Hope Solo leads new Hall of Fame candidates

Discussion in 'USA Women: News and Analysis' started by FanOfFutbol, Feb 19, 2020.

  1. FanOfFutbol

    FanOfFutbol Member+

    The Mickey Mouse Club or The breakfast Club
    May 4, 2002
    Limbo
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    https://www.si.com/soccer/2020/02/19/hope-solo-hall-fame-nwsl-cbs-deal-mls-dp-rule-insider

    I am not real sure about how I feel about this. I do NOT have doubts because of her comments after the Sweden match. Rather it is about her behavior off the field and away from soccer.

    Her accomplishments on the field are indisputable but I want a Hall of Fame member to be more than that. I would like to take my granddaughters to the Hall someday and be able to point to all the female members as roll models and I do not want a person like Solo to fill that roll.

    Like I said I have very mixed feelings but, I suspect, she will be inducted. It is just that she is not exactly the best person she could be.
     
  2. puttputtfc

    puttputtfc Member+

    Sep 7, 1999
    Does this count as a double standard?
     
    Mills, lil_one, Timon19 and 1 other person repped this.
  3. jackdoggy

    jackdoggy Member+

    May 16, 2014
    Big D
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Suggestion if Hope Solo is not a Hall of Famer:
    1. Remove and disperse all Exhibits from current Hall of Fame
    2. Torch Hall of Fame building.
    3. Bulldoze charred remains
    4. Replace with Starbucks
    5. Sing Kumbaya to your hearts content
     
    Mills, McSkillz and TimB4Last repped this.
  4. Semblance17

    Semblance17 Member+

    United States
    Apr 27, 2013
    Lighthouse Point, FL
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  5. FanOfFutbol

    FanOfFutbol Member+

    The Mickey Mouse Club or The breakfast Club
    May 4, 2002
    Limbo
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    What double standard are you talking about? It seems just that I think there should be personal standards as well as professional ones and the domestic violence that Hope perpetrated kind of makes her not what I want to see in a hall of fame.

    It is like Pete Rose's gambling. It does not detract from what was accomplished on the field it just makes for a less than desirable person.
     
  6. puttputtfc

    puttputtfc Member+

    Sep 7, 1999
    First, if some sports talking head made that statement, this board would be screaming sexism and pointing out all the scumbags in hall of fames of which there are many.

    Second, there is a double standard with Solo. If Howard got drunk and stole the company van or was involved in domestic violence mid career, he would have been off the team in an instant. Solo was given an incredible amount of second chances and contract extensions for whatever reason.

    Rose is not a fair comparison as he is banned from the HOF and for good reason. OJ is a fair example.
     
  7. Semblance17

    Semblance17 Member+

    United States
    Apr 27, 2013
    Lighthouse Point, FL
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I started typing out my own opinion before I realized that this is one of those debates that it would be infinitely wiser for me to stay out of.
     
  8. FanOfFutbol

    FanOfFutbol Member+

    The Mickey Mouse Club or The breakfast Club
    May 4, 2002
    Limbo
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    I suppose you are right about Rose. But OJ has no business in any Hall of Fame either.

    There are "scumbags" in all the sports hall of fame. That fact does not make it right. It is not a double standard, it is a standard that I think should be implemented.

    If it is not then the bios of those people with less than stellar personal lives should include that fact in their hall of fame display.
    BTW: I believe Hope should have never been allowed on the team until she was declared innocent of all charges. The fact that she was treated with such kid gloves does speak of a double standard but that double standard is NOT what I advocate at all. She may be the greatest female goalkeeper of all time but she should not have even been playing after she committed the crimes she was charged with. There should be no double standard.

    Having said all that I believe she will be inducted on her first ballot because of her on field accomplishments which are obvious. They will just ignore the violent life she has been leading.
     
  9. McSkillz

    McSkillz Member+

    ANGEL CITY FC, UCLA BRUINS
    United States
    Nov 22, 2014
    Los Angeles
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Pretty sure she's currently not leading any violent life that I know of and I like her input as a sports commentator. If she ends up in the Hall of Fame, it will be because she is the greatest US soccer goalkeeper of all time, not because she made poor decisions in her personal life. When I take my future children to the Hall of Fame, they will see Hope Solo that made that critical save in that US-Brazil quarter-final. If her personal life is brought up, I will explain to the children that people make poor decisions in life, that's an inevitability, we all are going to make mistakes in life. Some mistakes are more serious than others but the important thing is we learn from those experiences and we become better human beings. I don't censor stuff from children, we are in an age where they can just google her name and read her wikipedia page in 5 seconds.
     
    TimB4Last repped this.
  10. Cliveworshipper

    Cliveworshipper Member+

    Dec 3, 2006

    That’s ok.

    You can just tell us how you feel about O.J. Simpson still being in the NFL hall of game after loosing a wrongful death suit concerning the murder of his ex wife and her boyfriend and his being voted to the top 100 player list in 2019.:whistling:
     
    McSkillz repped this.
  11. FanOfFutbol

    FanOfFutbol Member+

    The Mickey Mouse Club or The breakfast Club
    May 4, 2002
    Limbo
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    That one statement shows you have good values and are a quality person, at least as far as your online persona goes. Helicopter parents are bad enough but we are moving to becoming a helicopter society. The better informed our children are the safer they will be. I do not even censor the movies or TV my granddaughters want to watch but I do explain why I think a movie or TV show is inappropriate. I also answer any questions they have and I use language that I would use to an adult knowing they will ask if there is something they do not understand.

    Generally I do not have a problem with my granddaughters understanding me. At least one, the youngest(10), has a larger and more diverse vocabulary than I have and she pretty much has that full vocab in three languages and almost a fourth. The older(13) is a math whiz but I still have her beat, barely, in vocab.

    I treated the girls I coached pretty much the same way I was always direct with them and I never talked down to them. I think that is a big reason I was very popular with the girls and, mostly, their parents.

    More that anything we should nurture our children. We need to protect them from the violent world we have created and equip them to handle it but we should NEVER isolate them from it. We have, in a lot of ways, screwed up the world but if we let them our children might find a way to fix it.

    "We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children." Ancient Indian Proverb
     
    RalleeMonkey and McSkillz repped this.
  12. puttputtfc

    puttputtfc Member+

    Sep 7, 1999
    Should I offer congratulations or is this down the road?
     
  13. lil_one

    lil_one Member+

    Nov 26, 2013
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Is this going to be this year's Hall of Fame thread? Because I'd also like to point out that this is Kate Markgraf's final year of eligibility before moving over to the Veteran ballot. She should be a shoo-in, but I can also see her getting overlooked. o_O :mad:

    As for Solo, she should be a lock, but Hall of Fame voting hasn't always gone the way it should.
     
  14. jackdoggy

    jackdoggy Member+

    May 16, 2014
    Big D
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Oooooooooooooooh lil, I wish I shared your optimism. When Abby Wambach….. Abby frickin Wambach ONLY receives 80.9% of the votes from the genius Executives, Coaches, Media and other HOF members - - - it’s difficult for me to imagine a positive outcome for Hope.
     
  15. FanOfFutbol

    FanOfFutbol Member+

    The Mickey Mouse Club or The breakfast Club
    May 4, 2002
    Limbo
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    I actually think Hope has a better chance of receiving enough votes than Wambach (the best big forward the USWNT has ever had) did. The reasons I think this is that the governing bodies are VERY political and quite sexist as well. Hope stands a better chance because many of the uninformed and bigoted people that are to make the choices feel that Hope's transgressions are not as bad as Wambach's. It does not matter if we agree or not with the reasons I think that a number, a pretty large number, of the negative votes (or not positive ones) for Wambach resulted from homophobia. There is still a lot of that in the soccer community it is better hidden now than a few years ago but it is still there and thrives whenever the perpetrators feel there will be no way they can be called out personally.

    I "think" Hope just scrapes through and is inducted. Her on-field accomplishments are indisputable and her off-field transgressions are not so bad in the eyes of the people that perform the selections.

    My personal feeling about this is now quite well known but that does not effect my view that Hope is going into the Hall of Fame and I will say she more than deserves it based on her on-field performance.

    Of course "I could be wrong, but I don't think so." (Obvious "Monk" reference)
     
  16. Semblance17

    Semblance17 Member+

    United States
    Apr 27, 2013
    Lighthouse Point, FL
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I feel like there are a few untapped Monkisms that could be put to good work on this forum.

    "It's a gift...and a curse."
    "You'll thank me later." and my personal favorite:

    Here's the thing: I don't think it's unfair to consider that Solo has already paid the price for her off field transgressions by chopping what were probably several viable years off the end of her career. The opinion that she got more "one more chance"s than she deserved before her trash talk about Sweden broke the camel's back is obviously not by any means is not by any means an unpopular one, but that's a separate debate. Anyway, I'll say only this much: I share what I believe is the viewpoint that @McSkillz has stated above that essentially a hall of fame need not be necessarily a hall of angels if the people commemorated within have their lives presented in full context, good and bad, and the good is celebrated without ignoring the bad. Does that mean that certain offenses can't disqualify a candidate? Of course not. But different people draw that line at different points.
     
    jackdoggy, McSkillz, jnielsen and 2 others repped this.
  17. Smallchief

    Smallchief Member+

    Oct 27, 2012
    Club:
    --other--
    #17 Smallchief, Feb 21, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2020
    I was never a fan of Hope Solo, but she belongs in the Hall of Fame. I always thought she was capable of being harmful to the team through disruptive and just plain weird behavior. But, she finished her career without causing too much chaos or ending up in jail, so I say vote her in.

    However, I'll be a little surprised if she gets voted in this first try.

    Which raises in my mind the question of who on the present WNT is a lock to be elected to the Hall of Fame. I'd say Lloyd, Morgan, Rapinoe, and Sauerbrunn based on what they've done so far.
     
    TimB4Last repped this.
  18. jnielsen

    jnielsen Member+

    May 12, 2012
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Hope Solo definitely belongs in the HOF for her outstanding years of goalkeeping.
    Other female 1st year nominees are: Whitney Engen, Jen Buczkowski and Kelly Smith. Yes, there is no guarantee with this voting committee - Cat Whitehill, Shannon Boxx and Lauren Cheney Holiday are still not voted in, let alone Markgraf.
     
  19. Cliveworshipper

    Cliveworshipper Member+

    Dec 3, 2006
    #19 Cliveworshipper, Feb 21, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2020
    Does extra curricular activity disqualify yiou for the Hall? Well, John Harkes was captain of the USMNT who slept with a teammates wife in the middle of a WC bid. he’s in, so I think not. And other hall inductees weren’t exactly role models.

    If Kelly Smith gets in the Hall it should be England’s, shouldn’t it? But then, Beckenbauer and Chinaglia are in.
    But she would be the first MBE in the hall.

    She had one of the greatest college careers ever ( 76 goals in 51 games), but is that enough? Her pro career here was 27 goals in 71 games.

    HAO stands out for me. 230 CAPs 55 caps.
    3 Olympic gold, one WC gold.
    And no foreign women have made the hall, though Beckenbauer, Chinaglia, and Carlos Alberto are in for significant pro contributions to ussoccer.
    by that criteria, you have to wonder how the hall can leave Sun Wen, Marta, and Sinclair out.
    Even two or three Germans would qualify.
     
    jnielsen repped this.
  20. jnielsen

    jnielsen Member+

    May 12, 2012
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Quite a few foreigners are nominated. Requirement is to play at least 5 years in a US top league.
     
    RalleeMonkey repped this.
  21. puttputtfc

    puttputtfc Member+

    Sep 7, 1999
    If Ertz and Heath aren't first ballot HOF, I will personally beat up anyone that didn't vote for them. I understand other players get the spotlight but these two have been the engine for years.
     
  22. FanOfFutbol

    FanOfFutbol Member+

    The Mickey Mouse Club or The breakfast Club
    May 4, 2002
    Limbo
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    It is my feeling that Ertz is as or nearly as important to this team as Akers was to the team of her era. It is pretty well documented but often overlooked that the USWNT of the 90s had their biggest problems when Akers was hurt or otherwise unavailable. She did not need to start every match but she did need to be available. She made the rest of the team better by her play and her influence. That sounds a lot like what Ertz brings to the table. If there is one player on the current USWNT that holds the rest together it is Ertz. There are other players that can play her position quite well but there seems no other that brings as much to the team when playing center defensive midfield. She will be a first ballot inductee.

    And yes I know that Akers was not always a midfielder but that position is where most folks remember her because a lot of her exploits at forward were never seen in the US because they came before the USWNT was widely televised or even followed on even known about.
     
  23. Cliveworshipper

    Cliveworshipper Member+

    Dec 3, 2006

    That would appear to disqualify Shannon Higgins-Chirovsky who was on the uswnt four years (55 CAPs) and never played pro, so that can’t be right. Her claim to fame is two assists to Akers in the 91 cup

    played 87-91. Inducted 2002.
     
  24. Smallchief

    Smallchief Member+

    Oct 27, 2012
    Club:
    --other--
    I probably wouldn't vote for anyone who didn't have close to 150 caps, and Ertz only has 99. Assuming she has a couple of more good years, she's likely to make the Hall of Fame -- but I would note that a similar player with 195 caps, Shannon Boxx, is not yet in the Hall of Fame.

    I don't think Heath is HOF quality yet, although a good Olympics might push her over the top. I would vote for Heather O'Reilly before I would for Heath.
     
  25. FanOfFutbol

    FanOfFutbol Member+

    The Mickey Mouse Club or The breakfast Club
    May 4, 2002
    Limbo
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Boxx is similar to Ertz BUT she was not nearly as important to the team and did not bring the versatility and leadership that Ertz brings. She (Boxx) was a VERY good player but, in my view, just being a very good player is not enough. But I do mostly agree she (Ertz) needs more caps to be inducted. Barring injury I believe she will get more and more caps over the next several years and her credentials of two World Cups (and hopefully an Olympic Gold and she may still be playing for a third World Cup) should already pretty much qualify her. It is not really about quantity it is more about quality and Ertz has the quality and, to my knowledge, no off field problems that might detract from her ratings.

    But I hope the question is moot because she plays for at least another six or seven years and gets plenty of caps and adds another WWC and a couple of Olympic golds. But that is wishful thinking and I guess I should not look any further ahead than the next major tournament.
     

Share This Page