Tuesday, July 13, 2010

a losing winner

It is an embarrassing situation in the Netherlands.
Today the national soccer team returns from South Africa to receive a heroes welcome.
While they lost.
Nevertheless they go to meet the Prime Minister.
And then they go to the palace to meet the Queen of the Netherlands.
After, they go to the city of Amsterdam to go by boat through the canals and to end up on a large square where hundreds of thousands of people will cheer them.
All this for a bunch of losers.
Who lost in a most degrading way.
By becoming violent and aggressive in the field.
One Dutch player got a red card and was sent out of the field.
But most of them aggressed the Spanish in intolerable ways.
Obviously because they couldn't win by simply playing football.
What the Spanish did.
And this in a superior way.
The Dutch noticing they were inferior therefore tried to win by being mean and foul.

The next day in the major Dutch newspaper "De Telegraaf" the headline was:
"They fought like lions".
And this is the general opinion in the country.
They did their best but by chance they lost.
Very few want to see the truth like the foreign press is writing: the Dutch team was inferior and compensated by playing destructive and damaging football.

Nevertheless, the Dutch players are getting a heroes welcome.
But one newspaper wrote that there is a similarity between the Dutch soccer team failing badly and be honored anyway and what happened in the banking world.
The economic crises was caused by bankers who did get high bonuses nevertheless.

A friend works in an office building along a canal where this afternoon the Dutch soccer team will pass by in a boat.
He plans to put a huge banner outside.
With one word only:

L O S E R S


Because if you lose, don't pretend to be a winner.




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4 comments:

Fred Wishnie said...

The pride rightfully comes, I think, from the fact that a small country like Netherlands can reach the finals in the worlds most popular sport. That said, it's too bad they couldn't have gone down with more class.

Dawn Pier said...

Your friend in the office is HILARIOUS and I respect his chutzpah very much. Just picturing that sign made me laugh out loud!!

raj said...

for a nation of about ten million (pls correct me),this is a fantastic achievement. they are not losers, they are winners for sure, and certainly not whiners!! they went down with a fight.

when you understand the context, you realise the achievement. it is truly fantastic. remember the world contains over 7 billion people, so look at this in the right context!!

Michel Szulc Krzyzanowski said...

Holland has a population of 17 million people and is one of the richest countries in the world with the best facilities and social services. If India was on that level they would be the world champion. In many sports.