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* This is the last time I’ll write on WPS for a while, I swear. Unless SI hires me to do “The Marta Experiment” or something.

American citizens pay more attention when Lady Gaga burps on television than when New Jersey’s Sky Blue FC wins the WPS championship. So I’m not alone in my doubts about WPS’s staying power. Media, even local media surrounding many WPS teams, largely ignored the league all year. The Los Angeles Sol and Sky Blue FC played the final at the Home Depot Center in front of a little over 7,000 fans, less than half the number that attended the league’s opening game at the same venue. According to the New York Times, “no teams came close to turning a profit.” All of this doesn’t bode well for the league’s philosophy of “slow growth.”

I root for the league in the same way I root for under-appreciated bluegrass bands or rappers. Obscured from the public eye, the league depends mostly on its grassroots community appeal: on ticket sales, camp revenue, and community events. The league treads a thin line between professionalism and amateurism. On the field, it’s professional; it’s the best women’s soccer I’ve ever seen. Off the field, however, the players are amateurs in the sense that playing soccer is not all that they do. Many have other jobs, at least in coaching. Some are considering other career paths. Some are moms. Players will stay after games to sign every autograph of every grinning fan. This is all unusual in professional sports.

Like minor league baseball, WPS is probably full of Hollywood-caliber stories that media ignores. Christie Rampone’s story is one of the few that got any serious ink this year. After a replacement coach quit, Rampone took over as player-coach of Sky Blue FC. This was right after she had surgery for a ruptured ovarian cyst. Rampone helped lead her team, last place after eight games, to the championship over the most dominant team in the league throughout the season, the Los Angeles Sol. And she just turned down a call-up to the national team because is three-months pregnant. Forget the pregnancy part, this sort of story wouldn’t happen in many other leagues, including MLS. It’s a heart-warming example of the sort of thrift and dedication that drives the league.

It got me thinking: If WPS can’t compete as purely a soccer product in the sports arena, then maybe it can compete or even win in the one arena that it does have the advantage: humanity, or emotion. I’m not trying to patronize the league. As a league unspoiled by the screens necessarily erected by big-money professional sports – the media coverage and endorsement deals that suffocate players’ true personalities and interactions with fans – WPS has the unique opportunity to let fans in on the drama, the ups and downs of life as a professional athlete.

Actually, it might be more of a necessity. The league realizes that access serves as one of its best selling points. It encourages open communication between players and fans, even allowing players to Tweet during games. But how much can the league peel back the curtain without sacrificing its own professional integrity? Before marketing ploys look pitiful and desperate instead of engaging? I’m not sure. It’s a thin line. But I know the league should test that line’s tension in the coming year if it wants to start grabbing new fans and make any money.

As Rampone said: “Hopefully we can get the word out about the league. We need to spend a little more time in the community and start selling the league a little better on the players’ side. I think we did a great job on the field, but now it’s just a little more mindful in getting the work done off the field.”

Is it too early for bake sales? How about a reality TV series? I’m serious about both.◊

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