DanMargarita.com

These women have given young girls role models and all of America patriotic pride. Even President Clinton attended the game, although I'm not sure if he was there more as a patriot, a sports fan or for a chance to watch a bunch of twenty-something-year-old women run around in shorts.

I did my patriotic duty by watching (or attempting to watch) most of the match, which is no easy feat for somebody who grew up prior to the soccer boom.

I don't know the finer points of the game, which means that, as far as I know, the game consists of a ball being kicked back and forth and no one ever scores. That's the biggest problem with soccer as illustrated last Saturday. After playing two overtimes to a scoreless tie, the game was decided by a shoot-out, which rendered the previous two-hour game meaningless. That would be like baseball replacing extra innings with a home run contest. Why bother to even play the game?

Soccer fans are quick to point out that the game is the world?s most popular sport, but there's a reason for this. Most of the world is poor, and all that is required to play soccer is a ball, a head of lettuce, or the head of a recently deposed dictator.

America is wealthy, and we can afford equipment. This is the reason that basketball is so popular in poor inner cities. Most neighborhoods have a hoop and someone always has a ball.

Soccer is a great game for kids because unlike traditional North American sports it doesn?t require hand-eye coordination. It merely requires feet and upright pedestrian mobility. Athletic ability is a plus.

Americans are used to hand-eye sports where points are scored. It's not like soccer players don't get frustrated with not being able to pick up the ball. Many years ago a player did just that, and the sport or rugby was born.

That baseball is inherently American is evidenced by the fact that a baseball bat makes a much better weapon than a soccer ball. For example, I'm sure that at no time has anybody ever heard someone breaking into his or her house in the middle of the night and reached for a soccer ball.

The rest of the world takes soccer (or "futbol" as they more appropriately call it) a little too seriously. Players who have failed have actually been killed. Bill Buckner merely had to move to Idaho.

I don't expect that soccer will catch on in a way that the major sports in this country have. For most people, a Mia Hamm corner kick will not have quite the majesty of a Mark McGwire 500-foot home run or a Drew Bledsoe 80-yard touchdown pass.

If women's soccer does become popular however, one thing is for sure: like their male counterparts, it will be "about the money."