Guess What? Hope Solo’s Not the Only One Behaving Badly on the Internet!

Oh look, the online world of WPS is in a tizzy again. Not surprisingly, the woman at the center of it all is, once again, Atlanta Beat goalkeeper Hope Solo. After the last-place Atlanta Beat lost 1-0 to the Washington Freedom on an 88th minute tally from Freedom striker Abby Wambach, Solo took to The Twitter to air her frustrations.

It should be noted that A: I did not see the Freedom-Beat game. I was at Yurcak Field watching Sky Blue FC’s season come to an abrupt end. B: The game had no implications for the Beat, and some pretty huge ones for the Freedom. A win for the Freedom guaranteed DC a spot in the playoffs while a loss or tie left things a little up in the air. Atlanta on the other hand, had been long eliminated from playoff contention and a win would only serve to end their season on a high note, and play spoiler for the Freedom. According to various match reports there were a few calls that were maybe missed for each side. And each team also had a goal disallowed. And the Beat’s Lauren Sesselmann was ejected after receiving a yellow card in each half. Ultimately the Freedom won, and will play in Philadelphia next weekend in the first round of the playoffs. The Beat’s season is, uh, over.

So here’s where Hope Solo’s twittering comes in. After the match, Solo twittered (via 5 seperate tweets, someone sign her up for a WordPress acount already!):

Its official, the refs are straight bad. Its clear the league wanted dc in playoffs. I have truly never seen anything like this. Its sad.

A goal taken away with no explanation, one offsides call against dc, many against atlanta. An amazing all ball tackle for a red

We play with 10, DC with 12. Players punched in the face. Free corners. I am done playing in a league where the game is no longer

In control of the players

The head ref calls it a goal!!!! It even goes up on the scoreboard!!! Than no explanation! Its a joke!!!! An absolute joke!

Three comments on this. 1: Perhaps this was all an elaborate set-up for the pun that occurs in the first tweet (“It’s official, the refs…”). If so, brilliant. 2: I find it hard to believe that “the league wanted DC in [the] playoffs” mostly because I don’t think there’s anyone, at all, working in the league office anymore. Unless they got an intern to do it. 3: According to the boxscore there were only three offside calls, one against DC and two against the Beat.

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A League, Not a Cause

My name is Lauren, and I’m a NY Mets fan. Phew. I feel so much better now that I’ve said it aloud. Allegiance to the Metropolitans isn’t an easy thing. Admitting an allegiance to the Metropolitans to the (tens of) readers of this blog, is even less easy. In case you haven’t followed baseball at all for the past– well, ever, let me give you a primer: The Mets suck. Since their inception in 1962 the Mets have won 3, 748 regular season games. They’ve lost 4, 093. In that first season in ’62 they won 40 games. And lost 120. Yes, 120. Even if you know nothing about sports, you can probably figure out that that’s, uh, really really really bad. They finished 60 1/2 games back of the NL-leading San Francisco Giants. After 1962 the Mets continued to suck, compiling a bunch of sub-500 seasons before the miracle of miracles happened in 1969 – for real, the team was nicknamed “The Miracle Mets.” The Mets won the 1969 World Series. Then they went back to sucking, albeit not nearly as bad as before. In 1986 the second miracle happened. The Mets won another World Series. Since then, there’s been mostly more sucking. In 2001 the Amazin’s made it back to the World Series, and lost. In 2006 they made it to game seven of the NLCS. And then, bottom of the ninth, down by two, bases loaded, 0-2 count, “here’s the pitch…”, and Carlos Beltran does nothing. Strikes out. Looking. The next year the team didn’t make it to the post-season, courtesy of one of the greatest collapses in baseball history. In 2008– ah, nevermind. You get the idea.

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“True Believers” or a Rambling Case for Supporters Clubs

As a high school kid there were two things in my life that mattered to me; punk rock and soccer. Two things at odds with each other in my suburban high school but two things that had formed a bizarre synergy for those older and wiser. And most of what I learned about life I learned in equal parts on the field and in VFW Halls, Elks Lodges, firehouses. This is mostly about soccer. About fan support, or the lack thereof. But it starts with music, because, well, why not?

Some of the best concerts I’ve been to have been defined as “best” as much by the overall atmosphere as by the music.

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XI Things That I’ll Remember [Until I Get Old and My Brain Turns to Mush] About the 2010 WPS All-Star Game

Should I go? Should I not? I debated this with myself for some two months. I wanted to go, yeah. Could I really afford it? It’s not too expensive. I can do it for pretty cheap. Hmmm… Finally I made my decision. Hotel: booked. Flight: booked. Transportation: booked. Credentials: secured. And just like that, from June 27th to July 1st, I was in Atlanta (er, mostly Kennesaw) for the 2010 WPS All-Star Game. Best decision. It was three days of soccer, things soccer adjacent, and obviously, fun. So, without further introduction, here’s XI things (get it?) that I’ll remember [until I get old and my brain turns to mush] about the 2010 WPS All-Star Game.

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