Women's Hoops Blog

Inane commentary on a game that deserves far better


Thursday, August 26, 2004

Today is a huge day for women's sports -- the last international game where we'll see Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Joy Fawcett, Kristine Lilly, and Brandi Chastain on the field together.

They may be the most important female athletes of the past decade. They haven't won as much as Annika. They haven't made as much money as Venus and Serena. Their attempt to start a league of their own didn't work out, and they don't retain the dominance that the basketball team still has.

But in many ways, they've still been the standard-bearers for women's sports, not just here, but around the world.

"I want to say something," German defender Steffi Jones said after losing to them Monday. "For those players who are ending their soccer careers, we should say thank you. Playing against them was awful. Playing with them (in the WUSA) was wonderful. But the whole game of women's soccer owes them so much. They opened so many doors. I wish that they win the final, and have a nice life afterward."

It is the end of an era. We will never see a team like this again in any sport.