Are we really just a nation of whiners?

By: Melissa | July 18th, 2008

To say it’s been a hard couple of days for me is a bit of an understatement. I’ve heard precarious arguments from our President regarding this oil crisis. I’ve heard disturbing comments from our Federal Reserve Chairman regarding this oh-no-it’s-really-not-a recession, and I’ve heard one of our presumptive Presidential candidate’s top economic advisors tell the country this economic slump is just all in our minds. And to top it all off, Abby Wambach broke her leg. Not only did she break her leg and kill her 2008 Olympic dreams, but apparently a few pundits seem to be under the impression her injury is some sort of voodoo karmic retribution for last year’s Solo-gate. Seriously? Ok, so it’s not a good thing for the US squad to lose their top goal scorer but this doesn’t mean THE END for our Olympic team at all. In fact, the “Pia era” has brought more depth up top than we’ve seen in a while. Andrea Canales, in her recent ESPN article explains:

Sundhage’s approach in de-emphasizing the role of Wambach might be what could ultimately save the team now. The new possession-based emphasis has created more opportunities for other players. Though Wambach still leads the squad with 13 goals this year, the scoring disparity isn’t so vast. Lindsey Tarpley has 10 goals, while Natasha Kai has 12, including the winning header versus Brazil that she scored after Wambach’s injury.

Canales does add that losing Wambach while the team is “still taking baby steps to develop other options,” is potentially devastating, but Pia’s work so far has de-emphasized Wambach’s role to such a degree that her absence is not crippling. So to everyone, it’s not over and I think we’ve still got a pretty good shot at the Olympics. I’m remaining positive (but – hey – I still think the San Jose Earthquakes are gonna make the playoffs this year). As for the economy, I could honestly use a little confidence boost right now. I just listened to some very compelling arguments last night that claimed the worst is yet to come.

Here are some quick women’s soccer notes:

* Scott Kucirek, at his Norcal Women’s Soccer blog posted an article from The San Francisco Business Times on his efforts to bring WPS to the Bay Area. So far, he’s acquired around one-third of the investment money and is in talks with Cal State, East Bay (that’s Hayward to the rest of us) and Santa Clara University to host games.

* CFO Magazine has a report on the financial plan for WPS. The article explains: there will be a salary cap “lower than the $40,000 average paid by the WUSA,” there is a strong push from the league to land national television deals, and teams may have the option to sell jersey sponsorship. WPS is also working with SUM (Soccer United Marketing), an organization that works with MLS, with marketing opportunities.

* And the W-League playoffs fight is in full swing. Most notably, the Connecticut Passion beat the Boston renegades 2-1, on July 16th, putting the Passion in a three way tie with the Long Island Rough Riders and Jersey Sky Blue for third place in their Division.