After Atalanta

Remember back in the 90s some time when Bill Clinton was in office and Hilary Rodham Clinton was empowering some and causing great consternation to others? Wasn't there a Year of the Woman in their somewhere? I guess when that year was over we went back to It's Always Already All About Men. I didn't get the memo which must be why I'm just kind of shocked by the announcement that Boston Breakers co-captain Kristine Lilly (I love the way she spells her first name--so unique!) is being inducted into the The Sports Museum under the special Traditions program which honors Boston athletes. Not surprised that she is being honored in this way. But definitely surprised that she is the first woman to be so honored. I could not find the criteria for induction just that it honors the athletes who have helped make Boston a great sports city. Not sure if it has to be professional athletes or not. If not, how about hockey player Angela Ruggiero who played for Harvard (ok, so it's ...

So I was prepping for dinner, washing my first batch of local green beans when I heard myself say aloud "don't do it, Alex. Don't make me blog about you--again." But here I am blogging once again about Alex Trebek's general chauvinism and how it seems to appear in the context of sports. Because as Alex moved his way down the row of teenaged contestants to the only girl, he asked her to smile (first moment of my wariness), and notes how pretty her teeth are (that's two), and that they are all her own teeth before noting that the reason for this charade (my words, not his) is that young Audrey is a hockey player. She's a goalie though so she has a face mask, he says. (Of course all players have face masks now, Alex.) And then he calls her "a brave little girl." *sigh* Thankfully my spirits were buoyed by the airing--live--of the Boston Breaker versus the Washington Freedom game. My two favorite teams!! Alas Breakers player Alex Scott got ejected wi...

The Boston Globe had an interview with Tony DiCicco , former national team coach and the current coach of the newly revised Boston Breakers. Fairly innocuous. Interesting to me reminded that the Breakers will be the only professional women's sport in Massachusetts. As a Mass resident, I actually forget that because I seem to go to a lot of sporting events that involve women. There are the Boston Lobsters of World Team Tennis but it's a mixed gender team. There's also semi-professional football. And there used to be fast-pitch softball in Lowell, MA--but I'm not sure it's there anymore. DiCicco is confident the Breakers will do well in Boston noting that the Breakers of the WUSA came very close to turning a profit last time around. Also, he thinks the WPS will so better because of a myriad of business-type reasons, because women's soccer is played Americans want sport to be played, and finally because "they have this girl-next-door-type demographics." I...

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 ...