On the Wisdom of Keeping Up Offensive Pressure
As we hear about how heroic this victory was over the next few days, remember what went into it: first, superior fitness. Thankfully these women did not rest on their reputation for greatness, but instead put in the hours of training to make sure that if they had to, they could beat one of the best teams in the world a person down.
And just as importantly? Offensive pressure. Relentless, fearless, offensive pressure.
Good luck, women!
Thanks so much for the reminder of this amazing moment, EW, which always brings tears to my eyes. Go Sisters!
A wise message in more ways than one.
So happy for the US women.
Wow. Thrilling, awesome athleticism. I always feel so touched by how hard these people work toward their . . . . GOALLLLLL!
I am glad I clicked on the video. I thought at first that was a broken javelin or lacrosse stick held up in her hand–didn’t know the FIFA tournament was happening nor that the US Women’s team was doing so well.
As a dude, I’m proud our American Women kick such serious ass. I’m truly moved.
what beautiful team work.
a gorgeous cross
and then wambach climbs air, up above the defenders, to head it in.
spectacular.
how satisfying to watch this extraordinary athleticism.
(sorry for the early OT: the sound you hear is the other shoe falling with a gigantic thud):
Just saw that. Unbelievable!
Remember Landon Donovan! This is a good principle, too.
There seemed to be unrelenting offensive pressure from both teams, helped by the ref.
(I am glad I went to see it at the bar. The whole place erupted.)
Well, well.
Not offensive pressure the whole game. But when things were desperate, they knew that they had had plenty of chances and just needed one to go in.
Very interesting analysis on the peculiar relationship between what Obama says and what Obama does.
Progressives could have an offensive that drives for a beautiful cross with nice top spin and then someone in perfect, unexpected field position to head the ball into the net.
They’re too busy saying “we don’t have 60 votes.”
O/T, or back to drones, etc. Barbara Ehrenreich walks us through the evolution of war and war-making to the present, including the drones and rapid reliance on robots. Although war automation has taken off on its own, it also owes its astounding growth to the failure of society to produce soldiers:
“[I]n 2010, the U.S. Secretary of Education reported that “75 percent of young Americans, between the ages of 17 to 24, are unable to enlist in the military today because they have failed to graduate from high school, have a criminal record, or are physically unfit.” When a nation can no longer generate enough young people who are fit for military service, that nation has two choices: it can, as a number of prominent retired generals are currently advocating, reinvest in its “human capital,” especially the health and education of the poor, or it can seriously reevaluate its approach to war.”
She concludes, after her usual insightful laying out of facts, with the following:
“[I]n a 2010 address to Air Force Academy cadets, an under secretary of defense delivered the “bad news” that most of them would not be flying airplanes, which are increasingly unmanned. War will continue to be used against insurgencies as well as to “take out” the weapons facilities, command centers, and cities of designated rogue states. It may even continue to fascinate its aficionados, in the manner of computer games. But there will be no triumphal parades for killer nano-bugs, no epics about unmanned fighter planes, no monuments to fallen bots.
“And in that may lie our last hope. With the decline of mass militaries and their possible replacement by machines, we may finally see that war is not just an extension of our needs and passions, however base or noble. Nor is it likely to be even a useful test of our courage, fitness, or national unity. War has its own dynamic or — in case that sounds too anthropomorphic — its own grim algorithms to work out. As it comes to need us less, maybe we will finally see that we don’t need it either. We can leave it to the ants.”‘
LINK.
What really frosts me is that if the women win, Obama will invite them to the White House and try to get some of their “glory” [and effort] to rub off on him.
Bastard.