How the US women’s team won me over

By

Opinion

July 8, 2019 - 10:24 AM

OK, I’m in. In for life.

The U.S. women’s national soccer team, with its skill and its talent and its professionalism, made me the kind of fan I haven’t been since Doc and the Sixers.

To be clear: They don’t need me. I need them.

I am sure I am not alone in this realization. I am sure there are millions of men like me, but millions of women, too; casual sports fans, or even non-sports fans. We already doted on Delran native Carli Lloyd, but over the last month we invested deeply in Alex Morgan and Tobin Heath and the marvelous Megan Rapinoe (it’s rah-PEA-no), and in their gritty supporting cast, and we fell in love with the idea of the team and with the spirit of the team and our lives are a little better.

I don’t watch sports. For free. I’ve covered dozens of big-time events — Super Bowl and World Series, Stanley Cups and Olympics, Masters and U.S. Opens, but this is maybe the fifth sporting event I’ve watched start-to-finish without being paid to do so. Why?

Related
July 17, 2019
July 8, 2019
July 5, 2019
June 28, 2019