Ritacco's Rant

Mr. Hirsch, the creator/writer/editor of this blog, has asked me to step in and submit today's blog post. During his recent trip to tic-infested VA Beach he contracted what might be the mildest case of lime disease in the existence of mankind and is now facing the work repercussions from it. In short, he's actually doing work...at work. So since all my bosses decided to travel or "work from home" today I've accepted his offer as the 1st guest writer for CBH Sports. This will vary significantly from previous posts, that is, instead of rambling on about the minute detail of each and every game played that the U.S. sports media or Mr. Hirsch considers important (the O's!?! I mean seriously), we'll focus on a sport topic that I either have a beef with, mild knowledge of, or just general interest in.

Today will focus on the immature, unsportsmanlike behavior that exists in many soccer players. I can already hear it: "But S.R. aren't all soccer player's just children or pansies' anyways?" or a comment having to do with the perceived softness of the sport. So I'll admit that "simulation" (what FIFA calls flopping) makes watching the sport difficult at times but I'd argue it's similar to someone taking a charge or forcing someone into a foul in the NBA. Shouldn't that be frowned upon as well? I mean you're not making an honest play on the ball but instead using the interpretation of a law/rule for your advantage. But we'll leave that for another post. In the past week immaturity went from "influencing" the referee's decision to outright pouting and ungentlemanly behavior. The three most guilty players? Well that'd be Ronaldo, Drogba, and Ballack. Examples below:

1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPvzHesOdBM
2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toTx8wet820
3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcqs6XKT8cs (basic jist of Ballack's actions in the first 30 seconds of video, don't mind the German)

You can blame this behavior on a variety of reasons, like the ref just being an idiot, the astronomical salaries that promote selfishness, or a tremendous passion for the game. Whatever your excuse, it's not good enough. This type of behavior is completely inexcusable and it needs immediate attention. Not only to punish the guilty but create laws that effectively prevent it from ever occurring again. Even more so a shift needs to occur in players mentalities. Reduce the selfishness, remember that you are one part of a whole, and, no matter how good you are, you don't exist without you're teammates.

WARNING: Social commentary to come!! These players are acting very selfishly which some say our society as a whole has trended towards. It's convenient to blame failure on one instance or pout when one doesn't get what he wants. I'm sure all of us at some point in time are guilty of it but it's different when it comes from the elite players or members of said institution. We seem to forget that sometimes to win the war one must accept a different role and to blame failure on one instance is to ignore the failures that got you there. Their needs to be greater accountability in all our institutions; our sport teams, our financial institutions, and our government. The buck must stop somewhere and one must be honorable enough to accept it.

So with that said I hope you enjoyed this short commentary and welcome any comments.