The United State’s Women’s National Team continued its victory tour at the 2019 ESPYS Wednesday night, where NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had the pleasure of meeting star forward Megan Rapinoe. Abdul-Jabbar took to Instagram to document the meet-up.
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In the photo, Abdul-Jabbar towers over Rapinoe, who is smiling and pointing at him, and her girlfriend, WNBA player Sue Bird.
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“It was a pleasure meeting [Megan Rapinoe] at the #espys,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote in the caption of the photo. “Keep up the good work!”
He also shared a photo of himself shaking hands with Bird while Rapinoe watched on with a smile on her face and her hand on her heart.
Plenty of fans gushed over the photos, taking to the comments section to react. “Legends,” one commenter wrote. “Champion recognize champion,” another said. “Goats come in all shapes and sizes,” someone else wrote.
Rapinoe made headlines earlier in the day for her impassioned speech about empowerment at the culmination of the ticker-tape parade celebrating the soccer team’s second consecutive (and fourth total) Women’s World Cup title. In her speech, the 34-year-old thanked supporters and charged everyone to be better.
“This is my charge to everyone: We have to be better,” she said. “We have to love more, hate less. We gotta listen more and talk less. We gotta know that this is everybody’s responsibility. Every single person here. Every single person who’s 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.”
Ahead of the parade, she called out President Donald Trump during an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, saying that Trump’s “message is excluding people.” She also reaffirmed her position on any potential White House visit, saying, “I would not go to the White House, and every teammate I’ve talked with won’t go either.”
During the ESPYs, Rapinoe’s USWNT teammate Alex Morgan took home the award for Best Female Athlete, joking that it was the “second-best trophy” she won this week.
“Sorry but this is probably the second-best trophy we won this week,” she started her acceptance speech to big cheers from the audience.
“Thank you all so much and congratulations to all the incredibly talented nominees and powerful women in this category,” she continued. “I think about the greats who have won this award in the past and I’m just so honored to follow in their amazing footsteps, they have not only won championships and countless records, but were an inspiration to so many, including me, as they dreamt of playing the sport that they loved.
“As athletes, we try to surround ourselves with the best people to help lift us up and make this journey possible, and I’m so fortunate to have that in my life,” Morgan added.
She thanked her teammates, her family and her husband, Servando Carrasco, calling him her ultimate teammate. She ended her speech by thanking ESPN for the award and for investing in a television deal for the professional soccer league, allowing many more audiences to tune in for the games.
“Investment in women and girls should not only occur on the playing field, but in more storytelling of badass, amazing women who continue to show that we are more than just athletes,” she concluded.
