Get Herald RSSThe other night, I was at a bar watching the UEFA Champions League semifinals match between FC Barcelona and Manchester United. Or, if you're unfamiliar with the jargon, I was watching a really big soccer game. Somewhere in between Cristiano Ronaldo's botched penalty kick and the guy next to me asking the bartender for a third ashtray, one of my American friends who doesn't follow soccer turns and asks me, "Where's Ronaldinho?"
It's a question a lot of people have been asking recently. Often proclaimed one of the best players in the world, Barca's Brazilian phenom was nowhere to be seen on the field that night or most others this season. While he's technically been nagged by injuries off-and-on this season, those in Barcelona know the real reason Ronnie isn't on the field. After "excessive" partying, the overwhelmingly talented superstar became too engaged in the extracurricular benefits of being a professional athlete. As a result, he failed to keep himself in proper physical form in order to help his team much anymore, to the point where FC Barcelona President Joan Laporta said Ronnie "needs help."
To those in New England, this probably doesn't sound unfamiliar. The only Red Sox player to ever pee behind the Green Monster at Fenway during an inning or try to sell his "AMAZING grill" on eBay, outfielder Manny Ramirez isn't a far cry from his Brazilian counterpart. Both led their teams to championships where they were each crowned the MVP. Both have been marketed as "one of a kind" talent and were given record-setting contracts for it. Both are even on the covers of video games (for those of you interested, MVP Baseball 2005 and FIFA Soccer '08).
But the thing that makes these two more alike, more than any other two professional sports superstars, is their less than impeccable work ethic. That said, they aren't complete clones of each other. While Manny's phantom injuries, mercurial trade requests and grandmother's uncanny ability to become ill during spring training and the All-Star Game are accepted as "Manny being Manny" by the national media, Ronaldinho's international reputation hasn't caught up to his antics yet. Maybe those in Barcelona have noticed how his late-night shenanigans have affected his on-field performance, but that hasn't kept Italian team Inter Milan from trying to negotiate for his services.
One could argue that like Randy Moss, Ronaldinho just needs a change of environment in order to regain his competitive focus. But Manny and Ronnie aren't like Randy. They aren't superhuman athletes bogged down by psychological turmoil or a bad childhood. Nor are they, like Derek Jeter or Pele, iconic celebrities who do all the right things on the field and say all the right things off of it. They're just lazy guys who happen to be really good at hitting a ball or kicking a slightly larger ball.
When Boston was facing elimination in the 2007 ALCS against the Cleveland Indians, a reporter asked Manny how he felt about his team's ability to bounce back.
"It doesn't happen, so who cares? It's not like it's the end of the world. There's always next season."
Sure, you could say that Manny and Ronnie don't respect their games. Their actions don't always reveal a surplus of maturity or sophistication. But in a sense, with millions of fans, media members and players acting as though their sports are grandiose moral battles decided by intangibles and wits, these guys remind us that it's just another job.
They might not be the best example of upstanding citizens, but they're still just citizens. "It's regrettable that a great player loses himself because of his personal life," one newspaper claimed about Ronaldinho. It's ridiculous to think that these guys don't have personal lives, that they're not like us.
In this way, more than the Jeters and Peles of the world, Ronnie and Manny make us aware of how absurd it is to pour so much of your time into watching grown men play kids' games.
If nothing else, they remind us who our role models should be.
Ben Singer tried to buy Manny's "AMAZING grill" on eBay
