A brand new soccer pet peeve

I saw something last night during the Premier League Review that sealed the deal: I officially have a new soccer pet peeve.

It was during the Aston Villa-Wolves contest. (Read about it here at our excellent Villa blog. All the cool kids are doing it.)

It was a Villa miss that had me all falling over sideways and summoning fancy words to blog about it. And it’s something I’m seeing all too often these days.

It happens when a striker misses a glistening opportunity. Just plain blows it. Screws the pooch. Wets the bed. You get it.

But instead of expressing proper, head-in-hands disbelief, rather than popping the top on a killer can of self-doubt, self-loathing and general questioning of what life is all about … said striker immediately begins screaming for a corner kick.

And then, in the worst instances, they express outrage over not being awarded one! “OH! The injustice!”

Hey, man: you missed it! It’s almost as if there is an immediate calculation at work here, an effort to deflect the blame and attention with this instant, red-faced expression of acrimony. As if the corner kick was target all along. "Look everyone! I won a corner for us! … But the referee screwed us out of it!"

By the way, this doesn’t mean I lose rights to claim other soccer pet peeves. I got room for a lot of ‘em. Soccer pet peeves are not a zero-sum proposal. Maybe I’ll rank ‘em one day. Of course, I’d need help. So … what are yours?