The Beauty of a Blog

I'm still waiting for Greg Ryan to be fired. I am hoping it happens today or tomorrow. I will write a letter to US Soccer - probably will even post it here. I want to wait and see what they do however which will dictate my response.

The other day I tried to post on the US WNT Blog. I got censored. They didn't even put up any of my post. I didn't even swear - I simply had a "negative opinion". I was mad and astounded by that. So what did I do? Yes here it comes........I posted on another person's blog who is a media writer for soccer that I know wouldn't censor me and I also realized - I have my own blog that I can write on and tell the world what I think without getting censored. :) Some days I really do love myself. Throughout this process I a liken it to little Suzie playing on her rec team. When they are 8 and little Suzie loses 10-0 we still serve little Suzie her after game snack, give her a hug and a smile and tell her good job and how proud we are of her anyway (even though she got her ass handed to her).

Yes - when I become a parent -- it will be interesting for all to see how I fare. I know this. That concept is not lost on me. Tony will have to reign me back in a bit and he will ultimately be the good dad and I will probably be the mom in little Suzie's rec world that gives her the snack, tells her I love her (cause that is the truth) and then says nothing about her play - unless she did great and the rest of her team sucks. I have a real problem with that whole - lying bit. If Suzie really did suck why should I tell her that she did great and I was proud of her. I would rather say nothing and we all move past it. I digress on fictional Suzie however.....

So with the posting thing I realized something after reading other people's posts. The US WNT blog is very much the parent of little Suzie. We have to say nice things because we can't be afraid to say the truth and hurt some one's feelings. God forbid we tell the truth and someone can't deal with honesty. Staci - I know you are laughing at me right now. But the reality is in this country we have had an amazing personality shift over the last 50 years on how we are and are not supposed to deal with things. With our parents - their generation was hell bent on giving all the love and affection to their children that they ceased to feel having parents from post war eras. Eras where there were less emotional attachments due to the increased mortality rates of young children that we predominantly do not see these days due to advances in modern medicine. And in this age we are all about love and coddling. Which don't get me wrong - i think is a good thing.

And as it relates to this group of US WNT individuals - I find it disgusting that the ideology of team and standing up for one another seems to be a trait that has been lost in this progression of our society. You see it much more prevalent in male teams than female ones. I find the team sports dynamic of boys vs girls to be a fascinating topic seeing as I have competing on both sides of the fence. Boys understand team. They understand a collective unit coming together and standing up for that idea. They understand winning. Women in sports settings are more "me oriented". This group of women athletes are professionals. And yet they act like teenagers. What they should have done was stand up to their coach. Because sometimes that is a good thing. They should have stood behind their #1 keeper and said - this is the wrong thing to do for the team and to win. And last I checked - winning is the only goal of the World Cup. Winning is the only goal for a professional sports team. That's why they are called "professionals". It's what they do. It isn't little Suzie on her rec team that we have to coddle as she grows and matures into a woman. These are athletes that have already taken those many steps. And yet the character displayed by the "team leaders" and essentially all of the team is what has me appalled and disgusted. Telling your teammate you aren't even allowed to go with your team to the game. You aren't even allowed to sit in the locker room or the bench. I guess that flight home would be a lot of fun too.

To shun a teammate like that in the manner that they did makes me sick. Lilly and Wambach - you should be ashamed of yourselves. Your stock has dropped with me. And if I were Hope Solo - I would have done what everyone probably would think would be considered a poor sport. But I have had my moments in this life where it was me against the world. No one else was standing up for me and I could either let the world shit on me - or I could stand up to injustice. I chose to stand alone on my own and that is what allows me to sleep at night. It allows me to be proud of my strenght for standing up for myself when I truly believe i have been wronged. Don't Tread on Me.

As soon as my team had banished me to the hotel because "I" was the "distraction". I would have booked a plane ticket home on the next available flight. I would have folded and left all of my US Soccer gear in my hotel room. I would have called my agent and had him working on a contract for an initial one year deal in a Sweden or German league. I would have then called my mom and had a really good cry. Followed by a call to my brother. I then would have turned off my phone. My ipod would be turned on as I sat in the airport in China watching the 3rd place match and waiting for my flight. I would have smiled to the people who looked at me and kept giving me their support as they realized who I was. I would have been done playing for my country. Playing for your country is about pride. It isn't about money - it is strictly about pride and passion. I would from that point forward never play for the US WNT again until I had an apology from every one of my teammates and only after the coach had been fired. I would go pursue a professional career of my own liking. I would not have returned calls and emails from my teammates once they realized I left. As soon as I got back to Cali - I would have packed my shit and gone home for a couple weeks to figure out my next steps.

You may think this is bad behavior - well I don't agree with something. A year ago the US MNT team stood up on a marketing campaign for THEIR World Cup of Don't Tread on Me. And here we have an instance of an actual US NT player that was Tread On. And yet she is the asshole here? I don't think so. Hope Solo - I am proud that you stood up for yourself, sad that you got left out in the cold and are an emotional wreck because of all this. I wish you wouldn't have apologized. It's much harder to take a stand against people you care for but who are in the wrong, then to just take the abuse. But in the end I will never let anyone Tread On Me even if I have to take the walk alone.

The US WNT marketing campaign was The Greatest Team You Never Heard Of. Well ladies, you are definitely a team we all have heard of now, and not because you were great - you yourselves proved that you were not the Greatest Team, nor did you act like a team. If your play had been inspiring, most of this would all wash away - but you all let yourselves down on that field and in that locker room regardless of poor coaching. And that is not something to be proud of.