The professional sports realm has been dominated by progressive political demonstrations over the past several years.
National anthem protests by a number of NFL players and coaches drew widespread criticism from many football fans.
But the leftist outbursts spread far beyond one sport.
In fact, liberal soccer star Megan Rapinoe has been among the most outspoken of all, using her platform to raise awareness for a variety of progressive causes.
As it turns out, however, she seems to have lost the sizable soap box she has grown accustomed to using to spread her message.
According to ESPN:
U.S. women’s national team coach Vlatko Andonovski has called up a squad that mixes youth and experience for this month’s SheBelieves Cup, leaving out big names like Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan in favor of up-and-comers like Sophia Smith and Ashley Sanchez.
The 23-player squad announced on Thursday will compete in the USWNT’s first games of 2022 when the Americans face the Czech Republic, New Zealand and Iceland in the SheBelieves Cup, which will be held Feb. 17-23.
The games will be played at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, and Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.
The news that Rapinoe did not make the roster likely came as a disappointment to her fans and political acolytes.
Head coach Vlatko Andonovski, however, said it was the only logical move to make in pursuit of a victory.
As CBS News reported:
The SheBelieves Cup roster is another camp that won’t feature well-know experienced players with winning pedigree such as Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Tobin Heath, Christen Press and Julie Ertz, but Andonovski is firm on utilizing this time ahead of the World Cup to evaluate the youngsters who haven’t had the opportunity for development at this level ahead of players who are still mainstays on the national team.
“All these players are very good players. We all know that. They’ve done so much for this team and they’ve won everything possible,” Andonovski said. “But right now in these camps, I felt like I want to give a chance to players like Sophie Smith and Mal Pugh and Catarina Macario. Players that have earned their spots on the national team, or their spots back on the national team.”
Regardless of the reason, it was clear that plenty of critics were happy to see that Rapinoe would not be playing in the upcoming match.
The bad news comes after many social media users voiced their outrage over Subway’s decision to make her a spokesperson.
@SUBWAY @NFL Having a wonderful Jersey Mike’s Sub! Will never eat at Subway again as long as they have the traitor Megan Rapinoe as advertising rep… pic.twitter.com/cDV5U59ViS
— David W (@austindsw) January 30, 2022
I’m not going to buy anything at SUBWAY again America! Anti-America Megan Rapinoe endorse Subway! pic.twitter.com/FZ0T7sTZgh
— Peggy Edwards (@Peggyed41450907) December 20, 2021
Remember the perv Jared who was a subway spokesperson, and then subway hired Megan Rapinoe to be their representative. Then fired her. I had a subway sandwich for dinner tonight. I was not impressed. Not all that good.
— Richard Danna (@rickdanna4719) December 15, 2021
A number of Subway franchisees cited the backlash from their customers in pushing the company to end its partnership with the controversial athlete.
Newsweek provided some interesting details:
Nearly 22,000 Subway restaurants are owned by individual franchisees, of which 4.5 percent of their revenue goes back into the parent company for advertising and other overhead costs, according to the New York Post. Some of those franchise owners have spoken out, saying they have received notes on their businesses and bad word of mouth.
“Boycott Subway until Subway fires the anti-American … Megan Rapinoe, the creep who kneels for our beloved National Anthem!” read a note at one store in Wisconsin.
The owner of that particular store said they get tired of “apologizing” for the ad.
“The ad should be pulled and done with,” one franchisee said. “It gets tiring apologizing.”
Rapinoe attracted particularly harsh criticism for her decision to kneel during the pre-game national anthem.
In this clip, she attempts to defend her divisive act:
Do you want to see Rapinoe’s athletic career come to an end?
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