We were sitting here last night, watching the USA-Nigeria game in the Women’s World Cup, in which Mia Hamm played brilliantly:
Mia Hamm?s team mates have come to expect big games from her. But Thursday night?s performance in the USA?s 5-0 win over Nigeria was out of the ordinary even for the world?s all-time leader in international goals.
Meanwhile, Hamm’s fiance Nomar Garciaparra hit a home run, had 4 RBIs, and helped the Boston Red Sox make the playoffs for the first time in four years. [Now if the Cubs hold on and make the playoffs, my dream of a Cubs-Red Sox World Series is still alive! …]
The two have been engaged for almost a year.
I’m also spending quite a bit of time lately wondering how it is that the WUSA women’s soccer league has gotten to the point where it may fold. So many girls play soccer, and professional soccer is such an inspiration for so many girls, that I wonder why they have not succeeded at attracting more advertisers and sponsors. I would have even placed their probability of success higher than the MLS men’s league, because there are fewer substitutes for professional women’s soccer.
There is no other country in the world that economically and culturally enables such striving and achievement through amateur and professional women’s sports as the U.S., and I would hate to see this league fail. As an economist I have to say, if people don’t value it enough that they are willing to pay for it, then so be it, but I wish there were more people out there with my preferences so that it would be more viable!
Here’s a good article from last week from the Chicago Sun-Times on Mia Hamm, her fourth World Cup, and the potential demise of the WUSA.