Standing on the Corner, Suitcase in My Hand

This morning I woke up and felt a little (just a little) like George H.W. Bush on the morning of November 10, 1989.

Let me explain...

On the morning of 11/10/89, my fellow Houstonian awoke to find that his largest rival, the U.S.S.R., had allowed one of its greatest symbols, the Berlin Wall, to simply be cast away to the pages of history.

This morning I awoke to find that one of the Evil Empires, the English version to be particular, had allowed one of their greatest symbols, Cristiano Ronaldo, to simply be cast away to the Iberian Peninsula...for 80 MILLION POUNDS or $131.6 MILLION DOLLARS.

And all of this comes in the same week as Real Madrid plunked down a cool 56 million pounds or $92 million dollars for the Brazilian maestro known as Kaka. Yes, I know his name sounds like the Spanish word for "poop". Laugh it up, jokey jokemakers.

Remember this as well: That's the amount Real Madrid paid to Manchester United (for Ronaldo) and AC Milan (for Kaka) simply to acquire their rights. That's not even the beginning of the amount that the club will have to shell out for each player's salary. I'm not sure what Real Madrid's financial secrets are, but unless they are secretly funding all of this with Monopoly money and old gift certificates, their business plan might be worth emulating.

Anywho...just as George H.W. Bush must have felt a tremendous amount of joy in seeing his rival lose a vital cog in their machine, I'm sure he also felt a small twinge of pain for the loss of something that he loved to despise.

While I'm certainly thrilled at the departure of Ronaldo to the Spanish capital and what it will mean for Liverpool's title chances next year, I'm also going to admit that I might miss that gelled-up Portuguese ne'er do well. If only because it doesn't feel nearly as good to hate Wayne Rooney.
Oh well.