World Cup’s Random Thoughts

being an occasional blogger, not a sport writer, writing random thoughts is all i can. so here it is

• what is fairness? it’s surely something no man-made rules can accomplish. a referee may give penalty kick to a player whose surefire goal was stolen by an opponent’s handball. he also punishes the offender with the red card he deserves. but alas, the victim fails to make the goal, the ball hits the bar and lost is his team. what is wrong here? the victim is awarded his right. the criminal is given his sentence. but they never have the goal back. just as punishing a murderer won’t get the victim back to life. we think that fair is having the loved one back. having the near up-time goal back and make the team win. but that’s not happening. it’s not what we think of fairness. so what is fair anyway?
• life is about creating innovation and solving problems. even when we find a way to solve a problem, new ones will occur. we don’t have to go to the post office to send mails now, but we have to remember passwords for four different email and networking accounts. so i think FIFA don’t have to worry about inserting goal line technology or assigning more referees in the field. new problems will come. that’s what life is about. it’s never perfect. but they can’t even decide whether to adopt only goal line technology and offside replayer. at least soccer still has dozens other problems - the fouls and dives - to make it stay as the most corrupt and “humane” sport.
• and, regarding the above thoughts, who says our lives are better than the prehistoric age? all those inventions create new problems. all those tools are shifting us away from the original purpose of our works. entering university means looking for grades and titles instead of learning. being an advocate means having great skill of arranging words to make the jury favor the client, regardless of searching for truth. being an academician means looking for projects instead of lecturing. and so on…
• what is the difference between weakness and strength? nothing. it depends on how you see it. weakness is strength, strength is weakness. like the kungfu fighter use any weapon aimed against him to fight back. do you get it? no? i didn’t at first. me, the product of ignorant teen age, understand only lately the yin-yang philosophy. the revelation came to me when i watched kungfu panda. no one imagine the big fat panda will be able to kungfu because he is unable to move fast. he can’t even see his own toes. but with a little touch by master shifu, he can be the dragon warrior, with special strength; the fat become his shield when falling from extreme height or bouncing down the stairs. now i can see it in soccer too. history proves that a great star can be a team’s weakness; a brilliant player is usually guarded by two to three opponent players, hence his immobility. you can see ronaldo, rooney, and messi in this world cup. among previous unlucky stars are ronaldo in 1998 final and zidane in 2006 final. of course, this carnival of one-star-three-guards can be the advantage to the star team; monopolizing the opponent’s focus so other players will be free.