Dear USA Soccer Players

Good morning! You have no idea who I am, but like many, I know who you are. I know your names and I know the way you run. I have some things to say to you about your recent South African adventures.

The things you have done in the last month bring tears to my eyes. I feel so often, that in the Olympics we dominate so many sports that sometimes, we as Americans, forget what it is to hope and worry and want so badly for our time to achieve what we have worked so hard for. The World Cup has that feeling for me. I feel united with the rest of the world in this single hope, cheering on a team of 11 men who are in fact, just men.

But in your humanity, you have become so much more. I'm not sure if you have seen this, but I would like you to watch it. This one! Its brilliant. In this moment, you took a nation with a million negative headlines and gave us something else to think about. We didn't ask you to be perfect. We didn't ask you to change the world or create policies. We simply asked you to do your best and let us applaud you.

I was working on this day, when you gave us such triumph. Sitting in my cubicle answering phones and waiting, hoping and believing. My coworker had a live feed of the game and in the middle of being on the phone, helping a customer, I heard him shout in victory and I knew. I knew that I had spent the last 90 minutes refusing to think that you wouldn't reach your goal. And his one shout brought an adrenaline rush from my very toes all the way up. I couldn't sit for 30 minutes I was so excited!

So well done! Thank you for being Americans and not giving up. Thank you for giving us something to believe in. On Saturday, when the World Cup journey ended, I was sitting in my living room where I live alone. My basset hounds were napping in the corner, disgruntled that I woke them up every minute or so to cheer you on. But then the game ended I did something I don't usually do. It was silly and something that meant nothing to anyone, but me. I stood and I applauded you. With tears in my eyes and a heart full of pride, I applauded the efforts of the men I so proudly call fellow Americans.
I am just a blogger; just a woman making a living; just a soccer fan; just a World Cup fan. However, there are millions of just fans out there and on behalf of them all, well done boys. Well done.