Professionalism

According to Oxford:

Noun: the competence or skill expected of a professional.

Dictionary.com gives the following:

Noun: 1. Professional status, methods, character, or standards.
2. The use of professional performers, as in athletics or in the arts.
3. The expertness characteristic of a professional person.

Now, to completely beat this horse to death…

Zinedine Zidane’s agent today told BBC Five Live Sport “He told me Materazzi said something very serious to him but he wouldn’t tell me what…” The “what” that Materazzi has said has been speculated towards, even on a blog I frequently read. As to what’s been officially on record, it is believed Materazzi insulted Zidane’s family, as well as allegations that Zidane was called a diry terrorist.

I seem to remember this little rhyme from my childhood, about “sticks and stones”. I’m sure you get the flow. Whatever Materazzi called Zidane, nothing would provoke a true professional to do that. A sixteen year professional athlete must have experienced some trash talk in his or her career, and being a professional, would definitely know how to handle himself or herself in the face of that adversity, and would definitely know the consequences by this stage of his career of headbutting an opponent, definitely in such an important match.

As such, it definitely appears as Zidane does not have a professional bone in his body, and one day after his career, he and his agent have earned one more additional

That is all.

L’Italia vince la Coppa del Mondo di Football

Even though England failed to make it past the Quarter Finals of this year’s World Cup, it is a small consolation to see Italy take the World Cup of Football, after a 24 year hiatus, by defeating France 5-3 in penalty kicks after a regulation 1-1 draw.

Frankly this match shouldn’t have even hit extra time, as the penalty kick, to which Zinedane Zidane scored a flukey crossbar penalty shot to put France up 1-0, shouldn’t have even happen. Florent Malouda took a dive in the box, which lead the referee to believe Marco Materazzi clipped him, and hence the penalty kick.

Italy drew even in the 19th minute, but to even things out and bring balance to the game, Zidane, in the second period of extra time, inexplicably headbutted Materazzi, earning him

What a way to end your career. Zidane, who announced this was to be his last game, international and club, leaves the game with a red card, and will forever be haunted with a what if as to whether his controlling his temper may have helped France win a second World Cup.

Well, at least America has something to cheer about this go around. The French came out on the short end of the stick. I wonder if they teach their kids anymore that the French helped them in their battle for independence?

That is all.

We should stick to hockey

Bear this in mind. This post completely and spontaneously grew from this comment that Yorkshire Pudding, a Sheffield boy (poor sod) made to a completely non-football post on Dawn’s blog:

…By the way - how did Canada do in the World Cup? Ha! Ha!

Contrary to popular belief, Canada actually fields a team to compete in the FIFA world cup. However, we are totally and utterly fucking shocking. Though America has somewhat gotten in gear and represents in World Cup play now, though still sub-par as they cannot compete with Europe or South America, we Canadians tend to gravitate towards our countries of origin, for me, England, and with a strong Italian influence in my life, Italy.

But this post is not about football. Nor hockey, which is a pastime we should refocus our efforts (on the men’s side anyway, as our Olympic result was less than flattering). Rather, by having the thought of how shocking our football team is, and the notion of playing to your strengths stirring in my brain, Dawn and I started watching Canadian Idol. And I must say, this year anyway, our contestants are complete and utter garbage. From the snippets of the performances, I highly doubt that Simon Cowell would have let ANY of those contestants get past the initial auditions.

I as a Canadian am embarassed by this program. Considering the great musicians we have produced, including The Tea Party, Barenaked Ladies, Rush, The Guess Who, 54-40, Glenn Gould, Bryan Adams, amongst others, these hopefuls are nothing but a pale comparison to what Canadian music should be.

Whatever happened to the artistic side of music anyway? Nowadays, music seems to be all about image. Everybody reading, the industry is engaging in the wrong sense. Vision, not hearing. Or have we all gone tone deaf. I sure hope I have not.

That is all.

Sport can lick my choda

England lost to Portugal. After trading Bert to Florida, even though Luongo was a good pick up (couldn’t they have traded Morrison instead), Jovanovski, as a free agent, signs with Phoenix. What’s next? The Leafs actually win the cup?

Ugghh. I shudder at the thought.

And here I was wondering why I was happy Smallville is shooting a sixth season. Aside from more film work in Vancouver, I dearly need something to take my mind after the horrible weekend. I should recover around October.

That is all.

Number Five my ass

Well they definitely didn’t play like it. Number five in the world, with an aggregate of 2-6 in three games, it’s apparent there are some serious flaws in the FIFA World Cup ranking system. Mind you the self destruction of the US side pales in comparison to another apparent misranking.

The Czech Republic. Number two in the world, 3-4 aggregate, losing to both Ghana and Italy.

Either way, it’s still amusing that America falls short in the world when it comes to the game of football.

Hahahahahahahaha!

That is all.

A very flattering result

Thought their 2-0 victory vs. Trinidad and Tobago might seem convincing, some England supporters may not share the confidence of such a convincing victory. John Terry bailed out the keeper to keep T&T from attaining a 1-0 lead the other way, and Liverpool striker Peter Crouch scored the first goal of the game just a mere 83 minutes into the contest.

Talk about a tight and tense game. However, this game has given me leverage as to who England’s best midfielder is. Since I am far from a Beckham fan, the argument Dawn and I have had is between two: Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard.

Yesterday, Lampard had three chances in two minutes, and could not convert any of them. He also earned England’s only yellow card of the match.

Gerrard, however, scored England’s second goal with this strike:

I think I have some bullets for my argument now.

That is all.