I’m sorry if it offends anyone, I was going to say Happy Holidays but I’ve always felt odd saying it, as if I was an outsider, but you know what, too bad. Last week was Hanukkah and next week will be Kwanzaa and the next time you know it’ll be Ramadan or Easter 0r Passover and I’m always conscious of my friend’s celebrations, and sometimes I’ll be honest that I’m going through the motions with my own, but this year I’m holding on for dear life. I’d tell you what my life is like, but it’d sound too much like a telenovela and you wouldn’t believe me. Needless to say if I had a truck and/or a dog, I’d sound like a Country and Western song.

But, even so I’m a spiritual person, a Catholic if you want to get me to open up some, my grandparents were from Salamanca, my allegiances are in Barcelona if you want a football context. RCD Espanyol yes, but if you look at our neighbors Barca : there’s a red and white cross on their badge. There’s a cross on the AC Milan badge, and the Parma shirt and there are at least 11 clubs in the top flight of Italy who have some sort of Christian symbolism to their heritage. No matter where you look, you are going to find a badge, a kit, or a flag that offends someone.

I’m aware of history, and the Crusades that split the world in two more than a thousand years ago, but the symbols that our football clubs are using, are cheap imitations, just shadows of their original meaning. Does anyone but a Milanista know that the cross on Milan’s badge and Inter’s shirt is NOT the St. George’s cross on the England shirt, but the crest of St. Ambrose who was the patron saint and first bishop of Milan? Does it matter that the same cross is on the royal seal of the Kingdom of Aragon in Spain that once ruled over parts of Spain and Italy?

Nah, I don’t care either. Frankly, what happened 500 to 1,000 or more years ago has little to do with what is happening today. These ancient images that people toss around have developed new contexts, new meanings, and in this case have more to do with the fact that Inter Milan beat a Turkish football team on the field, than what happened on a battlefield in Palestine in the 12th century. The Nerazzurri wore a slightly modified emblem of the city crest, one large red cross on a white background, and one particularly irate fan, a lawyer in fact, is suing the club for damages and one thousand years of social distress leading back to the Crusades. What he’s really angry with is the loss on the field, or else he wouldn’t be suing to get the result overturned.

I’m no fan of the past history of my Church, let alone the recent history, but no terrestrial institution is without fault. We could look at the socio-political and religious significance of the Fenerbahce crest, the Besiktas slogan, or the Galatasaray colors, and how they would be offensive to a Christian or a Jew, and yes I did research them, but it’s not important.

The cross, the crescent, the shield, the badge: all of these symbols have a Christian or Muslim or Jewish origin. Actually they were all symbols of pagan religions from centuries before monotheism, they were adapted to suit the needs of the new religion, and they have all changed over time. They will ALL offend someone at sometime or another. No one said this life would be freely inoffensive. Deal with it.
Merry Christmas.

O
The little club that couldn’t, win the UEFA Cup Final last year against a dominant Sevilla squad that is, has been playing some of the best football in the Spanish league over the last month and have brought the spotlight on their often ignored Catalan club. After starting the season with losses to Valladolid and Huelva sandwiched around a close win against Getafe and a draw to Real Betis away, the Periquitos have strung together some rather impressive wins, beating some of the biggest clubs in La Liga: Sevilla, Valencia, Real Madrid and coming from behind just last week, settling for a draw in the local Barcelona derby.

Granted, beating Sevilla at the Sanchez Pizjuan is not as shocking as it may sound, the Andalusians have not looked the same side after the death of Antonio Puerta, and I think more importantly the unsettling nature of the Juande Ramos and Dani Alves sagas. Valencia have had to deal with their own fractured changing room, and the whirlwind that is the Real Madrid squad have also had to deal with a similar instability, and both have played well below expectations despite their elevated positions on the table.

Now, I’m not saying that Espanyol deserves to be ranked ahead of their powerful neighbors, even my dense faculties can see that being fifth in the table means there are 4 other teams more deserving of honors than they, but I’d like to take a moment to turn the spotlight on the Parakeets from the Stadio Olimpic de Montjuic, the other team from Barcelona.

They are one of the founding members of the Spanish League, the first club not to be started by homesick ex-pats but by the fanatical natives, they have a nifty regal title that seems ill conceived amongst the independent minded Catalunyans, and a squad made up of cast-offs, rejects, youngsters, keepers and a diamond in their crown.

It’s so easy to root for a big club. You see them all the time on television. They’re the first ones linked to the greatest players in the world. They have special deals with the big newspapers that allow for extra coverage, they have huge multinational followings, and they are always linked the best managers, coaches, chairmen, and trainers. There is an expectation almost, that the brand itself requires a native to attach him or herself to the big club in town, or a foreigner to select amongst a dwindling group of elite clubs.

Rather than that, I decided that I was going to support a smaller club, one that wasn’t burdened with that immense level of expectation, but not one so small as to have no ambition at all. They had to play well and they needed to be tough minded. Add to the fact they’re from one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever been to, a place that I have family in and I’d say I picked the right team for me. I’m not slighting anyone else’s choice, Real Madrid or Barcelona have majestic histories and impressively detailed CV’s that many people admire, the sort that develop rabid followings.

Me, I’ll be off in the corner “celebrating” a 3-3 collapse against Real Zaragoza. I knew the job was dangerous when I took it.

Mando from FF