Chivalry is dead at USF

"Hey, I think I saw you in a movie! Weren't you the gremlin?"

Please read the above quotation with your eyes and ask yourself, "What are the circumstances in which a man would dare say that to a woman?" Now, I'm not the first to say that chivalry is dead. In all honesty, I support chivalry. Gentlemen who open the door for me: thank you. Gentlemen who allow me to enter the subway before they do: thank you. Gentlemen on the subway who don't offer me their seats: I kind of wish you would.

To answer the question that I asked you to ask yourself, the circumstances in which a man would dare call a woman a gremlin are that of a USF women's basketball game. USF and Georgetown are neck and neck, and a petite black girl from the Georgetown team with a stick straight ponytail and biceps for days is about to shoot a free throw. Five guys in USF T-shirts heckle her from the third row. "Hey! Weren't you the gremlin?"

Everyone hears it, and I'm sure the player does too. "Hey!" The guys call out again. "Aren't you the Brain from Pinky and the Brain?" The Georgetown girl on the court lifts the ball and aims.

I wonder what would happen if I stood up and yelled from across the court at the top of my lungs, "Hey, assholes, she's in better shape than you, so put down that sausage and shut up!" Would the guys actually shut up? Would they laugh? Would the crowd applaud? Or would the crowd ignore me? That'd be awkward. Then I'd have to live for the rest of the game knowing that I was the girl who tried to tell some guys off and no one cared.

But I don't have to do any of that because the tiny Georgetown player sends the ball clean through the air, where it curves gorgeously into the net. The guys shut up. "Chivalry" lives!