Italian soccer star Mario Balotelli is only 22-years old, and as the face and presumable future of Manchester City and the Italian National Team, it’s safe to say that he has a long career ahead of him. But with so much success already coming at such a young age, Balotelli has seen his fair share of controversy, from the racial taunts of opposing teams at Euro 2012 to the daily tabloid reports on European websites and in trashy gossip rags. Of course we sympathize with him for the former and we love him for the latter, because athletes who recover from losing Europe’s biggest soccer tournament by partying with beauty queens in the wake of a paternity scandal brought about by one of soccer’s most notorious WAGs is stronger than a fresh pot of coffee to us.

But I mention Balotelli today not because he broke up with his pregnant girlfriend, Rafaella Fico, yet again because they can’t agree on where to have the baby and he allegedly can’t keep his striker in his Umbros. Instead, I’m bringing him up because – Dude, what the hell did you do to your Bentley?

Read the rest of this entry »

Soccer racism is something we rarely talk about at With Leather, because 1) it’s one of those ridiculous, inexcusable traditions hanging on as “part of the sport” because people in Europe never officially got a Civil Rights movement, and 2) we never write about soccer. But soccer racism is real, and when it’s not seeping out in the form of “monkey” chants or black players having bananas thrown at them, it shows up in Italian newspaper cartoons. I shouldn’t have to explain why the above comic picturing Italian footballer Mario Balotelli as a giant ape is awful, unless you’re one of those people who thought that LeBron James Vogue cover was just beautiful people showing passion.

Anyway, Mario Balotelli (pretty accurately described by Rumors & Rants as “Italy’s Ron Artest”) is King Kong and that picture went through at least five stages of publication before showing up in a newspaper without anyone thinking it was a bad idea. Gazzetta dello Sport eventually issued an apology, kind of, but … well, read it yourself.

Gazzetta acknowledged its mistake, saying: “It wasn’t our cartoonist’s best product. In these times we need a bit more moderation, caution and good taste. But we have always fought against racism and condemned booing against Balotelli as unacceptable.”

At least now we know who’d win a fight between Mario Balotelli and Hideki Matsui, right?

Racist and prejudiced cartoons and nicknames are the “black face Halloween costume” of journalism — they’re a bad idea and you’re pretty stupid for not just knowing it. Plus, the only reason you’re doing it is for shocked publicity, which those of us who DON’T want to draw black people as apes end up having to report on. Is “Mario Balotelli is an ape” really the most creative thing you can come up with? Put five more minutes of effort into the process and you’ll come up with something better. Hell, here’s a freebie: draw him drinking a bunch of urine.

As a bonus, here’s a clip of Balotelli accidentally drinking somebody’s urine.

Read the rest of this entry »

Soccer is extremely bipolar. There’s no even, steady feeling in soccer. The spectrum goes from complete indifference (“soccer isn’t a sport”, “nobody likes soccer” etc.) to full-on passionate fury (throwing cups of vomit and urine onto opposing fans, running onto the field to commit religious hate crimes), and that’s not just for the game itself — it is a spectrum that includes fan reactions. Nobody sees a controversial soccer moment and says “oh, okay, that weird thing happened”. It’s either “meh who cares” or “THIS [racial slur] MUST BE BEHEADED AT DAWN”.

Case in point: During Sunday’s preseason exhibition game (or “friendly”) between the LA Galaxy and Machester City, star striker (and Iron Chef) Mario Balotelli was one-on-one with the goalkeeper. If he moved his leg slightly, his team would go up 2-0. Instead of kicking it, he started shuffle-stepping and tried to backheel the ball in. It dribbled out of bounds harmlessly and ended as a goal kick for the MLS side.

Now, my initial reaction is to type “lol” in lowercase and think he looked like a dummy. A second watch reveals that he thought he heard a whistle, so he was just screwing around. Neither of those reactions were shared by The Soccer Community, be they on the Internet, playing or calling the game. Their reactions were “this man is a disgrace to humanity” and “BLEARGHHH”. Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini was so enraged by Balotelli’s Tony Hawk Pro Shot that he immediately took him out and started yelling. The crowd booed. The announcers said YOU GOTTA BE KIDDIN’ ME and said fans of both teams were disappointed.

At once, one of the least important looking things I’ve ever seen became a furious debate. Should I not care, or care so much it boils my blood? I can’t pick a side, so I’m opening it up to you. If you read this and have an opinion, leave a comment. Preseason miscommunication or treason? Let me know.

[via EPL Talk]

When Manchester City and Manchester United squared off on the pitch last weekend, not only were the teams going at it, but so were the fans. And Europe has pulled off something that we’ll probably never see in America–they’ve put a fan from each team in the broadcast booth and turned them loose. It’s amazing in concept and hilarious in excution. But all you can really tell was that Man U won this game 4-3, and really that’s all the information we needed. Cheers, Anthony.

Seriously, I love British people. But this Craig Bellamy from Manchester City is just a little bit testy. Watch him unload on this Manchester United fan, and everyone’s afraid it was going to overshadow a great game between Man U and whatever that other team was.

Man United players immediately came up to Bellamy and expressed their disdain at the Welshman’s actions.

The video also shows Javier Garrido being struck by a coin thrown by a Manchester United supporter at half-time. via.

It doesn’t really look like a punch until you see a still of the whole thing, and then it’s pretty obvious that, yeah, he pretty much decked the guy. Dude’s no LeGarrette Blount, but that’s not bad for a wimpy little Briton. But at that point, the security people have to cut that fan loose and let him go after Bellamy. Anyone can be a hero when the other guy has his arms tied up.

There's some soccer-related news about Man City midfielder Stephen Ireland possibly returning to the pitch for the national team of his eponymous home country.  Why hasn't Ireland played for Ireland of late?  Dead grandmothers and new rides, yo.

Ireland, who recently took delivery of a £90,000 Range Rover customised with pink wheels, grille, seats and accessories, has not played for his country since inventing the death of two grandmothers to engineer his way home from an international double-header last season.

Using my amazing Google-Fu skills, I learned that that Range Rover cost Ireland $178,911.  (Probably an even $179K by the time I finish writing this post.  Thanks a lot, economy.)  And worth every farthing.  I just hope for his sake that the UK doesn't have the "gay tax" that makes home furnishings and Broadway shows so expensive in America.

[Fan IQ]