It seems I’ve got a lot of catching up to do on the sports front. 

First and foremost, the USWNT has a new coach!  On November 13 the US Soccer Federation announced their selection — Pia Sundhage!  Needless to say, I am ecstatic and have high hopes for positive changes on the women’s team.  It’s my sense that they need change in many areas — tactical, stylistic, and (lest we forget the Hope Solo debacle and all its inevitable sequelae) team morale.  It will be interesting to see whether Pia can do what’s needed in time for the team to make a good showing at this summer’s Beijing Olympics.  She is running a mini camp in December, and the team will begin residency, and play in at least one tournament (I believe) in January. 

I hope that someone, one day, writes a book about the USWNT and its history.  This recent World Cup will certainly make for an interesting chapter!

In football news, the Philadelphia Eagles lost a heartbreaker to the Patriots this past Monday night.  The Eagles came up three points short, just as they had been when they played the Patriots in the Super Bowl.  Interesting twist to this one was that they were 22 point underdogs going in, and McNabb was injured — so AJ Feeley led the team and did a stellar job.  Their play-calling at the end of the game was odd in my book, as they were at the Pats’ 29 yard line with about four minutes to go and threw a deep pass that was intercepted.  I, along with the Sunday night commentators, was expecting the Iggles to run the ball and eat up the clock, and if necessary kick a field goal for the tie.  It’s sad, as they played so well and, to my mind should have at least taken it to overtime on this one.

Shifting gears slightly … it’s been very interesting this year having my first experience of playing fantasy football.  I’m involved in two leagues — and am doing pretty horrifically in both!  I’m in one league with my sister Holly, and we’ve been having a blast discussing players and configuring and reconfiguring our teams.  It’s another thing that eats up time, so that’s a little bit problematic for me.  But on the plus side, it has expanded my interest in football and has made me far more aware of teams other than the Eagles and Patriots … and of other players … than I normally am.  (I have also noticed that my dislike for the Dallas Cowboys seems to have dwindled this year.  Whether that’s related to fantasy football or simply to general mellowing, I don’t know.  It’s an interesting development, though… at least to me!)

In other news on the soccer front, I’ve noticed that a number of perennial favorites have been knocked out of the Division I Women’s NCAA tournament .  North Carolina is notable for its absence from the Elite Eight, having lost to Notre Dame.  Stanford was, I believe, another number one seed that bit the dust.  Santa Clara was knocked out in the first or second round.  It seems that parity is becoming a reality!