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And the Beat goes on?

by Keith Graham | 2, Add your Comment | Mar 31 09

The Atlanta Beat made the playoffs in the now defunct Women’s United Soccer Association all three years the league existed.

They were the only team who could make that claim. Twice, the Beat went on to play in the league’s championship match.

Sunday, a new effort to bring professional women’s soccer to America began as the aptly named Women’s Professional Soccer league debuted with the Los Angeles Sol defeating the Washington Freedom 2-0.

The Atlanta Beat will not be playing in the new league this season. But there is good news: They could be back in action year.

An Atlanta team is scheduled to enter the league in 2010, and fans are being given the opportunity to choose the team’s name. Sunday, as a result of online voting so far, the list of possible names was narrowed to three finalists: Attack, Beat, or Storm.

If the new franchise keeps the old name, the team will not be setting a precedent. Supporters of Seattle’s new club in Major League Soccer used a write-in campaign to name the team the Sounders, carrying on a tradition that began when Seattle fielded the minor-league Sounders. In the NFL, Cleveland kept the name Browns when the historic franchise left town, and the name was transferred to an expansion team. In the new Women’s Professional Soccer league, two franchises have retained names used when they played in WUSA from 2001 to 2003: the Washington Freedom and Boston Breakers.

The Atlanta Beat was a pioneering team in the history of women’s soccer. By rights, the tradition should continue. You can vote to make that happen by going to this Web site and clicking on Beat as your choice: http://www.atlantawomensprosoccer.com

If you do, you are also invited to put on some sunglasses, break out your bongos, even wear a beret if you want, and join our supporters club: the Atlanta Beatniks.

Vote for the Beat, or as Jack Kerouac would say, be square.

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2 Responses to “And the Beat goes on?”

  1. Tom Stanley says:
    March 31, 2009 at 12:30 pm

    I was on Yahoo and found your blog. Read a few of your other posts. Good work. I am looking forward to reading more from you in the future.

    Tom Stanley

    Reply
  2. Dallas says:
    March 31, 2009 at 8:47 pm

    Square Keith: You are the dean of likethedew soccer coverage … And I doubt you’ll be challenged in our lifetimes. Excellent. Square Dal.

    Reply

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Keith Graham
Keith Graham
About the author Keith Graham: Keith Graham lives in Atlanta most of the time and on St. Simons Island on Georgia’s coast the rest. Like so many Southerners, Keith was named for a blind piano player, who is now little remembered, and he spent his earliest years living with his parents in the back rooms of a small-town Georgia radio station. Later, he moved to several other states, including North Carolina twice, before returning to Georgia. He has worked for a series of newspapers, including The Atlanta Journal and Constitution from 1979 to 2007.

Last 5 posts by Keith Graham