I keep finding some gems there
RAWK poster 245678 :
One day there'll be a statue outside Anfield of Suarez biting an opponent. A bit like that one outside the French national stadium of Zidane head-butting the other Italian.
It's hard to know what to think about Tooth-gate. Those people in outright denial that it even happened (a few Reds, all of Uruguay) are clearly a bit mad themselves. Those talking about it as if it's up there with the Armenian genocide as an international atrocity are even madder. I think I read somewhere that Danny Mills believes Luis should be banned from football for ever. The hypocrisy on all sides is breathtaking. Including mine. If it was Rooney who'd done the biting I'd probably be speaking like Danny Mills. So would you. We're all opportunists at heart.
In truth my first reaction was to laugh. Then I thought about it for a bit and laughed again. Then I felt relieved that he wasn't a wearing a Liverpool shirt when it happened. My main concern now is that our club isn't punished for his crime. I couldn't care a damn if Luis misses the rest of the World Cup but what happened in international football should stay in international football.
The bloke's clearly fecking mad of course - at least when he gets on a footy pitch. We all knew that anyway. It's what makes him dangerous, in both senses of the word. I think he probably does need help, although as a Liverpool fan you'd have to fear a little bit that therapy might also tamper with his genius. A gum-shield might be a better idea. It'd be a little bit humiliating at first (like Pennant's ankle tag) but Luis would probably turn it into a status symbol of some kind after a few outings (think of the potential for new goal celebrations). And a gum-shield would allow defenders to concentrate on the game rather than play in fear of the roving incisor.
Then again, should defenders be totally free of this fear? Here's the hypocrisy again. I sort of think some defenders should be bitten. I especially think Chiellini should be bitten. Anyone who saw the rest of the Uruguay-Italy game will know what I mean (or anyone who knows anything about Italian football, period). The constant kicking at opponents, the feigning of injury when it was in the Italian interest to waste time, the repetitive clutching at his head in order to get an opponent sent off, and even the little dig he gave Luis less than 30 seconds before he got his comeuppance.
Pirlo too was a candidate for a revenge bite. At one point this fraud turned round and gave Suarez a fearful blow with his elbow. The Ref didn't spot it. Commentators did - on the channel I was watching at least - and called it an 'accident'. Pirlo is seen as some kind of Olympian on the field you see. Hypocrisy again. In a way, when you think about it, it's no accident that Italians were on the receiving end of both Zidane and Suarez's 'interventions'. As a football nation they've probably elevated gamesmanship and cheating to the highest level over the years. Except Borini of course. Oh, and Aquilani when he was at Liverpool.
Someone made the good point earlier that Luis knows he's done wrong. I bet the regret began to sink in at the same time as the teeth. In fact he was so confused and upset by what he'd done that he started clutching his teeth as soon as he did it. It was almost as if he were saying to FIFA, "Please help me. Take these teeth out. They're not mine!" Then of course he cut a disconsolate figure as he left the pitch. He knew what he'd done and he was frightened and ashamed.
I think he's probably got it out of his system now. I always thought he had three bites in him, not just the two. So did a Norwegian fella, according to the Beeb, who just took the bookies to the cleaners with a crafty punt on a Suarez World Cup bite. Well done that man! But though the last Suarez bite was a big one but this is bigger. The globe watched it. It won't go away. The saddest thing for Luis, I think, is that despite the fact that he's done some incredible things on the footy field and will go on to do much more, he'll always be known now as the footballer who bites. Who cares, right? So long as he wins us the League? Well, I'm sure he will. But that's his look out.