They made the little hairs stand up on the back of your neck, these women. They hugged each other and they cried and they examined their medals with such looks of profound joy and accomplishment that they made you want to cry right along with them. This was a victory over preconceptions, misconceptions, over tunnel vision, tradition . This was a final statement of how things have changed. The girl next door has gone from dolls and tea parties to elbow guards and slapshots in a generation.
All doors are open.
All possibilities exist. Two years ago, in Atlanta, American women charged through the Olympics, winning gold medals in basketball, softball and soccer. Hockey completed the cycle. Name your game, kid. The women from the U.S. will kick your butt.