It was the worst of the best
Sometimes it's more fun to see the great ones crash than to see them soar.
The four biggest stars in Wednesday's Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea failed utterly -- Didier Drogba sent off, Wayne Rooney invisible and benched late, Christiano Ronaldo blowing a kick in the shootout, John Terry (photo, right) fluffing one that would have won it.
And the biggest game in club sports in the world this year turned out to be incredibly entertaining, not despite the stars' flubs but because of them.
There's just something delicious about seeing the gods look human.
Man U won 6-5 on penalty kicks at about 1:40 a.m. Moscow time after the English rivals were tied 1-1 after 120 minutes. I'm a Chelsea fan and I'll try to forget the sight of the fans in red dancing around the White Harte pub in Woodland Hills. I'll remember Drogba losing his cool, Rooney balling up his shirt in frustration, C. Ronaldo getting too clever with his kick (he should have been called for a balk), and Terry choosing the worst possible moment to slip on wet grass.
I guess Terry's miss is the equivalent of Derek Jeter throwing the ball over the first baseman's head on what would have been the final out of the World Series. Since that's never happened, I'm trying to think of an American-sports comparison to what happened Wednesday. Any thoughts?
About this blog
Kevin Modesti watches sports from a new angle since his promotion from sports columnist to sports editor for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. In his new blog, Modesti not only comments on the big sports stories of the moment-- he talks about what makes them big. Think of it as a conversation with readers about how these stories should be covered.
Leave a comment