Arguments for a deeper National Team

posted by Women's Sports Blog
Friday, June 18, 2010 at 3:17pm PDT

An irreverent look at the news, issues, and personalities of women's sports from a feminist perspective.

There are four teams in NPF, but one of them has the vast majority of national team players, from Mendoza to Watley. Yet coming out of week one of the season, USSSA Pride (no, I did not fall asleep on my 's' key) sits third in the league at 2-3. The Bandits have the top home run hitter, the Diamonds have Monica Abbott, and Akron picked up Langenfeld in the draft. Yet all of these teams have a ton of players I've never heard of, and that's in a tiny league which only takes super-elite players. That's not just because I haven't been following softball for long (although that's a big reason), but also because the national team roster is historically not generous to new people. There was a lawsuit. Softball is hugely popular in this country, the one women's sport that people will watch in large numbers. Although few people know about NPF, the live games this past week drew good crowds. That means a very deep player pool. If the competitive balance in the league seems pretty darn good, even with one team overloaded with putative stars, lots of these players should be getting looks from the national coaching staff. Then again, at the moment there are very few opportunities for international competition (thanks, IOC!), so maybe developing the USA softball team in new directions isn't a priority.

NPF's games are live-streamed at MLB.com. You can subscribe here for a small fee. They really ought to be making this free if they want to sell the league, but on the other hand they need the money. Classic catch-22.

View Original Post at ftlouie.typepad.com/womensports

Filed Under:
Softball, Sports, SportsPLUS, OpEd

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