BOSTON — "You only live once," she said this week. "I'm not getting any younger. Anything to try and help the sport grow. I think it's all been very positive."
The 31-year-old soccer star, who moonlights as a sideline reporter and model, has been the face of the Boston Breakers this season. Mitts, a two-time Olympic Gold medalist who was forced to miss the World Cup in 2003 and 2007 due to injuries, has been featured in photo spreads in Boston Magazine and the Improper Bostonian.
It's pretty basic stuff for Mitts, who has appeared in Maxim, FHM, Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue — with her future fiance, Philadelphia Eagles backup quarterback A.J. Feeley — and was voted ESPN.com's Sexiest Female Athlete in 2004.
"I just need to do what's best for me," said Mitts, who previously dated baseball star Pat Burrell and tennis star James Blake. "I'm enjoying it."
Mitts, a 5-foot-5 defender, doesn't think she's pushing the boundaries of taste. But she knows she must protect her image.
"I've turned down Playboy two times now," she said frankly. "I don't think that would be positive being that I am a role model. (I'm) just trying to make the right choice and have fun at the same time.
"You just try to make the best choices. I'm not going to make everybody happy."
Mitts, a Cincinnati native, is enjoying herself here so far. She has an apartment in Cambridge and makes the short commute to Harvard Stadium every day for practice. The Breakers (5-4-3) are in second place in Women's Professional Soccer. In the midst of its inaugural season, the seven-team league is America's foray into women's professional soccer since the Women's United Soccer Association folded in 2003.
"This time around we're just being a little smarter about everything," said Mitts, an All-American who helped lead the University of Florida to a national title in 1998. "We're not starting big, we're starting small. We're making sure that this league's going to be around."
Salaries, transportation, lodging — "We're not staying at Westins anymore," Mitts said. — have been scaled back.
The promotional part, she said, isn't so difficult for her. After all, she's used to it.
"It's part of the job," said Mitts, a spokesman and model for Under Armour's new ''recovery suits," which helps athletes recover after workouts.
ESPN and beyond
Mitts spent the 2005 season covering college football for ESPN and served as an analyst for the network during its coverage of the women's World Cup in 2003 and 2007. Whenever her soccer career comes to a close, she'll have something to fall back on.
Mitts isn't sure when that will be.
"(I have) no idea," said Mitts, whose father Don, a cardiac surgeon, played basketball for Adolph Rupp at Kentucky. "I haven't played in a World Cup yet, so I would love to."
WPS, she said, will be a boon to American soccer.
"I think that's what we need (for) the national team in order to continue to grow and to create a larger player pool," Mitts said.
For now, she's focused on the Breakers' season, which runs through August.
"I was really excited to come here," Mitts said. "It's a great sports town. Our reception here has been amazing."
There's little doubt you'll see her on more magazine covers in the future. As she said, "it's part of the job."
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