Striker Crisis

My views on the last two weeks' soccer craziness is this: irrespective of guilt or innocence in any of the individual cases, there is a consistent theme running throughout the controversies, and that is of a generation of footballers elevated to the status of Hollywood stars who consider themselves above the rules, laws and conventions of the game and of society as a whole.

I think part of the solution could be in wage capping: it might sound bizarre and prohibitive but if it works in sports in the home of capitalism that is the USA, I can't see why we can't try it here. It would have to be adopted across Europe of course, and no doubt would prove to be a legal minefield, but sensible salary limits could in the long run calm the situation down and teach some of our boys that humility isn't a right-back for Cameroon.

Still, life ain't all bad. After all, I have located Daryl Hannah's Playboy pictures from the November 2003 edition (via crazyass13, neither site particularly safe for work).