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Women’s Soccer writers RJ Allen and Charles Olney talk about the USWNT roster for Canada, their off season plans and more on this episode of The 123rd Minute.
Intro: Those Better Days by Mimi Page
2017 was a a crazy ride. We grew as a site and as people covering women’s soccer, we said goodbye to some and welcomed in others.
And we learned a lot about what we liked to do and what didn’t work as well for us.
So we’ve made some adjustments and going forward we’re going to focus our energy in what we hope are the most useful ways to make the biggest and best impact.
So that leads to the question of what will be focusing on going forward?
We’re going to focus on two different areas: a mix of breaking news, weekly series and long form writing, and a trio of podcasts to help fill in content, because podcasting is something we as a site enjoy partaking in. And of course our photos aren’t going anywhere.
Podcasting
Let’s talk about podcasting.
Podcasting is my personal favorite form of communication when it comes to women’s soccer and something the site as a whole is dedicated to.
Coming in 2018 we will have three different shows. Yes, three.
The Scouting Report
We will have an updated version of The Scouting Report. There, myself and my co-hosts Becca Kimble and Lindsay Schwarz will recap of all of the NWSL or USWNT action from the past week along with delusions and weekly awards. We’ve moved to a prerecorded format to make it easier for us to have longer conversations and to plan out some aspects of the show.
The 123rd Minute
Both Charles Onley and I will be back with 123rd Minute. There is where we take an in depth look at the issues around women’s soccer, from “who should be in the hall of fame” to “do goalkeepers matter.” This is a long form piece in podcast form. We sometimes have great guests on as well.
TSR Quick Kicks
And if two podcasts weren’t enough, I am happy to announce TSR Quick Kicks. It will be a live show on YouTube with Luis Hernandez and me talking about that week’s women’s soccer news, and then doing a Q and A. The news portion will be put up on YouTube for a quick 20 or 30 minute guide to the news that you can play on your way to work or while making dinner.
Written Pieces
On the writing side we’re aiming in three directions.
The first focus will be on breaking news, with rosters moves being the biggest area. As much as we wish we could have a staff of 5 or 6 writing up each bit of news, we don’t have the staff for that. We’ll try to get everyone up on our Twitter feed, but the major pieces will be written up to give important updates on things like USWNT rosters, NWSL roster moves and updates on players and teams.
Next up is the weekly pieces that we all know and love. These weekly columns from the different writers on the site are key for us and we want to make sure that we put a focus on making them part of your weekly women’s soccer habit.
The third area is our long form opinion pieces and interviews, covering things that aren’t in the breaking news or weekly pieces arena that take an in depth look at the teams and players of women’s soccer. We are looking to write more series with multiple writers like we did in “Why We Can’t Stick to Sports” earlier in the year. We’re hoping to bring a more thoughtful feel to our coverage in this area.
There are some things we won’t be doing next year that we did this year.
Gone are the days of us live tweeting games from the main Backline Soccer Twitter account. Now we will highlight which of our writers are live tweeting so you can follow along with the writer of your choice and we won’t clutter up your feed.
We will keep our previews and recaps of games to The Scouting Report outside of playoff games for the NWSL and important USWNT games. There are a lot of sites that do previews and recaps and we feel TSR does a pretty great job doing it themselves.
We hope all of you have a relaxing off season and here is to a great 2018 for us all.
Jill Ellis has named 23 players to the roster for two friendlies between the U.S. Women’s National Team and the Canadian Women’s National Team to close out 2017.
Tobin Heath and Taylor Smith both return to the roster after missing the September friendlies due to injuries suffered in the NWSL final.
Mallory Pugh (Washington Spirit), Rose Lavelle (Boston Breakers), and Morgan Brian (Chicago Red Stars) were all unavailable for selection due to injuries. Crystal Dunn (Chelsea FC) was not released by her club, which is playing Round of 16 Champions League matches on November 8 and 15.
U.S. Women’s National Team Roster by Position:
GOALKEEPERS (4): Jane Campbell (Houston Dash), Adrianna Franch (Portland Thorns FC), Ashlyn Harris (Orlando Pride), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)
DEFENDERS (8): Abby Dahlkemper (NC Courage), Sofia Huerta (Chicago Red Stars), Kelley O’Hara (Sky Blue FC), Becky Sauerbrunn (FC Kansas City), Casey Short (Chicago Red Stars), Taylor Smith (NC Courage), Emily Sonnett (Portland Thorns FC), Chioma Ubogagu (Orlando Pride)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Julie Ertz (Chicago Red Stars), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC), Carli Lloyd (Houston Dash), Allie Long (Portland Thorns FC), Samantha Mewis (NC Courage), Andi Sullivan (Stanford)
FORWARDS (5): Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns FC), Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride), Christen Press (Chicago Red Stars), Megan Rapinoe (Seattle Reign FC), Lynn Williams (NC Courage)
Jill Ellis has named 22 players to the roster for two friendlies between the U.S. Women’s National Team and Korea Republic.
Carli Lloyd returns to the roster while continuing to recover from an ankle injury, while Stanford senior Andi Sullivan returns to camp after recovering from an ACL tear suffered in late 2016.
Rose Lavelle (Boston Breakers) will be in camp, but will not be on the game day rosters as she continues to work her way back to full fitness.
U.S. Women’s National Team Roster by Position:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Campbell (Houston Dash), Harris (Orlando Pride), Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)
DEFENDERS (7): Dahlkemper (NC Courage), Ertz (Chicago Red Stars), Huerta (Chicago Red Stars), O’Hara (Sky Blue FC), Sauerbrunn (FC Kansas City), Short (Chicago Red Stars), Smith (NC Courage)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Heath (Portland Thorns FC), Horan (Portland Thorns FC), Lloyd (Houston Dash), Long (Portland Thorns FC), Mewis (NC Courage), Rapinoe (Seattle Reign FC), Sullivan (Stanford)
FORWARDS (5): Dunn (Chelsea FC), Morgan (Orlando Pride), Press (Chicago Red Stars), Pugh (Washington Spirit), Williams (NC Courage)
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Jill Ellis does not do pomp and circumstance.
She is the type of coach that would likely never do another pregame ceremony celebrating a player reaching a cap milestone if given a choice on the matter. That might be due, in part, to her preference to rotate players out of the pool before they hit a hundred caps begin with.
We’ve consistently seen that Ellis’ focus is pointed elsewhere while the fans, media, players, and US Soccer itself revels in the celebration of certain milestones. Hope Solo getting 100 shutouts, HAO’s last game, Lori Chalupny finally getting her 100th cap after 14 years … these are all moments Ellis has seemed to shrug off as meaningless.
And yet, milestones have significance to people, to communities. Knowing that at predetermined points we will take a pause from the usual coming and going of players to call attention to the achievements of one celebrated member gives meaning to the game, to the fans, to the player. So few individuals reach, say, a hundred caps with their national team that when it happens, it’s appropriate to take a moment and acknowledge that he or she has done something extraordinary. The very reason the US and the fans make such a big deal out of joining the Century Club, as it’s called, is because only the best can manage it. They’ve earned the celebration before the game, the captain’s armband, the special kit and the plaque, the photos with their friends and family before the gathered crowd.
This achievement, and this ceremony, it has significance. A significance far beyond the simple three-digit number on the stat sheet.
As you might imagine when you mix a coach that does not care about pageantry with a celebration that uses pageantry to mark the significance of a tradition nearly as old as the national team itself, things go wrong.
And in the case of Ali Krieger’s journey to 100 caps, things have gone dreadfully wrong.
It’s no secret that Ellis doesn’t value Krieger as a defender. She’s made it clear that she has no use for a defender who will not play the hyper-attacking style that she wants all of her outside backs to play. (And in truth, what Ellis really wants is 10 field players to adopt that style of hyper-attack.) Krieger’s focus on defense has always meant that she has a harder time abandoning her defensive responsibilities and playing in a way that forces the centerbacks to absorb missed defensive opportunities as she plays up for the attack. Because of this, Ellis has repeatedly overlooked Krieger, either leaving her on the bench or not calling her up at all in favor of players like Kelley O’Hara, Casey Short, or Taylor Smith. All three are players who have shown a willingness to play the style that Ellis demands, and with the kind of aggressiveness she prefers. She even seems to be toying with converting Sofia Hurerta to an outside back role, though this sort of maneuver isn’t unique to Ellis. Tom Sermanni tried the same with Kristie Mewis in 2013.
Time and time again Ellis has either kept Krieger off the roster or she has kept her on the bench. Since the 2015 victory tour, the coach has made it clear that Krieger no longer fits into her long-term plans. With most other players, everyone would have taken the hint and while we all would have been disappointed, we would have moved on.
But Ali Krieger is not most other players.
The problem with ditching a player who had a year like Ali Krieger had only two years ago in 2015, who is a fan favorite, who was denied the 2012 Olympics because of a sloppy tackle from a player on a team that the US went on to beat by a margin of two touchdowns, to borrow a term from American football, is that it does not make sense on the surface to those who care about cap totals.
For those who take nothing more than Krieger’s history on the NT and her form as a player into account, the last 18 months do not make sense. Things made even less sense when Ellis went from relying on her to cover up for other players’ mistakes to rotating her out of the lineup to sitting her on the bench for multiple games in a row to not calling her up even at the same time that her club performance has mostly been very good.
The only way the Krieger situation makes sense is in the context of Ellis replacing a player who she feels is being insubordinate. Krieger will not abandon her defensive responsibilities to attack as often and as aggressively as Jill Ellis demands because she understands that defense matters and her spending 50% of her minutes on the pitch within 20 yards of the opposite goal is not a sound defensive strategy.
Unfortunately, when the coach is telling you to play a certain way and they find you not sufficiently willing to play that way, then the coach is likely going to reduce your minutes, or in the case of Krieger stop calling you up altogether. No matter how foolhardy the game plan is, at the end of the day the show is Ellis’ to run as she sees fit. You can disagree with her game plan but as long as US Soccer is keeping her on she is well within her rights to call up players she sees fitting the game plan she has and leaving off players she feels can not or will not play to that game plan. As much as any sane person may look at Krieger’s game and understand that what she’s doing will save the US from giving up goals and will make the players around her better, she is not following the game plan faithfully enough for Ellis. So Ellis’ solution going forward is to continue passing over Ali Krieger, no matter what.
For Jill Ellis, Krieger is no longer an option.
Remember the pomp and circumstance thing we talked about at the beginning of this and how ceremony matters?
The problem in all of this is Ellis decided she was done with Krieger while Krieger is sitting on 98 caps, just two away from the ceremony that would give closure to the player and her fans. Closure on a career that was hard-fought, and well-performed. Closure to the extraordinary performance that helped the United States win the World Cup for the first time in 16 years.
By not allowing Krieger these final two caps, a player that most people will argue should still be the regular starter on the right or at least in the conversation, Ellis is prolonging the misery felt by those who follow this team and who care about the celebration of the players who helped the team achieve the level they are at now.
We’ve seen this before, Ellis deciding a player is done. Form be damned, history be damned, the usual manner of things be damned. Whitney Engen, Heather O’Reilly, and Lori Chalupny all suffered from having Jill Ellis break with the usual manner of players leaving the team. And now, Engen has traded soccer for law school, O’Reilly has gone overseas to play, and Chalupny has gone on to pursue coaching. None of them might have been in the mind of fans the way Krieger is, but their exits do give us a preview of how the situation is likely to play out.
The question becomes what should happen? What possible outcome would make all parties happy? Is there even an outcome that could happen that would make all sides happy?
We can firmly discount the idea that Krieger will ever become a full-time national team starter with minutes per year approaching levels that she’s had in the past. As much as it would probably delight Becky Sauerbrunn to have another pure defender on the team again, it’s just not going to happen. For better or worse Ellis is simply not interested in having her on the roster in that capacity. Unless there is a coaching change, which US Soccer seems unwilling to do, Krieger’s long-term national team future is clear. In that it’s over.
Trying to pretend this is not a factor, while the lingering resentment some fans have toward the team and the coaching staff only grows, doesn’t seem like a way forward either. Krieger is playing in Orlando, and playing well, so the media will have to ask about it every time she doesn’t make a roster. And Ellis will be asked about it as forwards are converted to fill the spot. Pretending it isn’t happening doesn’t mean that it’s not happening. The longer the song and dance goes on, the more long-time fans of the player and the team will grow to resent and resist the changes the coach is making.
The solution that might make both sides able to move on is simply to give Krieger the two caps before the end of the year so Ellis can start 2018 and the World Cup-qualifying off without it hanging over her head. If Ellis allows Krieger get to 100 caps with all the pomp and circumstance that she deserves, it might mitigate some of the outright anger a particular segment of the fanbase might feel going into another cycle without one of the best right-backs in the women’s game.
It’s a win for both sides; Krieger gets recognition for a career well done on the national team at a level that is surpassed only by Joy Fawcett while Ellis looks like she has some compassion for a player who has bailed her out on more than one occasion by going against the coach’s instincts for game planning of attacking first and defending maybe. Krieger’s fans, and her family, and even Krieger herself get the type of closure that a player who has sacrificed as much as she has for this game deserves.
At the end of the day, Jill Ellis has told us that she is done with Ali Krieger. No amount of outrage from fans or think-pieces from media will change her mind. The only question that remains is if Ellis will let Krieger walk away as part of a group that just added its 36th member (out of 222 players capped over the team’s history) or if Ellis is going to let her stand there on the one side of the line and never let her across again.
In the end, Krieger needs her final two caps.
And she deserves to get them.
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Usually there is nothing worse than having to wait an extra week because of an international break in the midst of a potential playoff race. But the U.S./New Zealand friendlies are something to get pumped about. Sure, it means having to take a break from some hot NWSL action, but don’t knock these two games. Friday’s match was a pretty good one, and luckily we have another one tomorrow. It’s bound to be a good time. Here are the five reasons why:
Tobin’s Back
Come on. Admit it. You missed her. Don’t worry, I did too. And obviously, the USWNT team did as well. Their midfield just doesn’t have the same solidity without her. Sure, there are still some bright points for the National Team in her absence, including Julie Ertz’s dominance within the first 24 minutes of Friday’s match, but Tobin Heath definitely adds a little extra spark to the team when she is on the pitch. She knows how to utilize all of her assets on the field, and she makes the rest of the team better. That is not something that just anyone can bring to the table. She didn’t dress on Friday, but there is no doubt she will be interesting to watch during her return. And hey, since it’s Tobin, there is a pretty good chance she is going to make someone look like a fool with a nutmeg.
The Great Jill Ellis Experiment of 2017 Continues
If anything can be said about Jill Ellis’ team strategy for this year it is that no one knows what is coming next. Sure, I can see the benefits of trying different things out – experimenting a little bit. We still have two years until the World Cup. Let’s tweak a little bit. But Becky Sauerbrunn at midfield? Kelley O’Hara at left back? Why don’t we just try Carli Lloyd in goal for kicks and gigs? Obviously, it would never come to that, but you get my point. Right now, it is a mystery as to who is going to be playing on the pitch and where they will be playing. I like to believe Ellis has a strategy behind all this, but I suppose only time will tell. She played it pretty safe in the first match and came out with a solid victory. The team looked confident, and with a few quick goals, Ellis was able to get a little more creative in the second half. But will she mix things up for tomorrow’s match like she has been accustomed to lately? It’s worth tuning in to see.
Who’s Up Top?
My favorite part of the Jill Ellis experiment is that we never know who the starting striker might be going into the match. Honestly, we have a couple good ones to choose from, and with different formations being thrown out as well, it has created a bit of a stir within different fan bases. Who should start – Christian Press or Alex Morgan? Should we play with two up top and add Mallory Pugh into the mix or should she sit back in an attacking mid role? There are a lot of options and each striker brings a completely different style of play to the match. An argument could be made for either Press or Morgan up top, and one of the most entertaining parts of these matches will be their supporters arguing which is the smarter option. Morgan got the start on Friday and looked confident with her goal in the second half. But what shocked the world was that her and Christen Press both played on the field at the same time when Press was subbed in for Rapinoe in the 60’ minute. And it kind of worked with both of them on the field. So what happens next match? Who knows? But for now, it’s safe to assume that this battle will continue throughout the next two years as we prepare to head to France.
New Kid on the Block
Okay, so she isn’t that new because she has already been practicing with us. But Sofia Huerta, as of this past week, has officially put on the red, white, and blue and represent the United States. FIFA granted her one-time change of national allocation from Mexico to the U.S., and although everyone was excited for her to come over, there was some skepticism on how she would fit with this team. Eager to prove herself and show off her skill set, Huerta showed she could dish a ball to more than just her Red Stars’ teammate, Christian Press. When she came off the bench in the second half she made the most of her time playing outside back and gave Alex Morgan a beauty of a ball, leading to our third goal. It’s hard to say what kind of longevity Huerta will have with this team, but Friday proved it will be exciting to watch.
Get to Know Your Football Ferns
The New Zealand National Team is a bit of a mystery to me, and most likely, you as well. With the exception of Rosie White, Rebekah Stott, and Katie Bowen, who all play in the NWSL, we Americans don’t get the opportunity to see these women play too often. In the last two meetings the USWNT have had with the Ferns before this series, the U.S. has recorded shutouts. But that is not to say that these women should be underestimated. They are the current Oceanic Football Champions, and they have steady leadership in Manager, Tony Readings. Sure, they lost in the first match, but the team played well together. It’ll be interesting to see how they tweak their performance and strategy against a rebuilding and experimenting U.S. side, and for that reason, I cannot wait to see what the Kiwis produce out there on the pitch tomorrow.
Sure, we are all anxiously waiting to see how the top four of the NWSL comes out. But that doesn’t mean that this international break is a time to pout. It’s a time to be pumped. We get a couple of entertaining friendlies, a first US cap for Huerta, and we get to see how Jill Ellis sets up her front line … and well, everyone else for that matter. Honestly, these friendlies are like the wild west. Anything could happen (including hell freezing over when Press and Morgan both took the field at the same time). So if you missed Friday’s match, never fear – you have Tuesday to keep you entertained as well.
Adriana Hooper
The phrase “stick to sports” has always been one that frustrates me. We forget that professional athletes are in fact human and go through many of the same things we do. Athletes should not stick to sports and if I had to pick just one reason why, it is because they have the platform for positive change, to change the perception of many different people. People listen (for good or bad) to professional athletes. They have the ability to bring to light situations that we may never know about otherwise. Many of them go through things that I and many other people go through and it helps to hear that.
I will admit that I have become a lot more openly political in this election cycle. And that is because I cannot sit silent and let the injustices of this country continue to hurt many of the people that I care about. On the media side, I do not believe there is any “pure” definition of just sticking to sports. The political side will always be there.
I cannot just stick to sports and I expect the athletes I follow to be human too and express themselves. Sports is an escape for many but the real world still exists. And these athletes go through just as much, if not more, than I do.
Alanna Fairbairn
One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was from an English professor in college. She told me that as a writer, the only thing I was responsible for was putting my work out to the world at the highest level I could achieve at the time. How people reacted to it – whether they hated it, or loved every word – was not up to me. Trying to control the reactions of my readers would only drive me insane. I found that to be true, so I’ve since applied that to all areas of my life, including my involvement with sports. Athletes, being people, have the same responsibility. They put not just their on-field play, but pieces of their personality and beliefs out to the world. They have no ability to control your reactions.
The flipside of this truth is similar; you can never control what other people say and believe. If you try, you’re setting yourself up for failure. You can only control your reactions to what people say. If an athlete isn’t “sticking to sports” and that frustrates you, that is not the athlete’s problem. You get to deal with that, and how you do is one of the true tests of character. Are you going to get mad that someone doesn’t agree with you? That’s a dangerous, exhausting road to walk down. Or are you going to recognize that they are people with the same right to an opinion, and your disagreement doesn’t change that?
Allison Cary
The first time that I realized the power of sports was when I saw a video of Syrian refugees traveling to the tournament opener for the Jordanian team in the U-17 Women’s World Cup in Jordan. Many of these little girls hard lost everything—their homes, their belongings, their friends, even their family. But football brought a smile to their faces. These girls said that playing football was their favorite thing in the world, and that getting to see their new home country play was the best day of their lives.That’s when I realized—we can’t just stick to sports. Sports have the power to change the world. They bring communities together. They lift people out of darkness. And sports can be used as a tool for awareness and action in some of the deepest social and political issues of our time. To simply “stick to sports”—to talk about the game without talking about the people who play it, the communities they represent, the world they and all of us live in—would be irresponsible. So, we won’t just “stick to sports.” Before we are athletes or journalists, we are humans. And that is the most important title we carry.
Jacqui Porter
Im not sure when the phrase “stick to sports” was coined but its one that I completely disagree with. Athletes are human too, so why should they limit themselves to just being that? Those who are in a position to do good for the human race and bring awareness to social and political issues should absolutely take the opportunity. If we as a society stuck to sports, things would not change, perception would not change and in order to truly understand each other we need to have positive influences from people of all different backgrounds, races, genders, orientations, religions and so on. Humanity NEEDS diversity. So when I see or hear the phrase stick to sports it’s frustrating to know that so many people don’t want to see any other side of a story or a different way of life. Athletes and those in media have a unique platform to use and I sincerely hope people understand why Colin Kaepernick and Michael Bennett continue to fight for justice. They are just two breve examples of why we cannot stick to sports. They are doing their part to make this world a better place even when they are treated unfairly; they still fight, they still use their voice, they still are working for this country. It’s a lot of work but if people stop hating and discriminating that would be a good start yeah? Because in today’s political climate where we have an unthinkable amount of uncertainty, we need to hear people’s stories so we can find ways to make it right. Dethrone evil and bring all the good into this world. So NO, I will not just stick to sports.
Lindsay Schwarz
Why shouldn’t I just write about sports? Because it’s impossible. Plain and simple. If I am going to write about sports then I am going to have to write about everything else. Because sports aren’t just about kicking around a ball, or running up a field, or swinging a bat. Sports can be about taking a knee during the national anthem, wearing an equality t-shirt during pride month, or even filing a lawsuit for equal pay based on gender discrimination. And if I were to just write about the stats, and the box scores, and the rosters…well then I would be missing a lot of what sports are all about. They have this ability to touch every issue around them, and it provides athletes a voice to stand up for what they believe in. If I were to only write about the athletic technique that gets put on display, then I have missed the bigger picture.
And I admit that many times I do. I don’t write about the opinions or the social issues or the taboo enough. And for that I apologize. For that, I will own that I haven’t always shown the bigger picture. Because the cross into the box may be note worthy, but so is the personal strife that is happening off the field in our communities. So I promise to do better. I promise to write about more than just sports. It shouldn’t be too difficult though…it’s impossible not to.
Alyssa Zajac
If you look at any of my social medias, you see mainly two types of posts. Sports, and politics. Those political posts sometimes get me into…. passionate discussions with people who disagree with my views.
The easy thing to do, would be to stop posting political things. In other words “stick to sports” – post my hot takes, talk about sports news, and complain about the reffing. The easy thing to do would be to stay silent, but the thing is? Staying silent helps no one. Staying silent draws complacency to behaviors, thoughts, and beliefs that discriminate against human beings because of their religion, race, sexual orientation, or gender identity and expression – anything that is “not normal” or “different.”
So, no, I will not just “stick to sports”. I will not stay silent. I will not be complacent.
I will use my platform and my privilege to speak up. To give those who can’t speak up and have been silenced a voice.
As said by Jennifer Donnelly: “We who have means and a voice must use them to help those who have neither.”
Charles Olney
For many people, sports is an escape. In a media landscape where everything is contentious and politics seems to infuse every conversation, they savor the freedom provided by sports. As pure entertainment, the only relevant questions are athletic prowess, tactical maneuvers, and whether their favorite team wins. When faced with troubling questions about the intersections between sport, politics, culture, and society, they are resentful. Why can’t coverage just stick to the sports and leave all the rest out?
But when you dig into the question, you quickly discover turtles going all the way down. There is no ‘pure’ version of sport that resides underneath all these layers of complexity. Sports exists within our society, and is therefore a part of that society. If it doesn’t seem political, that’s only because its politics align so closely with your own as to render themselves invisible.
Does it seem ‘political’ when the national anthem is played? It should. That anthem represents a principle of national unity, a collective spirit. It stitches together those who hear it, whether they want to be tied together or not. Someone who challenges that process (as we have seen in the past year from players like Colin Kaepernick and Megan Rapinoe) is engaging in politics, certainly. But it is ‘political’ to kneel during the anthem precisely because the anthem is an incredibly powerful political signal.
It’s political when teams offer salutes to the troops. It’s political when players and teams dispute over contracts. The Kiss Cam is political (just look at what happens when it focuses on two people of the same sex). Who plays? What does the crowd look like? How much does the team invest in outreach to minorities, to women? Why are certain sports taken more seriously than others? Who gains and who loses from this sort of coverage? These are all political questions, and they would remain political questions even if the underlying conditions changed drastically. Sports will always be political, because life is political. That isn’t intrinsically a good or bad thing. It’s just a reality.
So if you enjoy treating sports as an escape, you are certainly free to do so. That freedom exists for many people, as a function of choices that have been made over the centuries, and it is a freedom that is well-relished. But let’s not pretend that this is a matter of avoiding politics. To inhabit a position of privilege and freedom, and to attack those who lack those same advantages simply for mentioning this condition, is the essence of a political position.
Every time I hear or see some version of “You’re just a(n) [actor, athlete, journalist, kid, etc], stick to what you know,” I laugh and then roll my eyes.
I’m sorry, do you not understand how we each are global citizens a) who are affected by the consequences of macro-level policies, decisions, and actions and b) whose actions have consequences on macro- and micro-levels?
Everything I do is political, from choosing to wear my NIKE sneakers (were they made by a corporation that uses child labor, what is the global environmental impact of the company, how do the companies policies affect global and international trade, relations, etc) to choosing what television shows to watch (which companies advertise during the show, what is their reputation for diversity at all levels of production, etc) to which sports and teams I am a fan of (is the sport impacted by environmental concerns, does a league or team reproduce traditional and oppressive forms of existence or advocate for more progressive social footprints, etc) WHETHER I AM AWARE OF IT OR NOT. Every action you take has a political implication, WHETHER YOU ARE ACTIVELY AWARE OF THIS OR NOT.
So don’t come at people who are more awake to their impact on the world than you are.
You want to know why an athlete should speak up about something like, let’s say, climate change?
Let’s go.
First, all sports have roots in our childhoods. We started in a youth league. We watched football with our dads. We saw the Olympics on television and we spent our Christmas breaks making wobbly figure-8s at the pond in our grandmother’s back yard. As global warming increases, the future of childhood is threatened. Higher temperatures make outside play in locations particularly affected (see Australian summers of late) undesirable if not, at some points, dangerous. Drier and hotter climates mean grass is both harder to grow and harder to upkeep, so the lawns and fields of our childhood aren’t as lush for our children and their children. This means that their bodies are subject to different kinds of injuries and stresses. Talk to any soccer player about the difference between a grass field and a turf one, for god’s sake. Not to mention that climate change and pollution affect things like air quality, pollen counts (i.e., allergens in the air), which increases the incidence of seasonal allergies and asthma, as well as the degree to which it affects day-to-day life.
Second, climate change affects play on the professional level. Let’s talk heat, for one, since it’s been such a big issue this NWSL season. Temperatures continue to rise, globally. NASA reports that this past March was the second hottest on record–since 1880.
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Oh, boy, look at the US in that graphic of global temperature trends since 1880–the US is trending anywhere from .5 degrees to almost two degrees warmer. As most people can attest, two degrees can make a big difference when you’re arguing with your dad about how hot the house is and he’s refusing to turn the AC lower because “when I was a kid all we had was one fan for seven people in the main room of the house and we survived” and you’re left there drowning in your pool of adolescent sweat.
Look at Brazil, where some of our most famous global soccer players come from, where the temperature is trending even higher, over five degrees in some places. Look at the Arctic, also trending up to and over five degrees warmer, which is why there is genuine concern about the future inhabitability of coastal areas across the globe.
And now let’s remember that soccer is a game played outside. In all varieties of weather–and in the US, especially in the summertime months. Let’s remember Rachel Daly, who literally collapsed with heat exhaustion under 90+ degree temperatures and 90%+ humidity, earlier this season. As the climate continues to get warmer, these conditions will only become more and more common, and this will affect the play of soccer–of all sports. Already, some soccer pundits are struggling with the idea of hydration breaks, whether they’re truly necessary, how to implement them, how they interfere with the ebb and flow (you see what I did there, right?) of the game. Already due to the ability to and cost of maintaining grass fields, some stadiums are opting for turf instead. Turf holds up longer, doesn’t require as much intervention or water to maintain, sure, but it also takes a bigger toll on the bodies of athletes, on the speed of the game, on the direction and drive of the ball. It changes the game to such an effect that the Men’s World Cup has never been played on it because it wouldn’t be the same game.
I could talk about so much more. About how gun policies affect safety at large public events. About how international policies affect the ability of players to move efficiently between leagues and teams (a big concern after Brexit was the ability of international players to obtain the necessary status to live and play in England; a big concern after the election of Trump has been how the anti-immigration policies will affect the ability of players from foreign countries to come into the US to play, train, and more). Or how military actions fuel anti-Western sentiments across the globe and become radicalized, leading to large-scale public tragedies like the Borussia Dortmund bus bomb on the way to a Champions League quarter-final match against Monaco earlier this year, or the 2015 terror attack in Paris, where three explosions occurred outside the Stade de France during a friendly between France and Germany, or how the nationalist rhetoric of the Right in the US has radicalized a number of white men to commit acts of terror. Or I could talk about US culture, rape culture, domestic violence, and the legal system that in combination with access to guns, spells bad news for everyone, everywhere.
You might think I’m the Woman Who Called Wolf but my point is that these are the kind of things that always happen somewhere else, until they don’t. Until they happen here. [Ask me about the 2012 Sikh temple shooting that took place less than three miles from where I grew up and I’ll tell you all about just how near somewhere else can be.]
I’m not saying the wolf is coming. I’m saying that sports are in every way connected to the political. And every athlete is a citizen of a community, a nation, the world as a whole.
And they have not only the right but the responsibility as citizens to speak up for what they believe in.
U.S. Soccer has announced that FIFA has approved a one-time change of national association for Chicago Red Stars player Sofia Huerta.
Huerta had previously represented Mexico in official competition at the Under-20 National Team level but had no official appearances with the Mexican senior team.
Huerta is now eligible to play for the U.S. Women’s National Team at the senior level, including their friendlies against New Zealand on Sept. 15 and Sept. 19.
“I want to thank U.S. Soccer for the opportunity and I sincerely appreciate the work that went into getting this change done,” Huerta said in U.S. Soccer’s press release. “Now it’s about working to continue to improve and trying to earn my chance to get on the field.”
If she plays in either of the New Zealand matches, Huerta will become the second Mexican-American player in USWNT history to earn a cap.
If you’re reading this, you probably have an interest in women’s soccer.
So do I.
In fact, I really like a lot of sports, and I’ve been a sports fan my whole life. I love the competition, and to be honest, since I mentioned it, I’ve also been told by countless people that I’m a competitive person. In this moment, as I try to delineate the direction of causality, I’m not sure if sports helped me to develop a competitive personality or if it’s part of my competitive nature that drove me to like sports. The cool thing about humans being complex characters is that it’s probably a little bit of both, right?
Factors influencing the person I have become have likely come from countless directions. People are complex, just as society is complex, interactions are complex, emotions are complex, interpretation of emotion is complex, perceptions are complex, and on and on and on. All of these complexities are woven into life experiences contributing to personal development.
At the risk of severely oversimplifying child development, I will reference my own life experiences and generalize the process of growing up into three stages. We begin as inquisitive children, and without warning emerge as headstrong and confusing adolescents. Then, with what feels like a lightning strike of unwelcomed instancy, we are adult people with opinions, well-developed personalities, and responsibilities.
Some of my earliest memories include watching Detroit Tigers baseball and Michigan Football with my dad. If I wasn’t watching sports, I was at the softball field playing bat-girl while my dad coached my mom’s slow-pitch softball team (she was the best second-basewoman St. Joe’s ever had, and she could bat left- and right-handed). Beginning in elementary school and continuing through high school, I played basketball and softball. In my adult years, I have coached them as well. Now, I’m a graduate student with a passion for women’s soccer.
Between playing, coaching, and spectating, the sequence of events throughout a sporting event have remained relatively constant. Teams warm up, the national anthem is played, there’s some healthy competition, there’s victory, there’s defeat, and then there’s a handshake. Depending on the sport, the age, and the level of competition, this order might change, but typically, this is what those of us who follow and participate in sports come to expect.
For every game I have played, for every game I have coached, and for every game I have attended, I have stood for the national anthem, because that’s what you’re supposed to do. This was not an action I had ever questioned. And then last year, when Colin Kaepernick was excoriated by countless media outlets, memes, radio hosts, you name it, for using the national anthem to make a statement about what exactly it is that the anthem represents, and what exactly it is that we are supposed to be standing for, I thought about it a lot.
I’m from a Michigan town of minimal racial diversity, and privilege is not something I was ever confronted with until well into my adult years. I can see how there are people who have never been confronted with these issues and who believe they’re bogus, but they’re not. They’re real. Many of the freedoms that exist for me because of the color of my skin don’t exist for everyone.
Discourse in my social media circles often cites that silence in times of injustice is equivalent to being complicit with said injustice. Thus, speaking out is imperative. As a white woman who happens to be married to a white woman, I am constantly conscious of my identity and how my participation in anything social justice related might be perceived as me trying to absolve myself of guilt without actually doing anything to make a difference. Then, Megan Rapinoe took a knee during the national anthem following Colin Kaepernick’s action, and I felt like because I was able to more closely identify with her, I could be more confident with using my voice.
It’s no surprise that Rapinoe taking a knee was met with a polarized public response. Taking a knee in a Seattle Reign uniform is one thing, but taking a knee with the USA crest on the chest is another. Last September, following her initial anthem protest with Seattle, Rapinoe tweeted in reply to Shaun King, an outspoken journalist who covers issues of policing, Black Lives Matter, and who helps to lead the #NFLBoycott charge.
King’s tweet has since been deleted, but in response to Rapinoe’s tweet, thousands of people used the opportunity to reply. This space, where anyone with a Twitter account has the platform to direct their political and patriotic ideals at a professional athlete, is where I argue it’s impossible, and even irresponsible for athletes and those who cover them to simply “stick to sports.”
Together, we are learning to navigate through a time where we have access to professional athletes like never before. For some, that access is associated with a sense of entitlement, and when social media platforms allow for seamless back and forth between average Joes and public figures, it’s almost as if we need to be armed with knowledge, facts, and rebuttals to potential arguments like never before. To be a public figure in 2017 means to be inherently political. Even if an athlete or a coach tries to avoid being political, they are being asked to voice their opinions about current events as they unfold.
It used to be possible for people to be athletes, and athletes only without consequence. It used to be possible for sports broadcasters to only cover sports without consequence. Further, it used to be possible for sports writers to only cover sports without consequence, but that’s no longer true. We have untethered access to all of the knowledge that exists in the world, and in turn, we are open to critique from everyone who encounters what we produce. Where we are now, it is nearly impossible to report on a sports team or a sporting event without considering the context within which they exist. That context? It’s complex. It’s political.
So now, when I reflect on those years of playing and watching sports as a kid, I think about the context within which they were played. I might not have understood how sports were shaping my worldview, but I realize now that they did. I think about the athletes I loved to watch back then and how I feel now as an adult when I learn how, for example, they fought for equality. The fight for equality is a gauge for where we are as a society, in many cases, politically. As sports and athletes continue to interact with political issues, it is imperative that those who cover sports provide the context for those actions. Personally, I will continue to arm myself with the knowledge to best interpret complex situations, and it is my great hope that we can begin to accept that covering sports and dealing with issues that are considered to be political is inherently inseparable.
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