Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Sock-er

I could write about the NBA Finals today, LeBron 'n' them (and this time there will be a "them") against the Splash Brothers in Round 2, the Warriors having successfully executed a nifty escape from oblivion against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Well, sorry. Later for that.

Today will be given over to perception, and how divorced from reality it sometimes is.

Today will be about Alan Pulido, a Mexican soccer star, and how we've got it all wrong about soccer stars. Little guys with a theatrical bent, right? Little guys flopping to the ground like they were shot 15 times at the slightest hint of contact with another player. Little guys who then hop up, miraculously cured, after the ref yanks the yellow card on the (alleged) offender.

What do you say? I'm pretty close there, right?

Well, submitted for your approval, then, I offer this. I offer Pulido, who's not terribly big himself (5-9), but who apparently went all Rambo/Jason Bourne when he was kidnapped while playing for a team in Greece. Took on his captor barehanded, wrestled his gun away from him, and then cold-cocked him with a punch. Then directed the authorities to his location while his captor lay there unconscious, sent off to sleepy time by Pulido's fist.

And to think we used to talk about the Hand of God when Maradona was playing.

No comments:

Post a Comment