Soccer by Daisy (as my husband calls it)
My latest rant comes on the heels of three topics that are dumb founding. The first being that it took 15 weeks into a season for a team in the Women's Professional Soccer league to make a come from behind win. 15 weeks. That's pathetic. What is even more pathetic is this coach making the following statement....
"It's not just physical. It's psychological," Sol coach Abner Rogers said Monday via telephone. "Let's face it, even with most men's teams in the world, a lot of games are decided if a team scores first. It's just so hard to come back."
Are you serious? Now I'm not saying that the majority of games played result in something other than the first team who scores not winning, but in just about every men's league (and I would even go so far as to say every male sport) in the world on a weekly basis there is a team that has a come from behind win. In fact that is one of the joys of watching sport. The utter faith and belief that just because your team is down - does not mean it is out. I have even seen games (including a champions league final) where a team has gone down three goals only to come back and tie or win it. Something that is extremely rare. But it is all about heart and commitment. As a coach I have always told player that if one team can knock in 3 goals in a half - that we can knock in three goals in the second half. But to hear those words above come from a so called professional coach especially when the team in question was only down ONE FREAKING GOAL.......it makes me shake my head in frustration. Is this the best quality coach they could have secured? You would never hear a men's coach make a statement like that unless you were down 3 goals or more. And usually, the coach will make the statement of - well we got caught out of position on the first two and the last one was just a brilliant goal that couldn't have been stopped. Please tell me there are more intelligent coaches that are wiling to coach in the WPS?
So now we get on to my second point of the night. *sigh*
St. Louis' win over the Sol was not without some controversy, as a play between Marta and Athletica defender Kendall Fletcher drew some attention. In the 70th minute, Marta earned a yellow card for something that happened between her and Fletcher. Tony Hubert, the Athletica's director of media relations and radio play-by-play man, described it as a "chest bump with intent to hurt" on the radio broadcast and called for a red card.
The two sides seem to disagree on just what happened. WPS and the Athletica say the incident was not caught on videotape since it occurred with the ball out of bounds after Marta and Fletcher worked to win a ball in the air (the game wasn't on TV, so there was just one camera filming it).
"Kendall Fletcher was just getting in [Marta's] head and on her tight all game long," said Ellertson via telephone. "They went up for a header and the ball went out of bounds and Marta didn't win it. She turns around and just chest-bumps Kendall out of frustration. It's clear retaliation."
"I know that our team has been known to be too physical and they've been pretty hard on us. But a play like that -- if it were our team, we woulda got a red card and we woulda had somebody out of the game. But I think the referee just didn't man up and make that call. She got a yellow, so at least she got something, I guess. I saw it right there. It was pretty crazy. I was really surprised that Marta kinda went there. Clear retaliation."
Athletica players felt that Marta gave Kendall Fletcher an unnecessary shove.
Rogers said he didn't see the incident clearly, but that it wasn't that bad. "I know the fourth official was right there. They barely touched. Kendall made a big deal of it and their bench was very, very vocal," said Rogers. "I know Marta was upset and the reason she was upset was because Kendall made such a big deal out of nothing. ... It was nothing. I spoke to the fourth official afterwards. It was very brief. He saw nothing. He was right there, couldn't have been more than 12 feet away."
BIG FUCKING DEAL. This shit happens in EVERY single men's game there is. It was a caution - which it should have been - and so what? Are we now magically not allowed to have emotions when playing a soccer match? Are we not allowed to get pissed off when a player has been up your ass the whole game? And gee, is it any coincidence that the player (Marta) that was being bent over all day only happened to be the Women's FIFA WORLD PLAYER OF THE YEAR????? What is even more pathetic about all this, is that it made headlines. The fact that there is so little passion, so little conflict, so little drama, that we are actually having an article written about the controversy of a little chest bump between two female players? This and the Abbey Wambach tackle are the only two controversial things that have happened in over 16 weeks? There almost isn't a day that goes by in the men's world without controversy of some kind. And this is what people get all up in arms about? OMG - it's like the idea that a girl didn't intentionally handle a ball or commit a foul, so therefore it doesn't count. Are you kidding me?
And the third point which is just so typical of females. All three of these woman were on the controversial World Cup roster 2 years ago and are currently on the same pro team.
"I've always said this -- she always hates it when I do -- but Hope's seriously the best goalkeeper in the world," said Saint Louis defender Tina Ellertson. "There's nobody in her league."
Athletica captain Lori Chalupny feels the same way.
"She's kept up in this league, really, and we're in second place, I think in large part due to her. She comes up with game-saving plays every game for us," Chalupny said.
Oh really? Is that why you acted like children and SHUNNED her from the squad after she got a RAW deal from the coach? And by shunning, I mean she was told she couldn't eat meals with them (after her comments about she should have been the one to be playing in the semi final match which the US lost) and she ended up not continuing to stay in the same hotel as the team along with not flying on the same plane back. Because her teammates acted like a bunch of selfish girls instead of professional athletes like the men do. What happened then would have never happened on a men's team - ANY of it. And now - two of her teammates are singing her praises. I would have told all of them to kiss my ass and I want a public team apology.
It saddens me to no end that everyone in the women's world running the show has this concept that we have to dress up the pigs and pink elephants and put on a smile and pretend that everything should be a happy land with candy and ice cream and trying to make the world believe it too, instead of focusing on the other strong qualities that the women's game can bring. Focus on how to market to their customer base and yet actually gain respect from the rest of the sporting world for the women's game. The reality is that there are very few lasting women's sports with a fan base. Tennis is probably the most popular in my opinion. Basketball has some success but is also financially supported by the NBA. In true women's fashion, the only time women athletes get high level exposure is in these scenarios:
1. Phenoms like the chinese young golfer, the Williams sisters with their power and athleticism, Mia Hamm a staple of the US team since she was 14
2. Sexy girls - think Anna Kournikova and Maria Sharapova
3. Controversial story lines like the Women's World Cup a few years ago.
That's it. The WPS has a prime opportunity to build something here and they are failing miserably in doing it. Instead of saying we are the best league in the world which is complete bunk because they should be saying best WOMEN'S league in the world, they should focus on the quality of character of the women in the league. How over 90% are college educated grads. How they are strong independent woman who have had to consistently overcome adversity to achieve success at the highest level. How it doesn't matter what your race is or your height or size - that anyone can compete in this game. How these women are positive role models for female youths. And mothers - isn't this what you want your daughter to look up to?
I know - they should just hire me to run the league and I would fix it all. Maybe someday they will, until then, I will have to continue to be disappointed in the decisions that are made at all levels and only hope that someone like me will step in and save this ship from ultimately failing too. If it goes down for a second time - there may be no miraculous third to make it work. I hope that I am wrong, but I fear that I am right. This is one of those times that one must be a realist and not an idealist if you want to succeed.
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