Comparing Solo and Rice incidents doesn't work

The recent steps and missteps of the National Football League as it handled and mishandled the situation involving running back Ray Rice have, in some ways, improved the national dialogue concerning domestic abuse and, in others, merely filled the air with noise and static.

Everyone seems to have an agenda, an angle to pursue. The NFL had one (get this thing over with). Rice had one. Sponsors had one. Social scientists. Journalists. Women's rights organizations. Politicians. It was an apple big enough for everyone to take a bite.

One recent view, and one of the most perplexing, came from Jillian Loyden, a Vineland native and former soccer goalkeeper for Villanova. Loyden wrote that U.S. Soccer goalkeeper Hope Solo should be suspended from play as she awaits trial on two misdemeanor counts of fourth-degree assault resulting from a family altercation in June in which Solo fought with her half-sister and 17-year-old nephew.

Loyden's assertion, presented in an op-ed piece in USA Today, isn't the first to suggest that Solo is benefiting from a double standard by staying on the field while male athletes involved in domestic-abuse cases are (as of now) routinely being suspended. Solo is expected to be the starting goalie for the United States when qualifying play begins next week for the 2015 World Cup. That tournament ends Oct. 26 at PPL Park in Chester.

Similar arguments also have been put forward by some members of the media, as if there is a viable comparison to be made between the instance of domestic violence as it concerns men and women as abusers. Commentators and columnists loved the angle, however, even though it is as sophistic as the argument that because women reporters are allowed into the professional locker rooms of male athletes, then men should have the same access to female locker rooms. Nyah, nyah, nyah. Can't have it both ways.

Nonsense. What's good for the goose is not good for the gander, and never will be when it comes to sexual politics. To equate Solo's situation with that of Rice - whose employer came a little late to religion on the topic, by the way - is to diminish the life-and-death nature of what thousands of women face every day.

Loyden comes at this from an odd and sad perspective. Her sister was killed in a domestic violence incident in 2012, which means she is unfortunately too aware of the dangers faced by women at the hands of men. She has had ample opportunity to make a public case about the subject from that framework, but chose to me-too the specious double-standard debate concerning Solo.

Maybe she thought that would bring more attention to the cause, but her stand is weakened, and her motivation brought into question, because Loyden played in Solo's shadow during her own time with the national team. Additionally, Solo is no saint. She is something of a loose cannon with a reputation for being self-centered, and has not always been popular among her soccer teammates. To advocate for her suspension bears the whiff of either jealousy or dislike in this case.

None of that exonerates Solo, who faces a court hearing next month. The law will have its say, which, at last check, was still the way we do things. Solo has a complicated history here. She was the victim of an alleged assault in 2012 the night before marrying the alleged assaulter, former Seattle tight end Jerramy Stevens. The charge was dropped because Solo would not cooperate with police.

In the June incident, Solo is charged with scratching her nephew during a family argument and punching her half-sister. The nephew then broke a broom over Solo's head, according to reports, and waved a BB rifle in her face. Alcohol allegedly was a factor in the altercation. It sounds awful, naturally, but compared to the potentially lethal left hand that Rice delivered to the face of his fiancee, Solo's incident pales.

If scale matters, and it should matter in weighing the domestic danger presented by men in this country - particularly large, entitled athletes - and the danger presented by women, then putting equal value on the examples of Rice and Solo is ludicrous.

Even so, U.S. Soccer has handled this poorly. Its officials mumbled something about being unable to suspend Solo until the legal process plays out because the organization operates under the Amateur Sports Act. Tell that to USA Swimming, which operates the same way, and just suspended Michael Phelps for six months for driving drunk at 84 miles per hour through Baltimore's Fort McHenry tunnel. Phelps doesn't go to court until next month.

The soccer federation could have done as it pleased. Not only has it chosen to keep Solo on the team, it has shamelessly promoted her shutout record, and it gave her the captain's armband for a recent tune-up match. Being a little more circumspect and not quite as tone-deaf would have served U.S. Soccer much better.

Keeping her on the team is apples and oranges as compared with the decision to suspend Ray Rice, however. There is a big difference between equality and sameness. One is the goal and the other is merely the appearance of it.

@bobfordsports