Megan Rapinoe just might have outdone herself this time.
The United States women’s soccer team forward delivered a speech for the ages Wednesday in New York City at the end of the team’s 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup victory parade. She might have been a little drunk, her address contained some profanity, and we’re not sure whether her remarks were off-the-cuff. Regardless, the speech was the standout moment of the ticker-tape parade and ensuing rally.
After jokingly declining to enter the race for U.S. president in the 2020 election cycle, Rapinoe skillfully tied Team USA’s efforts to achieve on-field excellence with larger off-field themes such as gender equity (amid the team’s equal-pay fight with U.S. Soccer Federation), diversity, social progress and the uplifting of the nation.
“There’s no other place I would rather be,” Rapinoe quipped. “Even in the presidential race.
” … I think I’ll just end with this,” She continued. “This is my charge to everyone: We have to be better. We have to love more, hate less. We have to listen more, talk less. We’ve got to know that this is everybody’s responsibility … to make this world a better place.
“I think this team does an incredible job of taking that on our shoulders and understanding the position that we have and the platform we have in this world.
“There has been so much contention these last few years. I’ve been a victim of that. I’ve been a perpetrator of that. … But it’s time to come together. This conversation is at the next step. We have to collaborate, it takes everybody. … Do what you can … step outside yourself. Be more, be better, be bigger than you’ve ever been before. … .”
Well said by the World Cup 2019 MVP.
