Yeah, the top American athletes - the male ones, anyway - play football, baseball, or basketball. We won't win a World Cup until soccer has at least as much appeal, and that's a long way from happening. One reason that we're so much stronger on the women's side is that soccer does appeal to the best female athletes.
That is incorrect, IMO. People use the word "athlete" as if an athlete will be able to be world class at every sport he plays. Derek Jeter wouldn't be a future hall-of-fame player at basketball or football if he chose that sport instead. He certainly wouldn't be world class at soccer, either. Every elite athlete at a sport is so because they have certain attributes. There are athletes who can compete at several sports at the elite level, but they are very few. If our "best athletes" just played 3 sports then we wouldn't have so many medals in the olympcs, for example. In a small country with a small population, that argument might have merit. However, in a country as huge as we are in the USA in terms of population, we have more than enough human capital to create a world-class soccer program.
does anybody remember the name of the site where we used to get all the WNT news? It also contained the stats for the last couple of years. Does anybody know what I'm talking about?
It was a page managed by a single person that stopped because she ( I think) got hired for WPS; it had a blue background and had no pictures. Basically there were 2-3 lines news followed sometimes by a link.
Yeah, that's the one I am thinking of as well, I just need to see if I have it bookmarked somewhere. Hours later.... I thought I had it bookmarked but I think I deleted it. After doing some research, it turns out the site is kinda no longer there. It used to be http://www.ooosasoccer.com and it was written by Karyn Lush, who is now the head of the New Media department at WPS. You can still access some of the pages if you do a search with Yahoo and then click on the Cached and check for previous versions at the Internet Archive. Hope that helps!
Yeah, I used to check out that site pretty religiously myself! Sorry I couldn't have better news for ya!
It was an awesome site with most the information you would want on the WNT former and present day players. The site was well set up and easy to follow. It involved a tremendous amout of work and updating. Karyn still found the time to answer my email. I really miss the site for all its informatiom and the nostalgia when reading about former players and their accomplishments. I hope Karyn can bring it back.
Re: Soccer Is Ruining America Hah. Written by a professor of religion and philosophy, who uses youth soccer to tire out his own three soccer-playing children. Not your usual screed by a talk show shock jock. For all the various, ah, witty points he makes , still I sense a bit of deliberate pot-stirring to prop up his WSJ inbox. One meta-point he tosses out is intriguing as a harbinger of a deeper social truth: [Soccer] creates an egalitarian playing field by rigorously enforcing a uniform disability (namely, forbidding the use of hands). A thesis or book author might explore that: Why, exactly, did this meme of a "goal sport using only the feet/head" strike such a chord in human cultures worldwide? Alas, not only does he shirk this line of inquiry, he furthermore cops out by using it as a throwaway, one-line sanity check fodder, as if any right-thinking WSJ reader should instantly agree with him: "Yes, it is indeed wrong". Which is amusing on first sniff, but with an aftertaste of lazy (or deliberate ). Tuesday Morning Quarterback (Gregg Easterbrook at ESPN) is funnier and more scathing, with many more legitimate points on NFL shenanigani.
Thought this was worth adding here since he will be calling the WWC next year among other things: Ian Darke sticks with ESPN For those who don't know, Ian is a long-time British announcer who called World Cup games for ESPN this summer, including the last three US matches, and was well received by American fans. I'm really looking forward to hearing him make the call from Germany next Summer.
Nobody should be beside him. Just let him do the commentating by himself. Except for Ray Hudson. He can partner with him.
Why is it essential that soccer announcers have British accents? Just because you have a British accent, that doesn't make you worth hearing. I'd prefer JP.
Part of me is disappointed that JP Dellacamera won't be calling the games. Of all the World Cup 2010 commentators, I liked Ian Darke the most, so I won't complain too much. But JP has been the covering the USWNT for over fifteen years now, and something about his voice recalls so many good memories. Darke will be a pleasure to listen to, acoustically speaking, but I doubt he has the same degree of familiarity with the USWNT players or knowledge about the team's history as JP. He seems to be getting sidelined in general, with ESPN's new British invasion (relegated to ESPN radio during the World Cup, and now this).
Statewide coverage and content on New Jersey high school soccer, home of national team standouts Christie Rampone, Carli Lloyd and Heather O'Reilly.. NJ.com Girls Soccer page New Jersey Girls Soccer blogs Star-Ledger/NJ.com Girls Soccer Facebook page @import "http://diacache.daylife.com/_static/release-46080/v2/css/daylife/thickbox.css";
Story from NY Times 10/19/10: O’Reilly Embraces Role, Because It Puts Her on Field http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/sports/soccer/19goal.html?_r=1&ref=sports
Hope Solo was interviewed by soundersfcdotcom at the Sounders game this weekend. She talked a bit about her rehab. She said the injury is potentially career ending. Hopefully it’s not. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lP7R3TJU4Y"]YouTube - Golden Scarf - Hope Solo[/ame]
Union-Tribune article by Mark Zeigler US Women's Slump Exposes Flawed Youth Soccer Development System
Although it's something we've all suspected for some time, it appears that Chalupny's national team days are over. Article from Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/other/article_a4b2c127-8182-506e-b3dd-a23727c9e1aa.html A shame for her and the USWNT. I still consider her one of the most underrated players in the women's game. Health issues and her best interests must come first, obviously.