{"id":1927,"date":"2004-09-19T22:29:00","date_gmt":"2004-09-20T03:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?p=1927"},"modified":"2004-09-19T22:29:00","modified_gmt":"2004-09-20T03:29:00","slug":"media_spotlight_drives_usf_muslim_basketball_player_off_team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/media_spotlight_drives_usf_muslim_basketball_player_off_team\/","title":{"rendered":"Islam on campus: Media spotlight drives USF Muslim basketball player off team"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">\n<tr>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/andrea_armstrong.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"right\">\n<div class=\"caption\">I call a foul<\/div>\n<p><\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>All that University of South Florida NCAA basketball player <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FAndrea_Armstrong\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Andrea Armstrong<\/a> wanted to do was to continue playing <a href=\"http:\/\/gobulls.usf.edu%2Fsports%2Fwomenbskball%2F2003%2F02-03%2520roster%2Fandrea_armstrong.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">award-winning<\/a> women\u2019s basketball, albeit with the headscarf she had decided to start wearing as a symbol of her new faith.  She didn\u2019t expect the media hurricane that followed, or the caustic comments from media personalities in the wake of the third anniversary of 9\/11.  \u201cGo back to your homeland,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sptimes.com%2F2004%2F09%2F17%2FTampabay%2FUSF_controversy_goes_.shtml\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">snorted<\/a> Chicago radio personality <a href=\"http:\/\/chicagosports.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Fprintedition%2Fcs-0409140216sep14%2C1%2C2816962.column%3Fcoll%3Dcs-sports-print\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Mike North<\/a>, apparently unaware that Andrea\u2019s homeland is the state of Oregon.  Others wondered whether Muslim footballers would be offended carrying the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.publicopiniononline.com%2Fnews%2Fstories%2F20040916%2Flocalsports%2F1247657.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">pigskin<\/a>, and likened Muslim garb on athletes as akin to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theadvertiser.news.com.au%2Fcommon%2Fstory_page%2F0%2C5936%2C10800580%25255E12428%2C00.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">advertising<\/a>.  Her <a href=\"http:\/\/pittsburghlive.com%2Fx%2Ftribune-review%2Fsports%2Fs_250405.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">request<\/a> to USF officials to wear the scarf during game play resulted in an NCAA ruling allowing her an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tampatrib.com%2FFloridaMetro%2FMGBRAJ7G3ZD.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">exemption<\/a> to uniform rules.  However, after re-joining the team (which <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehoya.com%2Fsports%2F091404%2Fsports6.cfm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">supported<\/a> her decision to play with the scarf on), hostility from campus members and anonymous e-mailers forced her to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theledger.com%2Fapps%2Fpbcs.dll%2Farticle%3FAID%3D%2F20040916%2FNEWS%2F409160397%2F1002%2FSPORTS\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">quit again<\/a>. \u201c[The scarf issue] is dividing my team, school and community,\u201d said Armstrong, 22.   Even though she has now left the team that she <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usforacle.com%2Fvnews%2Fdisplay.v%2FART%2F2004%2F09%2F14%2F4146ed3f0ff5b\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">co-captained<\/a> last year, she still faces the loss of her basketball scholarship and will probably miss the last year of her NCAA eligibility.  \u201cI just want to play,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sptimes.com%2F2004%2F09%2F11%2FHillsborough%2FIslamic_USF_player__D.shtml\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">said<\/a> Armstrong, who has been ranked in the top 100 women\u2019s basketball players in the US. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing this since third grade. This is my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i><\/i><\/p>\n<p>Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A global media eye and ill will towards Muslims in the wake of the 9\/11 anniversary force a Muslim NCAA women&#8217;s basketball star off the USF team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":530,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-briefings"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Islam on campus: Media spotlight drives USF Muslim basketball player off team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A global media eye and ill will towards Muslims in the wake of the 9\/11 anniversary force a Muslim NCAA women&#039;s basketball star off the USF team.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/media_spotlight_drives_usf_muslim_basketball_player_off_team\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Islam on campus: Media spotlight drives USF Muslim basketball player off team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A global media eye and ill will towards Muslims in the wake of the 9\/11 anniversary force a Muslim NCAA women&#039;s basketball star off the USF team.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/media_spotlight_drives_usf_muslim_basketball_player_off_team\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"altmuslim\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2004-09-20T03:29:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/andrea_armstrong.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shahed Amanullah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shahed Amanullah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/media_spotlight_drives_usf_muslim_basketball_player_off_team\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/media_spotlight_drives_usf_muslim_basketball_player_off_team\/\",\"name\":\"Islam on campus: Media spotlight drives USF Muslim basketball player off team\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2004-09-20T03:29:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2004-09-20T03:29:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/0e0efbb645cc461c721083358f82f945\"},\"description\":\"A global media eye and ill will towards Muslims in the wake of the 9\/11 anniversary force a Muslim NCAA women's basketball star off the USF team.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/media_spotlight_drives_usf_muslim_basketball_player_off_team\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/media_spotlight_drives_usf_muslim_basketball_player_off_team\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/09\/media_spotlight_drives_usf_muslim_basketball_player_off_team\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Islam on campus: Media spotlight drives USF Muslim basketball player off team\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\",\"name\":\"altmuslim\",\"description\":\"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics &amp; 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