Elizabeth Lambert’s inexplicable lapse

Elizabeth Lambert doesn’t know what got into her, says Jeré Longman in The New York Times. On Nov. 5, the University of New Mexico junior achieved instant notoriety when, while playing in a soccer game against Brigham Young University, she grabbed the ponytail of an opposing player and pulled her to the ground. When the incident was posted on YouTube, it stunned not only the millions who viewed it but Lambert herself. “I look at it and I’m like, ‘That is not me.’ I can’t believe I did that.” Lambert, who was suspended indefinitely from her team, has apologized repeatedly, but for some, that’s not enough. She’s received hostile e-mails and phone messages, including one that said she should be “raped and left for dead.” Such extreme reactions, Lambert says, would never be directed toward a man. “I definitely feel because I am a female, it did bring about a lot more attention than if a male were to do it. It’s more expected for men to go out there and be rough.” Still, the enmity has taken its toll; Lambert sometimes wakes up in a sweat and has started therapy. “I’m working on my mental game to never let that happen again.”

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