Reflections on the Past Two Weeks...
...when I was in France. Great wine, great food and the nicest, nicest people. No joke -- I only wish we were so civil here. But in any case...
PSG Violence. My first night in Paris, PSG played Hapoel Tel-Aviv in a UEFA Cup game. They lost 4-2, in a game where captain Pauleta said that some of the players did not deserve to be playing in Paris. Yikes. After the game, there was an altercation between the two sets of fans, which led to an undercover policeman shooting and killing one PSG supporter and critically injuring another. Apparently what happened was that a group of one of PSG's notoriously racist fans (the "Ultras") apparently starting attacking the Tel-Aviv fans. "The mob grew to some 100 people," said state prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin. "The crowd hurled insults -- dirty Jew, dirty nigger -- and monkey cries and raised Nazi salutes," he added. Marin said Granomort (the policeman) had sought to shield one of the fans being attacked and to keep the crowd away using his tear-gas canister. What happened at this point was that the supporters turned to attack the police officer, who I take it is non-white, chanting things like "France for the French." Lovely. One of the attackers hit Granomort on the head and another kicked him in the groin, causing him to fall to the ground, at which point he got out his gun and started shooting.
All French media were consumed by this story for days, with headlines like "When Football Kills." French authorities are investigating and everyone in the country -- as far as I could tell -- were appalled, as indeed they should be. Of course the whole thing is terrible, and sad, and we all know how I feel about racism in football. It's even sadder that this took place in France, which is, with Britain, the only true multi-cultural country in Europe. That said, of course this is not representative of the views of the country as a whole, any more than the Klan is representative of America as a whole. But of course the anti-French sentiment made itself clear in American reportage of the incident. I don't think I can say it any better than this. Grrr.
Cannavoro Controversy. When football media (including in Italy, where it seems they are equally divided between pro and con) weren't occupied with the PSG incident, they were completely engrossed by the Cannavaro-Ballon D'Or controversy, which, whatever. So apparently most people (including me) think the award should have gone to Thierry Henry -- I just don't think a World Cup performance is enough for this award. Henry had a Champions League final AND a World Cup final to brag about. Not to mention a none-too-shabby fall. So that's one part of it. The other part has to do with Cannavaro as role model: a 1999 video, shot by Cannavaro himself in a Moscow hotel room, shows the Parma medical team injecting performance-boosting drugs into the arm of the then 25-year old defender on the eve of Parma’s 3-0 UEFA cup finals win against Olympique Marseille.
My thinking on this is first, let the Henry thing go. It's done, it's awarded, and yes, it's a shame, but let's move on. As to the second, clearly that was team policy -- it's not like Cannavaro was shooting up in an alley somewhere. Can a player go against team policy/his coach? I would imagine not. So let's not blame Cannavaro here, and take a closer look at Italian football, which I am convinced is rotten at the core, in more ways than one.
FIFA World Player of the Year. FIFA announced the finalists for World Player of the Year -- Zidane, Ronaldinho and Cannavaro. My money is on Cannavaro even though we all know who I would pick. Keep your fingers crossed for Zizou. But to be honest, I'm a bit surprised at the choices. WHERE'S HENRY???
Premiere League Angst. Man Utd and Chelsea drew and Arsenal lost to Fulham (thanks for the emails Dave). Fulham!!!! I HATE Man Utd and am sad that it looks like they'll win the League. Plus now they've advanced to the next stage of the Champions League. And I don't know if anyone watched the game against Middlesbrough last Saturday, but...Cristiano. You are really, really talented. You don't need to dive. Cut it out. And Arsenal. Sigh. Dave tells me there is talk of Henry being traded because he is out to injury for a month. WHAT??? Honestly, I get mad just thinking about it. If this happens I'll never, ever forgive you Arsene. I mean, you can't be furious that he didn't win the Ballon D'Or one minute and trade him the next. Plus, there's no way he's not playing against Chelsea. Come on.
In other news, the Dubai government has made an offer to buy Liverpool. The buy, which is being positioned as an "investment," would take place through Dubai International Capital, the international investment arm of Dubai Holding, which is a government-run entity. What up in the Middle East? Are they collecting football clubs? I'm all for free trade and foreign investment, but I don't blame the Brits for chafing -- Fulham, Portsmouth, Man Utd, Chelsea, West Ham, Aston Villa and now this. Imagine how we would feel if the Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bulls, New York Yankees were foreign-owned -- I wouldn't care, but plenty would (er, they're not foriegn-owned, right?).
Thank God. Barcelona made it through to Champions League knock-out round. Let's hope they beat Chelsea AND Man Utd. And Arsenal drew 0-0 with Porto today. Which means they're through. Fuh-ew.
PSG Violence. My first night in Paris, PSG played Hapoel Tel-Aviv in a UEFA Cup game. They lost 4-2, in a game where captain Pauleta said that some of the players did not deserve to be playing in Paris. Yikes. After the game, there was an altercation between the two sets of fans, which led to an undercover policeman shooting and killing one PSG supporter and critically injuring another. Apparently what happened was that a group of one of PSG's notoriously racist fans (the "Ultras") apparently starting attacking the Tel-Aviv fans. "The mob grew to some 100 people," said state prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin. "The crowd hurled insults -- dirty Jew, dirty nigger -- and monkey cries and raised Nazi salutes," he added. Marin said Granomort (the policeman) had sought to shield one of the fans being attacked and to keep the crowd away using his tear-gas canister. What happened at this point was that the supporters turned to attack the police officer, who I take it is non-white, chanting things like "France for the French." Lovely. One of the attackers hit Granomort on the head and another kicked him in the groin, causing him to fall to the ground, at which point he got out his gun and started shooting.
All French media were consumed by this story for days, with headlines like "When Football Kills." French authorities are investigating and everyone in the country -- as far as I could tell -- were appalled, as indeed they should be. Of course the whole thing is terrible, and sad, and we all know how I feel about racism in football. It's even sadder that this took place in France, which is, with Britain, the only true multi-cultural country in Europe. That said, of course this is not representative of the views of the country as a whole, any more than the Klan is representative of America as a whole. But of course the anti-French sentiment made itself clear in American reportage of the incident. I don't think I can say it any better than this. Grrr.
Cannavoro Controversy. When football media (including in Italy, where it seems they are equally divided between pro and con) weren't occupied with the PSG incident, they were completely engrossed by the Cannavaro-Ballon D'Or controversy, which, whatever. So apparently most people (including me) think the award should have gone to Thierry Henry -- I just don't think a World Cup performance is enough for this award. Henry had a Champions League final AND a World Cup final to brag about. Not to mention a none-too-shabby fall. So that's one part of it. The other part has to do with Cannavaro as role model: a 1999 video, shot by Cannavaro himself in a Moscow hotel room, shows the Parma medical team injecting performance-boosting drugs into the arm of the then 25-year old defender on the eve of Parma’s 3-0 UEFA cup finals win against Olympique Marseille.
My thinking on this is first, let the Henry thing go. It's done, it's awarded, and yes, it's a shame, but let's move on. As to the second, clearly that was team policy -- it's not like Cannavaro was shooting up in an alley somewhere. Can a player go against team policy/his coach? I would imagine not. So let's not blame Cannavaro here, and take a closer look at Italian football, which I am convinced is rotten at the core, in more ways than one.
FIFA World Player of the Year. FIFA announced the finalists for World Player of the Year -- Zidane, Ronaldinho and Cannavaro. My money is on Cannavaro even though we all know who I would pick. Keep your fingers crossed for Zizou. But to be honest, I'm a bit surprised at the choices. WHERE'S HENRY???
Premiere League Angst. Man Utd and Chelsea drew and Arsenal lost to Fulham (thanks for the emails Dave). Fulham!!!! I HATE Man Utd and am sad that it looks like they'll win the League. Plus now they've advanced to the next stage of the Champions League. And I don't know if anyone watched the game against Middlesbrough last Saturday, but...Cristiano. You are really, really talented. You don't need to dive. Cut it out. And Arsenal. Sigh. Dave tells me there is talk of Henry being traded because he is out to injury for a month. WHAT??? Honestly, I get mad just thinking about it. If this happens I'll never, ever forgive you Arsene. I mean, you can't be furious that he didn't win the Ballon D'Or one minute and trade him the next. Plus, there's no way he's not playing against Chelsea. Come on.
In other news, the Dubai government has made an offer to buy Liverpool. The buy, which is being positioned as an "investment," would take place through Dubai International Capital, the international investment arm of Dubai Holding, which is a government-run entity. What up in the Middle East? Are they collecting football clubs? I'm all for free trade and foreign investment, but I don't blame the Brits for chafing -- Fulham, Portsmouth, Man Utd, Chelsea, West Ham, Aston Villa and now this. Imagine how we would feel if the Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bulls, New York Yankees were foreign-owned -- I wouldn't care, but plenty would (er, they're not foriegn-owned, right?).
Thank God. Barcelona made it through to Champions League knock-out round. Let's hope they beat Chelsea AND Man Utd. And Arsenal drew 0-0 with Porto today. Which means they're through. Fuh-ew.
posted by FabFour at 4:37 PM
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