Tobin Heath at the World Cup, and the Skatepark

My secret mission to very, very slowly (like glacially) turn this into a hybrid skateboarding and soccer site progresses nicely… Here’s Post number 2 on Portland Thorns player and (2 time!) USWNT World Cup winner (!!!) Tobin Heath! After the Sweden-England match on Saturday there was a lot of analysis in advance of the final between USA and the Netherlands.  Fox aired this segment on Tobin Heath that was filmed in Portland at Commonwealth about 2 months ago. I’ve never seen a picture of Tobin on a skateboard, but here she is on S&A again, and according to Girls Soccer Network, she skateboards. The three minute segment is an odd one, to be sure. It starts off with her juggling in the flat and then out of nowhere she’s surrounded by Solid Gold dancers, and eventually, skateboarders. The voiceover is Heath talking about her connection to soccer, and  a skateboard connection is neither explained or explicitly shown. She’s an amazing player, and I love her and both of her teams, so it pains me to say this… It’s very stiff and awkward. I blame the creative director behind this. I get it, FOX has to have some flash and filler to show in-between the big games, something to draw the viewers into the personalities of the team since the women’s league has no real national coverage.  One thing bothered me, especially in the context of the USWNT employment discrimination lawsuit against US Soccer. The skateboarding crew are all packing sausage. Surely they could found some women to fill that roll, and FFS, paid them equally. I’m not going to let it ruin my day. I found the video online, and posted some screen caps after the jump. #BAON #USWNT