Time to step it up folks...

I am sure no one is sleeping in New York tonight. Eventhough there has been stress and angst for sometime now, I am sure the hardworking folks from the WPS league office and every WPS franchise are taking some well deserved time tonight to enjoy themselves. Some have been waiting for tomorrow for three months, some have been waiting for three years. Not many people have been able to say they have been part of the creation of a new professional sports league, let along one considered the highest level of play in its sport. Soccer is no stranger in the USA, but unlike the many many indoor soccer leagues that have been created, founded, disbanded, rejoined, connected, farmed, exorcised, etc, in the past thirty years, there has only been one version of professional women’s soccer in the USA.

The former WUSA came to fruition at a time when women’s soccer seemed at the height of its existence. Players like Hamm, Foudy, Fawcett, Akers, and Lilly, would be a part of the inaugural founding members. But it was unable to sustain itself after falling into the trap all failed sports league seem to fall in, spending too much money, and not making enough of it. It makes me think of a comparison that, while loose at best, is bound to come up sooner or later.

In MLS, every year right around the month of April, or maybe when a new player is brought to the league for big money, out come the old and rehashed comparisons to the old NASL. Ramblings of “why it failed” and “Soccer will never make it in America” generally become the notions from journalists, fans, and pessimistic people daily. Except those close to the sport know that MLS and soccer in general have taken a foothold in America that is sometimes difficult to quantify in simple terms and even more difficult to explain in others. But here we are, twelve years later and MLS is alive and kicking by sticking to its guns when many people thought it needed drastic changes throughout its life. Do we all remember the dribble up penalty kick shootout? The overtimes in the regular season? The three game playoff series? Somewhere along the line, the landscape changed and more and more people began appreciating soccer and understanding soccer for what it is. A simple game, with great athletes, that like any sport can unfortunately occasionally have very boring matches. But when you truly care, many times it doesn’t matter what the score is at the end of the day, it matters more about the grass stain on the shorts, the time spent with friends, and the badge on the shirt. As well as the occasional meat on a bun, cold beverage, and fan who runs on the field.

Tomorrow the proud leaders of each WPS franchise, along with Commissioner Tony Antonucci and NBA star and WPS Investor Steve Nash will announce the first locales of twenty one lucky players who will now have a vehicle to continue their dream of playing professional soccer in America. Each of the franchises has a special opportunity to make something happen a little bit differently this time. Right around April when media begins to pick up about the kickoff to the inaugural season of WPS out will come to comparisons to WUSA and “why it failed” and “Is Mia Hamm still playing.” But if we all do our part, those comparisons will surely fade. It might not be for a decade, and even then there will surely be doubters, but WPS has a different foundation this time. Let’s make sure this is the last USWNT allocation in women’s soccer history.

“aut viam inveniam aut faciam”