I watched the replay of the USA/Brazil World Cup soccer game that was played on Sunday and I was inspired. Obviously, USA won... so that helps, but it was more than that. This was more than a game, or at least it should be. This was magical. 
There are sports movies galore that try to capture the spirit of what these women did for real on Sunday. Well, I should say that there are men's sports movies that depict heroes... titans taking the field of battle. There are women's sports movies about... uh... ice skaters. Truly, I can think of maybe two movies (A League of Their Own and Million Dollar Baby) where the women were more than just sparkly... they were heroes. As I watched the game, I realized that I was witnessing an inspirational moment that movies would kill to recreate. The dirty, sweaty, scrappy women that came back after terrible calls and one player down to win against a formidable opponent. They didn't quit. They didn't cry. They fought, they dug deep, they fell and got back up and made plays so beautiful they made dancing look clumsy.
The game is over, and the moment passed... but tomorrow Team USA advances to play France in the world's most respected sport. Watch it. Make your young girls see this for what it is... this is the stuff real fairy tales are made of. No sitting around waiting for a prince... these women made their fairytale ending by themselves... and attention should be paid.
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I'll admit...I get ticked when I hear the comments - those of the "women can't do this..." variety.
My boyfriend lets them slip sometimes. I give him a moment of silence to realize and correct, since he grew up in an old-fashioned, 4/5 male household.
And yet, sports/action movies bore me to the point of saying, "Jeesh, dude, I'm a woman - I don't care to watch 15 minutes of noisy gunfights and I don't appreciate the sound of fists hitting flesh."
So I'm a hypocrite.
Still, it's okay (ish) for me to say that. I think. Mainly because for me, it's true - I can't stand endless noise and action (I zone out after forty seconds, and figure I'll tune in enough to see if the main character dies) and it's easier to say it's because of what's between my legs (which my boyfriend wouldn't change, for obvious reasons) than it is to admit it's what's in my head, which can be changed...
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