Yeah Jill

TigerBlog doesn't like crowds.

They're not quite his thing. He's talking huge crowds here.

The biggest crowd he was ever in was on the Fourth of July one year in the early 1980s. He was on the mall, watching the Beach Boys. MotherBlog lived in Chevy Chase at the time, and TB and his then-girlfriend Tammy went to the Fourth of July celebration on the mall.

There were, oh, 250,000 or so people there. Now that's a crowd. And TB didn't even have Purell yet. How did he do it?

This year's version of the Fourth of July on the mall was a bit odder.

What was up with Bradley Whitford, who hosted the show on PBS? He was awful. Maybe he was nervous? He was terrible though.

And the acts? How many calls did they make before they said "hey, let's call K.C. and the Sunshine Band?"

And nothing says "Happy Birthday America" like the 1812 Overture, which recalls a great American historical event, a war between France and Russia.

And Barry Manilow? What happened to his face? TigerBlog is on record as saying he's a fan of Barry Manilow and the Carpenters, and he wrote this way back in 2010 about the two: If you're in TB's age range, you probably 1) love both and 2) would never admit it publicly.

But what's up with Barry's face? Remember the episode of "The Twilight Zone" when the gorgeous blonde and the handsome man were the outcasts and the people who had the distorted faces were considered the standard of beauty? Barry Manilow looks like one of those guys now.

Fortunately for TigerBlog, "Yankee Doodle Dandy" was also on. And he turned it on at the perfect moment, when James Cagney sings and dances his way through the title song - which is followed by "Give My Regards To Broadway." Talented guy, that Cagney, especially considering that TB had just seen him in one of his other classic roles, as the top gangster in "White Heat."

Virginia Mayo plays his wife in that movie. She was also on Sunday in "The Best Years of Our Lives," when she played Dana Andrews' wife (she shoots Cagney's mother in the back in "White Heat" and yet is still a more likeable character there than she is as Andrews' wife).

As an aside, Mayo looks like a 1940's version of Jennifer Lawrence.

TigerBlog saw no fireworks on the Fourth of July, which is okay, because he's not a huge fan.

For fireworks, there was always the U.S. women's soccer team on the Fifth of July, yesterday, when the Americans came out and exploded for two goals in five minutes and four goals in the first 16 minutes while dominating Japan 5-2 to win the Women's World Cup.

It was an incredible performance by the U.S., and the game was basically over from the start. The biggest fireworks came from Rutgers alum Carli Lloyd, who scored three of those first four goals. 

As TigerBlog has said, he was rooting for United States coach Jill Ellis. TB has known Ellis since the day in 2002 when she walked into TB's office with then-Princeton women's soccer coach Julie Shackford.

Ellis was the coach at UCLA at the time. She had just lost a tough game in the third round of the NCAA tournament, losing on PKs to Texas A&M. Princeton has reached the tournament too, losing to Penn State 2-0 in the first round.

For about 20 minutes, the two coaches stood in TB's office and made fun of each other, mocking each other for how their teams didn't win - in a funny way of course. That was TB's introduction to Ellis.

Two years later, Ellis would coach against Princeton after the Tigers reached the Final Four, and UCLA would win 2-0. Two days after that, TB rooted hard for UCLA in the final - but the Bruins would come up heartbreakingly short against Notre Dame, again in PKs.

Why'd he root for Ellis? Because once you meet her, you can't help but do so.

Seven times she'd take UCLA to the Final Four, and seven times her team didn't win it all. Maybe she couldn't win the big one, but now she's won the biggest one.

In some ways, it's easy to coach the U.S. team. You certainly aren't short on the resources you need. And your talent will always equal everyone else's.

On the other hand, the expectations are ridiculous. Either you win it all or you've failed. And the personalities? They're not easy either. Abby Wambach, in particular, was a real challenge for the U.S. coach, what with her being the most popular player on the team but one who clearly was past her prime, though not without value.

Not every coach could have taken the U.S. to the championship. It took Jill Ellis to do so, with her modesty and humble persona and confidence in what she was doing, without the need to be the focal point of anything. How many pictures of her did you see during the championship game, or leading up to it? Next to none?

You saw one after the third U.S. goal, with her arms extended skyward in joy. She was pretty sure then, that her team had basically done it.

And then there was the end of the game. The camera focused on her for about a second, catching her as she did a little dance off the sideline. Then it went to Carli Lloyd and then the rest of the players.

Hey, there were fans in the stands who got more screen time than Ellis did.

But that's okay.

The United States was back on top of the women's soccer world, champions of the World Cup for the first time this century. And she was the one who brought the Americans there.

TigerBlog once drove Ellis to an event she had to attend at a hotel near Rutgers. TigerBlog had to go to the same hotel, for a different event.

When Ellis got out of the car, she stepped into a crowd that was wall-to-wall women's soccer people. TigerBlog was struck by the fact that almost nobody recognized her.

Now? She's among the biggest names and most recognizable faces in the women's soccer world. If she walked into that same hotel today, she'd be swarmed.

It's what happens when you are the best. It's what happens when you're on top of the world.

And that's where Jill Ellis is today.

On top of the world.