It was a win built on years of effort
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Boom. Boom. Boom. And boom! Four goals in 16 minutes. In a sport in which one goal often is enough, the U.S. Women’s National Team put away the World Cup final with Japan before most of us were settled in our seats. Fine. But there is a backstory. Read on.
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• Who needed a nail-biter anyway? When the United State’s women exploded with four goals so quickly, so did social media. I went back through my Twitter feed after the 5-2 win and could not believe how many people who I didn’t believe knew how to spell soccer were tweeting about it. There’s two ways to look at the reaction, actually, and I’ll take the-everyone-was-just-excited-about-rooting-for-the-home-team response. Not the cynical, front-running one. But really it doesn’t matter. For one day at least, millions of Americans sat down in front of their TV set and rooted as their team won a world soccer championship. Their women’s team. Say what you will about all the social changes in America in the past 50 years but this one, the way women have slowly, inexorably, earned the right to be among our athletic heroes, has been the most effective. And has touched as many people as any. I look at my sisters, just nine and three years older than me, respectively, and see athletes who were denied the chance to compete. It was a denial that probably changed my sister Margie’s life, the closest to me in age. She loved sports, especially softball, but struggled with the stigma that was attached. It wasn’t cool to be female athlete in the late 1960s. In fact, it was just the opposite. I’m pretty sure the ridicule and bigotry drove her from sports. And more than likely changed her life. Heck, when I began working in the sports department at a major newspaper in Southern California 10 years later, and one of the older sports writers found out my wife Kim had played college basketball, he made a derogatory remark about it – and her. As if that was the normal state of affairs. For years it was. But our vision of what is OK in sports has changed over the years. Thankfully. We’ve come to understand anyone can compete, no matter who they are. There are barriers, sure, but everyone can overcome them. And it’s the effort to overcome them that is at the core of sports. Not everyone can be a star. Not everyone can be a pro. Not everyone can play for the national team. But everyone, regardless of their makeup, can learn lessons from competing in athletics. Male, female, tall, short, slow, fast, there is a spot in a sport somewhere. And the door should be open. Whether you are good enough to get through it is up to you. There shouldn’t be a bouncer telling you “no.” And, thankfully, there isn’t. When Kim and I were in high school, I could, as a male baseball player, compete for the CIF Southern Section championship. Kim, on the other hand, starred in five different sports – and had no opportunity to play for a championship in any of them. That was wrong. That wrong has been righted. Kim could sit down last night with her husband and two sons and watch a sporting event that was broadcast around the world. Followed by millions. Cheered by just as many. And the gender of the participants, not long ago a barrier, just didn’t matter.
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• Indians: The hits just kept on coming for the Boise Hawks last night in an 11-2 win over Spokane at Avista. Chris Derrick has all the numbers and more in this game story and blog post.
• Preps: The team from Bellingham came through to win the American Legion Wood Bat Classic.
• Seahawks: Bob Condotta has another mailbag to keep you up-to-date on the Hawks.
• Mariners: Mike Montgomery wasn’t as sharp as he had been in his last two starts. And he wasn’t going to pitch as long, by design. Still, he pitched well enough, the bullpen pitched well enough (with Fernando Rodney in the closer’s role) and Seth Smith came through well enough for the M’s to earn a 2-1 win over the Oakland A’s. ... Nelson Cruz won the fan balloting to earn the starting designated hitter spot in the American League All-Star lineup. ... Lloyd McClendon is going to miss the Detroit series after his sister died recently.
• Sounders: The local Seattle soccer writers were in Vancouver to cover the World Cup final along with, seemingly, about 20,000 of the Puget Sound’s soccer fans. The writers had coverage of the 5-2 victory over Japan that gave the U.S. its third Women’s World Cup trophy. The star, of course, was Carli Lloyd, with her hat trick including a midfield bomb. ... Abby Wambach (pictured) came off the bench last in the match and got to experience what it meant to win a World Cup. She also had this poignant moment before the Cup when talking with, well, everyone. This YouTube video is worth watching. ... The Timbers scored in stoppage time to get a win over San Jose.
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• The British Open isn’t that far away. So there isn’t much time for Rory McIlroy to overcome an ankle injury he suffered playing soccer this weekend. It’s as if the stars are aligning for Jordan Spieth. Until later ...
