It’s coincidence that the week of the boring Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the same week that the U.S. women’s soccer team captured attention with its thrilling defeat of Brazil, and then France, in the World Cup. A coincidence, and a nice contrast.
New York Yankees superstar Derek
Jeter owned the sports spotlight last Saturday with his dramatic home run for his 3,000th career hit. But it was shortly overshadowed by the soccer game, and the news that Jeter would skip the All-Star Game. FoxSports.com, citing anonymous sources, reported that Jeter would not attend because of “emotional and physical exhaustion” from his pursuit of 3,000 hits.
A naive, old-school curmudgeon might wonder whether, if the pursuit of a personal record is so exhausting, one might want to concentrate on team goals instead. We know, we know. It was the media who put so much pressure on Jeter to reach that 3,000th hit.
Nothing against Jeter; it’s understood baseball is all about stats and records, and sports are about superstars, teams are secondary. Which is partly why the success of the U.S. women in the World Cup, hosted by Germany, has been so captivating. They are winning as a team, with inspired individual play. They credit each other. They credit the fans supporting them at home, and those in Germany.
On July 2, before things got all nail-bitey in the tournament, the U.S. advanced to the quarterfinals with a 3-0 drubbing of Colombia. After Heather O’Reilly’s brilliant opening goal, the players lined up for a military salute to honor the crowd of mostly American servicemen and women at the stadium in Sinsheim, Germany. It was another moment to feel proud of this team.
After the epic game against Brazil, in which she scored the tying goal in the last minute of extra time, Abby Wambach was immediately asked to sum it all up.
She said: “I think that was a perfect example of what this country is about. What the history of this team has always been. We never give up.”
Not bad for exhausted, off-the-cuff remarks. Inspiring, actually.
Not only did Wambach not refer to herself in the third person, she didn’t talk about herself at all. She made clear the win, and her goal, were a team effort.
In Sunday’s final (11:45 a.m., ESPN), the U.S. takes on Japan, another group that plays as a team. They have pride and a fighting spirit to match the Americans, as well as a disaster-worn country they would like to lift up. We salute both teams for elevating women’s soccer, sports in general, and their countries.
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