Just look at these women. Brandi Chastain's postgame pose, with her rippling muscles so freely and fully exposed, should be coined. Or on a coin. There will always be that, at least, a glorious past. Perhaps only that.
Tomorrow is as uncertain as the contents inside a Chinese fortune cookie.
Chastain, who along with Julie Foudy and Kristine Lilly are veterans of Sacramento's California Storm, will return to her job as an assistant coach at Santa Clara. Mia Hamm will film a few more commercials, and the team at some point will embark on a national promotional tour. While the enthusiasm generated by the World Cup victory has several current and former U.S. Soccer Federation officials excitedly mulling prospects for a professional women's league, with foreign talent enhancing the talent base, the dark shade of the American sports landscape suggests otherwise. It hints strongly that this is not the time, and America probably not the place. Few enough to name.