Weekend Junk Pile: She Said Yes! (Kind of. Maybe.)

By: Laurie | March 28th, 2009

A few items that caught my attention this week but weren’t worthy of a whole post.

Remember last summer, when France crashed and burned out of Euros, and coach Raymond Domenech sought to displace fan hatred by asking his amour/baby momma Estelle Denis to marry him on national TV in the post-match presser? And remember how she was really ticked off and wouldn’t give him an answer?

Well, according to some French gossip sites, she has finally responded and will be saying yes. Or perhaps already has said yes, privately. And they will be getting married when their busy schedules permit.

I know. Boggles my mind too.

Diego Maradona continued his snark-fest with Pele this week with an unusual claim. After Pele said that Diego was a bad role model due to his drug use, Maradona struck back with this:

“What do you want me to say? He debuted (lost his virginity) with a lad (a man),” is what the coach told a press conference, attended by Goal.com’s Martin Decaux.

“I don’t know if that’s a good example or a bad one.”

I don’t know about you, but I think the boys need to take this argument to a private room.

Finally, do you ever see an interview question that is just…so…awkward that it makes you cringe to watch the response?

This one may not be quite that bad, but go to this post, an interview with new France players Guillaume Hoarau and Andre-Pierre Gignac. The video is in French, but never mind that. You’re just watching the body language.

Click through to about the 2:25 point, when the question asked of Gignac is, “Are you the first Gypsy in bleu?” — i.e. the first Gypsy to play for the France NT. (I was kind of shocked that they asked this, to be honest. But maybe that’s just my American PC sensibilities.)

Gignac is gracious, says he doesn’t know, that he’s proud of his heritage, that he hopes he can be a role model, etc. But if you watch him (and especially watch him fidget with his hands), you get the feeling he wishes the floor would open up and swallow him.

And to add insult to injury (or maybe it’s injury to insult), he’s hurt and wasn’t able to appear “en bleu” today after all.

Better luck next time, Andre-Pierre

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Category: World Football

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Nick

Laurie, it's OBVIOUS that Domenech has made a pact with the devil. Always has the FFF, Zidane, or now Ribery saving his uninspired ass. And... to top it all off gets Estelle Denis as a foil in case he can't show his face in public. How else could he pull it all off?
Kasia

I googled 'Garrincha' and 'virginity'. That was a mistake.
Rob

Pelé : Ur a druggy!111

Maradona: Yeh well ur well geh!!11111
Michel-Olivier(Slider)

eric cantona was the first gypsy to play for france
Laurie

Jones, upon rewatching the video, you may be right. Just a general nervousness. But what struck me was that the first thing he said, right after "I don't know if I'm the first Gypsy," is "I'm very proud of my origins."

That's an extremely defensive thing to say. If somebody asked me if I was the first English/Welsh/Irish/French/American person to do something, it would never pop into my mind to start with, "I am very proud of my origins."

Definitely an odd question.
Ronald

* the sound of Crickets your hearing is silence from laurie, as she finds out about Garrincha's past *

Pele and Maradona situation will probably never end. But so far, im enjoying the Maradona-era as coach for Argentina. Never a dull moment.
Laurie

Must...not...google Garrincha. Must...not...
Kasia

I feel sorry for France because of Domenech (or bloody Gonzo, my affectionate nickname for him), and I don't even like them!
Adam

Pele shouldn't worry about that. It's nowhere near as embarrassing a "first time" as Garrincha had.
Cerberus

So to Maradona, homosexuality was supposed to trump drug use? Yeah, keep digging that hole there, champ. On the Gignac question, I can see the importance in it because of the historic mistreatment of roma/gypsies throughout Europe, but it may also have been a question that's more for the commentators than the player. Most famous members of any minority are usually hesitant to answer questions on race because the answer is either long and complicated or is something that they've long grown tired of answering. He could have just been nervous in general though about his potential first call-up.
Laurie

Jones, I'd forgotten about Hoarau's nose. But yes, the first time I watched this through I couldn't believe it. And not just once, either.
Jones

Hmm. Gignac does look uncomfortable there, but to be fair he doesn't exactly look relaxed during the rest of the interview either. Maybe he was just wasn't expecting that question compared to rest of the usual run of the mill stuff. I'm kind of torn on it being brought up. On the one hand, why should it matter? On the other hand, roma/gypsies are so discriminated against in Europe that you could argue it is a noteworthy and important for a gypsy to be a Bleu. Is asking him about this any different from questions Tiger Woods or the Williams sisters have heard a hundred times from the American media? On the other other hand, it's not like he's the first gypsy footballer (although maybe in France?). Interesting moment anyway. And I had no idea he was a gypsy.

On a less charged note, has no one ever told Hoareau not to pick his nose in public? That was extremely distracting.