The Ballon D’oh; Santa Klaas

*Disclaimer: This post has little to do with Italian football. If that offends you in any way, feel free to stop reading now*

As everyone knows by now (let’s be honest- we’ve known for a while), Christiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon D’or. Let’s not mince words: I can’t stand him. He’s arrogant, he dives, he disappears in big games faster than people’s interest in Sarah Palin. He does shit all for his country, and between his ego and hair gel, his head must weigh a good 20 pounds.

And despite all that… I think he probably deserves it.

Let’s face it- no Italian player was going to win it this year. Not after our Euro showing, and how poorly the country did in Europe (besides Roma). And there was no real other competitor. Messi is my favorite non-Italian player, and he was injured far too often to win it. Spain had some decent candidates- Torres had a great season, and Iker was solid all last year, though he probably blew any chance he had with Madrid’s horribleness so far this year.

When you boil it down, there really wasn’t anyone left. Ronaldo had 42 goals, and though he’s an arrogant ass of a person, it’s hard to ignore the stats.

But it brings up an interesting point; there are far too many players who deserve the award and have never earned it. Chief amongst them is Paolo Maldini, loyal captain of Milan. He’s spent over 20 years playing as one of the greatest defenders to ever grace the game, and never once clinched the award. Totti and Del P have never won it either, and they’ve done more for their clubs than most players ever do. Finally, Buffon has never won the award either, which just goes to show that even the best player in the world at his position can miss out if he’s not an attacking player.

In other news, Madrid got thier Christmas present a little bit early. They’ve signed Santa Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who’s been a very solid striker over at Ajax. This interests me for two reasons: One, I had no idea clubs could make transfers legally before the transfer window opened, and two, I’m very interested to see how he does over at Madrid. I would’ve loved to see him over in Italy, though.