Carli Lloyd, the gilded soccer legend, can finish her brilliant athletic career however she wants. Try NFL place kicking? Sure. Go for it. She could make history. She could miss every attempt. Some meathead with a tough-guy agenda could flatten her one time. No matter how it ends, she’s still the great Carli Lloyd.
As the 37-year-old Lloyd considers the possibility of one new and final challenge in sports, the intrigue shouldn’t be limited to the gender experiment, to what a high-profile woman could do in a man’s game. That’s the obvious hook, and if Lloyd were to thrive, it would be a landmark achievement for female athletic empowerment.