but this is a great goal. Give credit where credit is due. Take a close look at the dip of the ball. It happened Wednesday 1/30/08 versus Portsmouth. There is no way Kaká is the legitmate 2007 World Player of Year.
Not to be outdone and after only two years of retirement, The Matador from Manchester is coming back. Sixty Five year old Matador de Toros Frank Evans “El Inglés” is hinting at scrapping his retirement status by reentering the escalafon. In a George Formanesque move, “El Inglés” stated to the Manchester Evening News he has been thinking about his return to the ring, and has taken the first steps towards that goal: stating it to the English press. So if it appears in the tabloids, its gotta be true. Right?
José Tomás is back in Mexico continuing his temporada azteca. Leon, Guanajuato on 01/27/08 was the venue of his latest and potential most important truimph since his appearance in La Mexico in late 2007. On Tomas’ second toro, he had the crowd with him as he performed an inspired faena laced with his patented derechazos and naturales at close proximity. Tomás failed with the sword, but managed to drop the animal with the second try thus cutting an ear. Also on the card were Rafael Ortega and Fernando Ochoa. Ortega was predictable, and Ochoa continued his consistent artistic performances. I consider Fernando Ochoa Mexico’s finest Matador. He has accompanied Tomás on a number of the Spaniard’s Mexican afternoons. Ochoa’s style is classical to fit his height, and he is Mexico’s best swordsman. With this exposure he is having fighting alongside Tomás, I hope Ochoa soon makes his way to Spain to demonstrate his skills to Spanish and French crowds.
The FA Cup games have not been all that exciting. Especially since Newcastle got turned inside out by Arsenal 3-0. Sunday’s game between Championship side Sheffield United and BPL team Manchester City was one for the record books. I partially watched the game and ended up missing the FA Cup Tournaments most memorable moment. Turns out, the visiting Man City fans brought their arsenal of lite blue and white balloons in force. So many balloons were released by the supporters, they eventually found their way onto the pitch. The ref was ask to stop the game to clear the stray balloons but he decided to continue, so far as to instruct the Man City keeper to clear the balloons while the game went on. What ensued was quite comical.
Is it just me, or is Sebastian Castella’s hairdo a bit much. Great Torero, but lose the locks.
As I came to the conclusion of declaring myself a Moranista, I stumbled across a very informative article published in El Mundo de España. Morante de la Puebla gives a rare perspective of life as viewed from his pueblo of Pueblo del Rio. Morante speaks to the pain of his mental infliction and how it effects his life as a Matador as well as his dedication to his profession and life outside the ruedo. I can accept Morante being the Johnny Depp of the Taurine world, but drop the Top Hat. I look forward to the day when I find myself in Sevilla and visiting Morante’s bar and sharing a copita con el Maestro. Foto de El Mundo. An excellent supplement to the El Mundo article is an interview aired on Tendido Cero 01/26/2008.
Its been since early December when I last posted any kind of Taurine, Vino or any content. A self imploding Blog will do that. All is good now. Many toriles have swung open, and many wine bottles have filled my glass. The South American season came and is still going on. Cali, Lima, Bogota and Manizales saw some interesting carteles. Plaza Mexico and Guadalajara had their share of corridas with big names. But, in my downtime I was most enthralled by Morante de la Puebla’s return to the ring. Last year I struggled at choosing my preference between Morante and José Tomás. With Morante’s biannual depression driven early temporada pullouts, my focus switched to Tomás. Except for Guadalajara, Tomás’ performances in Mexico have not disappointed. The press over the riff between José Tomás and Enrique Ponce where Tomás stated Ponce practices low risk Toreo, as opposed to his “death wish” style sold many papers in España and Mexico. Discussions intensified as to why Tomás’ risks so much as he does. Only Sebastian Castella and Miguel Angel Parera fight in the same proximity’s to el toro bravo. It was however after José Tomás’ performance in Plaza Mexico where Morante announced he would return to the ring. After countless sightings of Morante in the tendidos and callejones, he finally parted plaza with “El Pana” (I wont even get into the viejo payaso in this post) in La Mexico on January 6th of the New Year. After watching the video below of his faena with “Miguelito” from the Mexican ganaderia Los Ébanos, I can now state although I love José Tomás style and courage, it is the classic Sevilliano style of Morante de la Puebla which I prefer. Mi amigo and fellow Moranista Pedro, posted the quality video of Morante in La Mexico. Enjoy the arte of the Maestro from El Pueblo del Rio to the flamenco flavored Mexican classic, “El Rey”.
