Brandi Chastain talks about LeBron dustup
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People will cheer for anything USA here, and that gave us an invitation to the ball, to be talked about and tossed around on ESPN or talk radio. Even though it was eight years, it started to happen after ’96. It opened a lot of people’s eyes to what a great group of people it was and how hard we worked.
It meant a great deal to the huge community of soccer players, and soccer moms, and soccer dads. It was great.
But it wasn’t all positive. I can’t tell you how many interviews I did where I’d have somebody hammering soccer and I’m trying to keep a steady voice and not become angry or break down or too passionate. We didn’t change everybody’s mind, but that’s fine.
Having your picture splashed around on pages where millions of people see it – all of a sudden, it’s that celebrity thing that I was talking about where people think you know things. People ask you questions as if you’re an expert. That, to me, was the most confusing and most troubling.
DF: How often does someone mention the sports bra?
Chastain: If not once a day, every other day.
DF: Does that ever tiresome?
Chastain: No! I love it, because it’s all about soccer! It’s just the crack in the door I need to talk about soccer, about getting young girls involved in sports, about getting our government to see the necessity for phys-ed for kids.
DF: What are you doing now?
Chastain: First and foremost, I’m a new mom [she and husband Jerry Smith have a 21-month old son, Jaden Chastain Smith — ed.], and I’m loving motherhood. It’s way harder than soccer, but I love a challenge.
I also run a non-profit with Marlene Bjornsrud called the Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative (BAWSI — pronounced “BOSSY”) www.bawsi.org.
We work with girls, trying to inject the message of how important being active in your life is. We’re not trying to make world champions or professional athletes, we’re just showing girls the positive ramifications of good health and physical fitness, showing them how it will help their education and their lives.
Best of all, it’s a chance to keep me on the playground!
I do other things like corporate engagements, speeches, and I still work with Nike. But I focus a lot on BAWSI.
DF: The Beijing Olympics are coming up ... this will be the first time women’s soccer will be contested at the olympics without you ... how does that make you feel?
Chastain: That’s hard. It’s sad for me, because I’d love to still be out there. Personally, I have a lot of heaviness in my heart about that, but I’m still a fan, and I’ll be rooting them on. I’ll also be doing commentary for NBC, so that should be fun.
DF: How do you rate the U.S. team’s chances?
Chastain: I just saw that they were re-rated as the number one team in the world. They won the Algarve Cup, beating Denmark 2-1 in the final, so their chances are very good.
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The Olympics, as compacted and high-pressure as it is, changes things. The pressure becomes a little bit higher and the results less predictable.
But the team has a new coach [Pia Sundhage] with a great positive outlook on the game. She has only had a short time to get her team prepared, so that’s the biggest challenge. When changes need to be made or management has to deal with young or inexperienced players, that’s when you see what your team’s made of.
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