We Played Because They Did

You may not recall where you were, or exactly what you were doing, but you almost certainly remember when Brandi Chastain ripped off her jersey after scoring the winning penalty in the 1999 Women's World Cup final — especially if you were a child of the ‘80s or '90s.

Millions of Americans fell in love with their national team that sweltering summer day, spurring a whole new generation of soccer fans raised on orange slices, plastic gold trophies and red jerseys. (And, yes, actual childhood memorabilia from the OZY team’s younger soccer days were used in the making of this email.)

As we approach the 20th anniversary of the ‘99ers, we’re exploring the incredible backstory of that remarkable triumph in season five of The Thread podcast, out today.

Chastain's now iconic goal celebration marked the arrival of women’s soccer, both on the global sports stage and in the public imagination. But it didn’t happen on its own.

Together, in this six-part podcast season, we’ll explore:

How 19 students at Yale stripped naked in an athletic director’s office and changed how female college athletes were treated.

How a largely forgotten Black, transgender lawyer laid the groundwork for multiple civil rights victories.

And how a single word placed into a single congressional bill opened up the floodgates of opportunity that led up to that glorious summer day in 1999. And, yes, that word was “sex.”