Not that long ago, in a house in the suburban St. Louis area, I returned home after picking up dinner for the family. Walking in the door, with piping hot pizza boxes in my hand, I was greeted by my father and my 14-year-old brother sitting at the kitchen table.
Most nights, this would be a normal, unimpactful sight.
Unfortunately, this was not like most nights.
“Anthony, I want to have civilized discussion with you,” my father said.
Now, this isn’t something that is uttered much in our house. At this point, my mind is racing at the possibilities of what this could be about. I’m 21 years old and living away at college, so, surely, it’s a bit late for the “birds and the bees” talk. I’m doing well in school, so that shouldn’t be an issue.
My whole life flashed before my eyes. Everything I’ve ever done wrong that could possibly have been unearthed running through my hippocampus. I thought I was prepared for the worst.
I thought wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong.
“I just want to talk about how you think that one [Messi or Ronaldo] is better than the other [Messi or Ronaldo].” (The names are in brackets because I don’t want the zealots that religiously follow each of them to come after me for the one I prefer).
This is where I should have dropped to my knees in prayer.
See, I am on the opposite end of the spectrum from both my father and my brother. I knew that this was about to be a terrible night and that I would hate every moment.
Soon after I sat at the table, my brother came at my throat. Whenever I would bring up a point, his eyes bulged to the point that you would think that I had shot his dog in front of him. Soon enough, he was screaming at me so much I was worried that the neighbors would call the cops. Sitting at his laptop, he brought video evidence and repeatedly sounded off the insults of, “You’re an idiot,” and constant uttering of uninterpretable jabberings of a madman. Soon, I realized that just to his left was the utensils drawer, which held the forks, knives, and, if he’s creative, spoons. I had to be prepared for every possible situation.
I imagine that I looked like a cartoon character whose eyes grow to disproportionate sizes after being shocked. Honestly, I couldn’t believe it.
I didn’t, and still don’t, understand how this argument is so personal for people.
Here we are, at a kitchen table, lobbing insults at each other, in an argument about two men who are masters of their trade, that will never know who we are, thousands of miles away from us. And the aggression that goes into these arguments is mesmerizing.
I simply don’t understand the need for the immense aggression that goes into these arguments. You’re not going to change anyone’s mind. Accept that and simply talk about why you think the way you think.
Don’t get me wrong. I love to talk about each of them and their incredible individual skill sets. However, I hate the debate surrounding the two of them.
I imagine that it’s a bit like NBA Twitter when people are constantly spatting about who the better player is between LeBron James and Michael Jordan. Except, with the Messi vs. Ronaldo debates, both are playing at the same time.
The thing that I hate the most is that it’s gotten to the point that you can’t even go onto a tweet that has anything to do with soccer without stumbling across people arguing in the replies about Messi and Ronaldo, even if the tweet mentions nothing remotely related to either one of them.
Don’t believe me?
Go on @BRFootball, and under every single tweet, you will find people (or bots) tweeting nonsensical crap about one of the two of them. It’s gotten to the point where I have blocked 56 accounts (yes, I counted) on Twitter that literally only tweet Messi or Ronaldo propaganda. It’s exhausting and, quite frankly, I’m sick of it.
I can’t go anywhere on Twitter without seeing some stupid crap from accounts called something like “PenaldoSux235” or “BottlerMessi69.” It’s stupid, I hate it, and I cannot wrap my head around the fact that people, both online and in-person, get so angry about such a trivial thing.
Why even put the effort into it? Statistically speaking, they are clearly two of the best players, if not the best, to ever play the game. You can have your preferences, that’s fine, but stop getting unhinged whenever you find someone that disagrees.
And yes, I know that this doesn’t apply to everyone. It’s just the fact that this minority of people have completely sucked the life out of debating the topic so much so that it’s not even worth discussing anymore.
I really don’t even know if I can even call this a column or opinion journalism. I’m more or less just ranting because I’m sick of it and hate seeing it on my timeline.
In closing, I leave with the wise words of Rio Ferdinand.
“People try to make comparisons about who’s better, etcetera, just enjoy it man. We’re lucky to be here.”
Follow me on Twitter @AMFKristensen and @BellyUpSports and don’t forget to check out my other articles.
