Henry's Hand Ball

I really like Thierry Henry - to watch him play in his prime when he was at Arsenal was pure joy - the guy was (is) so graceful, fast and strong, he must have given defenders nightmares. Even at Barca, my adopted team, he's been a great striker, though he does seem to be showing his age a little.

I like him even more for fessing up to his handball against the Irish - being part Scotch-Irish, I really feel for the men in green - what a total bummer. And, while I guess I respect FIFA for sticking to their guns and saying that the ref on the field has the final say, it sure feels to me like the fairest thing to do would be to allow a replay.

Just now as I was taking a quick break from the marketing and bus dev workload to check the headlines, I just about fell out of my seat when I read this in an AP story about the controversy:

"Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen raised the issue Thursday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at a meeting of the 27 EU leaders in Brussels."

What a hoot! Can you imagine Obama bringing up a call in an international baseball game with say the Japonese PM? Just goes to show you how seriously the rest of the world takes soccer.