I’m getting lots of emails about the soccer story (before 9 am Saturday morning!–what loyal readers), which I confess I skimmed and posted quickly. Here’s one:
Two things, Kathryn. One, though he did use the phrase “tighter shorts”,
he never explicitly said “hot pants”, so it’s a bit sensationalist to use
the more outrageous phrase. But two, Sepp Blatter isn’t just “a women’s
soccer official”, he’s the president of FIFA, the worldwide sanctioning
body for soccer!
In Sepp’s defense, however, I will state that the man has made a greater
committment to the success and growth of the women’s game than practically
anyone else outside the USA. He’s at least been able to make the Women’s
World Cup more than just something to appease the feminists. Very few
countries outside the USA even care about women’s soccer, and the man has
got some principles for taking the actions that he has.
This is not to excuse his comments, but to provide some context about the
man who made them.