First, a bit of television history making the viral video rounds:
There is oh so much to say about this.
I will confine my comments here to observe that the gentleman in the leather jacket is Günter Netzer, an early Ferrari-driving, nightclub owning popstar-footballer. One of his most fabled moments on the pitch arrived in the final for the 1973 German Cup. After a season of public power struggles with his manager, he announced a move to Real Madrid a week before this final game against Koln. The manager had him start the match on the bench. I am not sure I understand the details, but I think the manager tried to sub him in during the first half, and Netzer refused to go on the field. And then, during the second half, he shed his jacket, and said "I will go on now" and scored the winning goal. You can see that goal here, starting at about 2 minutes.
A friend of mine told me about Netzer and this incident in August, and, amazingly, we saw Netzer at an airport in Berlin just a few days after that conversation. I thought of asking him to autograph my copy of Moby Dick (the only thing I had in my hands that someone could sign, as it happens), but I didn't have a pen, don't speak German, and got shy.
Happy Holidays!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
1 comment:
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Hi Jennifer, just found your blog from a link at the WPS blog The Offside.
ReplyDeleteIf you'd been in Germany in 2006 for the men's World Cup, you could have watched Gunter on TV every day as he was a commentator for the German coverage of the event. As an older man he has a much more dour presence and I am surprised to hear your description of his wild youth!