Daughters of Betsy
Jonathan Tannenwald
U.S. women's national team star Alex Morgan paid a visit to ESPN headquarters on Monday to do some interviews and create some buzz.
Morgan stopped by SportsCenter to take a few penalty kicks against former Eagles defensive end Hugh Douglas, who now works as a studio analyst on ESPN's NFL shows.
The U.S. women's team will be back on your televisions on June 2, when they travel to Toronto to face Canada (4:30 p.m., ESPN News). It's the first matchup between the teams since the epic semi-final contest at last summer's Olympics. I'll be up there for the game, as it's the day after the Union play at Toronto FC.
Jonathan Tannenwald
INDIANAPOLIS - Consider the following scenario.
Somewhere out there in this country is a 12-year-old girl who is a big fan of the United States women's national soccer team.
She has a poster in her bedroom of Alex Morgan, or Abby Wambach, or maybe Carli Lloyd or Hope Solo.
Jonathan Tannenwald
Here's a bit of good news to brighten one of the rare quiet periods in the American soccer calendar.
The U.S. women's national soccer team has been named the Team of the Year by the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association. It's an organization with a lot of history in this region, going all the way back to its founding in 1904.
Carli Lloyd will accept the award on behalf of the team at the PSWA's annual dinner later this month.
Jonathan Tannenwald
Comcast has finally delivered on its promise to add beIN Sport's English-language feed to its cable systems. But the move has come at a cost: the nation's largest cable provider has dropped Gol TV.
The good news is that you can finally now watch Spain's La Liga, Italy's Serie A, France's Ligue 1, and U.S. men's national team road World Cup qualifiers. The bad news is that you can't watch Germany's Bundesliga, action from Brazil or Argentina, or the U.S. Open Cup Final.
beIN Sport's English feed took the slot previously occupied by Gol TV's standard definition English feed, channel 726 (at least here in Philadelphia). Channel 586, which had carried Gol TV's Spanish feed, is now dark. Channel 1513, which carried Gol TV's English HD feed, is also dark.
Jonathan Tannenwald
During her two years with the Philadelphia Independence, Joanna Lohman quietly established a reputation as one of the team's stalwarts.
Though the former Penn State star did not have the name recognition of such stars as Amy Rodriguez and Natasha Kai, Lohman nonetheless became a fan favorite for her hard work and her local ties by way of Penn State.
Although the collapse of Women's Professional Soccer dented the dreams of female soccer players across the country, Lohman turned that into an opportunity. She joined with Independence teammate Lianne Sanderson to form the JoLi Academy, and has been traveling the world to teach young girls about the opportunities soccer can provide.
Jonathan Tannenwald
The Philadelphia Union will have a new co-tenant next year that hails from a professional women's football league.
But there's a catch. It will not be the brand of football that you might have initially expected.
The Lingerie Football League's Philadelphia Passion are moving to Chester next summer. The two-time defending Eastern Conference champions will play home games on June 15 and July 13, both of which are Saturdays.
Jonathan Tannenwald
I don't want this to get too buried amid the other stories I've written today, which is part of why I've saved it for last and broken it out separately.
I traded e-mails with a spokesperson at Comcast this afternoon regarding their plans to start carrying the al-Jazeera-owned soccer channel beINSport. The two sides agreed a carriage deal last week, but it was never quite made clear when the channel actually would show up on on local televisions.
That got many soccer fans nervous, as beINSport has the exclusive rights to the U.S. men's national team's big World Cup qualifying game at Jamaica on Friday, Sept. 7.
Jonathan Tannenwald
A nearly-full house at PPL Park watches the U.S. women's national team's 4-1 rout of China on Sunday. (Jonathan Tannenwald/Philly.com)
I admit up front that this post is a combination of fact and opinion, but I know you all well enough to believe that you will be able to properly separate the two.
Jonathan Tannenwald
Barely 12 hours after the United States women's national team wrapped up an extremely successful Olympic qualifying campaign, the women's soccer world was sent reeling this afternoon by the news that Women's Professional Soccer has suspended operations.
Here is the press release from the league:
Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) announced today that its Board of Governors has voted to suspend the 2012 season to permit the League to focus on the resolution of certain pending legal issues and the challenges that now face the League as a result of its ongoing dispute with a former owner.
Jonathan Tannenwald
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Friday's Women's Professional Soccer draft represented the first occasion in which new league CEO Jennifer O'Sullivan was really in the spotlight.
After spending most of Friday afternoon overseeing the WPS draft, O'Sullivan spent a few minutes chatting with reporters about the goals she wants to achieve.
One of those goals is bringing more general soccer fans to watch WPS. In her remarks before the draft started, O'Sullivan specifically mentioned the Sons of Ben on a few occasions, praising the Union's supporters club for helping to liven up the atmosphere at Independence games.
Reach Jonathan at jtannenwald@phillynews.com or 215-854-2330.
