There were grins and there were cheers, big gold bottles of champagne and of course that swirling gold trophy, hoisted up in the air by Megan Rapinoe and then passed to Alex Morgan, who cradled it with deference.
By every metric, the U.S. Women's National team descended on their Battery Park hotel on Monday as the brash and jubilant World Cup champions who seized global attention this last month.
But when they spoke _ and the members of this team, led by Rapinoe, have never been afraid to speak _ they reflected another aspect of their communal personality: ambassadors and activists, and still very intent on using this World Cup victory as leverage for equal pay for women soccer players.
