The Classical’s Mike Piellucci pens a mighty tribute to retiring Inter Milan captain Javier Zanetti, the Argentine who’s worn the club armband since 1999.
You read that right. And his 858 matches for the club isn’t far behind in terms of wow factor.
And over those many years with Inter, Zanetti has cultivated the reputation of a no-nonsense player willing to do the little and big things right for his club.
It wasn’t just an “on-the-field” thing, as Zanetti was beloved by his club.
From The Classical:For the longest time, Zanetti and Manchester United’s Ryan Giggs – who, fittingly enough, also just retired – were regarded as two of a kind: unblemished totems of What Soccer Should Be. They were incredibly skilled, preposterously loyal, uncommonly dignified, not just in sportswriterly word but in actual deed. When word leaked that Giggs cheated on his wife with a Welsh model – and apparently followed it up by impregnating his brother’s wife – this club’s membership shrank to one. Zanetti came to be regarded as the last gentleman in soccer, that rare person worthy of belief in the increasingly sordid world of professional sports.
Which is all pretty ridiculous, honestly. Javier Zanetti is hardly the only professional athlete who is a nice dude, gives a (expletive) about the world around him and sleeps only with the woman he’s married to. But the idea of it, the idea of Zanetti, is potent all the same. Whatever we might wish him to be or represent, there really is an unassailably genteel aura about him, its very existence being an achievement irrespective of context.
The point for me isn’t that Zanetti is an awesome guy capable of converting the heathens -- which is a pretty good point -- rather that the world of soccer has taken us to a point where someone who stays faithful to his wife and goes about his business as a human with pretty decent dedication feels unrivaled.
Not (just) taking a shot at society here, but have social media, paparazzi and general sports overload really taken us to a spot where being a good person is the new shock wave of sport? “He’s handsome and loyal AND A PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE? DO YOU BELIEVE THIS GUY RIGHT HERE?!?”
In any event, cheers to Zanetti and those -- like Miralem Pjanic last week -- willing to play the role of examples well (especially considering how much we tend to expect from such folks). And here’s to Piellucci for the think piece.
