Barcelona

In the quarter century that FC Barcelona has held my heart, it is difficult to think of a more grossly mishandled, heartless, incomprehensibly unprofessional situation than the dismissal of Xavi as manager of the men’s first team. It sits at the pinnacle of a mountain of unpreparedness, ego, stupidity and naked ambition, amid a world… Continue reading Xavi is gone, but the stench of failure remains

I let you down again / What’s another harmless lie between friends / Now you can’t be disappointed / I thought I gave you just exactly what you wanted These song lyrics, from “Exactly What You Wanted” by Helmet, are so apt in thinking about the suddenly ongoing tenure of Xavi as FC Barcelona manager.… Continue reading ‘Baby, please go,’ aka Reconsideration and ego

Football is old, sometimes seeming timeless. Then as now, pam-pam-pam-pam, ball to boot. The leather boots of the past have been replaced by space-age microfiber things, but football is the same. Another timeless aspect of the game is hope. Supporters, even as they know their team is set for another season of … not success,… Continue reading Xavi, respect and modern times in an ancient game

Being a returning hero is hard. It isn’t just the burden of expectations. That in and of itself is hard enough. When a hero returns to an institution that he essentially helped raise to glory, the burden can be Sisyphean. For what seemed like eons, for club and country, Xavi was the best midfielder anyone… Continue reading The ‘Inevitable’ Xavi makes an inevitable decision

So. A guy tells you as you are walking home from work, “Tomorrow I’m going to kick you in the nuts.” If, while walking home from work the next day you don’t protect ya nuts, any attendant fallout is on you. When Xavi and his charges rolled into Getafe on Sunday, they knew exactly what… Continue reading Getafe 0, Barça 0, aka ‘You get what’s coming to you’

To begin with the part that is going to piss people off: Too many of y’all are acting like fools, hyperbolic nitwits, over Ousmane Dembele. So much nonsense has been spouted about a player who deserves precious little of the bile and rage thrown his way, but come his way it has, from the first… Continue reading Adeu, Ousmane Dembele … again (aka ‘Unrequited’)

Everything about FC Barcelona since the door hit Pep Guardiola in the ass, right down to re-electing Joan Laporta as president, has been about trying to re-create instead of create. Every time a person has tried to create — Vilanova, Martino, Luis Enrique — they have been branded a heretic, no matter the success that… Continue reading Messi is gone … again … now move on