In my previous post, I accused the football club I support, Manchester United, of what I then termed robbery, in reference to the purchase of Robin van Persie from bitter rivals, Arsenal Football Club of London.
This post will discuss – hopefully, in brief – another case of alleged robbery involving Manchester United, but this time with the Red Devils on the receiving end.
Last night, March 5th, 2013, Manchester United was defeated by two goals to one at Old Trafford, their home ground, by the visiting Real Madrid team from Spain, thus ending their participation in the UEFA Champions League competition for the 2012/13 season.
The main talking point, which has been widely termed as controversial, was a 56th minute decision by the game referee, Cuynet Cakir of Turkey, to send off Manchester United winger, Nani, for what he deemed a dangerous – reckless, even – tackle on Real’s Alvaro Arbeloa.
(You can view a rather telling gif of the incident here, incase you missed it.)
Nani sent off to an early shower
Manchester United led the game 1-0 at the time, thereby enjoying a 2-1 aggregate lead over their opponents, and were arguably the better side so far in the contest. The red card changed everything, even though there is no way to ascertain whether the outcome would have been any different if United enjoyed its full compliment of players for the duration of the game. In the link above, you can also view British newspaper headlines printed after the game, with a central theme claiming that United was ‘robbed!’
Before I proceed, let us remember that I am a Manchester United supporter but like I pointed out in my previous post, I am a football fan first, so I always side with football, regardless. Opinions have been wide spread since the incident, so here I am (a bit after-the-fact, really), jumping into the fray with mine – Luís Carlos Almeida da Cunha was justifiably sent off against Real Madrid yesterday. Just watch that gif again and see for yourself.
However, here’s the rub and where most (read: Man U fans) are coming from. While it may be a justifiable sending off, you don’t send a player off in a crucial game like this! I definitely hear that argument and the Red deep down in me supports this statement (well, I did at the time, actually saying to friends, “Oh, I’m no longer watching, the ref has spoiled the game.”).
But here’s the thing… that position is very unfair to the referee, why? Because asking him alone to realize it is a crucial fixture is absurd! (Yes, I just started consecutive sentences with ‘But’ and ‘Because,’ also separating them in this tangent with the conjunction ‘and’ Apologies to every English teacher I ever had) Nani and the 21 other players on the pitch, as well as the 14 subs, coaching staff and other match officials should be fully aware of this too! You don’t channel the late Bruce Lee when trying to win a ball. WATCH THAT GIF!!! To United fans, it was an AWFUL decision, to neutrals, it was questionable and to United’s detractors, it was FANTASTIC!
However, this is not an absolute condemnation of Nani’s action. You can blame it on the adrenalin rush that we mere individuals cannot completely understand – playing in front of 80,000 screaming fans against one of the biggest clubs in the world, who field the most expensive player on the planet, who just happens to be an ex-teammate and countryman; and you know the world is watching. Also, let’s not forget, Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure from Manchester United was meant to open the door for Nani’s meteoric rise, just like the Portuguese ace’s before him. Instead, he has been reduced to constant fodder for transfer stories. The man must have wanted nothing more than to vanquish his compatriot in front of his home crowd. Nani was amped up for this game but evidently, too amped.
Happier times for Nan and Ron
Now hecklers, particularly from supporters of clubs not even in the Champions League or in serious contention for any silverware this season, went to town on twitter, BlackBerry, Facebook and so on, ridiculing United like they hadn’t been watching the game. United was ahead, albeit courtesy an unfortunate own goal by Real captain, Sergio Ramos, and ‘bossing’ the game as the Brits would say. Again, this was in no way a guarantee that United would have held on to the lead, let alone win the game. However, on the evidence to that point, after almost an hour and the attempts on goal that repeatedly called Diego Lopez in the Real goal into action towards the end of the encounter, a betting man would put money on United doing the business.
To say the red card didn’t change much is absurd because it directly set off the chain of events that led to the revival by Real Madrid. The foul occurred in the 56th. In the 59th, the ‘assaulted’ Arbeloa, a defender, was replaced by creative midfielder, Luka Modric, whose blinder of an equalizer was scored seven minutes later. Remember, this is Luka Modric who had been repeatedly linked to Manchester United , even before an uneven start to his La Liga career. So I guess he had something to prove and his introduction, super strike and deft touches definitely changed the game. Would he have been introduced if it was11-all? Did the numerical advantage give him more room to operate? We will never know but what we do know is that the sending off was the catalyst for Real’s awakening after a subpar hour on the pitch.
The red card aside, it was a beautiful game with Diego Lopez in goal and Luka Modric standing out for Madrid, while Danny Welbeck worked tirelessly for United. However, my hat goes off to the living legend, Ryan Giggs, wo played in his one thousandth game for Manchester United and showed young’ns how to do this son! At 39 (old in most sporting circles), his performance yesterday (and in most of the 999 appearances that came before) is the type of example young hopefuls need to study and aspire to. It’s a shame his millennial game ended the way it did but that’s just life.
Reliable Ryan
Maybe most interesting was Mourinho conceding (honestly or just mind games, who knows?) that the “best team lost.” However, this debate may go on for days or it may end today (if it hasn’t already) but the bottom line is the final score and on the night, it was Manchester United 1 Real Madrid 2 for an aggregate 2-3 score in favor of the once galácticos. Manchester United, unfairly or otherwise, lost a player (to a red card) and lost the match. End of story.
Mourinho: Apologetic or appreciative?
So, in parting, I will say Manchester United was robbed of a chance to advance to the Quarter Finals of the Champions League but the referee is not the culprit. This was an inside job.
If a member of staff steals from you outside the house, is that still an inside job?
I Am Random!
PS – While we’re all losing sleep over whether it was a sending off or not, Nani and the rest of the losing contingent will still be paid their astronomical wages. While a lot of speculation exists as to what footballers are paid, this should give you some idea. Still care so much about the outcome?
I Am Random 
MURPHY’S LAW
King of Cool
In it’s basest explanation, Murphy’s Law states that: anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Ironically, everything appears to have gone very right for one Edward Regan Murphy.
You’ve heard the narrative: a black ghetto child can’t make it out the ‘hood. Eddie burst out of the hood and took over the Hills. He owned Saturday Night Live and his comedy specials, Delirious and Raw still keep audiences laughing hard, decades later. With a long list of movie classics to his credit, audiences say he’s fallen off because his more recent offerings have been more kiddie fodder than adult frolics.
I’m not going to go into detail about whether he has soared or sunk. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion but one should consider that his kiddie movies have kept the man PAID! However, sticking to character, I digress 🙂
Why have I all of a sudden decided to write about one of the funniest famous people ever (I know non-famous people that are HIGH-larious)? Well, two reasons:
1. I caught the TV special, Eddie Murphy: One Night Only recently on Comedy Central and the tales told, tributes paid plus footage aired brought back memories of his comedic genius and also reminded me that Eddie Murphy is the definition of bad ass!
2. Of late, the unintentional comedy of Lagos ‘big boy and girldom’ has had me fascinated, so this Eddie tribute put ‘big boyism’ in perspective and the wheels started turning…
If you are unfamiliar with Lagos Big Boys and Girls, count yourself lucky (because you don’t have to put up with that BS) or unfortunate (because you’re missing out on some good comedy). Basically, they reckon they are the biggest, baddest and best at everything. They pop bottles in the club for everyone to see but what they hide is the fact they more often than you’d believe pop on credit. It’s a marriage of keeping up with the Joneses and Keeping Up Appearances. Hyacinth Bucket would be very proud.
Anyway, watching stars, past and present, share tales about Eddie (yes, he’s one of those super-duper stars with single name recognition like Michael, Elvis, Madonna, Jack, LeBron), I couldn’t help but think, ‘So called Big Boys and Big Girls, you need to STUDY Eddie Murphy to understand what it really means to be a BIG.’ To paraphrase Jay-Z, “He be the only Big Boy that the Big Boys watch!”
Two stories in particular stood out for me. One by Chris Rock and the other by Keenan Ivory Wayans.
According to Rock, himself, Eddie, Keenan and a bunch of other black guys were out and this white girl came about gushing how Eddie was her favorite, how much she loved him and all that. She really wanted to kiss Eddie and asked if she could, pointing out that she’d never kissed a black man before. As Rock tells it, Eddie responded, “Well, you can’t start at the top baby, you’re gonna have to kiss one of these broke ass niggas.”
The ‘hood’ response to that is, “Like a bawse supposed ta!” A fitting Nigerian response would be, “See levels!”
The Keenan story truly defines what you would expect a Big Boy to be. Boss of all bosses type stuff. The way Keenan put it, night clubs back in the day had a “two brotha minimum” and himself and Eddie were at the door with about 10 other black dudes. The bouncers were like, we know it’s you Eddie but we can only let like four of you in. So Eddie says no problem, instructs four members of the crew to go in and tell every beautiful woman in there that there was a party at Eddie Murphy’s house and in 10 minutes, the club emptied out and everyone headed over to Eddie’s house. About two weeks later, Eddie returned to the club about 20-deep and the ALL GOT IN!
Big Boys and Girls, real or imagined, that’s how the Biggest Boy does it. In the words of Tip Harris, “What you know about that?”
To quote my favorite writer, Bill Simmons, from this fantastic piece about Eddie on his Grantland site, “He was a [Saturday Night Live] cast member at 19, the show’s meal ticket by 20, a movie star by 21, and a full-fledged superduperstar by 22. Tell me when we’ll see that again.”
I honestly can’t tell him – can you?
Yes, you just read about Eddie Murphy flossing like it was a serious issue
I Am Random!