Antoine Griezmann

El Gato

Villarato!
Not sure we should continue this in the Griez thread, but OK why not. I mean I did go off on a tangent so might as well finish.

You're saying I'm not level-headed and then proceed to viciously attack the 'character' of an entire generation of people and relatable athletes for playing video games??? Jesus Christ lol, this is not a good look for you. People really don't seem to think your comments are "level-headed" at all, if anything just a bitter, angry persecution of those who live a different lifestyle from yourself. To actually believe that people are inferior in character for playing the most popular game in the world, and that athletes who do some funny things or participate in social media represent "a failure in education and upbringing"..... Talk about taking it too far.

You're not level headed bruh. You've proved it by producing an emotional essay where you're accentuating certain words showing how pissed off you actually are at my apparent intolerance and thinking I'm persecuting anybody. Because apparently being vocal about my views towards certain trends in footballer lifestyle is persecution or maybe some form of hate speech :lol: Fuck me. Amusing.

Not to mention you're very comfortable with using "people" and attaching group mentality to your own opinion. That's nice, haha.

DonAndres said:
This is an ENTERTAINMENT business, footballers are not here to dress/act plainly like they're in some 9-5 office job with strict behavioral codes. Acting like you can only be commendable if you're like Juan Mata who does nothing to stand out in the public eye and then does some notable charitable work is crazy. Forcing them to walk on a thin tightrope in life just to be seen as "respectable" by guys like you.

You seem to have blown this out into extreme for some reason. Everyone chooses their clothing as they see fit for a given occasion. If they want to walk around town wearing anything they bloody want it's completely cool. But you miss an obvious correlation between people with certain negative personality traits and the way they talk or dress, purely based on what they think is cool or comfortable. That applies across disciplines BTW, office jobs, whatever.
If you went walking around, I dunno, Brooklyn anytime between 1990 and now for example, you'll see similar trends. Observation, not an opinion.

DonAndres said:
The ONLY thing that matters with regards to professionalism is how he carries himself on the pitch and in his duty towards his team. Griezmann is a thorough professional in both those areas. He doesn't dive, hardly ever bitches to refs, never acts in an unsportsmanlike way to competitors, respects his teammates and rivals, and puts out his full effort every single night.

Ah, you could ask Atletico fans throughout this season whether they fully agree with what you said here in the last sentence.

Nonetheless I agree, dude seems like a very good footballer that you can hardly find any problems with on the pitch. He seems down to earth and was known to be rather shy, and these types of people hardly grow into anything bad.
How he fits into locker rooms is possibly a different story, but doubt he'd be a troublemaker and he's worked under Simeone so I'm sure he's seen it all.

DonAndres said:
I also love how "samba" is an okay form of playful expression in football for you, but only because it has historical presence and is associated with THE original football powerhouse nation. That is truly telling of how you're rigid and stuck in the past. Samba was then as this is now, a product of the fun/entertaining part of Western culture blending into football. And people loved it, people love to have players who play the game with joy and show some personality. People love to see that footballers are relatable to themselves.

Perhaps you're right. There is historical importance attached to samba and how it was chosen to represent a certain style of football etc.
Just not sure how you can relate daft celebrations like a dab or that L and make them become a symbol of joyful football. Not that you've got to have that in your mind while you do it. But that then goes back to the argument that some people made here - Griez should probably do it once and ditch it, because otherwise he'll get a pointless tag attached to himself with a statement "Look at me! I play video games. All Fortnite gamers unite!" that serves zero purpose in the real world.

DonAndres said:
This 'commentary' of yours probably extends well beyond football, as an indictment on the entire current generation about what is "correct behavior" and how participation in the trends of today is representative of severe character flaws and failure to grow up. That comment about how we shouldn't even want to attract the "social media/gamer" demographic because they are "socially weak" is one of the most unpleasant things I've seen anyone say in this forum lol. Talk about being condescending and holier than thou, to actually think you are a superior man because you don't play games or use social media.

So many things to say to you here.. And you're right, the whole point of this discussion was to think beyond the celebration and look into the social aspects of today, so it does extend beyond football.

- I play games, I use social media. Double miss.
- There is correct and incorrect behaviour, and it depends on what you do and where you do it. For example, you don't go to the cemetery to have a picnic. Remember Pokemon Go and teenagers running into a Holocaust museum to catch a poison gas pokemon? I see the youth of today doing such things very frequently. But these are just examples of lack of education and values teens live by today. And to bring it back to football for a moment, Gattuso recently said to some young player who was making skill videos of himself to put on social media that if he'd seen him do it again, he'd knock his teeth out. Wonder where you stand on that, because I damn sure know where I do :lol:
- I used socially weak here in reference to the majority of deep gamers being introvert and anti-social, which IS a weakness, often one they don't care to admit publically. There are whole taboons of people complaining about lack of friends and underdevelopment of social skills. Numerous researchers did studies on how social media makes majority of its regular users dreadfully unhappy. Very same case with deep gamers many of whom are in denial about being unable to go outside and be social. They actually tend to form cliques within their own gaming world, don't learn how to cook their own meals, don't develop any other transferrable practical skills, who think they don't need them... and then they go and complain how shit their lives are under Jordan Peterson videos.
- No, I'm not superior, but far more acceptant of my own flaws, to the extent that I do not fear my world view being challenged. Something many conflictless people don't want to have to deal with and prefer to shout something like "how dare you?"

DonAndres said:
And also about how "society would be doomed if it were led by people like that" is even more fucking LOL. It's ridiculous for you to even feel the need to draw parallels between how sportsman and "societal leaders" behave. They are athletes, more akin to celebrities like movie stars/singers than government representatives or leaders of industry. There isn't and shouldn't be ANY correlation between how those two groups of people behave, athletes are in the ENTERTAINMENT business as you keep failing to understand. Let alone the idea that society would actually be screwed just because a world leader at 40-50+ years of age happened to use social media and played games as a younger man/woman. Open your mind dude, the ONLY thing you've demonstrated with this rant of yours is intolerance.

Oh yes, we would be doomed.
Movie star =/= celebrity. Singer =/= celebrity. Celebrity is somebody who for the most part doesn't deserve the fame they're getting. These sorts of people tend to be attention whores and feel comfortable putting their life in front of a camera on a near daily basis.
And I'm not so sure why anyone would want to be that for any sensible reasons.

Good discussion though. You could tone down the outrage and emotion :p
 

DonAndres

Wild Man of Borneo
[MENTION=5226]Wolfe[/MENTION] I'll tag instead of quoting just in the interest of saving space.

This has nothing to with outrage or emotion, or you being vocal. The way I happen to emphasize certain points in text says nothing about what I feel. I did not put the words in your mouth. "Idiot", "court jester", "man-child", "representing failure of upbringing/education", etc. All of that was your own saying. All in the context of a footballer referencing video games in his celebrations or doing silly things in social media. And that is as clear a damnation of a lifestyle as I can imagine. If that isn't, then I really don't know what is lol.

You were pretty explicit and descriptive in your word choice. Don't backtrack when someone calls you out for quite literally: not tolerating the lifestyle choice or public expressions of an athlete. What else would you call it? There was literally nothing you said that implied you were accepting of this cultural trend or tolerant of the actions, even if you disagreed with it. It was an outright statement that the players who do it are "idiots" and that this abomination of a cultural trend is common amongst French/English footballers where "man-children" are taking over the sport.

My point was that Griezmann's celebration was a demonstration of the mix between pop culture and football. And that such engagements are healthy and good for both the fans/players as it lets the players have more fun and express themselves more, as well as being more entertaining for the fans. I don't like dabbing and I don't like Pogba. But I will stand here and defend his dabbing celebrations because, until he started overdoing it to the point it became boring, it gave a kick to the fans who enjoyed the cultural reference. Not that he's an utter "idiot" who represents failures of growing up in this sport.

You clearly have a pretty big problem with this fusion of pop culture and football, and it more or less has to do with the idea that it corrupts the sport and the footballers into 'idiots'. And that, beyond football, the social media/gamer demographic represents weakness and corruption in society as a whole. You allude to the problems with chronic gaming (introversion, social anxiety, etc.) and social media (narcissism) to which I say it's true, but EVERY cultural trend comes with its downsides.

The "samba" culture bleeding into football came with players partying all nights, bedding strippers and prostitutes, and railing lines of coke every other day. Tell me how that's any better than the downsides of gaming/social media in football, or a better example for children? Tell me how society wouldn't be "doomed" if it were led by men like that who never took anything seriously and everything was just a party/game to them? Hell, there's even tangible evidence of this with former Brazilian footballers being utterly terrible politicians.

That last bit about celebrities is irrelevant as well. Celebrities is a word choice, I don't care about the connotation. Footballers career paths are far more similar to movie stars and singers who are popular public figures with a lot of fans and deeply involved with the current culture. You should absolutely NOT be looking to them for role model behaviors or high character qualities the way you would for politicians or industry leaders. That's why it's absolutely fine for them to be expressive/playful in the public eye than it is for societal leaders. You don't hold the two to the same standards and if you do, you're doing something wrong.
 

El Gato

Villarato!
You were pretty explicit and descriptive in your word choice. Don't backtrack when someone calls you out for quite literally: not tolerating the lifestyle choice or public expressions of an athlete. What else would you call it? There was literally nothing you said that implied you were accepting of this cultural trend or tolerant of the actions, even if you disagreed with it. It was an outright statement that the players who do it are "idiots" and that this abomination of a cultural trend is common amongst French/English footballers where "man-children" are taking over the sport.

Tolerance has become this weird concept that somehow by disagreeing with or disliking somebody's lifestyle choices it automatically implies you will treat them differently. In what way though? Will I proceed to call them an idiot? I probably will and it's only the opposing party's problem if they are insulted by being called out on partaking in a lifestyle, which doesn't do them any good as a person (which I believe you've indirectly agreed with later on in the post). Unless it's the word itself that you seem to dislike and continuously put in brackets for some reason despite it being a completely informal and still culturally harmless expression, lol. Does it make me intolerant in that respect? OK sure. Does that make them an overall "bad" person in my or anybody else's view? Absolutely not. Maybe if they don't grow out of the behaviour, then one should reconsider showing continued sympathy, but as the saying goes "young n' dumb.."

My point was that Griezmann's celebration was a demonstration of the mix between pop culture and football. And that such engagements are healthy and good for both the fans/players as it lets the players have more fun and express themselves more, as well as being more entertaining for the fans. I don't like dabbing and I don't like Pogba. But I will stand here and defend his dabbing celebrations because, until he started overdoing it to the point it became boring, it gave a kick to the fans who enjoyed the cultural reference. Not that he's an utter "idiot" who represents failures of growing up in this sport.

You clearly have a pretty big problem with this fusion of pop culture and football, and it more or less has to do with the idea that it corrupts the sport and the footballers into 'idiots'. And that, beyond football, the social media/gamer demographic represents weakness and corruption in society as a whole. You allude to the problems with chronic gaming (introversion, social anxiety, etc.) and social media (narcissism) to which I say it's true, but EVERY cultural trend comes with its downsides.

Well, you seem to have agreed that these parts of Griez's lifestyle have a corruption tendency and it does change the way men behave, as well as the way they take to the sport. Enjoyment of a cultural reference, especially as unnatural as the gesture is to watch, is cool if it's done once or twice, as I wrote earlier. Elsewise you're subjecting majority of the fan population, of which we have a good sample here, to have to watch an expression of joy that only a tiny fraction of people can relate to. But naturally he's free to do almost anything he pleases within the boundaries of club supporting the action.

The "samba" culture bleeding into football came with players partying all nights, bedding strippers and prostitutes, and railing lines of coke every other day. Tell me how that's any better than the downsides of gaming/social media in football, or a better example for children? Tell me how society wouldn't be "doomed" if it were led by men like that who never took anything seriously and everything was just a party/game to them? Hell, there's even tangible evidence of this with former Brazilian footballers being utterly terrible politicians.

That last bit about celebrities is irrelevant as well. Celebrities is a word choice, I don't care about the connotation. Footballers career paths are far more similar to movie stars and singers who are popular public figures with a lot of fans and deeply involved with the current culture. You should absolutely NOT be looking to them for role model behaviours or high character qualities the way you would for politicians or industry leaders. That's why it's absolutely fine for them to be expressive/playful in the public eye than it is for societal leaders. You don't hold the two to the same standards and if you do, you're doing something wrong.

Funny that, because it's not exactly true. Brazillians didn't win their trophies amid this "samba era" with players who abused their freedoms to that degree. Some of the best things in the world happened through pain and suffering of the many along the way who made it happen. Not sure why in each case we should feel the guilt for how it came about.

But I don't really know which one is worse for the long-term. I've seen a lot of mental degenerates with horribly wrong priorities with brains fried from gaming and social media. I'm not a clinical psychologist so I can't say which habits are harder to break. I think it's sensible to say druggies don't make better parents, but if we're talking about being an example to kids who look up to you as a sportsman, then I don't even know if it applies here, because back then kids didn't idolise the guy that received page 17 column about his late night out, kids barely even know about that stuff. They idolise the guy who went out onto the pitch regardless if 2 nights ago he went on a bender and still managed to play great.
These days it's probably more likely to hear about the negative stuff since kids and teenagers can look it up on Twitter almost instantly, so it's true today one is deemed infinitely safer than the other and hence even the Brazillians are more careful with it. Not sure I fully agree with a gamer footballer definitely being a better role model than a guy who goes to a party every other week. Nor do I think a footballer is obliged to be a role model at all. Depends whether they're comfortable with it.

Marcelo probably isn't a good example to associate with that either. He synthesised nearly all the sensible traits to make up his personality along the way.
 
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El Flaco

Active member
[tw]997979426255245313[/tw]

Says Griezmann and Barca have already reached an agreement. Griezmann will sign a 5-year contract & earn €15m net per season
 

ThwiX

Best midfielder around
So I guess we are getting rid of quite a few players with those wages. Suarez would be nice, but I really fear these incompetent morons are planning some monkey business involving Dembele...
 

FinBarcelonafan

Well-known member
So I guess we are getting rid of quite a few players with those wages. Suarez would be nice, but I really fear these incompetent morons are planning some monkey business involving Dembele...

Suarez should be the man out. There's no way we can keep all our current players and Griezmann.
 

Neymessi

Active member
Getting rid of Dembele would be something I'd love to see the Valverde fanboys try to defend. :lol:

Right now it feels like no one will be defending him but if it happens and next season we have a good start in league against piss poor teams and lucky wins along the way you can bet there will be psuedo intellectuals posting how amazing decision it was to sell dembele and shit.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
Dembele leaves on loan or for low price dont think anyone would be happy.

If he left for a lot of money and Barca used money properly it may be different.
 

Icarium

Lifestealer
If we really sell Dembele we need a world-class midfield signing along with Griezman. But I hope we won't sell Dembele.
 

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