I'm going to answer your response (since you quoted me) piece by piece ... please don't take offense, but there are some misinterpretations about what/how I said what I said that I want to address.
Not even remotely what I was doing. I specifically and carefully used the word "hubris" for a reason.
Michael Jordan was brash. Mike Tyson was brash. They deserved praise for their success and didn't elevate themselves beyond the sport to the distraction of their performance while they were still playing.
Megan Rapinoe was a good woman's soccer player early in her career, as was the entire USWNT, until the rest of the world started to significantly catch up in this WC cycle (as has been discussed in this thread). Once that happened, along with her age and declining ability to compete against both younger and ever-increasingly more talented players both on the USWNT and on other teams, Rapinoe's continuing to believe her media (and self-produced) puffery and expect everyone to believe she was still performing at the level of her early 20s was off-putting. It's doubtful anyone (especially with 20/20 hindsight) believes she was a good choice for this cycle's USWNT. I didn't even bring up her external antics, which she has every right to do -- but I have every right to not agree with her. It has nothing to do with (as mentioned earlier) "misogyny", but rather my personal opinion that representing your country is an honor and if you don't want to do it - don't do it. But, don't *trash* it on a public stage and then still expect not only to represent your country, but to somehow be glorified for it by the very supporters you belittle. Nothing to do with her gender - I'd feel 100% the same way if Christian Pulisic did what she did.
Undeniably both good and bad (as mentioned above). Her performance on the pitch when she was younger (against differently-skilled talent) was very good for the USWNT. Her performance on the pitch against younger and more-talented players was ... "less than" very good.
100% disagree with you, in that I include "mental" (soccer IQ) along with "physical" when talking about player skill. The continued insistence of dribbling directly into defenders and losing the ball was an example of poor mental skill, with the hubris that their physical skill would prevail. Again, 20/20 hindsight is pretty undeniable about that one. Plus, there was a *noticeable* difference in physical skills between this year's USWNT and other teams when looking at passes, crosses, free kicks, etc. Ours just seemed to be underpowered, misplaced, and just "less" all around.
Seems to contradict your previous statement, but I agree with this one.