All Hail the Champions
By I’m on my phone so this is an experiment in posting from that piece of technology. Maybe it’ll work. Probably it’ll be screwed up.
Regardless, I don’t have access to my laptop right now and just couldn’t let the day slip by without offering my most profound thanks to the U.S. Women’s National Team for the dozen+ hours of entertainment this World Cup. Outside my home teams (Bucks, Packers, Brewers, etc.), I don’t know that I’ve ever cheered harder and felt more invested in a sports team than this one. The quality of their play, the quality of their politics, the unabashed and explicit “fuck Trump”-ness of Megan Rapinoe and Ali Krieger—I mean, it was just such an unbelievable team to watch and cheer for. This is basically an open thread for anyone else who wants to fan out about this squad.
A few related links, though, too.
First, I appreciate that loud and open advocacy for equal pay for these women is at least somewhat of a new normal. The US men are comparatively bad, having not even qualified for the last World Cup. That the US women are amazing and get a fraction of the pay the men do is quintessentially American but maddening nonetheless. I’m not watching any US men’s games until the conversation over equalizing pay becomes more serious in the places where it matters.
Second, it will be interesting to see what happens with the White House visit. Trump backed himself into a corner by going on record that he’ll invite this team, but Rapinoe has famously said that she’s “not going to the fucking White House” and Krieger recently said the same. Rapinoe has doubled-down and said that she doesn’t think many, if any, players will attend a White House visit. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Finally, I think this argument for canceling the upcoming men’s World Cup is convincing. What’s happening in Qatar to make this happen is the sort of labor atrocity that Erik will be writing about for years to come. And that’s only one piece of a truly terrible puzzle.
Regardless, the most important story here is these incredible women and the incredible displays of courage and talent they gave us over the past month. It was enough to make someone as suspicious of patriotism as I am cheer my ass off for this country.