Grave Error

Today Raul Gonzalez announced that he was leaving Real Madrid after sixteen years with the first team. I have never been a big Raul fan, mainly because during the last decade (since I have lived in Madrid), Raul’s performance was consistently discrete, having lost his unique spark of the 90s. Nevertheless, I fully recognize that his lack of protagonism on the field was made up for by his stellar leadership role. Without a doubt, Raul — as far back as I can remember — has been the local emblem of his team.

What struck me most today when I read the news was not that Raul was leaving (I have been waiting for that for a few years) but the date in which he first debuted with Real Madrid: October 29, 1994. At first glance, 1994 doesn’t seem so far in the past, but sixteen years is in fact a long time. Just looks at the second video to see how much Raul as changed since his debut. It is a good measuring stick of how much time has changed in the past decade and a half.

After one of the tensest finals in recent memory, Iker Casillas gives us the best play of the entire World Cup.

Torres, whose athletic performance has been well below par during the first round of World Cup play, did at least successfully pull off this fine display of theatrics. The result was a red card for the Chilean player. FIFA often reviews video footage of games to determine whether to sanction players for unsportsmanlike conduct — usually limited to aggression or disrespect for the referee — but this practice should be expanded to castigate unsportsmanlike theatrics and other tactics that undermine the game.

When Thierry Henry’s undetected handball helped France qualify for the World Cup, the French public — in large numbers — actually protested the injustice (one of the first drops in the bucket leading to the popular disrespect for their national squad). It would be nice to see the Spanish press ostracize Fernando Torres for his shameful display. The Spanish should leave the cheap tricks to the Italians and Argentines.

Some recent favorites from my often tasteless friends at Mi Vieja:

At the end of last season and without much of an explanation, Barça coach Pep Guardiola claimed it was time for his emblematic star striker Samuel Eto’o to move on. Tonight, though, Eto’o had the last laugh as his new team, Inter de Milan, advanced to the finals of the European Champions League Cup by defeating Barcelona on aggregate 3-2.

This year’s big match could be dubbed the Reject’s Final with the high profile rejects from Real Madrid, Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder, leading Bayern Munich and Inter de Milan respectively to the finals. If Jorge Valdano got egg on his face for letting those two guys go, I suppose Guardiola’s doesn’t look much better.

¡Que vivan los rejects. ¡Vivan!

It is continuously difficult to find a good argument – other than purely economic – to convince the top football players to join Real Madrid, especially after Inter de Milan just beat FC Barcelona in the first leg of the European Champions League semifinals.

As you may recall, less than two weeks ago Real Madrid suffered a 0-2 defeat at home to its top rival, Barça. This was its second loss to Barça this season. This past year, Real Madrid spent over €300 million on new signings, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, and others but instead of victory, it has begun to resemble the U.S. military; in other words, a ridiculous budget that overshadows its competitors and yet it can’t seem to defeat even the most modest of cave dwelling rivals. I am starting to think that Florentino’s Plan B is to simply buy the entire Barça squad, coach Guardiola included, and dress them all in white; kind of like the U.S. military paying the Iraqi insurgents not to fight (aka, the Surge).

At the end of its spending spree last summer, Real Madrid then dumped Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder, both of whom have played major roles in leading their respective new teams to the European Champions League semi-finals (and possibly beyond), while Real Madrid was eliminated ages ago. Furthermore, Sneijder in signing with Inter de Milan has joined a roster that includes a host of Real Madrid ex’s, including Esteban Cambiasso, Walter Samuel, Samuel Eto’o and Luis Figo (now in retirement but acting as a club representative). With Inter’s victory tonight over Barça, and Real Madrid’s continued losing streak against Barça, you kind of wonder what’s left in the arsenal of a Real Madrid player? I guess the easiest way to beat Barça is to just leave Real Madrid and play for somebody else.

Ironically, the volcanic eruption that has reeked havoc on much of Europe’s airspace — with an estimated 2/3 of all European flights being canceled over a three to four day period — costing the airlines millions in losses, and leaving most of the continent stranded, is an environmental godsend. For example, the air traffic in Europe is so cluttered these days that during the typical 1 hour 40 minute flight that I normally take between Madrid and Paris, I usually spot on route up to five other planes in view from my window.

The jet fuel, emissions and acoustic pollution spared over this period of silence over Europe means some truly clear skies.

If you have a taste for the absurd and speak Spanish, I recommend you check out the truly original and ingenious MIVIEJA created by two truly original and ingenious friends of mine in Spain. They really crack me up!

A few weeks ago I wrote about the bewildering infatuation of the Spanish intelligentia with the independence from Morocco of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony.

What is so strange about this relationship is that the end of Spanish rule over Western Sahara in 1975, some twenty years after Spain and France relinquished control over most of the rest of Morocco, remains in the collective Moroccan mind as a landmark in the history of independence and sovereignty. Spanish interference into the claims over Western Sahara – without getting into their merits here – are reminiscent of the Franco era and foreign imperialism.

Flash forward these weeks and upon return from Christmas, I find that my hipster neighbors (who had an anti Iraq war “No a la Guerra” banner a few years ago) were now hanging the flag of the Polisario, the rebel group in favor of an independent Western Sahara.

What does the Western Sahara have to do with my neighbors? Why do they care? They are against a war in one Arab country but in favor of rebels in another? Do they even know that the Polisario was supported in the 1970s by the Franco regime and is now largely subsidized by Algeria? With the unemployment rate in Spain at 20% and an inept government in power, you’d think they would be more worried about what’s happening outside their own window.

The barely relevant Spanish Politician, Gaspar Llamazares, of the equally unimportant far left wing party, Izquierda Unida, is upset after his image was used by the FBI to generate its new updated profile of what Osama bin Laden. Of course, FBI clumsiness should be no surprise to anyone (heck, we bomb countries every time the FBI and CIA fail to communicate with each other), but it is another thing for Mr. Llamazares to even hope to be sufficiently interesting enough to become a target of American intrigue.

(Though I do suppose it is noteworthy to mention that the son of former Izquierda Unida party leader, Julio Anguita, died while embedded as a journalist with the U.S. military early on in the Iraq War, a war which Izquierda Unida vehemently protested).