Apparently the term ‘leaning in” means to the University of Missouri women basketball team that they must play harder to prevail in the tough games they face in the SEC and similarly tough venues. MU guard Sophie Cunningham is developing a reputation as a hard knocker, making her emblematic of an allegedly dirty game plan and at the same time the type of never-quit player almost all coaches covet.

Last season, Cunningham and the Tigers had a well-publicized run-in with South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, herself a leader not known for backing down in the face of stiff competition. At their most recent game this year, Cunningham and teammate Lauren Aldridge got angry responses from Tennessee players and Coach Holly Warlick after Cunningham delivered an elbow punch to the face of her Volunteer defender, and Aldridge seemed to mock Warlick and the Volunteer bench while celebrating a turnover.

This tendency to play hard evokes response sent directly to the players via social media. In response the Tigers say they will lay off social media for the rest of the season, admitting it will be hard but also recognizing some benefits. Sounds like a healthy choice to me, but admittedly I am not a cheerleader for the glories of social media. I’d say for reasons other than basketball manners, everyone might be better off without the distraction of social media. Imagine how much better if the team principals could have talked through their gripes with first use of miserably old-fashioned media, like the telephone or even email.

The nationwide chit-chat causes MU coach Robin Pingeton to bemoan the conflict and make personal contact with coaches Staley and Warlick, whom she respects. Pingeton and Cunningham admit the Tiger star did carry her elbow too high as she poked her Volunteer defender in the eye. Cunningham says she didn’t mean to do it and I’m ready to believe her, ascribing the excess to Cunningham’s natural aggressiveness on the court. Remember, coaches always fret over how to instill more aggressiveness, not less.

Today’s big-time basketball is a rough game played by high-energy athletes who can jump the moon and outrun most other humans. Players should avoid doing intentional harm, but when they collide by accident bruises happen.

The lady Tigers are up against really stiff competition. Against most foes the Tigers are out-manned, making up for their disadvantages with skill and extra effort. I’m sure Pingeton and her charges will want to avoid dirty play and will want to avoid unnecessary penalties in the future, but will they want to “lean out” instead of “leaning in”?

If “leaning in” means playing extra hard with no implication for dirty play, they should keep at it. Meanwhile, a few weeks without cell phone entrapment can’t hurt.



The universe is a pretty big place. If it’s just us seems like an awful waste of space.

—Cosmologist Carl Sagan