I watched some of the women’s World Cup games this year. It was mostly because the U.S. team was so good. I remember the games leading up to the finals were exciting, but the final itself was really dramatic. I myself, along with many others probably, felt that the U.S. women’s team should have won that game. They played really well and had great opportunities, but just couldn’t capitalize, giving Japan just a big enough window of opportunity to sneak out the victory. I really enjoyed watching the game even though the U.S. team lost. Before the tournament I had never even heard of any of the players, and now everyone knows who Hope Solo and Abby Wambach are. It really is nice and somewhat refreshing to see other athletes getting some of the spotlight and recognition (especially female athletes) as opposed to the ones who are talked about every day.
I remember watching the 1999 Women’s World Cup final with The U.S. and China. I remember that it was such a big deal because the U.S. team was really good and the game was held in the U.S. so there were a lot of fans cheering for them. I remembered that it came down to penalty kicks just like this year’s final game and I thought that it was oddly coincidental, but still very exciting. From the outcome of that game everyone knows who Brandi Chastain is. I couldn’t say the victory was a reflection of Title IX or if it signaled that “women’s sports teams had arrived”, but it did help the popularity of the sport especially for girls.
I also remember watching the final game in 1999, which did great things for the game of soccer in the United States. It seems like in recent history that women's soccer has done more for the sport than the men have for the game. How big of a reaction do you think the game would get if the men would make it to the finals instead of the women?
ReplyDeleteBrent poses a very interesting question. I think if the men's team could gain as much success as past US women's teams, the face of professional sports in the US might see some changes. I think soccer has not gained the attention it deserves here in the sates. This soil eats, breathes, and sleeps football/basketball/baseball (especially men's sports). So it would be very interesting to see if a sport outside of those big three has successes that demanded a bigger fan base and attention.
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