I am in Baltimore reporting from the 2008 NSCAA Convention. This post will be brief because I have been up for a very long time.

The big buzz coming out of the convention today is the official launch of Women's Professional Soccer, the new league that will begin play in the spring of next year. They've rolled out the name, logo and launched the website today - enough evidence for even the most skeptical that they are for real and that women's pro soccer will indeed return to the US in 2009.

League Commissioner, Tonya Antonucci gave an informal talk to attendees at the Social for Coaches of Female Athletes and is on the agenda for the Women's Committee Breakfast on Saturday morning.

Everyone seems to be talking about Arsenal Ladies Assistant Head Coach, Emma Hayes', presentation Diagonal Lines; Getting Between to Get Behind. Maybe it's the English accent, but her session definitely impressed the coaches in attendance. The word on the street is if you want a seat at her presentation tomorrow on the Global Growth of the Women's Game and Reflections of the Women's World Cup, you'd better get there early.

More tomorrow from the convention after I've had some sleep!

The US took the match 4-0. Amy Rodriguez made the most of her first cap in two years tallying two. Lindsay Tarpley subbed in for Carli Llolyd about halfway into the second half and got the other two. At least I think they'll give her credit for the fourth goal which looked to be a deflection off an Amy Rodriguez strike. My eyes aren't what they used to be and I was watching on a teeny screen so best check the official U.S. Soccer report when it is posted.

And I'm back to work.

* Photo - Amy Rodriguez rumbles with Martina Franko for the ball. Brad J. Smith ISIPhotos. com

It took me until halftime to get connected, but I have managed to find the US versus China match. I'm watching it on the CCTV-Football channel via Sopcast. If you are new to streaming, you can download everything you need at sopcast.org. Sorry Mac users, it's only for Windows. Make sure you get the player and you will find CCTV Football listed with the sports channels. Looks like Hucles is checking in to start the half and I am off to watch. Don't tell Jen as I am supposed to be transcribing all the interviews I've done in the last couple weeks for Issue 11!

Christie Rampone has been named captain of the U.S. Women's National Team. Christie has always been a great role model for her teammates, quietly leading by example on and off the field. In recent years, she has worked on finding her voice and becoming a vocal leader as well. Congratulations Christie, may you reign in peace!

The National Soccer Hall of Fame ballots are out and a handful of WNT veterans are up for election into the Hall. Joy Fawcett makes her second appearance on the ballot, having narrowly missed her opportunity to go into the hall last year with Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy. She should be a no-brainer this year. Shannon MacMillan makes her first appearance on the ballot and deserves serious consideration by the voters based on her heroics in the 1996 Olympic gold medal campaign alone. Danielle Fotopolous, also a first timer joins Cindy Parlow and Tisha Venturini-Hoch in rounding out the female candidates. If you have strong opinions about who should get into the Hall this year, shoot an email to any of your favorite soccer writers as they are likely voters.

The NSCAA Convention kicks off in Baltimore on Thursday of this week. It is a huge gathering of our soccer community. The new women's professional soccer league will be making some big announcements from there, including their name so we will finally know what to call them! I will be blogging amidst the mayhem and will do my best to post updates as they are made available.

The Four Nations Tournament begins tomorrow with the U.S. taking on Canada. To date, the only broadcasts I am aware of are on CCTV-5 and they are broadcasting all of China's matches. We should be able to catch U.S. v. China on the January 20th at 2:30 am (ET) in the morning. For some suggested ways to stream the broadcast, check out this Big Soccer thread. Give yourself plenty of time to get it working as it can sometimes be a bit laborious (especially if you don't read Chinese). And, beware of Chinese porn. ;-)

* Photo - New U.S. Captain, Christie Rampone takes time to reach out to some young fans.

The news week started out with a bang today with the announcement that Kristine Lilly will not be competing in 2008 as she is expecting her first child. Congratulations to the Heavey's.

Lilly's absence opens up a spot on the Olympic roster and means that someone else will be wearing the captains armband. I guess we will find out who when the team takes the field against Canada in the Four Nations Tournament on January 16th.

I've managed to catch the FNT via the internet for the last couple of years and expect to this year as well. I'll post the details when smarter people than I get it figured it out.

Leslie Osborne has launched a slick new website that is worth checking out. If you're a Mac user, open it in Firefox as it doesn't seem to like Safari at the moment.

Expect some news from the women's professional soccer league next week. They will be cluing us into their progress during the NSCAA Annual Convention in Baltimore.

I just listened to Greg Ryan on Fox Fone In. I promised in Issue 10 I was done with the bus and hoped to have written my last word about goaliegate so I'm not going to delve into it again. I will only ask if it is really fair to a team who now answers to a new coach, to put all this out there now when they are looking to move forward?

Pia's staff is starting to come together. Phil Wheddon, has been retained and will coach the 'keepers. Penn State coach, Erica Walsh will serve on a part time basis and Helena Andersson will serve as the team’s Strength and Fitness coach.

The Four Nations roster won't be released until tomorrow.

Finally, we are busy working on Issue 11 and it will be loaded with good stuff. We're exploring the theme of "Serious About Enjoying Soccer" and are looking for some anecdotes along the line of "You Know Your Taking Soccer Too Seriously When ...". So, if you have an hilarious or scary tale about some over the top behavior of a soccer parent, coach or player who clearly needs to lighten up, we want to hear it. Post it on the blog, or email it to me at gayle@fairgamemagazine.com. Be sure to leave youe name and if we use it, we'll give you credit in the magazine.

For the second year running, Fair Game was very pleased to sponsor the Fair Play Award at the Disney Soccer Showcase. This award is given to the team in each flight that displays the best sportsmanship voted on by match officials and each teams opponents. We are pleased to recognize the following winners listed under their respective flights:

15 Showcase
INTER-UNITED KRUSH (Florida)
15 Predator
B C UNITED FUSION (New York West)
16 Showcase
AFC LIGHTNING 92 WHITE (Georgia)
16 Predator
VIRGINIA RUSH NIKE (Virginia)
16 Copa
FC STARS OF MASSACHUSETTS STARS (Massachusetts)
17 Showcase Blue
ECLIPSE SELECT NORTH 90-91 (Illinois)
17 Showcase White
MONTCLAIR UNITED ARISTOCATS (New Jersey)
17 Predator White
MT. LAUREL UNITED FIRE (New Jersey)
17 Predator Blue
TNFC 91 BLUE LADY RHYTHM (Tennessee)
17 Copa
ARSENAL PRIMO (Nebraska)
18 Showcase Blue
EAST MEADOW DYNAMITE (New York East)
18 Showcase White
FREESTATE SHOOTERS (Maryland)
18 Predator
TEAM OYSL (Canada)

Congratulations. Your good conduct did not go unnoticed.

Team shown is ECLIPSE SELECT NORTH 90-91 photographed by Michael Stapf.

Greetings and Happy New Year from Orlando, Florida and the Disney Soccer Showcase. There are 197 of the best girls teams in the country competing here in front of a slew of college coaches. Lehigh University’s center back and Fair Game friend Courtney Jackson and I are here promoting the magazine, watching some great soccer and kanoodling with players, parents, coaches and lots of friends.

Former National Teamer Marci Jobson stopped by to say hello and talk to us about her retirement from the National Team and her new job as head coach at Baylor University.

Tell me about your World Cup experience.

It was definitely an awesome experience being at the World Cup. I think even not playing; it was tremendous just being there.

I was going to ask you about that. Greg had you warming up for a really long time in the Norway match. I thought he was going to get you in. What was it like to go and not get to play?

It’s always hard as a player, not playing, but being there representing your country and being a part of that team of unbelievable people and just being part of the experience, I think is something I will never forget. I tried to savor every moment of it and if I was going to get into a game, I knew I was going to do my best. I wanted to be a great support to my teammates and that’s how I played my part.

Your teammates speak very highly of your contribution to the team in that regard.

The thing that I tell the kids that I coach is that at the end of the day, you always have your character and people are going to remember how you were as a teammate. Ten years from now they might not remember if you were the best player in the world (maybe if you were Mia Hamm they will) but they’ll remember how you handled yourself. I’ve learned a lot from some great coaches I’ve had. The one thing they always told me was to just be a good teammate, whatever that may mean, just be a great teammate. That’s what I tried to do. I failed at it sometimes and I accomplished it sometimes.

Tell me about your decision to retire.

I don’t know if it was a decision as much as I’m a pretty spiritual person and I was praying a lot about what my next move was going to be. I didn’t know if I was going to go back with the National Team. I didn’t know if I was going to keep coaching at Northern (Illinois) or what, and the opportunity at Baylor came open and it seemed like a great fit. I knew for me to do a good job at Baylor, a Big 12 team, I would have to dedicate all my time to it. I wanted to go our on my own terms. I didn’t want to go out being cut or being too old or whatever. I wanted to go out on my own terms and it just felt right.

Will you husband Paul join you on the Baylor staff?

Paul is on the staff. Chuck Codd who is Charmaine Hooper’s husband and Bret Hall who was the assistant National Team coach will be a volunteer coach for me. I’m psyched about my staff.

Do you know if Bret is in the mix to be considered for part of Pia’s staff?

I think Bret looked at that opportunity as that was what he wanted to do for that time and I don’t think he was looking past that. I don’t think he’s necessarily trying to be in the mix. I think he’s happy with where he’s at in his life. He’s got a lot of great things going on, so I don’t think he’s really trying to be in the mix.

Let’s talk a little bit about Greg (Ryan). Do you think he’s gotten a fair shake in the World Cup aftermath?

I don’t know what a fair shake is. Crap happens. I don’t know how you want to word that. That’s life. You know, Greg did a great job and I loved playing for Greg. Circumstances played themselves out and U.S. Soccer thought they needed to make a change. Whether they’re right or wrong is not for me to say. That’s why I’m not hired to do that job, thank god. All I can comment on is that I’m very appreciative of what Greg has done for me as a player since I was a young college player and I’m very appreciative of my teammates that I got to play with. They are amazing people. Whether or not he got a fair shake, I don’t know, but I know that I took in the experience and got a lot out of Greg, got a lot out of the girls I played with and I’ll never forget those times.

What will you miss about being on the National Team?

I’ll miss just the girls, the times together. I developed some incredible friendships. Life just gets going crazy and it’s hard to keep up with everybody and I’ll miss just those friendships. The times off the field as well as on the field, we just had a great time together and they are incredible people.

They are going to do great. Pia’s a great coach. Greg was a great coach, but I think Pia has maybe a different approach. Every coach brings something new to a team and I think she’ll do great. Greg did great as well. So, we didn’t’ win the World Cup, but he still did a good job when he was coaching us

What are you looking forward to with the Baylor job?

I’m looking forward to building a program in the Big 12. I think it’s at a place where we can continue to grow the program. We’ve got a lot of room to go up. Baylor’s got a lot to offer young women. It’s an incredible school. Spiritually it’s got a great dimension. The facilities are great. I’m looking forward to getting in there are starting to coach.

Have you met your team yet?

I met them for about an hour and it was great.

We just want to get to work. I’m leaving the Disney Showcase and heading straight to Waco. We bought a house that I looked at for like 20 minutes and said “I gottta buy that one” and that’s that.

Just when we thought it would be a slow news week for women's soccer with it being almost Christmas and all, Hope Solo and Greg Ryan decided to make things interesting by stirring the pot a little.

Read Mark Zeigler's interview with Hope here.

Read Greg Ryan's interview with Jose E. Garcia here.

Some interesting details made public for the first time, but I kind of liked it better when they were both being quiet.

We've posted some of Andy Mead's great photos from the final here.