Great athletes are blessed with what seems to be an extra set of senses. They have a sense of the action, usually displayed as a feel for where the ball is and where it’s going, and a sense of pace, for conserving energy and then putting on a burst at the proper moment. Put those two qualities together in an athlete and they form what’s commonly called a sense of drama. Most people and maybe even most readers of the sports pages don’t know who Mia Hamm is, but she is a great athlete, and a week ago last Sunday she came to Chicago and put on a display that proved it. Hamm, for those not in the know, is the star of the U.S. women’s soccer team. Soccer is a game played on so vast a field that it tends to look impersonal and the players anonymous, so greatness can be a hard quality to discern even in its biggest stars; in soccer, no single player can take over a game the way a Michael Jordan can in basketball. But this only made Hamm’s performance more impressive, especially as she had just recovered from a hamstring injury.
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Her first goal was the only one I needed to see as far as proving her greatness was concerned. She had fallen down on the attack and was trailing the German defenders upfield, just trying to get back in play. Like any number of hockey greats one can mention, Hamm has an effortless and seemingly lazy demeanor on the field; she spends most of her time ambling. Yet no sooner had she caught up with the last German defender, Steffi Jones, than the ball was passed back to Jones, who–with Hamm in such sudden proximity–panicked, tripping over it. Hamm pounced on the ball and dribbled in on the German goal. As the other German defenders pursued her, she rolled in a delicate little topspin shot just under the hands of the diving goalie. The whole sequence was a lesson in economy of effort.
The national soccer officials weren’t totally without fault, however. The $5 programs weren’t particular for this game but were in fact a U.S. Soccer Yearbook, with more material on the U.S. men’s team–just knocked out of the World Cup in France after three quick and humiliating losses–than on the U.S. women. What’s more, the program included no numerical roster, and no roster at all for the German team, not even a day-of-game insert.
Hamm was soon removed from the game after a frustrated German player gave her a little extra shove going out of bounds, pitching her into the U.S. bench. U.S. coach Tony DiCicco got tossed by the referee for arguing the play, but no real harm was done, and DiCicco himself said later he’d overreacted. The Germans scored again to make the final 4-2, but after Hamm’s third goal the game was never in doubt, and the U.S. women finished strong with Hamm on the bench.
“Hey, forget the press!” yelled leather lungs. “These are your fans!”
