The USWNT 'Sisters of '96' Take Us Back to 1996
Sisters of '96: The 1996 USA Women's Olympic Soccer Team (2021)
A Quick TV Review
Now that we're into the meat of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup (and wondering what's up with Team USA), I thought it might be worth a revisit to Peacock's original program, Sisters of '96: The 1996 USA Women's Olympic Soccer Team, originally released as a primer to the Tokyo 2020 Games.
A Quick TV Review
Now that we're into the meat of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup (and wondering what's up with Team USA), I thought it might be worth a revisit to Peacock's original program, Sisters of '96: The 1996 USA Women's Olympic Soccer Team, originally released as a primer to the Tokyo 2020 Games.
It certainly is a bare bones project - inviting seven of the 1996 Team USA (USWNT) members (Brandi Chastain, Kristine Lilly, Tisha Venturini, Briana Scurry, Joy Fawcett, Julie Foudy, and Shannon McMillan) to reunite at the site of their gold medal triumph at Atlanta 1996 and capture their commentary as they watch a replay of that title game for the first time together.
That game was certainly remarkable for a few reasons, including being the first gold medal game for women's soccer at the Olympics, the largest crowd ever - 76,400+ - for a women's soccer match, and, in retrospection, a key element in the United States for seeing the Atlanta Games' two weeks as the 'summer of women'.
But while those landmarks are acknowledged by the team, Sisters of '96 doesn't really capture the emotion and power of the moment. Surely producers thought watching ex-teammates watch and comment a game together would be more inspiring, but it didn't capture a compelling sense of milestone that the original game deserves. Perhaps the stage was too large -literally, as the athletes were seated on the field of Sanford Stadium, watching the game on the stadium's large screen - and a needed sense of intimate drama was lost...despite TV-experienced Foudy's attempts to prod introspection.
Those intimate moments were better captured in one-on-one studio interviews, where the team members had a better opportunity for reflective comments and thoughts. Chastain's acknowledgement that "we were like a bunch of kids out there" underscored them not realizing the impact the game had at the time. Fawcett and McMillan also get some needed exposure in this setup, as the perhaps lesser-known team members blend in a bit on the field.
The Atlanta 1996 final ended with a 2-1 Team USA victory over Team China, paving the way for the real explosion of women's soccer interest at the 1999 Women's World Cup in the U.S. The 'Sisters of '96' deserve sharper thanks than this breezy retrospection, but at under an hour, it's a good pat on the back.
That game was certainly remarkable for a few reasons, including being the first gold medal game for women's soccer at the Olympics, the largest crowd ever - 76,400+ - for a women's soccer match, and, in retrospection, a key element in the United States for seeing the Atlanta Games' two weeks as the 'summer of women'.
But while those landmarks are acknowledged by the team, Sisters of '96 doesn't really capture the emotion and power of the moment. Surely producers thought watching ex-teammates watch and comment a game together would be more inspiring, but it didn't capture a compelling sense of milestone that the original game deserves. Perhaps the stage was too large -literally, as the athletes were seated on the field of Sanford Stadium, watching the game on the stadium's large screen - and a needed sense of intimate drama was lost...despite TV-experienced Foudy's attempts to prod introspection.
Those intimate moments were better captured in one-on-one studio interviews, where the team members had a better opportunity for reflective comments and thoughts. Chastain's acknowledgement that "we were like a bunch of kids out there" underscored them not realizing the impact the game had at the time. Fawcett and McMillan also get some needed exposure in this setup, as the perhaps lesser-known team members blend in a bit on the field.
The Atlanta 1996 final ended with a 2-1 Team USA victory over Team China, paving the way for the real explosion of women's soccer interest at the 1999 Women's World Cup in the U.S. The 'Sisters of '96' deserve sharper thanks than this breezy retrospection, but at under an hour, it's a good pat on the back.
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