The match against Mallorca today was just absolutely devastating to watch. Frank Rijkaard deserves better, but it reminded me of a bullfight. At the end, no matter what happens, you know the bull's going to die. The optimism (and, with it, the disappointment) of the last couple of seasons had just vanished for me and, it seems, for the club. Even when they went up 2-0, it was tense. You could just feel that they were going to lose. Fans had been whistling at Eto'o and after he scored, he angrily kicked the ball into the net twice more, then waved to the crowd with a scowl firmly planted on his face. There was no joy there, not even though they were ahead 2-0. Not from anybody, and it just seemed so obvious that they were going to collapse. Then, 1 goal, 2 goals from Mallorca in the space of 3 minutes. A third in extra time, just after Barcelona had blown two good chances and just after Edmilson had been sent off in what could only be the most fitting way that the man responsible for the "black sheep" remarks earlier this year to end his career at the Camp Nou.
A third, and the look of heartbreak on Rijkaard's face was shared with the team and the fans, but the loneliness was his own. Out came the white handkerchiefs, which took on a sort of cruelty they hadn't had before. They used to say come on, you're better than this. Just score! Just win! Now, it was clear, so long you rotton bastard, who can't even manage a win against a mid-table mediocrity in his last match at home. So long, you bastard. It's not that he didn't try. It's not that he wanted to lose.
Cruelly, Barcelona fell pray to the same disease that had crippled Real Madrid in such horribly recent memory. All the stars in the world don't make the best team, and if Thierry Henry wasn't the problem, then Ronaldinho was. If not Ronaldinho, then Eto'o. If not Eto'o, maybe Marquez or Puyol or Yaya. Somewhere, at some point, Barca lost the spirit of the side that rose to the top of Europe (my God, was it only two years ago?) and gained nothing but a whole lot of t-shirt sales. Is that Frank Rijkaard's fault? Maybe. Who cares about the last game of the season, though, with nothing to play for but 3rd place? We, Barcelona fans, can only hope that Pep Guardiola can bring the same kind of passion for the beauty and art of football at its finest that Rijkaard did, and manage somehow to convince multi-million dollar shaving cream spokesman athletes that the pride in playing for a club with UNICEF across the shirt is more important than the number of minutes they get, or the likelihood that they'll get to be on the cover of FIFA 09.
Showing posts with label football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label football. Show all posts
5.11.2008
11.06.2007
Sunday Afternoon is the new Friday Night
I do not like American Football but I know it. This is an advantage when it comes to betting, because I have no emotional attachment to any Team or Player. The only exception to this rule is a vicious and brutal hatred for the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots, but I bet on both of them on Sunday and won, so the lesson is clear.
I gave 2-1 on the Patriots and 5.5 points on the Cowboys and I was confident enough to have doubled either bet, which almost came back to bite me with New England but never with Dallas. Hubris got the best of me in the Cowboys/Eagles game, though, because I gave 28 points when they were up 38-10 and lost what I would have won on the original bet. So, another lesson learned. One I should've learned from Beowulf but evidently did not.
Zakis felt good about the Eagles bet from the beginning. I offered to double the bet for 10 points after the Eagles went up 7-0 but he wavered and I backed out. I should've known, though. Tony Romo is a movie star and a below average quarterback on a very good team, the Joe Namath of his day, and Wade Phillips is a perpetual malcontent with no history of winning at anything. But the defense, especially the secondary, is a highly trained killing machine. Terence Newman is like the stealth bomber, only more deadly, and Roy Williams is the first player in recent memory to have a whole rule invented to prevent the kind of ugly and efficient slaughter he routinely hands out on hapless backs and receivers. Finally, of course, Terrell Owens is a madman with an axe to grind and if you can't ever really trust him, you should always fear him. Some days, he'll bowl over every pathetic and scared cornerback in the league and some days, he'll try and overdose on pain pills and then blame the whole thing on his publicist or Bill Parcells. I would never suggest relying on him, especially in the long term, but he gives you a pretty good contrast to Romo and Phillips because it seems like the only thing he cares about is destroying everything that's in his way. For his teammates and coaches, this can be deadly, because sometimes he thinks that they are the ones in his way. But, when he doesn't, I don't know what teammate I'd rather have.
I was counting on Owens being in deadly form when I made that 28 point bet with Zakis, who I knew would take it because he's a gambling addict and a man who Likes Football. I don't think he was relying on the shifty apathy of Wade Phillips, but that's what I was wary of, and that's what lost me the bet. This is why the Cowboys will not win the Super Bowl this year. They have the talent, and nothing would make me happier than watching Roy Williams horse collar Randy Moss in the Big Game, but Phillips is a loser and Romo is a maricon. They have No Chance.
Anyway, American Football is unspeakably boring under normal conditions for anyone with the attention span of an adult, but fun to watch if you fill yourself up with enough wine, cigarettes and marijuana and also have some money riding on the thing. I highly recommend spending some Sunday afternoons this way, and if you can find some place that also shows Premiership, La Liga and Serie A matches, then you should be in regular heaven, as long as you don't have any emotional attachments to outcomes. Never Bet On Your Own Team. It is crushing enough to watch your team lose without knowing you will be hurt financially because of it, and it distorts the purity of your team winning if you're partly excited because of Avarice. That's a deadly sin, you know, though I don't think it's one of the commandments. Either way, there's a circle of Hell for people like me, and probably you, but don't worry because there's no such thing as Hell.
What a fun way to start the thing. Maybe I'll talk about the election next, or baseball. Those are, at least, things I care about for some reason besides $$$.
I gave 2-1 on the Patriots and 5.5 points on the Cowboys and I was confident enough to have doubled either bet, which almost came back to bite me with New England but never with Dallas. Hubris got the best of me in the Cowboys/Eagles game, though, because I gave 28 points when they were up 38-10 and lost what I would have won on the original bet. So, another lesson learned. One I should've learned from Beowulf but evidently did not.
Zakis felt good about the Eagles bet from the beginning. I offered to double the bet for 10 points after the Eagles went up 7-0 but he wavered and I backed out. I should've known, though. Tony Romo is a movie star and a below average quarterback on a very good team, the Joe Namath of his day, and Wade Phillips is a perpetual malcontent with no history of winning at anything. But the defense, especially the secondary, is a highly trained killing machine. Terence Newman is like the stealth bomber, only more deadly, and Roy Williams is the first player in recent memory to have a whole rule invented to prevent the kind of ugly and efficient slaughter he routinely hands out on hapless backs and receivers. Finally, of course, Terrell Owens is a madman with an axe to grind and if you can't ever really trust him, you should always fear him. Some days, he'll bowl over every pathetic and scared cornerback in the league and some days, he'll try and overdose on pain pills and then blame the whole thing on his publicist or Bill Parcells. I would never suggest relying on him, especially in the long term, but he gives you a pretty good contrast to Romo and Phillips because it seems like the only thing he cares about is destroying everything that's in his way. For his teammates and coaches, this can be deadly, because sometimes he thinks that they are the ones in his way. But, when he doesn't, I don't know what teammate I'd rather have.
I was counting on Owens being in deadly form when I made that 28 point bet with Zakis, who I knew would take it because he's a gambling addict and a man who Likes Football. I don't think he was relying on the shifty apathy of Wade Phillips, but that's what I was wary of, and that's what lost me the bet. This is why the Cowboys will not win the Super Bowl this year. They have the talent, and nothing would make me happier than watching Roy Williams horse collar Randy Moss in the Big Game, but Phillips is a loser and Romo is a maricon. They have No Chance.
Anyway, American Football is unspeakably boring under normal conditions for anyone with the attention span of an adult, but fun to watch if you fill yourself up with enough wine, cigarettes and marijuana and also have some money riding on the thing. I highly recommend spending some Sunday afternoons this way, and if you can find some place that also shows Premiership, La Liga and Serie A matches, then you should be in regular heaven, as long as you don't have any emotional attachments to outcomes. Never Bet On Your Own Team. It is crushing enough to watch your team lose without knowing you will be hurt financially because of it, and it distorts the purity of your team winning if you're partly excited because of Avarice. That's a deadly sin, you know, though I don't think it's one of the commandments. Either way, there's a circle of Hell for people like me, and probably you, but don't worry because there's no such thing as Hell.
What a fun way to start the thing. Maybe I'll talk about the election next, or baseball. Those are, at least, things I care about for some reason besides $$$.
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