An Alternate Form Of Hero Worship

In most cities sporting heroes are so beloved in the communities that they are treated reverentially like Gods, free meals, people fawning over them and just excited to find themselves in the presence of their hero. Apparently not so much in Liverpool.

As DCTrojan points out here, last night while Pepe Reina was having a great game and saving 2 of the 3 Chel$ea penalties to send Liverpool to the Champions League Final, some scousers were living up to the stereotype that the rest of Engerland derides them with by stealing his car. Truly amazing, that, but it gets worse. This is not the first time such things have happened. Apparently several other footballers on Merseyside have been "burgled" as well {and even if you don't care about soccer you really should click through to the link because there you will find the word "burgled" no less than 3 times}.

All you can say is wow. Or holy shit that's crazy. Or some variant thereof.

This actually made me think back to a story that was told to me last year inside Churchill Downs on Derby Day. We randomly bumped into a Liverpool fan who noticed my Kanu25 and Solon's Henry14 kits. Anyway, we were chatting about this, that and the other, and we started talking about how Stevie Gerrard had just done an about face in the final hour an decided to stay with Liverpool after it looked certain that he was going to move to Chel$ea for an insane pile of cash. This scouser said that he knew someone who worked in the Liverpool police department, and he claimed that the night before the announcement Gerrard received some telephone calls from local thugs who told them that if he knew what was best for the health of his family, hint, hint, that he would change his mind and stay at Liverpool, and next thing you know he announced his last minute change of heart saying that in his heart he couldn't leave his hometown club. At the time I didn't really believe it, but now I'm not so sure...

Amazingly, this was not even the best story that dude told us- his other one was even more epic. So Liverpool and ManUtd fans absolutely despise each other, think Auburn-Alabama to the power of 4,000. Well the FA Cup Semifinals each year are held at neutral grounds, and as it happens Liverpool's FA Cup semi last year was at Old Trafford, home of ManUtd. After Liverpool won to make it to the final, this dude told us that his mates all dropped trou, and in a final salute to ManUtd in thanks for hosting their match, allegedly shit right there in the stands, then zipped up and left. Again, a dubious story at best, but still pretty fucking funny.

Today's match should be a cracker, much more open and exciting than yesterday. Methinks we will see more than 1 goal, Kaka will be brilliant, and Mee-lan will take it. Forza Milan!