Don’t mind me as I am just thinking out loud, but I think I want a Sam Kerr jersey. I wonder who do I know that can make such arrangements happen. Hmm…

Hmm…

IT’S A NO-BRAINER BECAUSE IT IS IMPORTANT
On Tuesday afternoon, I attended a press conference hosted by Athlete Ally in collaboration with the Seattle’s professional sports franchises, the Seattle Reign FC, Seattle Sounders FC, Seattle Storm, Seattle Mariners, and Seattle Seahawks. The goal of the presser was to show the broad community of sports in Seattle all united, standing in solidarity with the LGBT community and to affirm their shared commitment to advocacy and inclusion in sports through education and other public outreach.

It was a good day for the city of Seattle. It was a fun day for the city of Seattle. But it was also just plainly an important day for the city of Seattle.

When I received the press release last week about it, I was in awe. I was in awe because it is pretty much unprecedented for someone to gather the sports franchises of any major US city and have them unite on a message that is essential. Much less a message like this one. This was a direct clapback to that tired “stick to sports” adage people like to throw around on social media when an athlete expresses an opinion about politics or society. 

Seattle isn’t having any of that. Nope, not these sports franchises and the athletes that put on the jersey that represents this team, this city, and its people. Not with the platform of the public eye they have and the power of influence they wield with it. The effect sports has on a community and society is like that of an artist with a mound of clay. You can mold and shape it however you want it, whatever you want it to be.

For someone like me who came to America, who wasn’t born here, the spectacle that was professional sports was my introduction to American culture and how diverse it is. It didn’t start out that way for sure, but as I grew up I learned stories of those athletes who dared to challenge the status quo and change the world, with their athletic skill and with their public actions. People who advocated and effected change because they were aware of the power and influence they held. And it was from this history, American sports history, I understood what sports can do for people. How it can mold and shape people and their society.

Falling in love with soccer and convincing myself that I can somehow string a few words and sentences into something someone else will read has made me into a far more social person than I could ever imagine when I was a five-year-old foreigner fresh out of an airplane in some strange land called the United States of America. I saw Michael Jordan literally dunking on fools and was enthralled. Or when I was nine years old going on ten and the only world I ever knew was turned upside-down because my parents got a divorce. America’s past-time, baseball (specifically the Cinderella run of the 1995 Seattle Mariners) soothed the fracture of the divorce and my mom and I found something to share that helped us through that painful period of our lives. Or last year when I was celebrating my birthday (don’t ask for the number, I’m old, simple as that) and finally I got my parents to attend an NWSL match and they saw it. They got it. They understood why taking an interest in the beautiful game and covering specifically the women’s game became my thing. It was pure happenstance, but they understood that this was my hobby, my passion. Something to give me an identity and with it opening myself up to more different walks of life, different life stories, different world views, that they are proud to say have made me a better person.

It was a privilege to witness the press conference first-hand and to then have some small one on one conversations with those involved.  Some might say it is controversial. Some might say it is uncomfortable. However, the bottom line is, it is the right thing to do. It is the important thing to do. Who I am and some values of what I hold dear as what makes us good, decent people have been influenced by sport and how it brought me to connect with an individual or a group of people.

It’s through bringing people together with through sport, that maybe, just maybe, the communities we live in can become better places for all, regardless of color, religion, sexual or gender identity, or any other of the beautiful things that make us each entirely our own unique individuals.

I believe we can be better and this is something I do not hesitate to stand for and support those that feel and do the same.

DID YOU KNOW JUNE 21 WAS NATIONAL SELFIE DAY?
Now that it is officially summer (June 21 was the official Summer Solstice day), it’s time for: Sun’s out, NWSL hotness out. Here’s this weekend’s predictions.

• Orlando Pride OVER Houston Dash. (They might show better fitness or something, but Houston still isn’t winning.)
• North Carolina Courage OVER Boston Breakers.
• Washington Spirit and Portland Thorns FC play to a DRAW.
• Seattle Reign FC OVER FC Kansas City.
• Sky Blue FC OVER Chicago Red Stars.

And here is this week’s music video break.

Song: “Keep Shining” | Artist: Shad

So did anything interesting happen in the world of WoSo?

THIS FIFA BREAK WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PROBLEM-FREE!
And then we saw the announcement that Boston Breakers midfielder Rose Lavelle would be out six weeks. There was also an injury that will keep Chicago Red Stars’ Yuki Nagasato out of rotation at the moment. Seattle Reign FC’s Rumi Utsugi has some injury that at the time I write this, we don’t know the extent of. Lynn Williams reportedly needs an MRI. And then there was some freak accident involving inflatable bodies that gave Sabrina D’Angelo a bum ankle.

WHAT IN THE WORLD DID YOU DO, SOCCER GODS!?

This FIFA break was supposed to just have some friendlies where nothing major happens, yet there’s some cruel bastard that decided to make some players hurt. And that’s not cool.

PRESS START
If you’re a gamer, then these past couple of days were like Christmas for you as this year’s E3 happened. E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) is the convention show of the video game industry. There the industry shows the world what they’re working on with the intention to release within the year or some point next year. Electronic Arts, makers of the FIFA video game series, are no stranger to the event. This year’s release of FIFA titled FIFA 18 features some guy named Cristiano Ronaldo. I hear he’s good.

When it comes to the women’s side of the game, FIFA made waves when FIFA 16 in 2015 included women’s national teams. They were USA, Germany, France, Sweden, England, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Spain, Italy, China, and Mexico. The next iteration continued that, adding the Netherlands and Norway. While it wasn’t announced/confirmed at E3, it stands to reason that FIFA 18 will have women’s national teams, maybe an addition or two.

But how about the next step, how about women’s club teams?

We still have a lot of time before FIFA 18’s September worldwide release and surely during that time, EA Sports will drop more info about what licensed teams and leagues will be joining the already robust offering of over 30 leagues, over 650 teams. Could this year’s release give us women’s club teams in some form? I don’t know. I can be like you and hope for it, that someday there will be women’s clubs teams. When FIFA 16 gave us the women’s national teams, the gaming modification community went to town with the PC version of the game and made a mod featuring NWSL teams. It surely gave women’s soccer fans a glimpse into hopefully a future that is sooner than later. I mean really, what is the argument against having women’s club teams available to play in FIFA’s exhibition mode? Or better yet a full on career mode where you could have leagues like the NWSL, FAWSL, Division 1 Féminine, and Frauen-Bundesliga? Just think of being able to be in charge of, say, the Seattle Reign FC and, after winning the NWSL Championship, getting the chance to face off against Arsenal Ladies in a virtual Club World Cup showdown?

In the weeks leading up to the worldwide demo release of FIFA 17, social media freaking out was at a fever pitch when an image dropped saying said demo would feature Arsenal Ladies, Liverpool Ladies, Boston Breakers, and Orlando Pride as playable women’s club teams. The image turned out to be fan-made, but just the idea of it got everyone buzzing. Not even the staunchest hater would deny the existence of a demand for women’s clubs teams in a future iteration of FIFA. Surely with the NWSL looking to be on the path to sustainability, it’d be impossible to find a better outlet to expand their brand and the profiles of the league’s stars than with an appearance in a FIFA video game. Throw in the leagues from England, France, Germany and I promise you, there will be a whole world of people grateful that they can play as their soccer heroes on the virtual pitch.

Time will tell if women’s club teams will be in FIFA. As much as I’d like to see it with this year’s release, I don’t expect it. Of course, if I had a direct line with the producers of FIFA, I’d bug them about that along with other wishes for the next game. My realistic guess as for how far the women’s game will go with this year’s release is, they’ll have the teams participating in this summer’s UEFA Women’s European Championship along with the staples like USA, Australia, Canda, and all other nations that have appeared since. In 2018, with FIFA 19, that’s where I think we could see some traction with getting women’s club teams into the game.

For the longest time, the motto of EA Sports was, “If it’s in the game, it’s in the game.”

It’s just a matter of time folks before the women’s game gets proper and full representation in one of the world’s biggest and most successful video game franchises.

SERIOUSLY, YOU ALREADY WON IF YOU MADE IT THROUGH THE FIFA BREAK, INJURY-FREE
Here are this weekend’s predictions.

• Chicago Red Stars OVER Washington Spirit.
• North Carolina Courage OVER Boston Breakers.
• Seattle Reign FC OVER FC Kansas City.
• Houston Dash and Orlando Pride play to a DRAW.
• Portland Thorns FC OVER Sky Blue FC.

And with that, here’s this week’s music video break.

Song: “Symphony” | Artist: Clean Bandit featuring Zara Larsson

I’ll leave a thorough recap of Wednesday night’s North Carolina Courage/Sky Blue FC match to the professionals here on this site, but goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan probably got her some Player of the Week considerations for her shift. Yes North Carolina won the match 2-0 but that scoreline could have been a rout if it weren’t for Sheridan.

IF I CAN BE SERIOUS FOR A MINUTE

As I write this, it’s been rather quiet in the world of WoSo (though here’s to a speedy & proper recovery to you Ashlyn Harris). We are still reeling from the Manchester Arena tragedy on Monday and finding ways to not necessarily “make sense” of what happened, rather doing something for lack of a better term, just … something. Whether the purpose is to overcome the grief or take their mind off it, we all have our respective ways. For a lot of us, sports is that agent, that vehicle to go to whenever something bad happens. Backline Soccer’s overlord RJ Allen wrote this beautiful piece on finding the beauty in the beautiful game.  Stop and go read her piece if you haven’t already. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

Writing about the things that make us happy – whether it’s for therapeutic reasons or just for the hell of it – is a timeless practice and certainly writing about the sport we love sure applies. Everyone here on Backline Soccer loves the beautiful game and it’s nice to see their passion poured into the stuff that is on here. From recaps to interviews to episodes of The Scouting Report & The 123rd Minute, the people that make up Backline Soccer are here because they love it. They care about the sport as it is and where it can go, what it can mean to so many other people. The meaning of life is open to so much interpretation and I think that is the best way you can define it; the meaning of life is what you make of it. And what the people of Backline Soccer have declared is this site is a part of their life. We are here to connect with others through the commonality of loving the beautiful game. We are here because we are happy to be here. We are here because well, it helps us with living.

If you visit this site, it’s because you share a love for the game of soccer with us – thank you. Having something to love and enjoy and share it with people, I think is one of the pillars of the human experience and never forget that. Even in the face of tragedy. To suffer is human, yes, but to enjoy matters more.

FURT IS TWO GAMES BEING BACK TO BACK

• Seattle Reign FC OVER Houston Dash
• North Carolina Courage OVER Chicago Red Stars
• Sky Blue FC and Orlando Pride play to a DRAW
• FC Kansas City OVER Washington Spirit
• Portland Thorns OVER Boston Breakers.

This week’s music video break is dedicated to everyone in Manchester, England. May the city and its people stay strong.

Song: “The Opener” | Artist: The Courteeners

The band’s frontman Liam Fray has said of this song as a love letter to the city he grew up in, Manchester, England.

This week’s installment has a lot of words for once.

AND SO THE MALLORY PUGH ERA IS UPON US

It started last Saturday with The Decision 2.0. Mallory Pugh was on the NWSL Game of the Week pre-show and made it official that she was joining the Washington Spirit and thus embarking on her professional soccer career. I’ll spare you the brief chat I had with someone at my day job yesterday who read about Pugh’s decision. It was the tired trope of, “She should stay in school!”

Naw, kid, get your money when you can, when it’s hot.

Of course, by the time it was made official on television, everyone knew about it. And by Saturday night, people may have forgotten about it because her team the Washington Spirit got absolutely demolished by the Seattle Reign FC. After the Spirit claimed a penalty, the Reign went to 11 and went on a four-goal, ten minute roughshod led by Nahomi Kawasumi who set a NWSL single-game record with four assists. FOUR. To think in the short history of the NWSL, we’ve seen some bonkers lopsided scorelines, yet at best from those games, a player would only have two assists at most. Then you had Kawasumi go gangbusters and claim four for herself.

A lot of eyes are going to be on Washington’s matchup against FC Kansas City this weekend. Pugh likely will make her debut – it’s just a matter of how much time she’ll see on the field. How much of an impact will she bring; will it be immediate or will it take the rookie time? It’s easy for me being on the other end of the country to say this, let’s just sit back and enjoy the ride. Let’s try not to anoint her as the second coming of anything for women’s soccer.

Let’s just sit back and let Mallory Pugh soccer play how Mallory Pugh only knows how she approaches the game. She’s going to do some cool shit stuff, and she’s going to struggle. She might put the Spirit on her back and be enough of an impact to win a match for the team. She might be completely shut out and rendered invisible on a field. We’ll have plenty of time to over-discuss and over-analyze how the professional debut of Mallory Pugh went, if it is this weekend, but the bottom line is it’s going to be an exciting moment for her (most importantly), the NWSL, and everyone that follows it – fan and media alike. So let’s just sit back and enjoy the moment.

WE HAD A DISCUSSION ABOUT DOUBLE STANDARDS AND HOO BOY WERE JIMMIES RUSTLED

When it was announced that Reign FC defender Merritt Mathias was suspended (rightfully) for violent conduct on the field, for some reason it brought on armchair psychologists suggesting she has anger issues and should go see someone about it.

A few of us raised an eyebrow over this apparent diagnosing from Internet comments. Stephanie Yang did a guest piece in Sounder At Heart on the overall narrative that somehow, for whatever reason female athletes are held to some higher standard than male athletes. The idea that female athletes aren’t allowed to get angry, and that it’s a double standard. Oh boy, did some people’s jimmies get rustled at that idea and they doubled-down on that yeah, “Mathias should get her head checked.”

Let me be clear in saying this: STOP. DOING. THAT. PEOPLE.

When Mathias and Stephanie McCaffery or any other female athlete gets angry on the field, it could very well be that they are just getting angry/lost in the moment.

When a quarterback berates a receiver because they dropped the ball, no one ever says that the quarterback “has anger issues” or should “act with more class.” They say the cliche thing of, “Oh he’s just a leader demanding perfection from his teammates.” When a baseball pitcher throws a retaliation pitch because the batter in the previous meeting hit a homer off them, no one suggests they have a problem with holding grudges and “should go talk to someone about it.” They cite “the unwritten rules of baseball” that apparently state a pitcher is entitled to throw a 95 MPH fastball (which science says has the force impact equivalent to a gun) at the batter because “they admired the homer.”

Female athletes are allowed to show as many emotions as their male counterparts do and they should be allowed to display them, without some further discussion as if there’s some underlying element. And if that emotion is negative – let it be. DO NOT SPECULATE THAT IT’S RELATED TO THAT PERSON’S MENTAL STATE ESPECIALLY IF YOU DO NOT KNOW THEM PERSONALLY.

The fact that people doubled-down on it and thought it was okay is just baffling. It’s disingenuous and incredibly dangerous. Seriously, how would you feel if whatever you did for a living was subjected to internet comments and a moment or two where you lost your cool and got angry, those behind a monitor & keyboard, total strangers, were questioning your mental health like that? Not a good feeling yeah?

DON’T. DO. IT. PLEASE.

SO ABOUT NAHOMI KAWASUMI

When you make NWSL history like she did on Saturday night, you get Player of the Week honors. This is the fourth time in her NWSL career that she has won that honor and puts her solely in second place on the all-time list of winning that honor. Crystal Dunn has the most so far in the award’s existence with six. And yes, she won all six of those during the 2015 season – yep, that season from her was that magical.

I’m going make a bold prediction regarding this: Nahomi Kawasumi will surpass Crystal Dunn as the player with most NWSL Player of the Week Honors.

It could be the Japanese international that gets behind the wheel and leads the Reign FC offense the way Kim Little did for the three seasons she was here. Yes, the team as a whole needs to string consecutive performances where they’re an absolute buzz-saw and I think this weekend’s matchup against Orlando will be another one. And I think Kawasumi will play a big factor in that. If Kawasumi goes on a run in the league, last Saturday’s outing against the Spirit could be the genesis of it.

So yes, she’s at four NWSL Player of the Week honors after this week’s announcement and I think there’ll be at least three more weeks where she takes it this season.

If you’re a Reign FC fan, you gotta love the sound of Rollin’ with the Homi to hopefully back into the NWSL Playoffs.

HOW MANY MINUTES WILL MALLORY PUGH PLAY – ONLY A GAMBLING SYNDICATE IN ASIA KNOWS

Here are this week’s predictions:

• Boston Breakers OVER Portland Thorns FC.
• Sky Blue FC OVER Houston Dash.
• Washington Spirit and FC Kansas City play to a DRAW.
• North Carolina Courage and Chicago Red Stars play to a DRAW.
• Seattle Reign FC OVER Orlando Pride.

That last game is going to be a doozy. I think this is where Seattle strings consecutive performances of being the buzz-saw that people will remember. Orlando will get a goal but in the grand picture, it won’t matter much as Reign will continue to be in onslaught mode. Can I gripe at the Sunday evening start time? It’s cutting into my WWE Pay Per View event watching – I’m going to go write to my congressman about it cramping my style; after I attend the match of course.

Anywho, here’s this week’s music video break.

Song: “Information” | Artist: Eliot Sumner

You know what seems very unnecessary? That upcoming “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie.

SO ABOUT LAST WEEKEND

Well, last weekend sure had two matches stand out for different reasons, didn’t they?

Washington Spirit/Sky Blue FC was a barn-burner with seven goals. I think most of us are still recovering from all that back & forth action. Then you had the first installment of the Cascadia Rivalry in 2017 with Seattle Reign FC/Portland Thorns at times resembling a demolition derby that here and there had some moments of soccer. I get it being a rivalry and wanting to come off the block swinging, but Seattle sure had some piss & vinegar in them on Saturday night. Maybe – probably – because of what happened to them in Boston the week before, they came out surly. It was a blessing and a curse, with the highlight of the blessing being that absolute fireball Jess Fishlock blasted. Rightfully she won Goal of the Week honors because of it.

On the flip side, it sure was a physical match that had both coaches Mark Parsons & Laura Harvey yelling at various times at the officials. Four yellows were issued where there surely could have been more, and probably should have been. I don’t know – I’ve always looked at rivalry matches as being something unique and tough for a match official to preside over. Obviously you don’t want to let it get out of hand and run the risk of a brawl or serious injury happening, but you don’t want to call it Tupperware-tight, and you’ve got to give them the respect to let them play. The next two installments in the regular season will happen at Memorial Stadium and I imagine the context of last weekend’s installment will be remembered by whoever is officiating those ones.

And I am in full agreement with Reign FC head coach Laura Harvey that last Saturday’s match would have made for great TV.

JEAN-MICHEL AULAS IS THIRSTY & MERRITT PAULSON OBJECTS

Stop me if you’ve heard of this before: Jean-Michel Aulas, chairman & owner of Olympique Lyonnais is thirsty again.

This prompted Portland Thorns FC owner Merritt Paulson to tell Aulas to get his drink elsewhere.

All sports teams owners are egomaniacs and it’s all to our entertainment. Most, if not all, people here in Seattle get a kick out of it whenever Paulson tweets something because within five minutes he will delete it; hence it’s surprising his tweets to Aulas are still standing. Aulas would probably stop short of tampering to try and get players to join his women’s superteam. You know what – it’s all funny to me. It may not make sense to a lot of us, but you can’t accuse them or any other people of their ilk that they don’t care about their investments. Everyone just has a unique way of expressing it. It may not make sense to plebeians like you and me, but if you had their bank accounts, yeah you’d probably act a little bit off too. That said, I did like Paulson objecting and basically telling Aulas, “Come at me bro.” He cares about his players and wants to keep them in Portland, as he should. Much like Aulas cares about constantly trying to get talent to come to Lyon and the NWSL definitely is producing some talent. Some are just hilariously vocal about displaying their devotion to the team they own like Paulson and Aulas, while others aren’t. This may be the first time we’ve seen Paulson interact with Aulas, but certainly won’t be the last.

Would a friendly between Lyon and Portland Thorns be entertaining? Absolutely.

You know what would be just as entertaining if not more – Aulas & Paulson throwing hands.

Oh and I would not be surprised if Allie Long was playing for Lyon in the near future. Maybe after the 2019 World Cup.

AFTER A SEVEN GOAL-FEST, WATCH THIS WEEKEND BE SCORELESS DRAWS

What’s with Saturday’s games kicking off at the same time? Oh well.

Sky Blue FC OVER Houston Dash.
I really want Houston to get the results here because I really want to believe (and be confirmed) that they are better without a certain midfielder playing overseas at the moment. That said Sky Blue just seems hungry for revenge after that barn burner they had against Washington and will want to take it out on someone. Unfortunately that is Houston. However if Houston gets the result here, I would not be bummed about getting this prediction wrong.

Seattle Reign FC OVER Washington Spirit.
FC Kansas City and Portland Thorns FC play to a DRAW.
North Carolina Courage OVER Orlando Pride.
Chicago Red Stars and Boston Breakers play to a DRAW.

With that out of the way, here’s what you all came for, this week’s music video break.

Song: “Stayin’ Alive” | Artist: Say Lou Lou

How in God’s name are we in the first week of May?!

WHAT IS GOING ON AROUND HERE!? I DON’T LIKE CHANGE!
Actually I do, and there are some new faces joining Backline Soccer and this place is growing. Just being the resident dude who says a lot of nonsense to everyone around here (really that Backline Soccer Slack – whoo – there’s some hot fire going on there), I am happy to see the growth of this place. So welcome new people, apologies in advance for my nonsensical attempts at comedy.

And the announcement of “The Scouting Report” joining Brew Sports is nothing short of incredible. The folks that make up Backline Soccer are some really good people – yes I haven’t met any of them personally yet, but I feel like I could go a good thirty minutes before I wore out my welcome and I don’t know, they threw a pie at me for being a silly dude. But dammit, will I make those thirty minutes one they won’t forget. But Backline Soccer is doing some incredible work, with bigger and better things are coming to the collective and I am just happy to be a passenger.

NOW TO BUSINESS – HA HA NEVER MAKE PREDICTIONS AGAIN
Boy did I take it on the chin on my predictions for Round 3’s games in the NWSL.

A BIG FAT, STINKING ZERO FOR FIVE on the predictions last weekend. The most stinging one of course the Seattle Reign FC going to Boston and the Breakers running wild all over them. I’ll say: all the credit to the Breakers. They finally got one on Seattle and they did it incredible style. Adrianna Leon conducted the orchestra en route to winning NWSL Player of the Week honors – well deserved there. And WoSo’s new favorite thing Rose Lavelle lived up to the billing of being the first overall draft pick by winning NWSL Player of the Month honors. Saturday showed how good the Breakers can be, and I am telling ya – come August/September, the Breakers are going to jack up a team’s hopes of getting into the NWSL Playoffs.

As for the Reign, I can’t say I’m surprised. Doesn’t mean seeing them get smoked on the field for all 90 minutes didn’t sting but there’s going to be something of a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde situation with them this season. That said, I still think the experience and savvy of Laura Harvey will get her mix of veteran players and new faces sorted out, and when it’s crunch time they’ll be in the NWSL playoffs. It just could be an interesting ride for them.

DON’T MAKE PREDICTIONS HE SAID…
But here they are for this weekend’s matches anyway.

• Chicago Red Stars OVER Houston Dash. (atch this game be some bonkers goal-fest – let’s say 5 goals total)
• Sky Blue FC OVER Washington Spirit.
• Seattle Reign FC OVER Portland Thorns.
• Boston Breakers and North Carolina Courage play to a DRAW.
• FC Kansas City OVER Orlando Pride.

And since none of you heathens left a comment in the last piece about your karaoke songs, I’m just going to arbitrarily start closing each of these with a music video. It could be something I recently came across or something I’ve long enjoyed. So yeah, enjoy your music video break.

Song: “What You Mean To Me” | Artist: Montaigne

The Unused Sub is a weekly musings piece by Jacob Cristobal because he has fooled the world into thinking he has valuable opinions about soccer. So yeah.

You may remember me from being a contributor to Sounder At Heart’s Ride of the Valkyries. When I was asked to be a part of Backline Soccer, I thought it was a confirmation of the power of the bribe. If it’s worked for FIFA all these years, then why not for a women’s soccer blog? The next thought was, “Oh cool, I get to drop more silly thoughts about soccer because that’s what this world needs right? Another dude with opinions about soccer.” Alas here we are and once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. I share the same amount of excitement that everyone else has. Who knows what this season will bring us, but surely there will be highlights and low lights or shall we say the preferred nomenclature, FURTlights.

WE ARE IN YEAR FIVE AND WE SHOULD ALL BE FEELING FINE
My experience in covering women’s soccer only goes as long as the NWSL has existed. I know plenty of others were here for the WUSA and WPS days and viewed last season as uncharted waters being the previous two leagues didn’t have a fourth season. However it was an exciting uncharted waters, because we knew there was a fourth season. Now we are entering a fifth season and with plenty of excitement now that the league has a full and proper TV deal. This partnership with A+E Networks with a NWSL Game of the Week being on Lifetime every Saturday is exactly what the NWSL needed. I’m of the belief that “if it’s on TV, people will watch.” And it’s not just a one and done. A+E invested in the league for multiple years and one can assume, considerable money on the table. For a league very much in its infancy, this is exactly what it needed. The idea of the NWSL celebrating a 10th year I think is no longer a pipe dream and its foundation is being made.

ABOUT THAT FOUNDATION – NO ONE SAID IT WAS GOING TO BE EASY WORK
Yes the road to today’s announcement of the streaming platform was dumb and ugly but it shouldn’t be viewed as a deal breaker like some insinuations would have you think with the tone of their screaming from the hills. I have no idea how those meetings went when it came to finding a vendor, nor working out the logistics of the rollout and quality assurance. I can only safely assume that it wasn’t easy. Things take time. Could the league have been more transparent with that and say something to the effect? Possibly, but it could easily open up follow-up questions from the incredibly impatient. It’s easy to say should have, could have, would have, etc but I’d like to think the radio silence wasn’t intentional. Let’s not go Tin Foil Hat County (too much salt in the food, let’s be real) and weave a thread that the league is messing up on purpose because they want to make life harder for themselves and all parties interested in the growth of women’s soccer. The NWSL is entering it’s fifth year, still a lil’ one. Yes we live in a 24/7 world, but it’s not like it’s eradicated growing pains. We will see how the go90 streaming platform goes this weekend. Knock on wood it all goes smooth whether you’re a Sky Blue fan watching from New Jersey or a Houston Dash fan tuning in from England. And if there are problems, let’s have faith in the people behind the scenes on making the necessary fixes so week 2 of the 2017 NWSL season goes without a hitch as far as streaming a match.

BOSTON WILL BE BETTER AND NO I AM NOT HIGH
For the past two seasons, the Boston Breakers finished last in the league standings. This season I think they break that dubious streak. A full offseason and better college draft later and I think Matt Beard has identified his core players and how everything in the NWSL works. While I don’t think Boston is a playoff contender this year, I think they will do enough that they can influence the playoff picture. I think one NWSL team’s playoff hopes will be thwarted because of the Boston Breakers this season. Matt Beard’s squad will show growth on the field, likely led by NWSL Rookie of the Year contende Rose LaVelle and make considerable noise that come the 2018, this could be a dark horse pick of a playoff contender. Again, I am not under the influence of any narcotic at the time of writing this.

PAUL RILEY WILL GET TOSSED BECAUSE LIFE IS RICH LIKE THAT
The only question is, will it be because he twerked into the fourth official like last year in Orlando? WELL HOLY CRAP, THE NWSL IS A VENGEFUL GOD AND TOLD RILEY TO SIT DOWN FOR THE FIRST TWO GAMES of the season because of his tomfoolery in the playoffs last year. That said, I don’t think this will be the only time Paul gets a time out. I will never get tired of a twerking Paul Riley.

A NEW AMERICAN HEROINE WILL RISE & JILL ELLIS WILL NOTICE, ACTUALLY PLAY HER
If you were to tell me that say Beverly Yanez, Haley Kopmeyer, Sofia Huerta, or a Katie Naughton could have a banner 2017 for their respective NWSL club that US national team head coach Jill Ellis gives them a call-up, I would not be surprised. Any of these could do something special in 2017. Now would Ellis actually give them minutes in an international match is another topic of discussion for another time.

FURT WILL LIVE FOREVER & ALWAYS…
However I think with a new season there should be some new inside joke terminology to describe some schadenfreude. Not necessarily a word made up because of some hilarious coloring of half a word for a snazzy banner image, but maybe we bring back a word into popularity. I’m borrowing a word from a friend across the pond (hi Kieran Theivam) and going with gazump.

PREDICTIONS, SCHMEDICTIONS
The NWSL Media Association asked all members to fill out a poll as to where the teams will finish this season. At the risk of exposing myself to ridicule, I’ll share with you how I filled out the poll. Keep in mind this is where I think teams will be at the end of the regular season. Ask me about predicting the NWSL Playoffs when the field is set and then ridicule me for getting those wrong too.

1. Chicago Red Stars
2. Portland Thorns FC
3. Sky Blue FC
4. Seattle Reign FC
5. Orlando Pride
6. North Carolina Courage
7. FC Kansas City
8. Boston Breakers
9. Houston Dash
10. Washington Spirit

And with that, cheers to the new season ahead, try not to be Mad Online too much about your team, and remember salt kills snails & slugs. So unless you got some major beef with them, don’t be a monster and just pour salt on them for kicks.

Got a question, a reaction, something to say? Yes, I’m serious, @ me on Twitter: @jacobcristobal. Me answering a question or two only helps the word count in future posts and it’d be fun to answer them.