Everyday is a Tryout

Everyday is a tryout is a mantra I repeat to my teams on an almost daily basis. My teams are a strange combination of dictatorship and meritocracy. I strive to give as much ownership of the team as possible to the players while retaining final say on certain matters to preserve order for the common good. Sometimes I wonder if the message being sent is the same as the message being received.

Everyday is a tryout. Four words that can define a process, a life even. They go to the very heart of what has become known as the daily grind. What you earned yesterday should be but a platform for what you will earn today. What you earn today is the starting point for tomorrow's growth.  This is what a meritocracy is.  This is what life is.

I have begun meeting with potential leaders of next years team. These are the players who have expressed interest in being captains. What I am seeking to determine is which of this group understand everyday is a tryout. Who among them understand that leadership is an action word, a verb, long before it becomes a noun?

(Hit the jump for the rest of the article)

I'm taking on Hope Solo.

I have refrained from commenting on Hope Solo's domestic violence case because I prefer to concentrate on the game itself and how players perform in the game. Unfortunately off the field issues do intrude at times.

For the record, I am not a Hope Solo fan.

She has had more "indiscretions" and second chances than most anyone would be allowed because of her talent as a goalkeeper. She abuses her standing as a member of the USWNT and the gift of being able to earn her living playing soccer.  Let's not forget her teammates kicked her off the 2007 World Cup team.  Or that she appeared on the Today Show drunk as a representative of the US 2008 Olympic Gold Medal team.  Or that she has thrown multiple teammates under the proverbial bus over the years with denigrating comments about them.  Now she has been accused of Domestic Violence against her half-sister and a nephew. 

What Hope Solo has done makes headlines in men's sports but is largely ignored because she is a woman soccer player.

Well, here is the indisputable fact, Hope Solo has a problem.  There exists a trend of increasingly disturbing "indiscretions" and it's time she is held to the same standards society is demanding male athletes be held to.  Hope Solo should be suspended from all professional and national team play until her case is resolved.

For all the outcry about Ray Rice and Greg Hardy nothing much has been said about Hope Solo.  Does society really feel woman on woman violence is different than man on woman violence?  And we must not forget the accusations against Solo also include assault on her 17 year old nephew.

Just as the NFL is striving to get it right, FIFA, US Soccer, the NWSL and the Seattle Reign need to strive to get this right in Hope Solo's case as well.  There are no acceptable excuses that can be made for Hope Solo's alleged behavior. She must be dealt with swiftly in an appropriate manner.  The organizing bodies of soccer are already tardy in dealing with the domestic abuses charges. How much further does Solo's negative behavior have to escalate before the soccer authorities take notice.

Enough is enough.

U.S. Soccer continues to make the WRONG call on Hope Solo