Sunday, April 23, 2006

The Biggest Star in the World

Elsewhere in the past I've made my feelings clear about the nonsense that once spewed from the Real Madrid corner that Ronaldinho was "too ugly" to play for them, and as Paul Wilson points out in the Guardian, that miscalculation has cost them plenty. We get a little skittish around here at a pretty move when we see words like "marketing" and "commerciably viable" attached to our game, but we do recognize that it's those very elements that have given footie from around the world the global reach to turn up on our television sets in Oregon (as well as ensuring that hope springs eternal that someday MLS might metamorphose into something more promising than a League of Stunning Mediocrity).

Anyway, around here we love Ronaldinho because watching him play, you get the feeling he's having the best time in the world--just as those Eric Cantona spots tell us. (Damn you, Nike, with your seductive advertising!) He has indeed got charm to spare, and that's why he's the superstar of the football world--because amid talk of money and more money and contract negotiations and winning at all costs, he reminds us all of the sheer joy of the game itself, of the ways things ought to be.

1 comment:

lynda said...

Offhand I can't think of another player who scores with the cool surgical precision of Henry.

I don't know if Ronaldinho will ever be a top goal scorer, but I like the way he plays.