First sports related post

First sports related post

So I have had this blog going for a few months now and something has just occurred to me. I don’t think that I have once mentioned a single thing sports related, certainly at least not a whole post. I guess today is going to be my very first one. Add to that that my first sports post is going to be about ahemmmm SOCCER of all things, and I would suggest somebody, anybody, call the pope. Tell him to take the next few days, weeks, months off. Why you ask? Because, for either of these two things to be true is VERY unlikely. For BOTH to be true though, that is a clear and undeniable sign that OBVIOUSLY hell has indeed FROZEN over!

I found myself here today actually watching the final of the world cup being played between France and Italy. Prior to this year’s world cup I had not watched 20 minutes of soccer in my entire 37 year old life. I have watched a good bit of it this year though and while I don’t think I will ever ‘get’ the infatuation the rest of the world sees for this game I guess I can appreciate it a bit more if nothing else.

First, let me preface this post by saying the following. You can take everything that I know about ahemmmm soccer.,,,,,,what’s that? Football you say???? Bahhhh humbug!
I hereby take this opportunity to use my ‘stuck up American thinks everything should be done America's way card’ for the first and hopefully last time. I refuse to refer to it as “FOOTBALL”. I know, I know, all they use in this game is feet so it should be football….

I know,,,, in our game we kick it, throw it, catch it, and everything else so it isn’t ‘football’….

Blah blah blah! If you think you are going to confuse the issue by bringing up facts, and making good points fuhhhhgeddddaboud it!

It is soccer! Lol

Anyways, as I was saying, let me preface this post by freely admitting to NOT being an expert on soccer, quite the contrary in fact. I have been to numerous, baseball, football, basketball games in my life and always chuckle at the lady two seats behind us leaning over to ask her husband something along the lines of “which color jerseys are we rooting for?’ In the interest of full disclosure and admitting my ignorance, I will say I AM soccer’s version of that lady. In the interest of full disclosure and further admittance to my ignorance I will say

EVERYTHING I know about soccer

Can be written in crayon on the inside of a matchbook…..

By a 3 year old first learning how to write…….

Six times…..

And still have plenty of room left over to draw a picture.

Ask me to name 5 soccer players, and even now after watching quite a bit of this world cup I couldn’t do it. Lets see, Ronaldino, Pele, Landon Donovan, Alexi lalas, and Zinedine Zidane. Well I guess I did get five but that’s it, that is all I can come up with.
Even as a soccer moron I have heard of this guy Zinedine Zidane(grossly misspelled before looking it up and coming here to edit). I have heard all about him this year and how he is retiring at the end of this world cup. From what I can gather he is among the elite of all time soccer players in history. I don’t know if that is true or not, but just the fact that I HAVE heard of him and he is NOT American (like lalas, and Donovan above) tells me that it most likely is true.

So here I am watching the match. Here is Zidane and his team in the middle of the finals, quite possibly on the verge of overtime. Here is this legendary player that even I have heard of. He is the captain of his team, on the verge of retirement. Here he is with a chance to go out on top and cement his legacy by bringing his team the world cup title. What does he do? He blatantly head buts another player in the chest, with little or no provocation whatsoever and gets kicked out of the game. Maybe the guy said something to him to provoke him, but even if he said 'your mamma wears combat boots' it doesn't excuse getting kicked out of the game.

Perhaps I am over stating things a bit because I don’t know a lot about soccer. However, the fact that I have heard of him alone tells me this guy is of the stature of Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Walter Payton, or Dale Earnhardt.

Remember Michael Jordan? You remember him leading his team to the championship by sinking countless game winning shots in the closing seconds? Imagine him being remembered instead for a moment of stupidity where he throws the ball at a competitor and gets kicked out of the last game. His team goes on to lose the championship without him. Congratulations Zidane that is what you accomplished today.

Remember Dale Earnhardt, blocking the way for his son or teammate to win the Daytona 500? Remember him ultimately crashing and dying as a result? Now imagine instead, him in that same race losing his cool and intentionally crashing into someone ending both of their races. Neither his son nor teammate ends up winning the race. Congratulations Zidane, THAT is what you have accomplished today.

Remember Walter Payton after years of struggling to lead the bears to the NFL title finally succeeding in doing so? Remember him going on to break the all time rushing record? Remember him fighting liver disease (I think that is what it was) and eventually dying from this? Imagine instead, Walter Payton, getting drunk the night before the super bowl and his team losing as a result of him not being there. Congratulations Zidane, THAT is what you accomplished today.

Remember Babe Ruth? Arguably even today considered the greatest baseball player to ever live? Remember him being traded from the Red sox to the Yankees? I know all of us Red sox fans do. Remember him going on to lead the hated Yankees to countless pennants, and World Series titles? Imagine, instead him punching a wall during a game, breaking his hand and having miss the rest of the season if not career. Congratulations Zidane THAT is what you accomplished today.

A chance to be a hero,
A legend,
To be remembered for all time for something great. Not just there in France, but world wide.

To be remembered along the likes of Jordan, Earnhardt,Ruth......

Instead you were in the locker room while your team was in a shoot out...

Instead you will be remembered along with the likes of Stanley wilson, Bill Buckner, and Mitch williams.

Instead you are the goat and will be forever remembered as such.

Not even worth the 2 minutes it would take me to go back and correctly change all my misspellings of “Zadane” to ‘Zidane”

I will do it anyways, but only because i am far to anal to do otherwise.

Congratulations Zidane THAT is what you accomplished or didn't accomplish today.


tags:world cup,bartender,zidine,soccer