"With the aplomb of a runway model"?

The New York Times has an article about Holly Mangold, the 16 year old sister of a pro football player who is playing offensive line in high school at 5'9" and 310 pounds. Now, I have no problem with women playing football, and I do not ascribe to the belief that all women should be skinny. However, for a journalist to claim that she "carries herself with the aplomb of a runway model," seems to me to be the wrong kind of hyperbole. Anyone reading this article has to be having some though about how big this girl is. Putting her image next to that of glamorous anorexic women is a weak attempt at ignoring the issue of size that only makes it conspicuous that they never mention it as an issue. Imagine an article about Michael J' Fox that compares his hands to the "steady hand of a surgeon."