The United States Women’s Soccer team are champions of the world again.
It’s the fourth time. ’91, ’99, ’15 and ’19.
Their co-captain, Meagan Rapinoe, is the coolest of them all.
No, not the Swaggiest, she’s the Coolest.
Meagan Rapinoe exudes The Cool.
The shades. The hair. The self-confidence. The articulation.
As an athlete, Rapinoe is a fierce competitor and a leader on and off the field. During her post-game interviews, she resonates the definition of “Cool.”
No, not “Swag,” she’s “Cool.”
Miles Davis had an album titled “Birth of the Cool.”
Meagan Rapinoe is the “ReBirth of Cool.”
She voices the frustrations of any athlete—man or woman—who feels they aren’t receiving their legitimate financial worth (especially when you’re a champion), and, she asks the simple question that doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out:
“If we have more championships, a bigger view- ing audience, and we bring in more revenue, how come we’re paid less than our male counterparts? How come we are treated as if we aren’t the best on the planet?”
Those are legitimate questions. She’s not ranting or raving. She’s not shrill. She’s not screaming.
She’s Cool.
Even more, they deserve an answer worthy of the team and all women.
The WNBA isn’t bringing in the revenue through their viewing audience, so if they asked for bigger contracts, The response would be “Huh?”
However, these women of the US team are four time world champions. Even more, they actually have Haters. Some people hate the way they celebrate their goals; Some people hate that they’ve sued for equal pay.
Some people really hate that Rapinoe doesn’t sing the national anthem on the international stage – in front of a television viewing audience (she was the first non-Black athlete to kneel with former NFL QB Colin Kaepernick).
However, when you’re competing on the field against the world’s best athletes, and you have to step off the field and fight for your rights with- in the country that you represent on the world stage, and you even have the President of the U.S. criticizing you?
Don’t forget, Rapinoe and the team are fighting not just for them, but for all the young kids coming after them—to be treated equally no matter their gender, what they worship, their political association or who they love.
To engage in these types of battles, you have to be “Cool.”
And, that’s why Meagan Rapinoe is the “ReBirth of Cool.”