March 26--Hope Solo has started a blog.
That is neither a joke nor, probably, a good idea given the troubles Solo has had with social media in the past.
But it is engaging, enlightening and, given some of Solo's confessions, probably therapeutic as well.
Her first entry, posted Wednesday, runs to nearly 1,900 words, In it, the U.S. women's national team goalkeeper describes her travels to Portugal to reunite with her teammates following a monthlong suspension, talks about her poor training sessions and praises the play of defenders Becky Sauerbrunn and Julie Johnston in the Algarve Cup tournament, which the U.S. won.
But that's where the similarity with most athletes' blogs ends. Solo is frequently blunt and honest -- sometimes to her detriment -- in person, and she's that way in her blog too. In one passage she goes into detail about the emotional January meeting with the team in which she opened up about the stress she had endured after family members charged her with domestic assault last summer. (The charges were dismissed by a judge, but that ruling is being appealed by prosecutors in Kirkland, Wash.)
Solo, who was suspended after her husband, former NFL player Jerramy Stevens was arrested for DUI in Manhattan Beach while behind the wheel of a U.S. Soccer van, also writes about seeing a therapist and working with an "Eastern medicine healer" during her suspension. The blog is undoubtedly part of her effort to deal with personal issues because while discussing those issues is no doubt cathartic for Solo, it also allows her to do so on her own terms without having to go through a media prism.
Solo began her rehabilitation tour last month during a tearful interview with Robin Roberts on ABC's "Good Morning America."
Solo doesn't say how frequently she intends to post but she did say the blog will be "a place to...share my experiences with you -- about our team, my teammates and our quest to win the World Cup this summer."
In the past Solo has used Twitter and Facebook to attack the media for reporting on her husband's numerous run-ins with the law, to rant against NBC analyst Brandi Chastain during the London Olympics and to criticize former national team star Julie Foudy for naming World Cup champion Briana Scurry and not Solo as the keeper on her honorary all-time U.S. soccer team
