Feast or Famine:: The Off Season --ManYoo

Much like the off season of UGA, the off season for the English Premiership and particularly Manchester United is just as much a crap shoot as college kids running around knocking the shit out of people, drinking ungodly amounts of alcohol and keepin' it real.



So during the summer, there's absolutely nothing going on in the way of the sport we love (typically) and the only thing that keeps us going is news of our star players. Throwing a wrench in the gears for Man Yoo is they have the pleasure of having the English Press to entertain us with rumors, dealings and often incriminating photos to keep us through the downturn.

This season's Drama Du Jour centers around someone even my UGA fans might recognize-- Christiano Ronaldo



His protracted saga spans several months. At various points hes sounded like a giant douche bag by declaring his dream move would be to play for Real Madrid. WTF??!

Real Madrid:: Where good players go to sell shirts and that's all. Real Madrid is the Soccer Equivalent of the Yankees and Notre Dame combined. Minus all the titles. But deffinately including their TV contracts. Over the past several seasons they've done decent enough winning the league, but have failed to really produce the way a team with that kind of star power should (see: salary cap).

The one major appeal would be the weather, so I can't fault him there.

But overall, Manchester United has built the next great team, and have made Ronaldo the centerpiece. He started as a petulant child, and he's swiftly become a legend. If he were to stay he would cement his status and possibly surpass the likes of Cantona, Charlton and Best. If he goes he loses all he's worked for at Manchester United and runs the risk of being a flop in a dying league, for a dying club.


Ronaldo is to Manchester United what Knowshon Moreno is to UGA. He's had an excellent, truly breakout season that has him at the top of the world and touted as the best player on the planet. And for all their hard work Manchester United have been put in the terrible position of being either forced to bench their best player just to prove a point, or be backed into a corner and forced to sell him.

There simply is no other comparison in major American sports. Because in America we trade players, we don't outright buy them like the Soccer world. It's a ridiculous system one that is proving broken and needs repairing badly.

If Manchester sell their prized asset it will set a stake in the ground that all gloves are off when it comes to courting contracted players publicly. Real Madrid historically makes their shopping list known and they often get what they want. Madrid came in for Beckham, Zidane, Robinho, Ronaldo and they always seem to get their man.

I for one could care less if Ronaldo stays or goes. It would be bad for the game if he does go, but if Madrid really want to fork over 100 million euros for him then fine...take him.. we'll go out and buy two other quality players and be rid of his circus act.

I'm tired of his selfish play, his lack of leadership or true gamesmanship.

Recently the European Championships took place with Ronaldo's team fairing decently well enough to get to the quarterfinals. Portugal played their heart out but couldn't beat Germany, (an eventual finalist). Ronaldo bitched and moaned the whole game screaming at the ref anytime anyone sneezed on him and flopping around like a fish. He threw himself forward with reckless abandon trying to do it all, but he couldn't. He didn't play total team football. It was a sad day for Ronaldo and as well for Man Yoo, as they saw the stock of their super-stud fall drastically.

Here's the bottom line:: Real Madrid suck for publicly courting a player, and deserve a swift kick in the balls. Ronaldo needs to be slapped around a little-- The Premiership is the most powerful league in the world, and truly provides the best football out there. It's entertaining and all the biggest stars are now finding homes in England. If I were a top class player I would want to play for the best team...and Manchester United is that team. (Bias yes, but we defended the league and are Champions of Europe)