WUSA shuts down

Yeah. You're a special one.

I honestly don't give a crap how many threads you've read. Or how many forums you've lurked. You status as a soccer fan is irrelevent to me. Don't waste your time trying to impress me with your oh so impressive "internet" conquests.
Stay don't stay... I'm sorry to break it to you but I don't give a sh.it.

 

What does this mean?

No, really... what does this mean?

 

Why are you so surprised? MLS fans as a whole have never been antagonistic toward WUSA. Perhaps MLS fans have had a few nasty things to say about a handful of WUSA players, but I could rattle off quite a few MLS players I'd loke to see roasting on a spit, too.

At worst, MLS fans were probably ambivalent toward WUSA. When games were held as doubleheaders at MLS venues, we'd stay and watch, and even cheer on the home team, but we just never felt the passion. We quietly hoped that the league would succeed, even if it was a league we personally were not particularly interested in.

So, no, you're not going to see a diehard MLS fan like myself say "na na na" at the loss of WUSA. Nor will you see us in mourning. We will shake our heads at the unfortunate loss of a premier football league -- THE premier football league -- and hope that, overall, the progress of football in this country will continue.

This is just one of many setbacks on the road to success.

 

Scrambling his synapses. Frying his brain.

I think...

 

If you don't care, then why don't you
cease and desist from responding to
my posts in this thread? You obviously
feel compelled to make an attempt to
counter my viewpoint, but you are at
a loss for any way to do it other than
to defecate on me. Very dogmatic.

Quit talking about yourself! How you feel
about me is of zero relevance to this thread.
It won't change my opinions, it won't diminish
my logic, and it won't make me go away.
If you don't give a crap, quit responding!
If you don't give a crap, go away yourself!

I'm about Science. My history online is
a statement of fact. Data for you to digest,
if you choose to apply any skill whatsoever
to your assessment of how to combat me,
"your enemy", in this thread.

-bs

 

WUSA Shuts down. It's the name of this thread that drew me here. I just knew I'd find some sort of comfort in the "company" of others mourning the loss of WUSA...to sing the blues with, so to speak.

Boy, was I mistaken. What I've seen is alot of personal attacks on what basically are statements of free speech and personal opinions. How utterly sad.

Can't we get along, people? Soccer and soccer fans lost this week. Everything else is secondary, at best. Everyone who posts here obviously is a fan of soccer. Let us celebrate our fandom, not personally attack one another...it does no good to anyone.

Put your mud away and use your passion for something good. Let's rally behind our USWNT and support them how we can (match attendance, purchase of souvenirs and corporate sponsors' items). These actions WILL speak louder than our words and may inspire the deep pockets to reconsider whether or not they will support (in essence) their customers through soccer. Women's or otherwise.

GO USA. Win that cup.

 

Julie and Brandi used their mass-media
appearances during Korea to spin a
mindset and tone that is apparently not
consistent with their true feelings about
the men's game. These mass-media
appearances were seen by more than
tens of millions. In other words, 99%
of the viewers of these appearances
could be classed as "unconverted"
civilians, who do not fall in to the
Soccer Supporter camp.

The article(s) which apparently display
their true feelings were seen by fewer
than hundreds of thousands. Most of
these people read soccer media online.
In other words, "the converted".

From my read of the news of the past couple
of days, the general gist seems to be that the
WUSA just failed for one of two reasons:

1. because "the converted" lacked the
required enthusiasm, or were not great
enough in number, to support WUSA.

2. large corporations, representing
"the unconverted", did not pony up

In light of the above.....
Inverse Logic blinding my cortex:

How is it possible for the vast constituency
of the "unconverted", and the influence on them
by Brandi and Julie during their respective
media appearances during last year's world cup,
to be of LESS relevance than their respective
comments in the online soccer media, read
only by "the converted", especially when
WUSA just died for lack of "unconverted"
support? Who is more relevant to the
growth and success of ALL soccer in this
country? The perceptions of the converted,
who are apparently not large enough in number
or enthusiastic enough in attitude to support
a Women's League? Or the perceptions of
the unconverted? Which is more important?
And thus, when arguing about visibility of
Brandi and Julie last summer, which appearances
and statements are more relevant, not only
to the success of Women's Soccer, but as
an indicator of their "true" (??) feelings??

-bs

 

You were mistaken? i read thru the whole thread, and the vast majority of the posts have been sympathetic. Take off your venom-only filter.

 

Boy, Brushes, you are on a wildly massive ego trip, aren't you?

Anyway, dissing Brandi for her comments on the Men's Nats is absurd. EVERYTHING I've heard or read about her says she's an even bigger fan of the men's game than the women's (or at least even). She's a huge proponent of MLS and the USMNT and always has been, and always speaks out positively about it, and acts on her belief by attending Quakes games and often Nats games when she has the chance.

And why we're talking about this in this thread sort of escapes me.

No doubt I'll be lectured though.

 

BS reminds me of the "movement" tpes I ran into in college. Left or right it did not matter, they were into the "movement."

And they usually talked about why they were in teh "movement" in terms that franbkly made no sense, as though mult-syllabic compound words that made no sense made up for a lack of intellectual support for their positions.

And the though it would help them get girls (it didn't)

 

ouch! =-)

As the WNBA has shown, it's still tough for women to make a go of things professionally. Let's hope that we see a new womens soccer league pop up within a couple years.

 

You know what? I don't. And I have, in the past, been impressed by the number of men on these boards who have shot down the misogynist bs perpetrated by a portion of the male posters.

I just....crap. I didn't want this league to end, and it's a little much to come on here and read "well, you were bound to fail because it's crappy *women's* soccer, anyway." Which is what I was responding to.

Honestly, the women's NT has made me interested in soccer as a sport. And I've watched some of the Men's NT. But you know what? I don't watch the Men's NT or MLS because neither of those teams has reached out to me, i.e. reached out to women. They don't seem to care if I'm a fan or not. Okay, so I'm not.

And every time I think about supporting MLS or the Men's NT, I can't help but think of the Feminazi and other comments coming from male men's soccer fans here. It doesn't make men's soccer a welcoming atmosphere for me, even if it's only a minority, and even if I'm only sitting in my living room trying to decide whether to watch T.V. or not. Okay, well if management doesn't care if I watch and fans think I'm a feminazi -- well, I have better things to do.

So there's both indifference to me as a fan, and active, well, dislike or disdain of me as a woman, especially as a woman who supports women's sports.

OTOH, I've noticed that the people who support women's soccer have *bent over backwards* not to offend potential male fans. And if the WUSA isn't welcoming to male fans, in their estimation, I'd guess that has little to do with any actual anti-men or anti-men's-sports sentiments expressed by supporters of women's soccer. So, I dunno, but I don't think the WUSA was either indifferent to or actively hostile to men being fans of the sport. (I guess the indifference can be argued, but I don't think the hostility can be.)

But my feeling that men's sports is not welcoming to me, as a woman, is *exactly*anti-women and anti-women's-sports sentiments expressed by supporters of men's sports. And even if it's only some, why the would I want to be around even a few, especially when it's on top of management's indifference?

Not to mention the fact that any time I bring up any of these concerns, I get gay-bashed. That's a lot of fun, too.

Not to mention the "wink-wink" attitude in men's sports about violence against women, in all levels of men's sports.

So, it's a battle for me to even *think* about supporting men's sports. Women's sports -- not a battle. Just fun, and a relief not to have to pass through some gauntlet of male sports fans to "prove" that I should to be there.

 

I guess Jacqui Little was interviewed on a DC radio station this morning and she was talking about the league shutting down...I guess she found out first by talking to a friend who heard the news and then she checked her email and was told the league was no longer up and running.

I guess the players were told at the beginning of year 3 that year 4 was gonna be real iffy.

I should probably go re-read my email again to see if I paraphrased that correctly....

 

Regarding the founders’ statements that they would only play for wusa, you must put this in perspective. At the time, they had to make a decision to support Mr. Hendricks. Hendricks had the plan and the investors in place. He worked with them to make the league a reality when no one else managed to be serious about getting a women’s league off the ground. MLS hurriedly came in after the fact. In hindsight it may have been better to have been more cooperative with MLS. However, at the point in time when the reality of potential league was staring the founders in the face, due to the efforts and $$ of their benefactor, loyalty to him was their only option. Hendricks decided that there was something he didn’t trust about the MLS interests. If their sugar daddy felt that way, they had to stick by his decision. I don't think this loyalty was born out of animus to the MLS. Rather, it derived from supporting the man who put his $$ where his mouth was.

 

Miss, please get off your high horse. No one disputes that you have very valid points, or knocks your sexuality. But on the flipside, to say that the US men's team does not actively reach out to women is plain silly.

There is a lot of misogynism in sport, but the type of abuse towards women you allude to is pretty rare. I have been to numerous football and other matches and have yet to hear of women being heckled, spat at, used as target practice, or generally ridiculed beyond lighthearted banter. That is more the preserve of players.

So football / soccer is traditionally a man's sport. Why do you think so many players across the world model in women's magazines ? Not to attract guys, that is for sure. Besides, who cares about tradition ? Did the women's team, despite playing what is in effect a different game (slower, more goals scored) not prove that they were capable of achieving the highest aim of their sport ?

In any case, there are a lot of women out there who genuinely support the game of soccer itself. You say that watching the women's team made you interested in soccer, which I applaud as a fellow supporter. I would wish that you could extend that support to the men's game as well as lending your support to future women's leagues.

Just because the WUSA has failed, it does not mean the end of women's soccer in the US. However, it would be good to think that one of the lessons learned from the demise is that taking potshots at each other in the great women vs. men debate is not really constructive for the survival of the overall sport.

PS Any Feminazi (nice word) who posts here often shoots themselves in the foot by demonstrating their ignorance of the finer points of the game.

A soccer board gives the small man a voice. Fortunately not all the voices on these boards are those of small men.

 

So inverse login blinding my cortex means you're upset... right?

 

Shabs:

I think I was perhaps misunderstood. You are correct...there ARE aheckuva lot of sympathetic posts. The negative posts on which I commented were the ones from one poster to another about this men vs. women; WUSA vs. MLS, men's sports vs. women's sports, etc. Enough, already.

My point was simple, but maybe overlooked: Soccer lost this week. We, as individuals, did not.

I share with you my peace. Have a great day.

Go USA! Can I get an A-men?

 

Damn those MLS players & PGA tour pros for beating their wives!

I don't think someone smart enough to get into medical school like Julie Foudy is going to have too many bad feelings towards MLS or the USMNT.

She may have made a few questionable statements back in 1999-2001 to build "street cred" among the PTH set. But I think that Julie and Brandi are both big-time USMNT fans and those quotes from them saying how much they support the USMNT are legitimate.

If for no other reason than the money that the USMNT makes for appearing in the World Cup and making it to the quarterfinals helps to subsidize the USWNT.

Heck, Brandi & Julie are probably bigger Tri fans than Various Styles. The USSF's cut from Tri & MFL club matches in the US also subsidizes the USWNT.

 

So where's the love for us rubes, rustics & bumpkins?

One of us USL fans should write a Macro to respond to the "women's pro soccer is dead" posts.

The USL W1 is still around. The WPSL may or may not let pros in.

An MPSL team official, who is no longer with the team; criticized the USL in an Internet radio interview. Well, OK, sure; maybe this criticism was justified. But it didn't sound good. Hopefully, the women can get their act together. Maybe the WPSL can run things in the West and the USL W1 can run a league in the East?

Hopefully, the WPSL can work together with the USL to run a financially stable league. Maybe Julie & Mia can take their endorsement money & start teams in the WPSL and/or the USL W1? I can't imagine that the franchise fee is very high.

 

There's an extended poll on ESPN.com regarding the WUSA's demise. It blinded my cortex!

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/polling?event_id=412

None of the results were terribly surprising.

Interestingly, question 3 asks why you think WUSA failed -- "bad marketing/business plan" is not listed among the choices, which shows how much the person who wrote this poll knows.

On the other hand, "talent was diluted, not enough major stars" was listed as a choice. Ooooookay.

 

and its their fault that not that many people saw the article? what were they supposed to do, go door to door and shove it in people's faces and make them read it?

 

Funny, that's just what I hear from a lot of people that soccer needs to do to market itself. And that's why so many are repulsed by the soccer culture...the "mainstream American sports fan" feels that soccer is being shoved down their throats.

As has been written in this thread and many others, we cannot allow the marketing of soccer to be about a "cause"...it's about a "game". And the way WUSA was marketed to a great degree was a double-whammy...the "cause" of soccer in America and the "cause" of professional womens' sports (and all the little girls who dream, etc...)

 

Fair enough. Best wishes.

 

Are you kidding? Every time I go to a game I see scores of youth teams, both boys. and girls'. Just because they don't say "hey, woman, come out to see us" doesn't mean they are marketing their game only to men. They're marketing it to everybody.

Those people are the extreme minority. Go sit in the supporters' section of any MLS game and a majority of the people there have gone to WUSA games, and many consider themselves fans. Personally, I've been to two games, and while I never considered myself a WUSA fan, I enjoyed both games I went to.

I think you're seriously misreading things. A solid third if not half the supporters' club of the Revs are women, so I highly doubt that you're going to get this "disdain" you speak of.

And this alleged hostility of MLS toward women is VERY arguable.