break out the photoshop, perverts.I'll be the first to admit, I listen to WAY too much talk radio: Sports talk, political talk, Ira Glass, Johny Slapstick and his wacky morning zoo crew. If it's dudes (or ladies) talking about stupid stuff on the radio, I'm listening but lately I'm not sure I like what I've been hearing.
Apparently the US Womens National Team is getting off easy in the media because they're women. They've been cast as warriors and heroes who fell short of the goal but in reality they're underachieving losers who choked the finals away like they were playing for the Miami Heat. Because they're girls we're treating them with kid gloves and that's a sort of reverse sexism that keeps women from being mathematicians and scientists.
Bullshit.
The real reason this team hasn't been torn apart in the press/media/blogosphere is because people don't really care about women's soccer. Oh sure most sports fans care about it for 2 weeks every 4 years but for the other 1,440 days no one pays it any mind. The World Cup is sort of like the Olympics. When they're on we're all rah rah rah, but once they go away no one really cares if Bryan Clay won the decathlon (like he did in 2008) or came in 2nd (like he did in 04). As long as Bob Costas gives us a story about someone overcoming something in some amazing way, we're happy.
That's why the USWNT are being lauded as heroes because no one really cares if they win the world cup or not. We're just as happy with them coming up short to Japan (the feel good team of the tournament) in dramatic fashion. When you're not that interested in the story it doesn't have to have the perfect ending, it just has to have a compelling one. That's what the USWNT failed to achieve at the last world cup when they were bounced out in the semi-finals by Brasil.
also this World Cup.. Alex Morgan and the truffle shuffle. How can you say anything bad about that?
0 comments:
Post a Comment