Football and justice

As many other things in life, football obeys a series of dualities: apart from the obvious winning-losing aspect, the most notable duality is that every team, no matter its size or origin, has a rival counterpart, a sworn enemy in the field. As a result, you don't only enjoy when your team wins, but also learn to feel relieved when your main adversary loses. Apart from this indisputable duality, there is the very important fact that the football follows no logic. As such, it defies any predictions or anticipated analysis. Much of the beauty in football can be traced back to that simple principle.

The lack of reasonable explanation in events related to football is closely related to justice. Justice is absent from most aspects of life, let alone football. In spite of this, justice at large is a common ideal that is perceived as a feasible one by most of us. In fact, one often hears frustrated football followers complaining about results not being fair. I could bet many lines have been written with the experiences of great teams that never won, or with the lives of extraordinary players who never saw glory. If "justice" or "logic" were part of football then rich teams would win every cup, and talented players would make no mistakes, injuries wouldn't be such a big deal, and everything would be terribly boring. The lack of logic (and therefore of justice) not only makes the whole sport interesting, it's what inspires "weak" teams to overcome their deficiencies and dream of victory. In some sense, perhaps contradictorily, the lack of logic is what equates the two teams in the field.

All of the above is partially due to Barcelona failing to get to the finals of the UEFA Champions League. As a Real Madrid follower, this makes me happy. A very good friend of mine is a Barcelona follower, and he always appeals to the "justice" argument in discussion. We discuss about football quite often; he's quite an expert and, unlike me, remembers many things. It is easy to imagine him now, saying things like "Don't you think it's unfair Barcelona losing against ultradefensive Inter?" I always reply with the same answer, essentially what I just wrote about football and justice. Most of the times he accepts my argument reluctantly. My friend and I have an agreement of not making fun of the other about the failures of our teams. This agreement has lasted for years now, so I am gonna enjoy silently this moment. He's been extremely noble to make his part, even if he has had plenty of opportunities of making fun of the recent and repeated failures of Real Madrid. This post is dedicated to him; I am confident the post does not break our agreement.

Sunday readings

I devote a substantial portion of my Sundays to read Colombian press: I read the opinion section of the two major newspapers and of the only weekly journal that still exists and is serious. I like to think that I am better informed than most Colombians, but it would be a bit pretentious to claim something like that. Today, two of my favorite columnists dedicated their space to comment on the ash cloud caused by the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier. The pieces are available here and here; if you read Spanish please take a look, as they are wonderfully written.

The spirit of both pieces is the same: the apocalyptic effects that recent natural disasters are having in the world. Of course, in addition to the glacier thing this week, one remembers the earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, and China. One of the columnists even argues that the combination of an earthquake with the disruption in air transport in Europe would be enough to cause great chaos---the kind of chaos one would expect from the "end of the world". Despite the ash cloud, one of them remarks, the sky in Europe is as blue and wonderful as in the most amazing spring.

Leaving aside the necessary reflections on modern globalization that the ash cloud thing leaves us (one example being the huge losses in Kenia due to failed flower shipments), the idea of the "end of the world" is quite intriguing to me. Somehow I tend to believe that most people are waiting for a huge, unique event (as in massive atomic bombs, perhaps as a result of a world war). That is quite a romantic view of things, I believe, perhaps influenced by religious ideas. In contrast, I think that the end of the world will come in small doses: one huge earthquake there, a tsunami here, an epidemic crisis later. Such events will be analyzed individually, and forgotten later, as we usually do with catastrophes that don't concern us. My point is that most of us will fail to recognize the combined effect of the several "mini" ends of the world. As a result, humanity will reach its end without realizing it, and perhaps the very end of the world itself will be seen as yet another of those catastrophes that is forgotten the day after.

Update on Mockus

The situation for the forthcoming presidential elections in Colombia is getting more and more interesting. Earlier this week, Antanas Mockus (who, as I discussed here, is the best candidate ever) joined forces with Sergio Fajardo, another independent candidate. Fajardo has agreed to be his vice-presidential candidate. This seems to have given a huge momentum to Mockus' candidacy, as now he is second in the polls, just behind Juan Manuel Santos (37% vs. 24%). Mockus is tremendously successful among young people, intellectuals and academics. Also, he is the leader in social networks such as facebook and twitter. (This is just a good sign; not that every family in Colombia has a computer with Internet access.) Although we are less than two months away from election day and anything could happen, it is clear that the momentum gained by Mockus' candidacy is slowly changing the perception that he has no chances of winning. Let's hope the trend continues.

But that's not all. Just after the positive poll results were revealed, yesterday we all were kinda shocked when Mockus revealed he is in an early stage of Parkinson's disease. Unlike in the US, in Colombia the health condition of politicians is little discussed during elections. While other candidates have respected and admired Mockus' courage in making such a declaration, and most of them have promised not to use it during the campaign, it is still not clear to me how this new turn of events will change things. So far people have assumed the news positively, as it is inspiring to see such an extremely brilliant guy dealing with that condition with dignity and courage.

Airplanes in Lisbon

When I was a kid at Cali, one of the things I missed the most from Bogotá was the fact that in Bogotá there are always airplanes flying over, as the airport is inside the city. (In Cali, in contrast, the airport is rather away from the city. It is in fact in a different town.) Ever since, I have appreciated very much the cities in which one can see airplanes flying over---I find it a privilege. Bologna is also one of such cities. And this is one of the things I really enjoy from being in Lisbon: since the airport is at the north of the city, and relatively close from the center, you see planes descending all the time. You see them approaching, hence flying relatively low. So low that you can distinguish the airlines they belong to. It is a simple thing but I love it.

Also because of the location of the airport, landing in Lisbon can be a wonderful experience. Last week the airplane approached Lisbon by flying over the beach, then it gave a turn over the city and the Tagus, and only then landed. It was fantastic! Today, over lunch, a colleague here was telling me about plans of building a new airport, away from the city (in fact, at the other side of the river). He remarked that it was a safety measure for people living close to the airport, in that most incidents with planes occur at take-off and landing. At first I thought "I hope they don't build it so quickly so I can see the planes everyday". Then, when I realized how slow some things work here, I concluded there is nothing to be worried about: I will be able to see airplanes flying over Lisbon for a long while.

Capsule of Absurdity No. 5

It's been a while since the last "Capsule of Absurdity". I knew that I couldn't leave Italy without a last absurd event. In fact, the last thing I did before coming to Portugal was sending a little box with books to my new department in Lisbon. So I went to the Italian post office, and asked about the expedition fees. The lady who was at the counter looked at her computer and asked me the basic information:

- What is the final destination of the box?

- Portugal, I replied.

Then she asked the absurd question:

- Is Portugal in the European Union?

- Of course!! ---I replied, probably with a very surprised face. (In Italian I said "Ma certo!", I wonder if that has to do with the lady's reaction.)

Then the lady looked at me in a terrible way, really really bad, like for 5 seconds. Then she looked again at the computer, and said to me:

- Non è detto...

which is a bit hard to translate, but in this context it could be interpreted as "you never know" or, better, as "you cannot take it for granted". In either case, I found it so incredibly absurd that an average person is not aware of the countries that are part of the European Union. I would have expected everyone to have some sort of "primitive geographical knowledge" such as "Rome is the capital of Italy", "Milan is north, Naples is south", or stuff like that. And then we are talking about an employee of the Italian post, someone a bit above the average (but not too much), in the sense that has a job that requires a bit of geographical knowledge (after all, you spend your days sending things around).

Finally, there is the thought that, from a very extreme point of view, I was the one who wasn't supposed to know that Portugal is indeed in the European Union (after all, I was the "foreigner"). In fact, a more realistic scenario would have been me asking that question and she replying "Ma certo!". Her terrible look at me would have been more than justified.

London in Music

A very brief post to recommend you, in the strongest possible terms, the British superband The Good, The Bad, and the Queen, and their homonymous only album, released in 2007. It is such an excellent record! It is yet another one that I discover quite late after its release. I won't say much about my impressions: I will limit to describe it as dense, fluid, and very pleasant---all in one album. It might be hard to digest at the beginning, but it is definitely worth trying. You can read some reviews here. My favorite songs at present are Kingdom of Doom and Three Changes.