U.S. women’s national team recognized as the year’s Best Picture, and happy the USWNT’s iconic captain Megan Rapinoe won the category in which she was nominated, Best Female Athlete in a Supporting Role. But as the soccer contingent here we have to take issue with Rapinoe’s categorization.
No one starred in more of a leading role than Rapinoe in 2019. Calling her a supporting anything does a disservice to Rapinoe’s year.
Here are your 2020 Sports Oscars winners. light. Read
How did this debacle start? It begins in the Leading Role category.
Rapinoe was more deserving of being in the Leading Role category than teammate Alex Morgan.
Morgan scored six goals and assisted on three more, the same as Rapinoe. To Morgan’s credit, she scored all of hers from the run of play, while Rapinoe had the benefit of scoring three penalty kicks.
Rapinoe earned the tournament’s golden boot over Morgan on the tiebreaker of minutes per goal, with Rapinoe having appeared in one fewer match than Morgan (428 to 490 minutes, respectively).
Beyond the statistics, though, Rapinoe was the clear protagonist of the USWNT’s Best Picture worthy spectacle.
From her pink hair to her feud with the President and her iconic pose (which earned her a Best Choreography nomination) Rapinoe was the star of the USWNT show. She would have had a good shot to beat Simone Biles in the Leading Role category, at least a better case than Morgan.
The knock-on effect of Rapinoe’s miscategorization meant that while she was an obvious pick to win, she boxed out teammates Rose Lavelle and Alyssa Naeher from having any chance in a category where they were deserving.
Lavelle was the breakout star of the World Cup. She capped her coming out party of a tournament with the second, clinching goal in the World Cup final, a spectacular solo effort. Lavelle was given the Bronze Ball as the tournament’s third-best player.
Naeher didn’t have the same breakout tournament as Lavelle, but she provided the kind of memorable moment you expect from a supporting role. Late in the USWNT’s semifinal against England, Naeher came up with a huge penalty save to maintain a 2-1 lead.
It was a show-stopping moment from an understated, untested performer.
We’re happy Rapinoe was recognized by the Academy (our colleagues) but can’t help being disappointed that she wasn’t properly categorized. But like Al Pacino in The Godfather or Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction or Viola Davis in Fences or Rachel Weisz in The Favourite or Emma Stone in The Favourite, such is the illogic and injustice of Oscars.
Rapinoe deserved to add Best Female Lead to her trophy case along with the World Cup, Golden Ball, Golden Boot and Ballon d’Or, and her truly supporting teammates deserved the chance to add more honors of their own in what could have been a USWNT sweep of the Sports Oscars.
Next. The USWNT were a Best Picture blockbuster that had it all. dark