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Soccer mania Nation gets its kicks from Team USA
Posted: Monday July 12, 1999 03:59 PM
By Nick Charles, CNN/SI
They screamed. They gasped. They came to worship. "Mia Hamm kicks and the rest are totally awesome, too," gushed one young fan. It's familiar a scene that members of Team USA have seen quite often during this magical ride of theirs known as the Women's World Cup. The fever pitch bubbled over Saturday when Team USA defeated China 5-4 on penalty kicks after a scoreless tie in regulation to capture the World Cup. "We've had fans chasing our bus down the street. We've had fans staying after games two, 2 1/2 hours for autographs. I've never seen anything like it before," said Cindy Parlow, a forward on Team USA. Young girls form the base of the enormous crowds and with their parents right behind, they have poured into stadiums across America to make this World Cup, the most attended women's only sporting event in history. Even the parents can't help but notice. "I played in high school and I see kids playing it, but it never translates for the men's leagues to get families and kids come out to the games," said one soccer dad. "So it's nice to actually see this." American women have excelled on the world stage before. Taking the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics. They won the inaugural Women's World Cup in 1991 and reached the finals in 1995, but both World Cups were played on foreign soil. This year's run to the championship was on home turf. "I thought this event could be very big and believed wholeheartedly in it. But it has been bigger than even I could have imagined," said Marla Messing, president of the 1999 Women's World Cup. "It seems to be everywhere." It's been a phenomenon that has not only taken hold of the fans, but the players on Team USA as well and they can't help but feel the impact they've had on the country. "We're touching parts of the country that no one would have expected us to reach six months ago," said goalkeeper Briana Scurry. "I mean we're selling out stadiums. It's immense." Nearly 400,000 fans attended the six U.S. games alone including more than 95,000 who jammed the Rose Bowl to watched the U.S.-China game. It was the single largest crowd to ever witness a women's sporting event in America. The fans passion has been impressive, but the television ratings for the matches were not until the championship game. Ratings on ABC and ESPN for the first five U.S. games had averaged well below those of other major women's sporting events. But ABC, which carried the title game, estimated that 40 million viewers tuned in to the final match. That number was not only greater than any televised game for U.S. men's soccer, but it almost eclipsed the three-game total on Fox for this year's NHL Stanley Cup. But regardless of the overall numbers, those associated with U.S. women's soccer feel they've reached their target audience. "Every league across America is so excited right now because kids are signing up by the thousands to play youth soccer and that's wonderful," said Brandi Chastain, a Team USA defender. "If we've had any part in that, then we've done our job." "Young girls want to be Mia Hamm," added Messing. "They want to be Julie Foudy and that will inspire them to get involved in sports, to get involved in soccer in particular and hopefully make them feel like they can be whatever they want to be." And these girls want to be, not like Mike but like Mia. "I grew up with like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and my daughter gets to grow up with Briana Scurry and Michelle Akers and this is like a legend," said one soccer mom. These girls are the children of the Title Nine generation, the legislation that in 1972 forced federally funded schools to give equal rights to women in sports. With gender bias no longer the obstacle it was, these World Cup athletes are setting a new standard for American Women. "We're at the epicenter of a big rock thrown in a huge pond and we see some immediate results," said Michelle Akers who's been a member of Team USA since 1985. "But we haven't seen what's happening with the ripple effects." "Well, I think the most tangible thing is U.S. Soccer, which is the governing body of the sport in this country, is looking at the feasiblity of a women's professional league that would be launched in 2001, after the Sydney 2000 Olympics," says Messing. "So I think they're looking at this momentum, trying to figure out how to capitalize on it and how to keep the sport growing in the United States."
These women are making their mark on the record book with athletic ability, but it's their charisma and exuberance that have impressed their fans and created new ones. Those involved feel it would be a mistake to judge the past three weeks by TV ratings or marketing potential because you can't quantify the feeling this team has projected. "Everything we hope the top athletes in our society possess, they possess, talent" said Team USA Head Coach Tony Dicicco. "But they're humble, they're compassionate, they're well-rounded, they're intelligent. I mean everything is there. They've captured America." | |||||
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