Again, that World Cup post-partum blues.
That sense of emptiness, the brain progressively training itself to intercept signals involving other things than soccer balls, the effort even tougher this time because of those damned vuvuzelas (time difference ? I kind of got used to it after my tenth World Cup).
The embarrassing realization that I've been outsmarted by a squid in my predictions.
The embarrassing realization that 2010, a great year for African soccer, started with shootings at Togolese players in Angola, and continues with the murder of fans in Uganda. A Christmas tree at the DRC Soccer Federation ? Thanks, but no thanks.
The embarrassing realization that, while players tried to understand the tricky aerodynamics of Jabulani, our small planet kept moving in its very predictable way :
- The First Scrabble Wars ended with a draw between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
- Again, Barack Obama welcomed Benjamin Netanyahu who, again the previous day, promised that this time, he would be a nice guy.
- As videos of Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest rocked the web, Haiti's Daily Eating Challenge only got a few clicks.
- US citizens let Tony the Octopus spill as much ink as he could in the Gulf of Mexico. As if Tony Hayward had a clue about what was at stake if BP picked this well instead of that one.
blogules 2010
Showing posts with label soccer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soccer. Show all posts
20100713
20100615
Ronaldo's Yogi Berra moment (or is it Forrest Gump ?) : goals are like ketchup
Lucky you : it's that period when I don't spill many blogules on this lousy blog.
If "blogules" sucks most of my energy during US elections, "footlog" sucks most of my energy during FIFA World Cups*. Mercifully, both events happen every four years, with two years between each period of apnea. But as you already know, both blogs suck 24/7/365...
Anyway. Since last Friday, I've been on World Cup mode, trying not to miss a single game in spite of time difference... and failing for some of those scheduled at 3 AM Seoul time (I could do that back in 1986 but that was the previous millenium).
So today, I will only deliver you this pearl of wisdom from Cristiano Ronaldo, a 25 year-old Portuguese striker : goals are like ketchup because when ketchup comes out, it all comes out at once.
From a 5 year old kid, it could have been cute. Here, it sounds more like an artificial Forrest Gump line than a genuine Yogi Berra moment.
Thierry Henry could join the MLS and the New York Red Bulls after the World Cup. Even past his prime, the man is able to give more to the beautiful game than nice dribbles and stupid statements. Maybe because, unlike Ronaldo, Henry loves the game more than himself.
blogules 2010
* note that footlog is in French.
If "blogules" sucks most of my energy during US elections, "footlog" sucks most of my energy during FIFA World Cups*. Mercifully, both events happen every four years, with two years between each period of apnea. But as you already know, both blogs suck 24/7/365...
Anyway. Since last Friday, I've been on World Cup mode, trying not to miss a single game in spite of time difference... and failing for some of those scheduled at 3 AM Seoul time (I could do that back in 1986 but that was the previous millenium).
So today, I will only deliver you this pearl of wisdom from Cristiano Ronaldo, a 25 year-old Portuguese striker : goals are like ketchup because when ketchup comes out, it all comes out at once.
From a 5 year old kid, it could have been cute. Here, it sounds more like an artificial Forrest Gump line than a genuine Yogi Berra moment.
Thierry Henry could join the MLS and the New York Red Bulls after the World Cup. Even past his prime, the man is able to give more to the beautiful game than nice dribbles and stupid statements. Maybe because, unlike Ronaldo, Henry loves the game more than himself.
blogules 2010
* note that footlog is in French.
20060710
Red blogule to the World Cup Postpartum
Four more years without that silly soccer fever...
At least, without the utter humiliation of living under the English rule (thank Rooney for being a brat).
PS : vistit footlog, my blog on the beautiful game (in beautiful French)
At least, without the utter humiliation of living under the English rule (thank Rooney for being a brat).
PS : vistit footlog, my blog on the beautiful game (in beautiful French)
20051111
White blogule to France's wake up call
You keep asking me what's going wrong with France these days, especially after my critics on Amerika's social collapse (ie "This is America" or "Quagmires and bayous").
My answer is : "about everything". The poor are getting poorer, the masses are getting poor and the wealthy have already left the country. The IMF can praise the government's ability to perform reforms through consensus, the country needs to go further and quicklier.
First, "social" investments are often diverted / perverted and France is paying for the so called "social peace" : I give favors to social activists in order to buy stability, but I transform them into new elites disconnected from their bases and only devoted to the protection of their own interests. The counterproductivity of this tradition of compromises becomes all the more evident than growth times are over.
Second, ethnical / racial "égalité" is a myth. The French national soccer team became the "black blanc beur" alibi for a nation of tele-spectators / non-actors. Decision makers and opinion leaders must reflect the country's diversity.
Third, the Republic kept clinging to an ideal image of itself without actually taking care of itself. It must revive its own dynamics and instead of protecting yesterday's, we must unleash the locomotives of tomorrow. Education remains to be truly reformed (beyond the content, the mindframes and inerties).
The solutions lie in both a "bottom up" and "top down" approach. Bottom up : voting, getting involved in the community beyond one's own existing circles, marketing a positive peer-pressure at the individual as well as the entrepreneurial level (I'm doing something, how about you ?). Top down : transfering investments in the socially productive hands and giving back the ability to spend to the doers and makers : saving the budget by replacing only half of the new pensionners in the civil sector, luring back the wealthy - even if unethically at the start, ie through amnisty (but with a reform of heritage in favor of productive investments and socially efficient foundations).
This crisis could prove to be the opportunity to wake the country up and to focus the energies on the right priorities.
The only positive output of this "annus horribilis" (no to Europe, no to Paris 2012, no to social exclusion...) is the existence of a genuine debate. At very last, the key issues are outspoken. To the point one could talk about a 1968 revival, with still the same idealists at one extreme and cynists at the other one, but a stronger and more mature mainstream in-between.
Let's hope France will go for the structural change instead of Sarkozy's radical reformism. One year from now, I hope we can measure the evolution in the good (if not right) direction.
My answer is : "about everything". The poor are getting poorer, the masses are getting poor and the wealthy have already left the country. The IMF can praise the government's ability to perform reforms through consensus, the country needs to go further and quicklier.
First, "social" investments are often diverted / perverted and France is paying for the so called "social peace" : I give favors to social activists in order to buy stability, but I transform them into new elites disconnected from their bases and only devoted to the protection of their own interests. The counterproductivity of this tradition of compromises becomes all the more evident than growth times are over.
Second, ethnical / racial "égalité" is a myth. The French national soccer team became the "black blanc beur" alibi for a nation of tele-spectators / non-actors. Decision makers and opinion leaders must reflect the country's diversity.
Third, the Republic kept clinging to an ideal image of itself without actually taking care of itself. It must revive its own dynamics and instead of protecting yesterday's, we must unleash the locomotives of tomorrow. Education remains to be truly reformed (beyond the content, the mindframes and inerties).
The solutions lie in both a "bottom up" and "top down" approach. Bottom up : voting, getting involved in the community beyond one's own existing circles, marketing a positive peer-pressure at the individual as well as the entrepreneurial level (I'm doing something, how about you ?). Top down : transfering investments in the socially productive hands and giving back the ability to spend to the doers and makers : saving the budget by replacing only half of the new pensionners in the civil sector, luring back the wealthy - even if unethically at the start, ie through amnisty (but with a reform of heritage in favor of productive investments and socially efficient foundations).
This crisis could prove to be the opportunity to wake the country up and to focus the energies on the right priorities.
The only positive output of this "annus horribilis" (no to Europe, no to Paris 2012, no to social exclusion...) is the existence of a genuine debate. At very last, the key issues are outspoken. To the point one could talk about a 1968 revival, with still the same idealists at one extreme and cynists at the other one, but a stronger and more mature mainstream in-between.
Let's hope France will go for the structural change instead of Sarkozy's radical reformism. One year from now, I hope we can measure the evolution in the good (if not right) direction.
20050611
White blogule to Park Chu-Young - take me to the ball, Park
As expected, Park Chu-Young and Park Ji-Sung led the Korean national soccer team to a qualification for the World Cup 2006. They even outscored another mediatic Park couple ; the former dictator Park Chung-Hee (strongly criticized in recently released books and movies) and his daughter Park Geun-Hye (now the successful ruler of the Grand National Party).
I wish Korean politicians were shining as brilliantly as the country's soccer players. Roh Moo-Hyun seems a fairly smart guy but he's been wasting opportunities with the same dedication as Jacques Chirac (whatever happened to the momentum following last year's failed impeachment / coup ?). Lee Myung-Bak, Seoul's Mayor and a former presidential favorite, is drowning in corruption scandals around his much acclaimed Cheonggyecheon project. The rest of the league looks like pre-Koizumi Japan's snake nest : conservative SIG representatives with dark blue suits.
Park Chu-Young will be 20 for Germany 2006, Park Ji-Sung was 21 during Korea-Japan 2002.
Bring us fresh blood in politics and, in order to motivate new candidates, get rid of this one-term-limit. The times of dictatorship are over in Korea. Let the new wave rule !
I wish Korean politicians were shining as brilliantly as the country's soccer players. Roh Moo-Hyun seems a fairly smart guy but he's been wasting opportunities with the same dedication as Jacques Chirac (whatever happened to the momentum following last year's failed impeachment / coup ?). Lee Myung-Bak, Seoul's Mayor and a former presidential favorite, is drowning in corruption scandals around his much acclaimed Cheonggyecheon project. The rest of the league looks like pre-Koizumi Japan's snake nest : conservative SIG representatives with dark blue suits.
Park Chu-Young will be 20 for Germany 2006, Park Ji-Sung was 21 during Korea-Japan 2002.
Bring us fresh blood in politics and, in order to motivate new candidates, get rid of this one-term-limit. The times of dictatorship are over in Korea. Let the new wave rule !
20050331
Red blogule to North Korea's hooligans
The small riot in Pyongyang's Kim Il-Sung Stadium yesterday (following the defeat of North Korea to Iran 2-0) could be considered as good news since it exposes the deliquescence of the ruling power. I don't think it should.
The problem is the same as for Iraq, only worse : a regime change is badly needed, but the changing itself means a highly dangerous situation and should be carefuly planned. The chaos in Iraq may look very peaceful compared to what could happen the other side of the DMZ and at the frontiers (especially with China).
Something big is definitely going to happen in North Korea, and much sooner than expected. A collapse by the end of the year wouldn't surprise me. Chosun's neighbors should get ready, and so should the UN, the only international body which could be accepted by Pyongyang or what's left of it.
The problem is the same as for Iraq, only worse : a regime change is badly needed, but the changing itself means a highly dangerous situation and should be carefuly planned. The chaos in Iraq may look very peaceful compared to what could happen the other side of the DMZ and at the frontiers (especially with China).
Something big is definitely going to happen in North Korea, and much sooner than expected. A collapse by the end of the year wouldn't surprise me. Chosun's neighbors should get ready, and so should the UN, the only international body which could be accepted by Pyongyang or what's left of it.
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