-Just in case you’ve been hiding under a rock,- there was an incident at the Milan vs. Celtic match this week. It went like this:
Now, that was pretty comical, right?
Damn straight it was comical, unless of course you’re a fan of Milan or Celtic, OR (and this might be where I lose some of you) if you give a rat’s ass about Italian soccer at all.
I’ll get straight to the point: Guys like Dida have contributed to the erroneous depiction of Italians as divers and injury fakers. Here’s a guy, playing for an Italian team – thus representing the Italian league - in a match overseas. Sure, he’s a Brazilian, but the fact of the matter is, it’s the crest of one of the most successful, well-known Italian (not Brazilian) teams that he wears on his chest. So, you tell me – whose reputation is on the line? Hint: It’s not the Brazilian league’s.
I am not saying that Brazilians are solely to blame for Italians’ less-than-stellar reputation when it comes to diving and/or injury faking. Nor am I saying that all Brazilians are divers. (Far to the contrary, Kaka is a class act, and I really do like Mancini’s work ethic and commitment to his team.) What I’m saying is, some Brazilians, and other non-Italian divers/simulators are damaging the reputation of the Italian game by association. Meanwhile, the Italians who only take to the ground when they’re doing the tackling (like Daniele De Rossi or “Ringhio” Gattuso, for instance) are grouped with everyone else and are labeled divers and/or fakers.
This of course, leads to videos like the piece of crap below:
Oh yes - Azzurri fans know that one well. Like clockwork, every time there’s a major tournament and the Azzurri are involved, people post that damn video (which I think might be as old as the Internet itself) as if it was new, claiming that it depicts Italians in training. (Some versions have the intro and ending cut out so that there are no words/graphics.) As if this wasn’t ridiculous enough, I think a select few may actually believe that they’re watching a secret video of the Azzurri… which is just motarded (motarded = beyond moronic) considering that 1) the Azzurri (you know… like… the Blues) don’t wear black, and 2) don’t have a single black player.
Nonetheless, sheep “LOL” at the video, simultaneously decrying Italians as the worst thing to happen to football/futbol/calcio/soccer/voetbal/Earth, while the Azzurri faithful are left to defend our campioni from the onslaught.
So, Dida, thanks for dropping like you lost 500 hp in a LARP battle (bonus points to those who got that), and may the damage be to your reputation – not calcio’s.
5 Responses to “Dida: Date a Italiani un Reputazione Terribile!”
michelle
wrote a comment on October 5, 2007
Vin, that is GREAT insight and so very true. As a Milan fan myself, this is more embarrassing than anything else. I haven’t even thought about how this will make people perceive calcio or the Azzurri. I can’t get over the sheer embarrassment this causes me as a supporter of the team. How he fell to the ground right after he was about to chase the guy just made me cringe. I really hate thinking that he did it because he thought Celtic might automatically lose the game. I’ve had it with Dida.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Milan tried to get either of those two since they seem to be obsessed with an aging defense. While I’ve been on the outs with Dida for awhile now and would like to see a more capable goal keeper, Galliani already said that we have too many and we wouldn’t be signing anyone else. But he also said they wouldn’t sign anyone before the summer transfer season ended and all of a sudden, we see Emerson with us. So I don’t trust much of anything he says lately.
It’s sad, but I feel like we can’t believe anything we read these days. The media will take a small comment and blow it way, way out of proportion.
So, as for Galliani, half of his flip-flopping might be him, and half of it might be the ridiculousness of the media, taking his words and running away with them.
[…] You read that correctly. Dida, my most despised ‘keeper, must have some sense of the fact that what he did was quite wrong. Apparently, he took a lap […]
5 Responses to “Dida: Date a Italiani un Reputazione Terribile!”
Vin, that is GREAT insight and so very true. As a Milan fan myself, this is more embarrassing than anything else. I haven’t even thought about how this will make people perceive calcio or the Azzurri. I can’t get over the sheer embarrassment this causes me as a supporter of the team. How he fell to the ground right after he was about to chase the guy just made me cringe. I really hate thinking that he did it because he thought Celtic might automatically lose the game. I’ve had it with Dida.
Hey, thanks Michelle.
The Dida situation really is terrible, but it looks like Milan may be looking into other options already. ( http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/oct6g.html ) I hope it’s true!
I wouldn’t be surprised if Milan tried to get either of those two since they seem to be obsessed with an aging defense. While I’ve been on the outs with Dida for awhile now and would like to see a more capable goal keeper, Galliani already said that we have too many and we wouldn’t be signing anyone else. But he also said they wouldn’t sign anyone before the summer transfer season ended and all of a sudden, we see Emerson with us. So I don’t trust much of anything he says lately.
Apparently they have also been considering Viviano from Brescia.
http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/oct10p.html
It’s sad, but I feel like we can’t believe anything we read these days. The media will take a small comment and blow it way, way out of proportion.
So, as for Galliani, half of his flip-flopping might be him, and half of it might be the ridiculousness of the media, taking his words and running away with them.
[…] You read that correctly. Dida, my most despised ‘keeper, must have some sense of the fact that what he did was quite wrong. Apparently, he took a lap […]
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