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For once, being a good sport
Updated: Friday January 05, 2001 1:43 PM
CNN/Sports Illustrated World Sport anchor Phil Jones will answer a few of your questions periodically. All of your comments are read and appreciated.
Another year, another mailbag. Happy 2001 to all of you. Let us start the New Year on a positive note.
I just want to salute Paulo Di Canio for his gesture in the game between West Ham and Everton. What is your view about the need to promote gamesmanship in the beautiful GAME of SOCCER?
Sportsmanship should be promoted ahead of gamesmanship. It should really go without saying. Alas that's not the world we live in. If only there were more gestures like this from the Italian striker. In case you missed it, Di Canio picked up the ball to stop play while Everton's goalkeeper lay injured outside the box. West Ham was on the attack at the time and Di Canio was in the penalty area, perhaps with a chance to score and give the Hammers victory. So often youngsters see bad examples on the football field: fighting, dissent, crude tackles, diving and so on. For once, this was a gleaming example for all to follow.
Why should players be forced to sign a sponsorship contract just to be eligible for a national team? I think Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and the others should be commended for not be blackmailed into signing. They probably each have competing deals.
I understand that the Norwegian Federation gets much, indeed probably most, of their revenue from major sponsorship deals for the entire team. The sponsors, in turn, want to use images of all the national players in their advertising. If the majority of national players agree to a deal, the rest should fall into line for the greater good. Nothing should come above the pride of playing for one's country - most certainly not a conflict of private, club and national commercial commitments.
I have an irrational need to convince people rugby is a far rougher and manlier sport than American Football. I look at this fact, among many others, as the key: Watching football with a stopwatch, and only keeping track of the time the ball is actually in play, you will find about 12-15 minutes of action in the three-plus hours it takes to play a game. In rugby, the numbers are more like 30-40 minutes out of 90. Also, while there are occasionally vicious-looking hits in football like you don't see in rugby, they are armored like medieval knights. Look at how quickly the players get up after these "vicious" hits. They are not hurt, nor should they be. Unless a guy takes a shot on the chin (which most football people agree is simply dangerous, not rough, and rightly illegal), or gets twisted and damages a knee or something, the football hit is not that big. And, of course, then the play is over, whereas in rugby, the object is to keep the ball alive, and therefore subject yourself to as much continuous punishment as possible.
A point well made and one (me coming from the other side of the Atlantic) which I readily support. Now who out there can offer Brad or me a suitably intelligent counter-argument? Emphasis on intelligent there.
What do you think of India's find in new young pace bowler Zaheer Khan, do you reckon he will be able to generate more pace as he gains experience?
It has been some time since India unearthed a truly world class fast bowler. Perhaps this is their man. I don't think it is a case of simply generating more pace as he gains experience. No, it is also a question of developing his bowling skills to supplement his pace. Raw speed alone won't suffice. He needs to develop some guile and craft too, not to mention maintaining the supremely high level of fitness the modern game demands. Then there is the mental side of the game, the psychological toughness.
I think what Real did was very stupid. They sold (undoubtedly) their best player in Redondo for $17 million and got two players in Flavio Conceicao and Makelele for $22 million and $18 million respectively. Why do you think they did this?
Redondo's sale puzzled me as he was my favorite player of their run to the European title last year. He was just superb in the second leg at Old Trafford in the quarterfinal win over Manchester United. More to the point, he didn't want to leave. I'm not sure the coach wanted to release him either. I honestly believe it was forced on him by a cash-starved Real, who were spending money like crazy - in spite of very public debts - on Luis Figo and the aforementioned duo.
You say that England's footballing future is bright and they have a good chance of winning Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006. Sure the current crop is exciting but why is it that none of England's youth teams (U17, U19 etc.) never win anything on the world stage. I think England fans better stop and think before they get excited about the future of English football. What are your views on this?
Yes, the future is looking brighter for England. I don't want you to think I'm predicting victories for them in 2004 and 2006. If you are a regular reader, you'll know I'm very harsh on English national teams. I also know England last won a trophy in 1966 and have often been useless on the international stage since. They just have a better chance if they start NOW with their youngsters and build for beyond 2002. That's my point here. As for youth teams translating into successful international sides down the line, that doesn't always happen. Portugal did it, I suppose, with Figo and gang - conquering the world in a tournament for younger players then almost taking Euro 2000 some time later. But talented youth players don't always eventually make the full national side. Other youngsters might not be good enough for their country's youth teams, but blossom later. National youth team success certainly can't hurt - but it isn't necessarily the best yardstick.
Judging from the last Formula One season, David Coulthard is likely to be the bridesmaid at McLaren for some time to come, what with he not being called for pit stops at appropriate times at least twice or thrice, giving preference to Mika, despite McLaren's claims of equality. Is there likely to be a change this coming season or will DC eventually leave the team a frustrated man?
It depends what David's expectations are. If he wants to be World Champion, he's certainly with the right kind of team. In that respect, it's better for him to be unofficial number two at McLaren than number one at Jordan. He'll win his share of races with McLaren and might be satisfied simply with that. Either way, in the talent stakes he falls behind Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen. That's nothing to be frustrated about. It's just a fact of Formula One.
I would like to know your opinion about the Copa Mercosur final between Vasco da Gama and Palmeiras and what you thought about the incredible, astonishing and fantastic Vasco's reaction on the game. I believe that you've ever seen a team, who goes to the halftime losing a game by 0-3, score four goals on the second half (a detail: the last two goals were made when Vasco had 10 men on the field - Junior Baiano was sent off) and win the game by 4-3. Hooray for Vasco and Romario!!!!!!!!!
Astonishing, incredible, amazing and truly one for the ages. Romario has been remarkable and I was delighted he could cap a season of more than 70 goals for club and country in such a manner.
In your last mailbag you state that the West Indies problems goes deeper than whether or not Brian Lara makes runs. Can you elaborate on that for me because I've been saying the same thing for the past couple of years and would really like your input and hopefully the West Indies selectors will read and take head.
There was once a conveyor belt of fast bowling talent in the West Indies. That has stopped producing. Football is bigger now than it used to be. Jamaica qualified for the last World Cup, Trinidad and Tobago have Manchester United's Dwight Yorke leading their attack. Maybe kids who used to play cricket on the beaches imagining they could become the next Sir Gary Sobers or Viv Richards now prefer to think of themselves as the next Yorke or Deon Burton. The last great West Indies all-rounder was Sobers. Where is the fight, where is the spirit among the current crop of Test players? What are the West Indies powers-that-be doing to reverse this startling trend? Need I go on?
Look Phil, I come from a country where soccer leads ticket sales. So the question becomes, honestly, What do you think of Argentina wining the World Cup in Korea 2002?, I´d like to listen to your professional opinion since I'm Just a soccer fan and really can't give a fair opinion about this.
Well, my fair opinion is that if you forced me to predict a World Cup winner for 2002 right now I would have trouble looking beyond Argentina and Brazil. If I was pushed still more, I'd say Argentina...and not just because you asked me. European teams have never won the World Cup outside their own continent. Again, the climate won't suit them. Japan and South Korea are hosts somewhat in the Mexico mould. You know, good and likely quarter finalists on home soil - but maybe not too much more. That leaves a challenge from Africa and South America. I believe an African nation can make the semis for the first time, but that Gabriel Batistuta can spearhead an Argentine win.
What did Zidane do to deserve this years FIFA WORLD PLAYER award? Get three red cards? Put Juventus out of the Champions League? It seems Platini had something to do with it? It really isn't fair that players from less-competitive clubs or countries can't win the award. The Euro 2000 win was not just a Zidane effort.
True, he needed others to help him through Euro 2000. But he makes France tick. France won the biggest international trophy on offer last year. Therefore, it is logical he should figure in the player of the year voting and even win it. A more pertinent question to me is not why Zidane won it, but why Romario didn't make the top three. That's all for another week. Sorry I can't answer individual e-mails as I no longer see your full e-mail addresses, just your city or country. But all messages are read and appreciated. Thanks again. Until the next time...
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