BOOTING ONE...LIKE EVERYONE ELSE IN America, we cried in our alphabet (s-o-c-c-e-r) soup when the U.S. women's soccer team won its second World Cup last summer. It was a marvelous happening) but let's face it: It wasn't exactly an upset and it didn't change the world--as claimed in the recently published book, The U.S. Women's Soccer Team and How It Changed the World. The book sets Out to prove that our golden girls did more for civilization than Madame Curie Curie (kürē`), family of French scientists. Pierre Curie, 1859–1906, scientist, and his wife, Marie Sklodowska Curie, 1867–1934, chemist and physicist, b. , Cinderella, and Sonja Henie Sonja Henie (April 8, 1912 - October 12, 1969) was a Norwegian figure skater and actress. She is a three-time Olympic Champion (1928, 1932, 1936), a ten-time World Champion (1927-1936) and a six-time European Champion (1931-1936). and that they were a topic of conversation all over the world. Maybe the victory was discussed by millions, but we doubt whether "It changed the way we view female athletes and, by extension, all women." That's hyperbole hyperbole (hīpûr`bəlē), a figure of speech in which exceptional exaggeration is deliberately used for emphasis rather than deception. . The world doesn't change that easy and never because of a victory in a sport. Another thing that the American victory never did was change the players' "conflicting emotions and behavior regarding the double standard in sports that men need only be athletic, women must be athletic and beautiful." Good lord! We had thought that such stupefying stu·pe·fy tr.v. stu·pe·fied, stu·pe·fy·ing, stu·pe·fies 1. To dull the senses or faculties of. See Synonyms at daze. 2. To amaze; astonish. nonsense had gone down with the Lusitania. Who says that our women athletes have to be beautiful? Name one sport (other than go-go dancing Go-Go dancers were originally 1960s-era miniskirted clubgoers, dancing at clubs such as the Whisky a Go Go (one of the first to have dancers in elevated cages), wearing go-go boots. ) that demands beauty of its participants? Basketball? Never. Softball softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' ? Never. Lacrosse lacrosse (ləkrôs`), ball and goal game usually played outdoors by two teams of 10 players each on a field 60 to 70 yd (54.86 to 64.01 m) wide by 110 yd (100.58 m) long. Two goals face each other 80 yd (73. ? Never. Tennis? Never. Golf? Never. Sure, the press likes to make a fuss over a pretty face, but beauty has never been a prerequisite for making a team. And we have never heard a female athlete complain that she failed to make the team because the coach didn't think she was beautiful enough. To a coach--male or female--there is only one rigid criterion for an athlete: Can you play? There has never been a coach in history who would have looked at Babe Didriksen and said: "Sorry, kid, you're not good-lookin' enough to make the team." They'd all think she was beautiful. One of the truly great things about the word "athlete" is that it has no gender. |
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