Q&A with Tiffeny Millbrett

The 30-year-old national team striker is the U.S.' third-leading career scorer and the star of the WUSA's New York Power.

Tiffany Milbrett. Craig Cameron Olsen

SI: You earned the nickname "No Tact Tiff" from your U.S. teammates. Are you blunt about everything?

Milbrett: Yeah. I think honesty is the best policy and it's not my problem if sometimes the truth hurts. But at least you know where I stand and you know how I feel and I think that's the only way to be.

SI: Tell me one thing outside of sports -- whether it's political or cultural -- that really steams you?

Milbrett: The thing that really steams me is how a human being, and I mean of the female gender, is not considered an equal in parts of this world.

SI: One of the biggest stories in sports this year has been athletes taking performance-enhancing drugs. Do you think the WUSA is clean of steroids?

Milbrett: The WUSA is absolutely clean of steroids. There will never be an issue of use in this league.

SI: So if you're "No Tact Tiff," who is the most tactful athlete on the U.S. team?

Milbrett: I would say it has to be our captain, Julie Foudy. She has to be very diplomatic because she has to deal with so many sides.

SI: If you score the winning goal in the World Cup, do you have something special planned that will top Brandi Chastain's sports bra celebration?

Milbrett: I don't have anything planned because you never know when you're going to score. When that time comes, it's always a spontaneous celebration. So who knows? You might just get the most boring celebration ever.

SI: How close is the rest the world -- China and Norway, in particular -- getting to matching the U.S. in talent?

Milbrett: They are very close. China is one of the teams that is the most equal in terms of athleticism and how they play the game. Other countries may have a different style, but that doesn't mean they are any less dangerous. Teams are now being given the support they need to be full-time athletes, just as we have had, and that's why those teams are getting better.

SI: You played yourself in an episode of the WB's Popular. Rate your performance.

Milbrett: I was in way over my head. I am not an actress.

SI: When you were in the sixth grade, you had a summer job picking strawberries alongside migrant workers in fields outside Portland. What are your memories of that?

Milbrett: It was just awful work. It was heinous. I worked for a month and I only took home $90. But I didn't have any other choice.

SI: You minored in German at the University of Portland. Has this helped you at all on the pitch?

Milbrett: Never once.

SI One of your favorite activities is relaxing at your favorite coffee house with an iced double tall latte. How many can you down at once?

Milbrett: I can down one at once.

SI: What's the one thing all goal scorers are blessed with?

Milbrett: Somehow finding the back of the net.

SI: Who is the best goal scorer in the world?

Milbrett: As far as women players, it's tough to say because you don't see the female players around the world on TV, so I'll go with Thierry Henry of Arsenal.

SI: You are currently third on the all-time U.S. scoring list. How important is it for you to retire as the No. 1 scorer?

Milbrett: If my only goal is to retire as the No.1 scorer, you should shoot me.

SI: You're 5-foot-2. How much of your marketing appeal has been hurt by the fact you're not 5-foot-8 or 5-foot-9?

Milbrett: I'd really like to know that.

SI: You just turned 30. What did you wish for on your birthday?

Milbrett: I just wished for good health.

SI: If you could be a male athlete, who would you be?

Milbrett: [Real Madrid star] Luis Figo. Because he's Rico Suave.

SI: You played in Japan as a pro for three seasons (1995-97). How do Japanese fans treat American female athletes?

Milbrett: They treated me very respectfully because for some reason there is this mystique about our culture and being American. They love anything that has to do with the United States.

SI: You have more goals than any other player in the history of the WUSA. Do they let you keep the ball when you score?

Milbrett: When I scored the first hat trick in the league, they let me keep the ball.

SI: Describe the best goal you've ever scored.

Milbrett: Hands down, the second goal in the 2000 Olympics final. It was kind of a Hail Mary cross with literally 10 seconds left, and we were down 2-1 against Norway. The cross came and I just jumped and headed it in the net to tie the score. That goal sent us into overtime when it looked like we were going to lose that game for sure.

SI: You're a Pacific Northwest girl playing for a New York team. What's the biggest difference between New York and Portland?

Milbrett: The honking. Everyone here honks their horn.

--Richard Deitsch

Issue date: May 12, 2003

 

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Q&A Archive May 12, 2003 Issue of Sports Illustrated

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