I recently posted a thread on who was the best striker in the world going into the olympics. I thought, and some agreed with me that it is Abby. My question is this: Why have I never seen her doing any sort of endorsements? If I am the US Soccer, and of course, I am not, but if I was, I would be pushing my sponsors to put her name and face to work. She is hoepfully going to light up Athens and with a few months of pre-Athens advertising, both she and US Soccer could really benefit. If she then lives up to my expectations in Athens, then she and women's soccer could really begin to build up some marketing momentum. I believe that could help the revival of the WUSA (any exposure at all could help at this point). I understand that she's not the prettiest face in US Soccer, but neither are the Williams sisters and they do pretty well.
I don't know; isn't she sponsored by Nike? Maybe she is too butch looking for endorsements...ugh, how dumb of potental sponsors.
I believe her sexuality may be a reason why US Soccer isn't too aggressive in promoting Abby, even though right now she's the best female player in the world. To be clear: I'm not saying it's right, but I do think it's the way it is.
Abby has won 1 Championship in a now defunct league. (with Mia) Compare that to what Mia has accomplished before that, and it's easy to see why Abby might not be that popular yet. Even if the US wins the Olys, Mia will still get top billing - especially if it turns out to be her last tournament. Abby's time will come, IMO. If she leads the US to the next World Cup title and doesn't get her due, THEN you can drag out the sexuality card.
I know a lot of guys that see Natl Team games and say, oh yeah, she's hot, I'd fack her. All that crap. They don't see them as athletes. Don't care about how they play. This is beginning to change though, as Abby gets better and better. The guys are absolutely impressed with her size and play. They love to see her play a physical game. And who doesnt', really? Anyways, my point... She will transcend all that crap. Sexuality, our definition of beauty, comments like, "the women's game is rubbish". She will rise above it because of her skill. She'll sell shoes. Make Gatorade commercials. She'll be on Letterman. And she'll retire a legend. But she just got started. Give it some time and enjoy the show.
I take issue with your premise. She is as attractive as any woman on the team, and this is a team of attractive women. At the risk of stepping out of bounds, I will add that the fitter she gets, the hotter she looks (see Alana1079's picture accompanying her posts), and I think the American buying public as a whole will agree. She has personality, a great smile and of course fantastic playing ability. When the time is right, she will be a worthy endorser. But remember something. America loves a winner. Unless and until the USA wins gold at Athens, Wambach will unfortunately remain under the radar. But if and when the USA wins gold and Wambach has a mega-tournament, she will be the woman. What is really appealing is that, unlike Hamm, who has borne the responsibility of being American women's soccer's public face for nearly a decade, Wambach seems enthusiastic about taking on that challenge. She's never said so outright, but she gives that impression. It's not conceit; it's the championship athlete's eagerness for a challenge.
It's all about timing too. Millie was ahead of her time. With the current "fad" (and I don't say that in a bad way but in a sense of current massive media attention) of shows like Queer Eye, same-sex marriages, etc., the timing is much better now than a couple years ago.
Apparently Millbrett is too. Interesting stuff! Let me state that I don't think any of that is terribly important, but interesting nonetheless.
I don't think it's important either in the overall scheme of things. But the timing is important as to current cultural attitudes possibly changing.
It's a slow day at work, so I typed in "Abby Wambach" and 'gay' into Google's advanced search and found Curvemag.com's message boards. There is a HUGE Abby thread there, and most of the threads are about the USWNT. In fact, there is a thread on Shannon Mac and whether she is gay. One poster says that there were rumours of her and "Millie" being girlfriends at Portland Are the USWNT lesbian icons? I never even thought of that fanbase.
For simple pure advertising, which I assume won't mention anyone's sexual preference, then I think it does come down to winning. At what time did Mia really skyrocket? I was only 12 during the 96 Olys so I don't really remember marketing trends. There was speculation that Sobs was gay too just as a long time ago when there was speculation that Martina Nav. was gay. See how that turned out! One is married and the other is a lesbian. My point is its all speculation until someone gets married or they decide to go public.
/] You really never thought of lesbians as a fanbase? Huh...interesting. I thought with such a cute team it would would be a great fit, for girls and guys.
I don't think a players sexuality should be what makes or breaks their soccer career. That's just wrong. If a player has talent (Abby certainly does), that thats what really counts.
so if a gay allowed to play in the women soccer, than men should be allowed to play in the women team too !, it confusing to me or anybody for that matter, i think there should be a gay soccer team to solve the problem.