Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Some news from professional sports

Things are getting exciting if you're a fan of women's soccer. Women's Professional Soccer announced yesterday which national teams are heading where in 2009 when the league launches. I was surprised to see Kristine Lilly on the Boston Breakers roster. That's her former team, of course, but I had thought she might be hanging up the cleats. Guess not. Fine with me. I'll be there to see her and Angela Hucles and Heather Mitts. Wonder if Bri Scurry will be back in goal for Boston???
Abby Wambach is headed back to the Washington Freedom. I was kind of surprised by this. I thought she might be going to the NY/NJ team as she is from NY (Rochester though--not the city). That team though will not be hurting for star power though with Olympic standout Natasha Kai along with Heather O'Reilly and veteran Christie Rampone. Article linked above says Wambach is in rehab right now trying to gain back the 15-20 pounds of muscle she lost post surgery. Yikes! Abby, if you need a lifting partner, let me know. I seem to be working out alone a lot these days. Grrr...
Full list of players and teams is here. The international draft begins next week and will continue into October. WPS website where you can find links to all the teams is here.

And in good news from the WNBA which is heading into its playoffs, numbers are up. Higher attendance, higher TV ratings, and more internet traffic. This could be due to the outstanding performances of many WNBAers last month at the Olympics but hopefully it will be a lingering (and growing) effect. The article attributes the growth to more non-NBA owners and sees this as a positive thing for the league as well as an ever-growing committed fan base. NBA commissioner David Stern predicts that the WNBA will turn a profit next year and that more teams will be added by 2011. Yeah!

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