Article here. Excerpt:

'In the wake of the U.S. women’s soccer team losing the World Cup final to Japan last weekend, Bryant Gumbel of HBO Sports asked: “Can we stop coddling women in sports? Are we now so fearful of being labelled sexist that we can’t objectively assess the efforts of female athletes?”

Most [male] American reporters did adopt the ‘Gee, they-kick-the-ball-pretty-well-for-girls’ approach, dodging serious criticism of the U.S. players dropping the WC Final. Others followed Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press, extolling the high calibre of the tournament, saying he’s now a convert to women’s soccer. Few besides Gumbel ripped the team for allowing the underdog Japanese to win - a distinction they shared with Japan’s other victims, it might be added.

“Had a men’s team turned in a similar performance,” Gumbel said on the season premiere of HBO’s Real Sports, “papers and pundits nationwide would have had a field day assailing the players, criticizing the coach, and demanding widespread changes to a men’s national team that flat-out choked. Yet the common reactions to this ladies’ loss were simply expressions of empathy for the defeat of the unfortunate darlings and pride in their oh-so-heroic effort.”'