Fireball, iconoclast, leading goal scorer, and Presidential antagonizer Megan Rapinoe was in her element following a brace-bagging performance in the USWNT’s 2-0 ousting of hosts France from the Women’s World Cup on Friday.
Rapinoe answered loads of questions following the win, which came in the same week footage was released of her using an expletive to say she would not be going to the White House should the Yanks win their second successive World Cup.
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She caught plenty of grief for that, and she’s happy to ruin the days of those who wished for her failure. Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel titled his excellent piece on her excellent game, “An American Original.” That fits.
“There is always satisfaction,” Rapinoe conceded after. “I don’t really get energized by haters and all of that. I figure there are more people who love me and I’m like, ‘Hey this is great.’ I am more energized by that and there was obviously tons of support, internally with the group and friends and family.”
That quote resonates a bit more following Gwendolyn Oxenham’s outstanding ESPN piece on her older brother Brian, who is celebrating 18 months sober and watching his sister in the World Cup from outside jail for the first time.
She went even further when told that Saturday would be Pride Day in France. Rapinoe is an out lesbian and has posed nude with partner Sue Bird of WNBA fame.
“Go gays,” she told Wetzel. “You can’t win a championship without gays on your team. It’s never been done before. Ever. That’s science right there.”
She’s Ron Burgundy? Anyway, Bird is in her corner, and so are a lot of others. On Friday, the world and its cup belonged to Rapinoe, and we were all just paying rent.
— Sue Bird (@S10Bird) June 28, 2019