I often wondered where the above expression came from. Now I know.
The background to all this is that a bunch of mega-rich football club owners have decided to create a “super league” of some of Europe’s top soccer teams, to operate in a “midweek” time slot. The actual story and the mechanics thereof can wait for another time. What caught my attention was this little profile of some of these owners.
Holy shit.
Now let me state at the outset that I’m not one of those socialist wealth-envious types, and nothing in this post should be interpreted as such. But if the goal of these clubs’ owners is to make still more money out of their franchises’ so-called “brand” and the cachet attached thereto, my only question is… why?
I’m never going to be the one who says “You’ve made enough money” (because ex-POTUS Urkel already said that), but what these rich bastards are doing is ripping the heart out of the world’s largest sport, spitting in the fans’ faces and turning beloved and storied institutions into cash cows, just so as to further expand their already-gargantuan fortunes. And that is disgusting.
England’s Big Six of City, Chelsea, United, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool had earlier sparked outrage among much of the footballing world by announcing plans to team up with Spanish giants Atletico, Barcelona, and Real Madrid, and top Italian sides AC and Inter Milan for the new European Super League.
I hope this thing falls on its ass. I hope the sport’s governing bodies toss these clubs out of their respective leagues, and ban the players from playing anywhere outside this new monster league (which may happen).
In a case of extreme irony, a sport that was created by and for poor working men is being turned into a rich man’s little toy.
Update: It seems this might have gone a league too far: all six English clubs intend to pull out (and the Euro clubs have followed), and the awful exec-V.P. of Manchester United has resigned — maybe the first of many such to follow soon. (It’s all happening very quickly; I’ve updated this part of the post three times already, in just a few hours.)
The players aren’t happy about it, either. Here’s Liverpool’s captain:
This says it all:
Have a little sauce with that humble pie.
Bottom line? The very rich should have the same right as the rest of us slobs to make asses of themselves with the use of their property….and live with the consequences.
I like that short-and-to-the-point apology from Arsenal. We screwed up – we’re sorry. None of the whining and rationalizing you usually see these days – no “we’re sorry you’re offended” crap.
Refreshing.
Soccer, (oops, I’m sorry – foootbawl) Isn’t that the sport that Europeans watch in order to wind down from a stressful day of watching paint dry?