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DEAR ABBEY EDITION 

Trades, transfers, and Eric Wynalda doing his best Jim Rome impressions. Claudia Reyna? Really, after all that’s gone down the last few weeks, you’re breaking that out on your radio show? Just another week for MLS and Wynalda.

The biggest news this week for American soccer was the announcement that the WUSA will be returning in 2008. Don’t forget that half of American soccer belongs to the females, and if were counting trophies, it’s more like 99.9 percent. While I’m cautiously optimistic the league will succeed, I’ve recently and completing been won over by the members of the US WNT. I had the chance to take part in a small media meet-and-greet with Abby Wambach and Lindsay Tarpley – full disclosure, we share sponsors. What I learned was that I’m an idiot.

I had no idea the US WNT is governed completely differently than the men’s. Women are on salary while men get a game fee, though the amounts still disproportionately favor the men. The ladies are part of a residency program in southern California that runs year round – more or less – and instead of clubs releasing players to national teams, permission for the ladies works in the opposite direction. There were more of these differences, and they combined to remind me I don’t pay nearly enough attention to the ladies. And they deserve it. Argue amongst yourselves over the quality of the game, but beyond the obvious and dominant success of the US WNT compared to the men, their cultural contributions from how they act to what they say is even more impressive.

A little light went off in my head. Later this year, the World Cup is being held in China, not exactly a hot bed of women’s rights. Given their history, I don’t think it’s that hard to suppose China is making a statement, and hopefully women from teams across the planet can help raise the dignity allotted to females in that nation and elsewhere, including the US. Making statements, better yet positive statements as they relate to youth development on and off the field, is what these ladies take to heart. While we argue over how young is too young to expect professional performance and commitments in the mens game, here you have the top woman soccer player in the nation (maybe the world?) talking about how kids should play multiple sports to spur overall athleticism. Terms like ‘promote wellness’ and ‘obesity rates’ were referenced in speaking about creating ‘healthy, active, and powerful women.’ “We’re strong women, and we have something to say,” is how Abby put it. “We’re an entire team of role models.” I fear, while obviously there are great examples of this kind of humanity in the men’s game, too much weight is given strictly to performance.

I couldn’t help but wonder after absorbing the news coverage surrounding the Virginia Tech murders that maybe we’d be better served having women’s soccer on the news instead of the “multimedia manifesto” of the American version of a suicide bomber.

After meeting with the ladies, I happened to see a short article on Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger’s feelings towards Didier Drogba. Besides the fact that I too have been worshiping at the feet of Didier this year, I was especially interested in Wenger’s belief that Drogba is “a great example of working for what you want.” Sounds obvious, but he goes on:

“He has done extremely well because he is a player who has come out very late and that means his motivation had been tested before and he kept going in the lower leagues. That is a good education because when you come up there [the top league], you do not give up any more and you know that to be in there is a change you have to enjoy and that you have to give everything because he knows what it is like to be down there.”

Coincidently, this reminded me of Abby, who told me under the context of the WUSA returning that she hit her stride at 23 in the WUSA. “If it wasn’t for WUSA, I wouldn’t be here,” she said. I see an important lesson in that simple statement for all of American soccer, players and fans alike. As people gripe about the quality of the men’s team and youth development, no doubt two things we would all like to see improve, it’s important to remember that even the likes of world class athletes don’t find their abilities until well beyond the years when it is expected.