Video of The Week: Shakira featuring Burna Boy

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I will not be watcing the World Cup, as I am really not a futbol fan, but there is no denying that Shakira's new song for the occasion, Dai Dai (with Burna Boy), is extremely catchy:
The video was directed by Hannah Lux Davis, who has worked with dozens of pop stars (Ariana Grande, Shakira, Katy Perry, Demi Lovato, Nicki Minaj, Miley Cyrus, Avril Lavigne, Christina Aguilera, and Hilary Duff) and rappers (Snoop Dogg, Nicki Minaj, Lil' Wayne, 2 Chainz, Doja Cat) in the past decade and a half. The colours are vibrant, there are plenty of kids dancing to show the playfulness and unity that the World Cup claims to stand for, and Shakira is as bubbly as can be.

Soccer To Me

I haven't watched a single second of World Cup play this year. I'm not bragging, nor complaining; I just didn't care. Unlike the vast majority of the planet, I can no longer get passionate about sports played with round balls - be they soccer/football, basketball, baseball, golf... Tennis I can sort of get into once in a while, but never a whole week, and just the women's game, because most of them play a well-rounded game, not just based on one or two skills they dominate with mixed with obvious weaknesses the way the men's game has become.

When it comes to world-class sports, I also have huge problems with the games-behind-the-games, the corruption and politicking that goes on, and the constant exceptions to / breaking of laws, be it temporarily, in the name of someone making billions of dollars. FIFA and the Olympics fit in this, as does Formula 1.

And perhaps it can be blamed on not having my own nation to root for, but I also have a thing against rooting for countries and nations representing man-made borders, usually delimited after useless wars. In hockey, I usually root for Slovakia - a country which attained independence through peace in 1993. I wouldn't be against rooting for their former invaders, the Czechs, if only because they too know what it's like to be owned by others, in their case the Russians. I'd also root for Ireland and Chechnya, I guess, to root for the underdog, but the only country I really feel a bond to is Slovakia, and they usually get eliminated pretty quickly in most competitions.

In any event, I learned that the World Cup final would pit Argentina against Germany, two countries that at this point in history probably house the same number of former Nazis within its borders - which I would estimate as half that of the U.S.

I heard that a couple of weeks ago, one guy bit another guy, and will be suspended for years, but even that didn't put a dent in my spirit; this, however, I may have tuned to watch:

I have no idea what's going on, and I'm guessing Schweinsteiger is German, which would make the other guy Argentinian. But if that's how they break ties nowadays after 100 minutes of tied-game play, I wonder how many turns will be needed until a winner is declared.

And then I assume the camera turns to fans like this one, celebrating:

Come Out And Play

Two North American soccer players have come out of the closet in recent years, only to stop playing: the Montréal Impact's David Tiesto, and now 25-year old Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew, Leeds United). That's right - he's retiring. From sports. At 25.

Why coward out and wait until your career's over, though? Especially athletes - they spend most of their lives being watched by crowds anyway, they should know how to handle pressure, know they have a shot at being role models. The more of them wait until it's over - and some even ending it prematurely - the more the message to people stepping into their footsteps is ''hide who you are 'cause it won't be accepted'', which in this day and age, is pretty dumb weak.

Some black soccer players still get taunted - some even get bananas thrown at them! - in Europe, and this type of situation just makes it seem like some ''irregular'' white guys are trying to make believe they'd get it as bad in this ''macho'' sports where players fake near-death injuries all the time - what's so macho about that?

Man up and be yourself, whether you prefer men or not, and don't waste your talent in its prime. As individuals, we all have something that's going to piss off others. Some are gay, others are black; some are flashy like P.K. Subban, others are opinionated and refuse to meet the President like Tim Thomas; some like rock, others like rap; some go to jail like Michael Vick, others become lawyers like Stu Grimson. Some even kill their fucking wives.

World Cup Endeth

Remember the Women's World Cup (soccer) I was telling you about?

It ended, with Japan defeating the Americans. And many Americans calling the ladies ''chokers''. Hy, silver may be the first loser, but it's also the second winner. Or something.

World Cup Femmes

Alright, raise your hand if you've been following the Women' World Cup of soccer.

No one?

Of course not. On this side of the Atlantic, soccer is less than even a niche sport, it's a distant memory that we were once from another continent, whether it be Europe, South America or Africa. And even for Europeans, women's soccer football is more of an afterthought than a happening.

Which is why the ladies of Team Germany went all-out (well, almost, anyway) and posed for the German version of Playboy: to attract some kind of attention.

Here is what they came up with:

I still haven't watched a game myself, but I am aware that Canada's captain suffered a broken nose and later scored a goal. If that means anything to anyone... but without the German ladies, I might even be unaware of that. So... thanks?

Sylvie Van Der Vaart Is A Better Soccer Player Than I

That's right, I said it: I'm less good at soccer than a girl. Not just any girl, Sylvie Van Der Vaart.

But still...

French Soccer Players And Poor Taste

This story is all kinds of wrong.

First, the (alleged) facts: three soccer players  from France's national team (Franck Ribéry, Karim Benzema, and Sidney Govou) have supposedly had the ''services'' of the same high-priced prostitute, and it turns out she was underage (17) at the time.

She says she had told them she was 18, and judging by the pictures, fine, I'll let that one slide.

Now, the reason why a man will use a ''professional'' for sex rather than, say, a groupie or their wife's sister, is that there is the implicit (and explicit) understanding that being paid for her services includes discretion and silence. Clearly, of late, some professionals are steping way over the boundaries of client/serviceperson privilege.

Then there's the issue of taste. You'd think that someone making upwards of $30,000 a month for sex would be hotter than Carmen Electra; in the  case of Zahia Dehar (the underage hooker in question), although she tries her best to look like Pamela Anderson, she fails miserably.

Case in point:

She looks like a used-up 40-year old skank who may have been a crack whore at some point.

And thus, a tasteless story becomes even more so, but in a different direction.

For that kind of money, seriously... Megan Fox...