Someone once told me, even if you hate someone, try looking at the positive qualities of that person and you might change your mind. Ever since I've seen him, I've harboured deep hatred for Cristiano Ronaldo. He has always been up there on my list of most hated people, sometimes I’ve had reasons for hating him, and sometimes none at all. Yes I know, it doesn’t make me sound like a great person but emotions are hard to control.
One of the articles I’ve written, entitled ‘Why the World Hates Cristiano Ronaldo’, seemed to get me quite a few haters, on and off B/R. Now, this is not an attempt to ‘suck up’; I am merely trying to find reasons that suggest, to myself and other Cristiano haters that he isn’t such a bad person after all.
I’ve never, no matter what, doubted the talent oozing out of this youngster and he definitely has style – Yes this is the part where you gasp in disbelief over me complimenting the ever so famous “CR7”
Intelligence: Is Cristiano really smart? Or plain stupid?
No one, not even me, can deny Cristiano the ‘smart’ tag. Although he does have the tendency to come off a little over smart at times, I wonder if it’s all an act. The tantrums and arrogance has definitely increased his popularity, even if it may not be very positive. More people know him, more people talk about him and thus more people watch him. His antics make him unpredictable and I’m told ‘fun to watch.’ Which is – and it hurts me deeply to say this – very true.
"Diving is an art" people say; it now has become a part of football and if anybody should be hailed diving King, it's Cristiano. To risk your individual popularity and glory (because diving is frowned upon) in order to score a goal for your team, shows selflessness and a bit of integrity and until I wrote that last line, it was the last thing I’d associate Cristiano with. I know I don’t know him personally and who was I to judge, but since I’ve seen some change in him and so I’m ready to change my opinion about him too
Improvement
Although he started off, even at a young age as a great player, he seems to be improving. Cristiano used to be selfish and yes, a bit whiny too, but I’ve seen change. Although I hate him, I do watch him play and I’ve seen him improve a lot under Sir Alex Ferguson. Earlier known as a ball hog, he’s been assisting Rooney a lot lately, and thinking more about scoring goals for the team rather than just himself.
The Crying
At first, and for a very long time the crying really annoyed me. The shocking, over done break down after the Euro’s in 2004 didn’t impress me at all. When John Terry broke down after missing the penalty last season , something made me feel bad for him, but it wasn’t like that for Cristiano Ronaldo. I clearly remember saying ‘Yuck, what a baby!’
The ‘wink’ in 2006 during the world cup had me baffled. How and why in the world is he trying to portray himself as a sensitive person and yet shows so much attitude? Doesn’t he know it’s the foundation for a worldwide Anti-Ronaldo campaign? That it might make him seem fake? Yet with an exception of few, many seem to love him. He got even more popular and became a ‘celebrity’.
Cristiano, cried, threw tantrums and pouted, yet was exceptionally good on the field –and as any Manchester United fan how good. Even after the most childish tantrum you can still see people, grown up men even, wearing United shirts with the number 7 on their back.
Skills
Everyone knows about Cristiano’s skills, his famous step over and the creativity in his football. Moaning, whining and hitting the ground howling in faked pain is also, in my opinion one of his skills! How many times have I tried to fake an injury and no one ever fell for it? For that I applaud him. If only he could have taught me a few things in school, I wouldn’t have to bother with Algebra every Tuesday, and I’d just fake an injury. Woo.
He is very good with the ball – by ball I mean football. Cristiano emulates inventiveness and style and almost always brings forth an element of surprise. Why watch boring old soap actors, when you’ve got the real deal?
The Metro-sexualness
Everyone wants to look pretty. Even men. Hairy eyebrows, hairy legs and stupid hair is definitely a turn off and I guess that’s something Cristiano realised. The plucked eyebrows and waxed legs may work, but dumping loads of hair gel on his head, I was never sure of.
But, like I said , he’s a celebrity. The world watches him, he has the right to want to look good, so hey, every man for himself.
What HE Says...
Randomly coming across some of Cristiano’s quotes, I realised he is human. When you hate someone so much that you stop thinking of him as a human being that’s when you know it’s really bad. I’d like you to try and imagine how hard it is for me to write this, being such a huge hater of Ronaldo, but I do appreciate good football, and that’s what I’m trying to prove. Even if I hate a person and he’s talented I will not deny it. I’m trying to convince myself that there is more to him than the diving and winking.
"A part of the supporters show themselves to be more unhappy than others. But I hope to change their minds. When I put on the United shirt I give my maximum. Nobody can condemn me on this”
And he’s right, I haven’t seen him give anything less that his best, and he knows it!
"Now I understand I have made the best decision. I am with Manchester in body and soul,"
"After what happened to the Arsenal player (Eduardo da Silva), I am scared to do my skills.”
I’ll tell you one thing, if I was playing against him he’d be right to worry about doing his “skills” ...
He is a great player and definitely will be marked by quite a few players.
"Last season was the best time of my career, but I know I can get even better." – Looking for improvement, which player doesn’t? It’s great to know that he’s accepted the fact that he can get better
Cristiano seems to be maturing and his future is looking brighter. Now I know I might get a lot of stick for actually complimenting Ronaldo too, maybe about how I don’t stand up for what I believe , or how easily I change my words. To be honest, none of that is true. I’ve hated Cristiano for four years! Not because he was a bad player, but because he didn’t play fair, because he seemed like an immature brat who didn’t seem to want to grow up.
I feel he has bettered since those days, so why should I go insulting him for no specific reason?
Think of this as a peace offering, an admission of true talent and maybe a new era of my life. Where I may learn to start hating less (well it’s only Cristiano I’ve ever really hated, but still) and accept talent for what it is.
Cristiano, is good. I am not calling him great or legendary, because that’s crossing a boundary that’s still too far out of my reach. I’m taking baby steps... maybe someday I might call him great, maybe I won’t.
So far I haven’t convinced myself that he’s outstanding, but I definitely like him better than I did when I started writing this... so it’s hard to tell... nothing is impossible now, is it?
