Exaggerations

One of the entertaining byproducts of the World Cup is the increase in Soccernet headlines that are, oh, six times more hysterical than the content of the news story would suggest that should be. For instance, when I read, "Ronaldo's ref rant after Ivory Coast draw", I was looking forward to reading a rant from Ronaldo about the refs. Understandably, in my estimation. What he actually said, however, was far more measured:

"Sometimes it's difficult that the referee doesn't give fouls because he thinks I dived. I know the game is very quick and the players are very quick, but sometimes I don't understand the decisions of referees.

"I respect them, but sometimes I don't agree because they don't protect the dangerous players. In the first half, someone tackled me and I was given a yellow card. I didn't do anything, but he gave me a yellow card.

"Sometimes I don't understand, but that's football. I know I don't have to react if I get a yellow card. I don't want to speak about the referee. I respect the decision and I want to be focused on helping my team and to do my best."

He sounds more like George Washington after the incident with the cherry tree than the whiny Ronaldo I've come to know and love.