Soccer is having a really bad run with immortalizing its stars. Meet the next victim of bad plaque depictions: Two-time World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brandi Chastain, who struck one of the most iconic poses in U.S. Women's National Team history after hitting the winning penalty kick in the 1999 World Cup final at the Rose Bowl. Chastain was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame on Monday, and people noticed that something was a little ... off.
For the record, Chastain looks like this:
Her bronze plaque, on the other hand, does not.
Brandi Chastain is one of the most beautiful athletes I’ve ever covered. How this became her plaque is a freaking embarrassment for BASHOF. Makes Cristiano’s look perfect. pic.twitter.com/hta6c0cmSo
— Ann Killion (@annkillion) May 22, 2018
And here's Chastain standing next to the plaque while being honored Monday night.
this Brandi Chastain plaque is worse than the Ronaldo bust pic.twitter.com/aXkORLREZj
— Jack Grimse (@JackGrimse) May 22, 2018
Ann Killion's words are the ones that adorn the plaque. She's clearly not pleased with the result. The Cristiano Ronaldo bust at the Cristiano Ronaldo Airport is, of course, the first one that everyone thinks of when they see bad depictions, but this one just might take the cake.
Some of the all-time great Cristiano Ronaldo moments pic.twitter.com/57Tx9VhbUm
— B/R Football (@brfootball) March 29, 2017
Ronaldo's bust looked like someone took Ronaldo and made him into an "Ed, Edd and Eddy" character, but it retained his core features. Chastain's plaque makes her look like Dolores Umbridge's stunt double. Other people had plenty of feelings about what Chastain's plaque looked like, and not all of them were as kind as mine.
Is that ... Bob Kraft?! https://t.co/ENJIqx2GKY
— Igor Mello (@SuperIgor) May 22, 2018
Looks more like president Jimmy Carter to me. How do these “artists” get these commissions?
— Aure Santiago Jr. 🇵🇷 (@aurejr408) May 22, 2018
Is that Biff Tannen? pic.twitter.com/5gDTsPcRgW
— Pavlos Rozis (@PavlosRozis) May 22, 2018
— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) May 22, 2018
— E for Eric (@AngerE) May 22, 2018
I don't know about Brandi Chastain, but they nailed Mickey Rooney. pic.twitter.com/wfSb7irMbx
— Jason Davis, The ⚽📻 Maker (@davisjsn) May 22, 2018
Two great goal scorers... pic.twitter.com/IDxIbVYkVO
— Tim McDonough (@mcdonough23) May 22, 2018
Wow, so how did an overeager Rex Ryan land on a plaque?
— Tim Ryan (@TheSportsHernia) May 22, 2018
Spoiler Alert: He didn’t. What in THE hell is this?
Whoever‘s responsible needs to be fully investigated. (h/t @annkillion) pic.twitter.com/qxYf0F43A1
If you've ever wondered what Bill Belichick smiling up from a sewer grate would look like, look no further than the Hall of Fame plaque of Brandi Chastain: https://t.co/qowKsEoHEq pic.twitter.com/ofUXNvDo5a
— Jay Busbee (@jaybusbee) May 22, 2018
Since when does Brandi Chastain look like Gary Busey? pic.twitter.com/7qGmZnVBoQ
— Vince Quinn: OTA Obsessive (@ItsVinceQuinn) May 22, 2018
This plaque looks like a lot of people. It does not look like Brandi Chastain. Chastain was gracious in saying that some liberties might have been taken with her appearance. "It's not the most flattering," she said at the reception,via the Mercury News. "But it's nice."
Immortalizing someone in bronze is tough, and no one is denying that. According to Yahoo Sports, the Hall of Fame has agreed to redo the plaque. While the vice president of finance and administration for BASHOF, Anthony Savicke, said that the plaques are meant to be "representations" rather than photographic likenesses, per the Mercury News, it would be nice to at least have it be a likeness.