Cornered and kicked

So the United States Soccer Federation says it does so treat the women right, that they get health benefits and stuff, and that the U.S. women bringing a wage discrimination suit are out of line to do so, because U.S. Soccer pays the American women more than most countries' pay their women.

On the other hand, look what day it is.

April Fool's Day does seem the perfect time for all the aforementioned nonsense, because none of it gets to the very simple and essential issue behind the women's suit: If you do equal work, you should get equal pay. Especially if it's you, and not the men, who are the face of U.S. soccer.

Don't think so?

Fine. Round up 10 random people. See how many members of the U.S. women's national team they can name. Then see how many members of the U.S. men's national team they can name. Guarantee you they can name more women than men.

And granted, that's primarily because the women's side won the World Cup last summer, and because it's been one of the top national sides in the world for some 20 years. The men, on the other hand, are still trying to gain a foothold in the World Cup medal round. It's why the men generally operate in the red while the women are the moneymakers for U.S. soccer.

This was particularly true last year, when the women generated close to $20 million more in revenue than the men did for U.S. soccer. And yet they were paid roughly four times less, despite doing the same work and being much more successful in doing so.

Which, in a true meritocracy, would mean they would be getting paid more than the men, not less.

Yet USSF's response, is, "Yeah, but we still pay you more than most countries do, and you get better benefits than the men."

Sorry, folks, but that's irrelevant. Again: Equal work, equal pay. That's it. That's the only issue here. If you do the same job the men do, you should get paid the same. Period, end of story.

And no foolin'.