It seems like some of the exact choice words Zlatan used in expressing desire to physically harm Ohuoha might be missing from the story (if not then Onuoha is making something out of nothing). And although I'd prefer fierce competitors to be warriors within some civil boundaries, when you hear Onuoha's comments, although he says he wasn't affected, it sure sounds like he was affected by Zlatan's over the top attitude to hear him tell it.
Having listened to Zlatan talk a lot and giving him the benefit of a doubt (and not saying he deserves it at all) his English isn't the greatest. So saying something like "I'm going to kill you" might have been his clumsy attempt at trash talk and to use the English colloquialism of "man, Zlatan absolutely killed that guy on that goal". Which, of course, Zlatan did on the game winning goal...
Seems a lot to do about nothing to me, it really does. The horse collar wasn't great and he got a yellow. Only an idiot would claim he should have gotten red for that. The screaming after the goal I would agree he put himself at risk for a second yellow. That's the referee's decision. You hear all the time about players going to the other locker room for some reason or other. I don't think it is a big deal that he tried to pop by. He left when asked to do so. I'm surprised to still be hearing about this in various places/articles. It is kind of nice to have other people hating on the big bad Galaxy again though.
Reading Onuoha's comments, I got the impression Zlatan basically said something to the effect of "I'm going to f!@# you! / f!@# you up." Something pretty jacked-up. That, combined with the foul, is straight-up psychological intimidation that we don't really tolerate in the US sports world but is a lot more common in world football (at least to my knowledge). So I get the hand-wringing to an extent. Zlatan would almost surely be fined or otherwise punished for visibly verbally abusing and flagrantly fouling another player in any other American sports league. Onouha is an experienced pro with 300 appearances between the PL and Championship; I'm more inclined to believe him when he says the comments were exceptionally thuggish than Bobby Warshaw (100 or appearances in leagues shittier than MLS). MLS needs to have a real conversation with itself on this, not write silly pieces ignoring the issue.
If you actually get angry, lose control, and act like a jerk, then an apology for acting like a jerk might mean something. If you deliberately make yourself angry as a motivational tool and act like a jerk as part of that process, then an apology for acting like a jerk afterward doesn’t mean much.
If I were a writer working for these pubs, struggling to get eyeballs/hits/survive I would be writing about Zlatan. An article about his bowel movements probably gets more clicks than everything combined about say CIN or MIN.
New article on MLS Soccer with Lleget, GBS, and Steres defending Zlatan. After how fractured the locker room seemed to be the past 2-3 seasons, it’s nice to see the whole team come together.
Jordan use to do this all the time. He’d pick some sorry sack each mundane midweek game to keep him motivated. The entire 48min that same sorry sack would be thinking “why me?” Sometimes the greats need to play a game within the game. Continuing with the NBA (since you brought up US sports world), it’s known to some that the trash talk in all games is pretty ramped. In fact, if some lowly defender whined to the media that Lebron or Durant was talking trash to them in the game, then hit the game winning three in their face, there’d be countless memes of that player posted on r/nba. The NBA does a great job of sheltering their audience from this side of the athletes, and not just trying to have a “real conversation” through social media on the topic. ::gag::
I disagree. There is a significant amount of sh_t talking on every snap in the NFL. If not, then lots of guys named "Muthaf_ _ ka" must be in the league.
And I'm pretty sure that the shizzle that goes on undetected at the bottom of those dogpiles after a fumble is the stuff of nightmares. Its a rare situation where gridiron enemies can fight for all important possession under the privacy curtain of of a pile of bodies. Shielded from judging/penalizing eyes of fans and refs, you know those bottom-of-the-scrum players engage in endless methods to make an opponent's life miserable. All of the eye gouging, body part grabbing/crushing/bending and, of course, unholy descriptions of the love lives of the women who brought an opponent into the world are best not seen or heard.
Well, maybe that's true, but Warshaw's experience as a pro is relevant, since that's the perspective he's speaking from when he tells us: I don't know what the last sentence means, but overall this seems to rationalize / normalize Zlatan's physical threats to Onuoha. Now, that is in direct contradiction to Onuoha, who was (and still remains) clearly rattled by Zlatan's threat to take his booty: So maybe Warshaw and Onuoha have different ideas of what common means. But of course, it wasn't just some off-color comments, which is what makes Warshaw's argument disingenuous. Zlatan went beyond just "trash talk" and basically did everything he could to terrorize his opponent without getting ejected, which is a skill all in itself. The league knows what it's getting with Zlatan -- a guy who tried to choke Oguchi Onyewu during practice and kicked Cassano in the head. Just double-down on it, but don't gaslight us and act like it's normal.
I agree. And it's not just the NFL, I remember hearing this type of trash talk (minus the F word) when I played high school football back back in the 60s. A classmate, a very undersized Varsity linebacker and boarderline sociopath, used to tell opposing running backs and qbs that he was going to kill them. I think that it's pretty common in all contact sports and has been around for a long time.
I've seen that. Well not that exact video, but a version of it. I get it. I'm not arguing against Zlatan -- I'm just saying I understand some of the reactions to him and this event. Maybe I'm wrong to label it as a general sports culture thing; perhaps it's just our soccer culture. Look at how people reacted to de Jong and de Jong is not exactly Sergio Ramos. I mean, I saw Robbie Keane grab some guy's dick once. Like an RSL defender or something. Am I the only one who remembers that? (Of course, someone is now going to post a YouTube compilation of 14 minutes of Michael Jordan grabbing dicks) Anyway, it's been talked 'round the bend. Good thoughts had all around.
Yep. Sometimes both sides can be valid. I think Zlatan did and said what happens in sports all the time. And I also think Onuoha is allowed to complain. Of course, it looks better when you complain after you shut the guy down and deny him the game-winning goal...