Still Thinking…

Before you read this, let’s agree on some things.

We agree soccer is NOT politics. When a green field is filled with 22 men chasing a rounded, leather ball made possibly in sweatshops in Pakistan, then no, soccer is NOT politics. Those national flags that people use to wave with the widest arc ever made by their arms, more so than they would do while exercising (never mind the ligament stretching achingly the next day), is NOT politics. When one of the world’s largest sportsgear-maker flashes a multi-million dollar ad, with a developing country backyard as the setting and top players from various countries, not to say multiple hair-colours shooting the ball for an 8 year-old captain, no it is NOT politics. It is just merely a feel-good advertisement about how far-reaching and ubiquitous soccer is. Right.

What IS political about soccer is the Italian team. As if it is not bad enough that soccer players tumble and scream when all they get is a mere knock on the knee, the Italians just HAD to carry it one notch further. Watch them. A usual tumble in soccerdom would be a double bodyroll for them, a typical holler for the team medic would include head-dives into the grass, if you don’t know what the meaning of ‘drama’ is – please, watch the Italians play.

I caught the Italy-Australia game this morning, in a crowded A & W with DH, gobbling our breakfast all at the same time. There were at least 40 people there watching the game too, and they didnt even order anything! The Aussies faught hard, and for that – I quietly cheered “Ozzy Ozzy Ozzy, Oi Oi Oi !” for them. Something I picked up unashamedly while in Sydney for the 2000 Olympics, complete with an Australian flag tattooed on my cheek. But that’s another story.

If you didnt catch it, the only reason why Italy won is because some a** faked a super-drama fall and the referee called for a penalty kick, during injury-time. Why on earth would a a world-class referee fall for the drama, I don’t know. It was so obvious that the Italian player was faking it. The win was an undeserved one, every sane person with a pair of good eyes can see that.

So it irritates me like crazy when 4 truckloads of Italian fans drove past Robson St (similar to Singapore’s Orchard Road) screaming, honking and even running alongside them, as if they just had secured the best win and played the best game ever. Each truck of fans have not one, but FOUR Italian flags waved from left to right, not to mention painted faces of red, white and green. With all the commotion outside, AG, who was drawing charts on a piece of paper while discussing the strategies to access Canadian television funds, was undeterred. He had to raise his voice, but in true Canadian fashion – was not impressed by the err…drama outside.

You know, if soccer players can just spare 3 minutes of their lives and play on the ice, hockey stick in hand – they will finally learn what it means by a sports injury. And btw, let’s see what happens if they fake an injury after a mere ‘touch’ during a tackle in ice hockey, and I hope to God they have the might to stand up to the hockey boys. When on a bad day, even the goalie stripped his shirt off and join the fight.

The first team I would volunteer to play against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Edmonton Oilers, or the Vancouver Canucks would be …the Italians.

And here is a sample of a true blue contact sport in my books, where there is no room for wimps, needless to say dramas.