January 23, 2011
January 20, 2011
Elis & Mané
Two great Brazilians who died young, almost exactly a year apart: Elis Regina (d. 19/1/1982):
[and because every MPB singer seemingly had to do a football number ... (this one was written by Gilberto Gil):]
and Garrincha (d. 20/1/1983):
After Garrincha was released from hospital once more at the start of November [1982], the football magazine Placar arranged what was to be his final encounter with Pelé. The meeting took place at the luxurious Copacabana home of Pelé's friend Alfredo Saad and brought together the two living legends of Brazilian football, one of them healthy, prosperous and glowing, the other bloated, poor and lacklustre. A whole sea had passed under the bridge since that unforgettable Brazil-USSR match in Gothenburg 24 years earlier.Read more...
The two chatted about football and had their photo taken together (Pelé playing the guitar, Garrincha pretending to play the cavaquinho), but one of the most memorable aspects of the reunion was the way in which Garrincha cheekily insisted on teasing Pelé by calling him 'King'. 'Hey, King,' he said at one point, 'don't you have a few coins to spare? You've got loads of greenbacks.' He wasn't being serious, and Pelé knew it.
To the surprise of many the two of them got along famously. Though they had never been friends off the park — they were too different — those who had thought that Garrincha might be bitter about Pelé's success were wrong. He was not, and Pelé did not attempt to patronise him, even though it would have been natural to.
When the meeting ended, they hugged affectionately and went their own ways — Pelé, off down the yellow brick road, and Garrincha straight towards the last bottle.
— from Garrincha: The Triumph and Tragedy of Brazil's Forgotten Footballing Hero (orig. Estrela solitária: Um brasileiro chamado Garrincha) by Ruy Castro; translation by Andrew Downie.
January 12, 2011
Usain Bolt: Gah hoor
Last year, he was pretending to be a Kerryman for a day. This year, Usain Bolt is cavorting in a Tipperary jersey.
A random Corkonian last night said: "Just because we're paranoid ..." Read more...
January 6, 2011
fuckyeahheybulldogpontadelancaafricanoandprologuetohistory.tumblr.com was already taken...
...so have some of this instead. The January Norman Einstein's is now live, and, as the king almost said in the delivery room, what a tremendous issue it is. Somehow, there's even room for a piece what I wrote — or, I should say, dictated. Using the vast, vast, vast, huge, vast contact book the SIATVS team has amassed over the years, we got a real live footballer* to tell us about the music that runs through his head when he faces the mighty Barcelona. You can even listen along as you read and...
...Why, yes, I have got Datblygu's Wyau/Pyst/Libertino collection with — with lyrics and translations — since that time I mentioned it! Well spotted! Very good it is too, I might add. There's even a song, 23, which manages to squeeze in this chorus:
"O'n i'n 23 dydd Llun
Ac rwy'n teimlo ac yn edrych fel Jock Stein"
(I was 23 on Monday
And I feel and look like Jock Stein)
But yeah, read Einstein's; it's great.
I won't even mind if you don't read my piece.*
Japanese puking kittens by Ray Larabie on Flickr.
* I might be making this up. Read more...
January 1, 2011
Appendix: Appendicitis
An appendix to parts one and two.
"But Fredo", you splutter with a mixture of disbelief, indignation and possibly the onset of a nasty virus of some sort (you really should get that checked out), "you mention in part one the various druggy shenanigans that have been a part of Tour lore over the years, and then go on to describe in gratuitously loving detail the contest between Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck in the 2010 edition, in particular stages 14 and 17. Yet I’ve read through the whole thing (even the second part which … well, the less said and all that) and you neglect to bring up Contador’s positive dope test, which not only occurred during the Tour (though it was only made public afterwards), but occurred in between the two stages you blah on about. What gives? And where can I get a refund on my subscription?”
Hilarious, bud. But in response to your first question: doping isn’t what the post was about, but you make a good point. I wish I could say that it’s a story for another day, but it’s a story for every day, of course, and not just in cycling. My ambivalence on doping was clear enough, I hope (although “clear” is not really the apt word, is it?). I went into this ambivalence in greater detail way back in 2009; it’s there in a different form in this post written a few months later. My view on the matter has, if anything, become slightly more complicated since. By Contador’s positive, I feel let down, but not surprised; I feel disappointed, but in the full knowledge that I had full knowledge of what I was getting into. And still, after everything (it should be mentioned that the Contador case is still sub judice), my memory of the summer’s events remains a happy one. But how many more such episodes will it take to convince me (me, me) to call it quits?
Here’s something Matt Rendell wrote towards the end of his Tour history Blazing Saddles:
... much of the problem (perhaps most of it) lies with us, the sporting public. We enjoy our sport because dynamic movement induces a physiological and emotional response in us: it thrills us. If the dynamism is supercharged by effective doping products, the chemistry of emotional contagion produces even greater euphoria. The athlete is doped, we are doped at one remove — and it feels fantastic! Like any other drug-induced thrill, we don’t want to kick it — we want another fix ...Rendell concludes with something that is applicable to all sport:
In this sense, doping is great news for the viewing public: the movement is more vigorous and dynamic, there are fewer dead moments when athletes are recovering. And what’s good for the spectacle is presumably good for viewing figures. which means sponsorship, funding and the whole sporting machine working like a dream.
The Tour may be a story that can’t be told, but it’s a great story and a deeply human one. So it will remain, as long as it exists.Read more... Read more...
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