Overeducated sports writers log

[luka]

Yeah I get that, I'm deliberately giving free rein to my inner philistine but these are thoughts I'm troubled by

 

[catalog]

but yes, as both you and rich say, it's also one of those things that can get abused/misued, so you get people talking about it. it's a bit like when people talk about synths in music maybe

 

[luka]

It's a bit like when people talk about the bug eyed Turkish footballer Ozil

 

[catalog]

It's a bit like when people talk about the bug eyed Turkish footballer Ozil

not really

 

[luka]

not really

No, it is

 

[luka]

Rich understands

 

[IdleRich]

Do I? Do you mean people say the same sort of shite about him to justify another ineffectual performance?

 

[IdleRich]

You didn't understand the way he glided effortlessly over the pitch pulling the strings behind the scenes.

 

[IdleRich]

He was great in M and the Maltese Falcon though

 

[luka]

You didn't understand the way he glided effortlessly over the pitch pulling the strings behind the scenes.

Yes, this

 

[IdleRich]

You've got to listen to the notes he didn't play.

 

[entertainment]

still putting my Messi piece together that will lay down the first theory to respectably approximate his talents. it's steeped in grandiose language and philosophical references

 

[luka]

Messi is strangley dull to watch. Ronaldo is exciting to watch. Explosive. Messi is like watching a gerbil race around its cage.

 

[entertainment]

when he's in the right zone, he's much more entertaining. hasn't been for a while tho that's true

 

[entertainment]

there's a light and frisky mood on the board today, it's nice

 

[IdleRich]

Messi is strangley dull to watch. Ronaldo is exciting to watch. Explosive. Messi is like watching a gerbil race around its cage.

For me Ronaldinho is maybe the most magically talented footballer I've ever seen. Some of the tricks and stuff he pulled off. Messi is a winner of course but you don't see the step-overs, flip-flaps, hocus-pocuses etc with him that you had with little Ronnie. But then when you think about it even he was no Le Tissier was he?
Also the first Ronaldo (The Phenomenon) was ridiculous at times. I think arguably the most unplayable of all time when he was in his pomp. It seemed that when he got the ball within 30m of goal the defenders had a choice of closing him down in which case he sprinted past them at impossible speed and scored... or else they stood off to prevent that and he just blasted it in from where he stood.

 

[luka]

90% of those football nostalgia Twitter accounts are comprised of footage of the original Ronaldo just cos it's so exhilarating to watch

 

[IdleRich]

Cos no-one else could ever produce that kind of trickery while running at that insane speed - and combine it with explosive power and a kind of bull-at-a-gate determination to get to the goal.

 

[luka]

There was definitely skullduggery in that France World Cup final where they drugged him

 

[IdleRich]

Cronaldo has an incredible will to win, a desire to build the perfect footballing body, practise with it every possible footballing skill and then use it to score as many goals as humanly possible... but it doesn't have the same excitement as a guy who was overweight half the time barrelling through the entire defence, off-balance the whole way like a car on two wheels always on the edge of falling over.