Abby Wambach's Retirement and How ESPN Fails
![by Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. Department of State [public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52d48817e4b02a4ced94d551/1450382766013-EVM9SUTE3ZI7ZPD27H6B/Abby+Wambach)
by Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. Department of State [public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
I need to vent.
I hate ESPN. Let me start there. I hate ESPN. I cannot say that enough.
Abby Wambach, one of the greatest athletes that our country has ever produced, is retiring today. She is playing her last game for the United States. There is NO story in sports today that is bigger than that. Absolutely none.
Abby Wambach deserves to have the double wide, above the fold story on the ESPN homepage. She is in a league of her own when it comes to being a legend. She has done so much for the sport, for women in sports, and for the country. The least ESPN can do is show her the respect she deserves.
Football, soccer, whatever you want to call it, is THE biggest sport in the world. The numbers are staggering in terms of the size of its following, and it was the WOMEN’S final this year that had the most viewership with over 20MM viewers (that is comparable to game 7 of the 2014 World Series) At what point is ESPN going to recognize that? How much more data do they need?
Soccer matters.
Women matter.
Women in sports matter.
We need heroes. We need the good stories that Abby brings with her to balance out the hell that is surrounding us every day. We need kids to be inspired by her and other women like her on and off the field. We need the boys to say "I want to play like a girl". This matters a lot.
ESPN should be a LEADER in helping voice this. It’s shameful that they have buried her 3/4 of the way down on the homepage. Anyone who knows e-commerce and clicks would know that only 16% or so of the site traffic navigates to a placement that low.
I'm done venting. If there is anything that you do today, honor women and watch Abby Wambach play.
Sabeeka Dar wants to live in a world where there is less hate, more passion, less pain, more love. When she is not selling tutus on zulily.com, you can find her out and about in Seattle, planning and plotting the next adventure she wants to go on.