Pink and Green

2009-06-11 03:25:00

Edit: 9-15-09 - This blog post was written when I was just linking to images on the web instead of uploading them. As a consequence, some have disappeared. I've fixed as many of the broken ones as I can, although I can't promise the same quality. -FS

Let's face it, Seattle Sounders FC green is hideous. I'm not even putting an image of it on this post. I'd much prefer a shade similar to what Saint Louis Athletica wears - it's a classy, classy color.

So it was with interest that I saw this photo circling round the WPS home page.

The words below say "Donning special white and pink uniforms to raise Breast Cancer Awareness, Amanda Cinalli's debut with St. Louis was memorable, to say the least." There was even a pink ball.

For those of you not really into mass media or walking around outside, such an endeavor is the spawn of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization, a massive organization dedicated to breast cancer research and awareness. It's "Race for the Cure" is a huge cultural event across America, and these are the people that started the pink ribbon campaign.

***

The color pink was last the subject of discussion back when WPS unveiled their uniforms. Included in that roll out were hot pink goal keeper jerseys, the looks of which must be seen in action to be believed.

Several people, most notably Saint Louis goalkeeper Hope Solo, came out against the neon shirts.

The 27-year-old . . . confided to Sportsmail in February that she had reservations about her Saint Louis Athletica uniform.

'From what I know it's hot pink,' she said, 'but I haven't seen it so I don't know for sure. It doesn't go well with my look.'

Nevertheless, as the article shows, they did manage to coax Solo into a pink outfit for her "See Extraordinary" commercial.

I like to imagine it went something like this. Regardless, it hasn't stopped Solo from prominently wearing yellow and black, even at last weekend's game.

Such behavior has earned the public ire of WPS COO Mary Harvey, who stated in her blog:

So what did we learn in week 2? A LOT.

1. It would appear that nobody likes the color pink. At least as a goalkeeper jersey. FINE (we're working on that).

But Harvey wouldn't give up, and a week later said:

Could pink be making a comeback? Dissed as a diminutive, Jonsson wears it and has an blinder vs. Washington. Barnhart wears it and gets a point on the road at Sky Blue... and, so that the third game wouldn't be without a goalkeeper in pink (even an over-the-hill-one), I wore a bright pink coat to the Boston-St. Louis game.

One can almost hear Harvey cackling about Saint Louis's 0-2 loss. But then she also said:

We're still working to source different colored GK jerseys to replace the pink...and as we replace it, it'll be assigned less and less often. Unless, of course, someone doesn't want to mess with a winning streak ;) The problem is - that the teams that have the pink jersey (Chicago and Washington in particular), also have another color GK jersey - which is charcoal grey. Now that's well and good, unless you're playing with or against a team wearing navy blue or black. No ref is going to ok that, so they have to change to another color. That's fine if you have another color besides the pink.... but if you don't... then guess what. That happened to Chicago this past weekend, when they played against Washington, who were wearing their home strip which is navy blue. Bri Scurry was wearing yellow (so even if Chicago had a yellow GK jersey, they couldn't wear it since both GKs have to wear different colors)... so Carre Jonsson, being a good sport, wore the pink.

It's clear that other keepers besides Solo aren't all that impressed with the color.

***

Coincidentally, on the day that Christiano Ronaldo is transferred, we're treated to photos of him looking like this:

With comments like this:

I'm sure he's miffed that he was worth less than Kaka, but they can perhaps compare which bath soaps help soothe their skin after a tough match. No word on what the Manchester United fans are doing right now, other than convincing themselves that a Rooney is better than a pretty boy.

And this:

Plus, I need to go wash my eyes out with soap.

Even allowing that the whole ensemble is what elicits the crys of "Ghey!" you can't deny that the pink flower and hat really pull it all together.

I suspect there's some of this "pink is a color for poofs of any gender" in the WPS pink backlash. The idea being that no matter how adorable Lori Chalupny looks in pink with a warm background and soft lighting:

A strong woman should not be "adorable," men should not dismiss or describe her as such, and a good shade of Robin Hood green makes it much easier to focus on how much ass she's kicking.

***

Further complicating the issues for the color pink is the notion of pink-washing - the use of breast cancer by corporate marketers, in which companies promote their products with claims to donate a percentage of proceeds to the cause.

On the Saint Louis Athletica Newsletter, the team said it would donate $1 from every ticket sold to Komen St. Louis in addition to auction proceeds. Going by the reported attendance, that amount would be $3,124. Tickets range from $10-$25, so if even 200 extra people came to the game because of this promotion, the team would profit. Interestingly, attendance was down compared to the prior two home games.

In hindsight, was it really worth it to make Lori Chalupny dress up like a bag of cat food?

Athletica marketing types will effervescently expound on how great it is to associate their brand with a great cause, but that's precisely the point of the criticism. They're gaining free marketing (If I go to this game, I will end cancer!) while not putting out much effort toward *really* making progress on the causes of the disease. Oh well, at least they're not like Yoplait, which sent 10¢ for every yogurt top mailed in (never mind the 44¢ stamps) to the Komen organization, while shipping a product with rBGH, a hormone linked to breast cancer.

***
Interestingly enough, on the same weekend as Saint Louis's pink game, Seattle defender Taylor Graham went to the race put on by the Seattle Komen affiliate as a representative of Sounders FC. What I'm about to say is not a criticism of Taylor, because he was just doing what he was asked, but I am going to call out Sounders FC. Why? Well, for starters, the race was *at* Qwest Field - not much effort involved to seek out that event. And it looks like all Taylor did was sit at a booth, sign autographs, and promote the team. While pictures like this are great for PR:

Pictures like the one of him behind the desk tell the real story. In short, Sounders FC sent one single player to promote their team at an event where women are dying of cancer, remembering those who died, and celebrating those who are in remission. In the abstract, it sounds sick. Couldn't they at least have put up a link to the local group organizing the event on their list of charities? No, because Sounders FC doesn't care, and looked at it only as a marketing opportunity.

For that matter, go to the Athletica web site and search for "cancer" or "Komen". Tell me how many results you get. I'll wait.

I will say that it's also pretty sick that the Breast Cancer Awareness match was combined with Puma night in St. Louis.

To many people, the Race for the Cure is a way they feel they can make a difference. But there are many reasons why people shoud look beyond that to see what else needs to be done. If you do nothing else, take some time to read Barbara Ehrenreich's "Welcome to Cancerland: A Mammogram Leads to a Cult of Pink Kitsch". If you have more time, take a look at Breast Cancer Action's website. Read their "Think Before You Pink," website. And if you're not satisfied with the way Athletica, Sounders, or their respective leagues are dealing with the issue of breast cancer, let them know. And do what you can.

Which brings us back, at long last, to the question of what it means to wear pink. I'm not going to pretend that I, as an old male fake soccer coach, have any kind of answer to the goalkeeper question or to what Christiano was thinking. What I will do before I go is cede the floor to Mary Harvey, who seems eminently more qualified to write on the subject, so she can have one last word:

The colors of the weekend put to bed, it was on to preparing for the Board of Governors Meeting. Our monthly meeting with our Board is this week, so lots of work goes in to preparing for that. On the docket for this meeting? A review of our first 3 weeks of games, our 2009 All-Star game, a discussion on various items regarding expansion and a sponsorship & sales update. Last night and today, as I was putting the final touches on some slides for the meeting.... I made a few adjustments.

At tomorrow's meeting, our board of governors will walk through the meeting agenda using powerpoint slides that are, well, ......pink. :)

I dunno . . . can we stay with something in the shade they're wearing?

-Fake Sigi out

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