Are You Serious...

Barcelona just released, or maybe I just became aware, of their jersey for the 2011-2012 season. For a club that prides itself on being more than a club and for bravely standing up to Franco's regime in opposition to a certain outfit from Madrid, the sponsorship of both Nike and the Qatar Foundation is a bit interesting. Neither exactly trips from the tongue when one thinks of human rights and the gold or yellow thread definitely isn't too subtle in suggesting the nature of their relationship with Calviola's crew is. (I was going to say "conjunto" but wanted to avoid offending the cules by using the language of Cervantes.) On the plus side, the jersey is delightfully effeminate and with those lovely stripes I think it would do nicely as a nightshirt for you... or perhaps a friend with whom you're interested in sharing a bed.

Bad Teacher

No, I don't mean the execrable movie that's soon to besmirch screens nationwide, nor do I mean the "I have tenure and I don't care" types whom education reformers try to pit against younger members of the profession. (On the pretext of caring about the students but more usually based upon attention to the bottom line.) Rather, I'm referring to the disturbing tendency I've noted among colleagues to dislike some of the core texts we teach. This baffles me.
Why I applaud anyone with a clean criminal record willing to enter the teaching profession and realize there's nothing more wonderful than working with kids and contributing to their growth, I fail to understand why people who hate literature teach English.

Calviola

It has long been known that Josep Guadiola “Calviola” and Zinedine Zidane, also bald, have been on the Qatar FA’s payroll for quite some time under that oh so murky title of “World Cup Ambassadors”

This week’s news that the artist formerly known as Diego Maradona agreed to manage a club in the U.A.E. has returned the spotlight to this stratum of the footballing world. Back when Calviola plied his trade for a club in Qatar along with Batistuta, Effenberg, Ronald de Boer and assorted over the hill footballers nobody paid them any mind. I guess they figured what I figured, namely that they want to squeeze a couple more petrodollars out of their waning careers. Amen to that and hallelujah.

We live in a different world these days. Since Ad-Man Sep and his cronies sold the World Cup to Qatar any movement in that section of FIFA causes many a ripple. This brings us back to Maradona. He’s clearly doing this for the money. Reports say he and his crew will get thrown 5 Million USD. I’m not privy to this information, but I assume all living expenses will be taken care of. I certainly wouldn’t turn down that deal. Hell, if I found out a friend turned down such a deal, I would have him water boarded.

Maradona is getting a lot of heat in Argentina and abroad for taking the Sheikh’s money. Why aren’t Calviola and Zidane getting the same heat? They’ve surely banked more than 5 Million USD in their under the Sheikh’s tutelage. The answer to this question is that Calviola and Zidane aren’t degenerates and Diego, well, let’s just let that thought linger.

I’m convinced that the powers that be at the Qatar FA are going to keep throwing money all over the world as 2022 gets closer. That shouldn’t surprise any of us rubes. I’m frankly surprised it took Maradona this long to get in on the action. The real question is how long it will take for Maradona to get embroiled in a scandal of biblical proportions down there. Qatar isn’t exactly known for enforcing lax drug and alcohol consumption laws.


This rant was brought to you by Chori.