What happened: Megan Rapinoe, the U.S. women's soccer "star" best known for being an outspoken liberal activist and "equal pay" proponent, missed a crucial penalty kick that would have almost certainly secured her team's victory over lowly Sweden in the FIFA Women's World Cup on Sunday.
• As a result of Rapinoe's embarrassing misfire, the U.S. team went on to lose the penalty shootout and suffered their earliest exit from the World Cup in team history.
• Rapinoe, who announced in July that this would be her final World Cup appearance, called it "a sick joke" that her soccer career would end on a missed penalty kick.
Crucial context: Making a penalty kick is one of the easiest things to do in all of sports. (This assumes soccer qualifies as a real sport, a matter of considerable debate.)
Bottom line: If Rapinoe had spent more time practicing penalty kicks, and less time whining about politics and "equal pay," the United States probably would have won the game. Alas, she did not, and thus ends her career by humiliating herself and her country on the world stage. Happy trails, and good riddance.
