note from sheba: Not a lot of analysis in this diary, folks; it's more reportage.
So, yesterday, my children all had soccer games because, of course, it was Saturday. When "mr. sheba" returned to the car after the fourth game of the day, he found that somebody had been flyering the minivans of the soccer moms and dads.
The flyer read, in part:
Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy, Abby Wambach
Voter Participation Rally in Support of
Kerry-Edwards
Hear Brandi, Julie and Abby kick around the issues
Then it listed the date, time, and place.
Well, what's a good kossack (and soccer mom) to do? Take the kids up to Portland, of course!
The US Women's soccer team is in town this weekend as part of its
"2004 Fan Celebration Tour". It was a brief stop for the team in Portland, where the US women played New Zealand this afternoon at PGE Park (for the record, the US team won 5-0).
But first, several players made a quick stop at Portland State this morning.
Brandi Chastain certainly doesn't strike the casual observer as a shy, anxious person on the soccer field. (She's the one, remember, who kicked the winning penalty kick in the '99 World Cup v. China and ripped off her jersey in celebration.) But today, in the South Park Blocks on the Portland State campus, she admitted to being nervous (though of course she didn't look it).
Here's Brandi at the podium (with state senator Kate Brown and Rep. Darlene Hooley (D-OR) behind her):
This event was not highly publicized. Aside from the flyer on our windshield across town, and a quick e-mail from the local dems last night here at home, I had heard nothing about the US women's team being on the Kerry campaign trail at all, much less making a political appearance here in Portland. I didn't even see any media folks around, though I might have missed print or radio people in the crowd of 50-60 or so folks (plus assorted soccer kids).
And indeed, it seems as though this sort of outing was a first for some of the team members (though not for Foudy, who has previously battled the Bush administration to save Title IX). Chastain noted that she hadn't done anything like this before, so she was nervous, but that she had promised herself that she would get through her speech. Joining her on the podium were fellow teammates Julie Foudy, Mia Hamm, Kate Markgraf, Brianna Scurry, and Abby Wambach.
Chastain spoke eloquently of the experience of going to the Olympics in 2000 and of the warm responses from the crowds, contrasting it with playing in the 2004 Olympics and feeling the silence of the rest of the world as they played. She also stressed the importance of Title IX in women's sports, reminding us all that without Title IX not a single one of them would be standing where they were today, members of a gold-medal-winning, world-class women's soccer team for the United States. She reminded us of the importance of the women's vote, and that what we did this November 2nd would be a vote for our daughters and our granddaughters.
Then the players thanked everyone for coming and welcomed the kids to the stand to sign autographs.
Analysis? Like I said, not much. But if there's any truth to the campaign signs we got at the rally today, to wit: It's up to the women!, then we can use all the help and support we can get, US women's soccer team included, to rally women to vote for Kerry.