Language, Language

I can only assume it was a slow weekend for news, as I can't find any other explanation for journalists across the country acting like a fleet of Helen Lovejoys because Wayne Rooney swore after scoring a (somewhat important) goal on Saturday.

The Daily Mail seemed to enjoy putting the boot in, asking "why do we indulge football's neanderthal Wayne Rooney?" and stating that Rooney saying "what? Fucking what? Fuck off!" to a cameraman "left millions of armchair soccer fans appalled". Won't somebody think of the children?

I should say first of all that I am a Manchester United fan but really, can we get some perspective here? Millions? I would wager that a large section of those watching would also have been United fans, and would have at that moment been jumping around the room/pub celebrating our team taking the lead after being two down. Certainly my own language in those moments matched it.

Indeed, it's a sad state of affairs when one of the voices of reason in the media is Alan Shearer, who stated on Match of the Day that it was stupid, but he apologised (or the club did on his behalf) so let's move on. Shearer perhaps understands whatever emotions the 'offender' was going through at that time and that when scoring a vital goal at a vital time of the reason, common sense tends to vacate the area. Not that it stopped his colleagues on Match of the Day 2 re-examining it the following night.

What strikes me as the bigger question is why the hell Wayne Rooney is held up as any kind of role model in the first place. He's just some guy from Liverpool who happened to be born with a gift for playing football. Everybody knows he's a bit of an idiot judging by the way he carries on his private life, and I'm sure he'd never claim to be much of a thinker. And let's remember, it's not like he's stolen from someone, been caught drink-driving or shooting some kid with an air rifle.

On a personal note, I actually found it quite amusing that he told the cameraman to fuck off, as I'm pretty sick of seeing players kissing the camera after scoring, which perhaps reflects as to who they consider their true paymasters. And besides, if we were worried about the impact on impressionable children, then we best ban them from football altogether as during any game it's not unknown to hear thousands of people question the parentage and sexual activities (solo or otherwise) of the 23 people on the pitch.