There have been quite a few articles online and in various newspapers suggesting that our over-paid and conceited Premier League footballers should take note of the sportsmanship, fair play, dedication and humility displayed by the Olympic contestants shown during the last two weeks of competition. Our footballers should look at themselves and compare their behaviour with the Olympian's level of self-discipline, good humour, style and grace. A sea change is required, some have said; an epiphany is needed, whereby our self-important players suddenly realise that their behaviour has to change for the good, and that the current situation just will not stand.
I'm sorry, but the smell of methane from all the bullshit is overpowering me. What utter nonsense. These players have never had a proper job; from day one, they've been overpaid and over-pampered and they only know one way. They all think they are God's gift to the earth and we all think they are arrogant wankers - and that's the way it's going to be. Nothing will change. Nothing of good will come of the Olympics where football is concerned. Nothing will stop the growing importance of football and thus the influence of the players on the game.
And in a way, I don't want it to. I like to hate some of the players. I enjoy villifying and denigrating them. I take comfort from the warm glow of ire and anger towards their bad behaviour and their ignorance of how they are perceived. Let's face it, football has always been more about hate than any other sport anyway. We fans feel hate and anger towards our favourite team when they fail to perform, we find disgraceful any misbehaviour from players of any other team, and we have our historical rivalries that border on hate.
So let's not kid ourselves that we're all going to start enjoying seeing our footballers as kind and humble human beings. Instead, let's just celebrate the vitriol, and the coruscating poisonous feelings that wash through the country's football grounds every week. It's fantastic.
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By the way, what fucking dull-headed half-wit came up with the idea of an England friendly straight after the Euros and the Olympics, and a few days before the football season starts? It's a stunningly bad idea and I cannot think of a more pointless and meaningless fixture to be played in a quite some time. Whichever tosser did come up with this idea, they should be taken outside and summarily shafted by the largest hung elephant that can be found on the plains of the Serengeti. And after he's enjoyed that, he should be sacked.
...Or is that a little bit harsh?
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Talking of humility, I'm feeling a little contrite today. Even though it was meant in a jocular manner, after re-reading my last entry I feel I've been somewhat hard and mean-spirited towards Cassini. So today, I am going to redress the balance.
Let's be clear, Cassini's blog is one of the best out there. It's well-written, full of decent content and his output is prolific. It's also one of the longer-lasting blogs discussing our favourite subject, with many others having long fallen by the wayside since he's been going. My own little corner of the blogging universe is also in its infancy compared to his, and so I should be a little more humble, I suppose.
By the way, for anyone who is genuinely interested in the analysis-side of betting, can I advise that you read the four-part series on Applying Elo Ratings to Football, written by Cassini on BettingExpert.com. It's clearly written and should provide a decent uplift in your strike-rate if used well. In these articles, he gives a good grounding on how to use Rate Form. The articles can be found here:
Okay, well, I feel a little better now. From now on, I'll try and be a good boy - although I don't hold out a lot of hope :-(
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