04/26/24
August 26, 2004
U-S-A, U-S-A! (no, really): With a well-deserved gold medal in the bag, the US women's socfootball team says goodbye to its mainstays. Nomar's side of the trophy cabinet will look even more bare, while Julie Foudy may have to work out whether doing nothing is all it's cracked up to be. While the 'Fab Five' have led the revolution in the women's game, especially in the US, how easy will it be -- in competitive terms, and in the all-important media spotlight -- for Mia Hamm to pass on the torch (sorry) to the new generation that learned the game wearing her name on their jerseys?
I taped the game, haven't had time to see it yet...I was running around like a crazy person today. I caught just a little of it while the US was up 1-0 in the 2nd half. I can't wait to watch it. I just got home and turned on the TV in time to see the last bit of the medal ceremony. It was very nice to see that very deserving team, standing on the podium wearing their gold medals and their laurel wreaths (and wow, if you're gonna retire, and your last match is the Olympic gold medal game, and you win the game, and you get the gold medal...isn't it just the perfect icing on the cake that you get a laurel wreath too???). Anyway, there they all were, eyes on the flag and singing the anthem, just singing their hearts out. So, anthem over, they cut to Bob Costas in the booth, and Mr. Suit says, "...and we'll be having Foudy, Hamm, etc. etc. in the studio to talk about their experience -- but we promise, we won't let them sing." And so, I have one question for the sports fans of America (the rest of the world too, go ahead, chime in if you got an opinion): If you went to school for it and studied real hard and got lots of life experience in it and found a wizened old hermit master in a cave on a mountaintop to teach you and studied with him for thirty years...could you possibly hope to be a bigger schwantz than Bob Costas???
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:18 PM on August 26, 2004
LOL@lbb!!! I watched the game and thought the USians were lucky to win. Brazil was better overall, except for putting the ball in the back of the net which I admit is what counts in taking medals. Plus I would be surprised if there is not some controversy about two blown handball calls, one that would have cancelled the first US goal and one that would have given Brazil a PK in the last few minutes of regular time.
posted by billsaysthis at 10:08 PM on August 26, 2004
wasn't able to watch the game but i caught it on ussoccer's matchtracker. they mentioned one of the handballs. i'm assuming this is one of them?
posted by goddam at 10:33 PM on August 26, 2004
Nomar's side includes two Silver Slugger awards (which are full-size bats) and a Rookie of the Year. True, but it will always feel empty until he gets the one thing he desires above all else: Dan Shaughnessy's head on a pike.
posted by Jugwine at 06:58 AM on August 27, 2004
Blown calls? The referee should have been dishing out cards to the Brazillians from the kick-off, and wimped out. And that gave them the green light to kick the Americans around the pitch for the rest of the match. On topic, I do wonder what the effect will be of losing so many familiar names. The new crop have been brought on by that acclaim and success, but they're also going to be judged against a pretty tough standard: the 'new Mia Hamm' or the 'next Julie Foudy' may be very different players (and not so tele/photo-genic). My hope is that the retiring players will stay involved with the game, but also that any transitional period for the team is a short one. With the collapse of WUSA, the college programmes are the wellspring of talent, and I'm pretty confident that they're not going to be affected. Perhaps the stars should consider working with the NCAA, either on coaching or outreach?
posted by etagloh at 09:39 AM on August 27, 2004
i don't think losing the familiar names will have that much of an effect on the players themselves. especially since it was the younger players (wambach, o'reilly, tarpley) that stepped up in these games. i think the strength of their development programs (like the U-19 team) and the quality veterans that are still there will help ease any transition. that's not to say that it will be easy for them to move on, especially losing a captain like foudy (not to mention co-captain fawcett who was their anchor on defense). it will be interesting to see who they tap as captain and co-captain. but i don't think it will take long for the new crop of players to step out of their predecessors' shadows. in fact, i would say they already have. i will also be interesting to see if they will renew heinrichs' contract. personally i'd like to see someone else take the reins.
posted by goddam at 10:15 AM on August 27, 2004
goddam, yes, that photo was the second one.
posted by billsaysthis at 01:29 PM on August 27, 2004
Offtopic somewhat, but Nomar's side includes two Silver Slugger awards (which are full-size bats) and a Rookie of the Year. Don't think it's that bare.