U.S. Women's Soccer Team Honored at New York City Hall; Megan Rapinoe Speaks to Fans in New York City.
BOLDUAN: Welcome back, everybody. Megan Rapinoe, co-captain, the woman of the hour, is speaking now to fans in lower Manhattan.</s>MEGAN RAPINOE, U.S. WOMEN'S SOCCER PLAYER: Let's go, New York City!</s>RAPINOE: I see you all right here. I see everyone in the distance as well. Hello back there!</s>RAPINOE: This is crazy. This is absolutely insane. Such at a loss for words. I mean I'll find them, don't worry.</s>RAPINOE: Everybody. Give them a clap.</s>CHEERING) RAPINOE: This group is so resilient, is so tough, has such a sense of humor, is just so bad ass.</s>RAPINOE: Like, there's nothing, nothing that can faze this group. We're chillin'. We've got tea sipping. We've got celebrations.</s>RAPINOE: We have pink hair and purple hair. We have tattoos and dreadlocks.</s>RAPINOE: We've got white girls and black girls, and everything in between.</s>RAPINOE: Straight girls and gay girls.</s>RAPINOE: Hey!</s>RAPINOE: I couldn't be more proud to be a co-captain with Carli and Alex with this team.</s>RAPINOE: It's my absolute honor to lead this team out on the field. There's no other place that I would rather be, even in the presidential race.</s>RAPINOE: I'm busy, I'm sorry. To the staff, to the coaching staff, the technical staff, to the medical staff, to the support staff, to the massage therapists, to the videographers</s>RAPINOE: To the chef. Chef T!</s>RAPINOE: To our security, to our media people, thank you so much. You make our jobs so easy. We don't have to focus on anything other than what we have to do on the field. Thank you for that. To the federation, Carlos, thank you. You were incredible this World Cup. I know that you got a little stick when you were up here, a couple chants. I think that's a sign of affection, though, right? Everybody gets booed. Everybody in a position of power gets booed.</s>RAPINOE: I'm going to stick my neck out there a little bit, and I'm going to endorse Carlos. I think he's with us. I think he's on the right side of things. I think he's going to make things right.</s>RAPINOE: He's proven -- he's proven every day since he's been in office for us that he's with us. He was with us every single day of the World Cup. Not only from just a personal standpoint, how much that means to us, but just from an outlook standpoint and all the eyes looking in, this man was there. He was in the tunnel every single game. He was celebrating every single game. We appreciate that. Thank you.</s>RAPINOE: We look forward to holding those feet to the fire.</s>RAPINOE: To the mayor's office, Bill De Blasio, this is our second time around. And your beautiful wife. Thank you for hosting us. Also to the governor. Cuomo is how you pronounce it, right? Thank you so much for hosting us. To the NYPD, to the fire department here, to everyone that made this happen, thank you so much. This is not possible without everyone.</s>RAPINOE: We really do appreciate all that it takes to shut down the biggest, best city in the world.</s>RAPINOE: For the biggest, best team in the world.</s>RAPINOE: Thank you for that. That means the world to us. I think I'll just end with this. This is my charge to everyone. We have to be better. We have to love more, hate less. We've got to listen more and talk less. We've got to know that this is everybody's responsibility, every single person here, every single person who is not here, every single person who doesn't want to be here, every single person who agrees and doesn't agree, it's our responsibility to make this world a better place. I think this team does an incredible job of taking that on our shoulders and understanding the position that we have and the platform that we have within this world. Yes, we play sports. Yes, we play soccer. Yes, we're female athletes. But we're so much more than that. You're so much more than that.</s>RAPINOE: You're more than a fan. You're more than someone who just supports sports. You're more than someone who tunes in every four years. You're someone who walks these streets every single day. You interact with your community every single day. How do you make your community better? How do you make the people around you better? Your family? Your closest friends, the 10 closest people to you, the 20 closest people to you, the most hundred people closest to you? It's every single person's responsibility. There's been so much contention in these last years. I've been a victim of that. I've been a perpetrator of that. But to the federation, sorry for some of things I said.</s>RAPINOE: New York City, you're the mother</s>BOLDUAN: All right. So that's Megan Rapinoe and that's live TV. Apologies. We cannot control Megan Rapinoe's speech. But Christine Brennan is here with me as they're going to be getting the keys to the city right now. I feel like I -- well, I have never seen anything like this before.</s>CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: No, I would agree. And when people talk about her running for office, you can see how comfortable she is, how funny. I'm busy, she says.</s>BOLDUAN: I'm sorry, I'm busy.</s>BRENNAN: But the battle to have her endorse will be extraordinary in the Democratic primary, to have her on stage for a candidate. We'll see how that plays out. But also --</s>BOLDUAN: And what -- she also took -- and something you noted to me, which is just the diversity of this team, the closeness of this team. And that was something that she very appropriately is celebrating, celebrating on stage in that speech.</s>BRENNAN: Well, that team looks a lot more like America than the 1999 team. Obviously, soccer started, women's and girls soccer started in the suburbs. Title IX has been a huge success in our suburbs. Not so much in urban areas or rural areas. But this team has a handful of women who are multi-racial. It has, as Megan you said, gay women, straight women, women who are married to women, women who are married to men. And it is -- again, it is much more of a -- the picture of the fabric of the country.</s>BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And what a morning it has been. What a show to watch. What a celebration to witness. Thanks so much for joining me, Christine. It was great to see you.</s>BRENNAN: Thank you.</s>BOLDUAN: Thank you all for joining us today. Much more after a quick break.