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Interview With Briana Scurry
Aired May 27, 2003 - 15:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The United States has scored the women's World Cup. It's not the way anybody would have wanted to get it, of course. FIFA, which is the -- that's an acronym for a French name. I'm not going to give the -- Federation of the International Football, some thing or another. Any way, whatever it is. You know that.
Because of the concerns about SARS -- it was supposed to be in China -- it's not happening in China. So instead it's going to happen in the U.S. Details are TBA.
Joining us to talk a little bit more about this is Briana Scurry. Before there was Brandy, there was Briana.
BRIANA SCURRY, U.S. WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM: Some thing like that.
O'BRIEN: You know? Before '99 -- you remember '99. You know, the famous World Cup game, Rose Bowl. They win on the penalty kick and, of course, Brandy takes the shirt off. But it was your save...
SCURRY: Right.
O'BRIEN: ...a little earlier in that game which really laid the groundwork for that. You still think a lot about that game?
SCURRY: You know, I can't help but think about it. It's one of the pinnacle moments in my career. And you know, it was amazing, amazing moment and it was great for women's soccer and great for women's sports as a whole, also.
O'BRIEN: All right. Now tell us about the change of venue here. Obviously this is a very serious subject, SARS.
SCURRY: Right.
O'BRIEN: I mean, you can't mess around and expose people unnecessarily.
SCURRY: Right.
O'BRIEN: But it's a tremendous loss for the Chinese. There's a lot of pride involved in all of this, of course.
SCURRY: Yes, I know China was getting ready to put on an incredible World Cup. And, you know, they -- they were well prepared to do so. And unfortunately, with SARS, it was forced to be moved. And fortunately for us, the United States here, we were granted the right to host it again, and, you know, U.S. Soccer federation put in an amazing bid and FIFA decided that they would give it to us and then hopefully we're going too -- we're going to do as well as we did in '99.
O'BRIEN: Let's hope.
SCURRY: Yes.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about what it does just for the business of your sport and for women's sports.
I mean, you're talking about Annika Sorenstam, it sort of brought soccer back into the light and WNBA. And what do you think this will do just to bring more attention to female athletes and, you know, how awesome you guys are and businesswise too?
SCURRY: I think it's going to be great for women's athletics.
Actually, the more I was thinking in the lines of, it will give those who didn't have an opportunity to see us in '99, an incredible opportunity to see us again. I mean, we -- we put on a great show. We play hard. We play, you know, to the best of our ability and we do well. We do win, which is something America loves to see.
And so hopefully with the World Cup here this fall, people will come out and get a chance to see us again.
O'BRIEN: Every body loves a winner. We hope you can repeat. Maybe not as much of a nailbiter as we saw the last time. I don't know about all the overtimes and the penalty kicks.
Tell us -- Kyra brings up the subject of women's sports. You are involved in the WUSA. This is the women's soccer league, the Atlanta Beat specifically. A home game coming up a week from Saturday.
SCURRY: A week from Saturday, yes.
O'BRIEN: Which we'll try to get to.
PHILLIPS: Buy your tickets now.
O'BRIEN: How is that been doing? Is it hard to draw a crowd on a sustained basis?
SCURRY: You know, we've been doing fairly well. We get a great crowd here in Atlanta. We have one of the more consistent fan bases here in Atlanta throughout the WUSA. And, you know, we win. We so as well as a team and the people love us. We put on a great show and they keep coming out week in and week out to support us.
PHILLIPS: We got to ask you about Freddy Adu. We hope we're saying this right. We've been talking about how to say his name -- 13-years-old, he has this huge million-dollar contract with Nike. He's -- we're looking at video now -- of this up and coming soccer player.
O'BRIEN: From Ghana, right?
PHILLIPS: From Ghana.
What do you think of this young prodigy?
SCURRY: He's an amazing player.
I saw a few clips of him this weekend. And he was, you know, scooting by four or five people on one drive to the goal. And I mean, he is obviously an amazing talent, and, you know, hopefully he'll flourish and be a great asset for U.S. soccer in years to come.
O'BRIEN: That's got to be pretty close to being unprecedented. A million dollar sneaker contract for a 13-year-old in soccer.
SCURRY: That is -- that is -- first time I've ever heard of it.
O'BRIEN: Yes. Is that good for soccer, do you think, overall?
SCURRY: You know, I mean, it does show that Nike and U.S. soccer, you know, do value -- do value the quality of player in the U.S. and I mean, I know he's 13 years old.
But like I said, I've seen the footage and he's an amazing player. He is basically a man among boys when he's playing on the field and, you know, they want to keep him here, so they're willing to do that.
O'BRIEN: All right. Briana, before you go -- Briana, I apologize. You got to do me a favor. Can you just show your guns to everybody? Just give us a quick...
SCURRY: I'll give you a little.
O'BRIEN: Oh my God.
PHILLIPS: Look at that. Woah!
O'BRIEN: Wow.
PHILLIPS: Goodness.
O'BRIEN: Wow! I got to tell you...
PHILLIPS: You know, when Miles is giving me a hard time, can I just call you in?
SCURRY: Sure. I'll run up here right away. No problem.
O'BRIEN: You could take me with one hand tied behind your back, Briana. Great to have you by.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: All right.
PHILLIPS: Wow!
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 27, 2003 - 15:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The United States has scored the women's World Cup. It's not the way anybody would have wanted to get it, of course. FIFA, which is the -- that's an acronym for a French name. I'm not going to give the -- Federation of the International Football, some thing or another. Any way, whatever it is. You know that.
Because of the concerns about SARS -- it was supposed to be in China -- it's not happening in China. So instead it's going to happen in the U.S. Details are TBA.
Joining us to talk a little bit more about this is Briana Scurry. Before there was Brandy, there was Briana.
BRIANA SCURRY, U.S. WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM: Some thing like that.
O'BRIEN: You know? Before '99 -- you remember '99. You know, the famous World Cup game, Rose Bowl. They win on the penalty kick and, of course, Brandy takes the shirt off. But it was your save...
SCURRY: Right.
O'BRIEN: ...a little earlier in that game which really laid the groundwork for that. You still think a lot about that game?
SCURRY: You know, I can't help but think about it. It's one of the pinnacle moments in my career. And you know, it was amazing, amazing moment and it was great for women's soccer and great for women's sports as a whole, also.
O'BRIEN: All right. Now tell us about the change of venue here. Obviously this is a very serious subject, SARS.
SCURRY: Right.
O'BRIEN: I mean, you can't mess around and expose people unnecessarily.
SCURRY: Right.
O'BRIEN: But it's a tremendous loss for the Chinese. There's a lot of pride involved in all of this, of course.
SCURRY: Yes, I know China was getting ready to put on an incredible World Cup. And, you know, they -- they were well prepared to do so. And unfortunately, with SARS, it was forced to be moved. And fortunately for us, the United States here, we were granted the right to host it again, and, you know, U.S. Soccer federation put in an amazing bid and FIFA decided that they would give it to us and then hopefully we're going too -- we're going to do as well as we did in '99.
O'BRIEN: Let's hope.
SCURRY: Yes.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about what it does just for the business of your sport and for women's sports.
I mean, you're talking about Annika Sorenstam, it sort of brought soccer back into the light and WNBA. And what do you think this will do just to bring more attention to female athletes and, you know, how awesome you guys are and businesswise too?
SCURRY: I think it's going to be great for women's athletics.
Actually, the more I was thinking in the lines of, it will give those who didn't have an opportunity to see us in '99, an incredible opportunity to see us again. I mean, we -- we put on a great show. We play hard. We play, you know, to the best of our ability and we do well. We do win, which is something America loves to see.
And so hopefully with the World Cup here this fall, people will come out and get a chance to see us again.
O'BRIEN: Every body loves a winner. We hope you can repeat. Maybe not as much of a nailbiter as we saw the last time. I don't know about all the overtimes and the penalty kicks.
Tell us -- Kyra brings up the subject of women's sports. You are involved in the WUSA. This is the women's soccer league, the Atlanta Beat specifically. A home game coming up a week from Saturday.
SCURRY: A week from Saturday, yes.
O'BRIEN: Which we'll try to get to.
PHILLIPS: Buy your tickets now.
O'BRIEN: How is that been doing? Is it hard to draw a crowd on a sustained basis?
SCURRY: You know, we've been doing fairly well. We get a great crowd here in Atlanta. We have one of the more consistent fan bases here in Atlanta throughout the WUSA. And, you know, we win. We so as well as a team and the people love us. We put on a great show and they keep coming out week in and week out to support us.
PHILLIPS: We got to ask you about Freddy Adu. We hope we're saying this right. We've been talking about how to say his name -- 13-years-old, he has this huge million-dollar contract with Nike. He's -- we're looking at video now -- of this up and coming soccer player.
O'BRIEN: From Ghana, right?
PHILLIPS: From Ghana.
What do you think of this young prodigy?
SCURRY: He's an amazing player.
I saw a few clips of him this weekend. And he was, you know, scooting by four or five people on one drive to the goal. And I mean, he is obviously an amazing talent, and, you know, hopefully he'll flourish and be a great asset for U.S. soccer in years to come.
O'BRIEN: That's got to be pretty close to being unprecedented. A million dollar sneaker contract for a 13-year-old in soccer.
SCURRY: That is -- that is -- first time I've ever heard of it.
O'BRIEN: Yes. Is that good for soccer, do you think, overall?
SCURRY: You know, I mean, it does show that Nike and U.S. soccer, you know, do value -- do value the quality of player in the U.S. and I mean, I know he's 13 years old.
But like I said, I've seen the footage and he's an amazing player. He is basically a man among boys when he's playing on the field and, you know, they want to keep him here, so they're willing to do that.
O'BRIEN: All right. Briana, before you go -- Briana, I apologize. You got to do me a favor. Can you just show your guns to everybody? Just give us a quick...
SCURRY: I'll give you a little.
O'BRIEN: Oh my God.
PHILLIPS: Look at that. Woah!
O'BRIEN: Wow.
PHILLIPS: Goodness.
O'BRIEN: Wow! I got to tell you...
PHILLIPS: You know, when Miles is giving me a hard time, can I just call you in?
SCURRY: Sure. I'll run up here right away. No problem.
O'BRIEN: You could take me with one hand tied behind your back, Briana. Great to have you by.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: All right.
PHILLIPS: Wow!
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
