Not Content to Polish Trophies, Canna Gets into Politics

I don’t know how I missed this, but it seems a small group of Italian footballers (meaning: Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli and wor Fabio Cannavaro) have spoken out against the recent execution of Saddam Hussein. While details on Prandelli’s words are spare, Canna’s are available and abudantly clear: “Saddam Hussein was a despot and totally despicable from a moral point of view, but he was a human being, and as such it is not right for someone to take his life away.” Damn. It takes a lot of balls for someone with a profile as high as Canna’s to stand up and make strong political statements with which a lot of people will disagree — particularly when the criminal in question is the easy focus of everyone’s anger about every terrorist attack of the past 15 years. Whether you agree with him or not, it’s hard not to respect him for taking a stand.

Granted, the execution is incredibly unpopular in Italy, but that attitude is in no way representative of the way the world as a whole feels. I’m sure, for example, that if anyone here in the US knew who Canna was, half of them would be ranting about how he wants The Terrorists to win. Similarly, it’s hard to imagine an American athlete saying such a thing — I mean, all Carlos Delgado did was refuse to stand up for America the Beautiful, and he was crucified by much of the press. Imagine if he’d said he was opposed to Saddam’s hanging!

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Category: Azzurri, Rumors & News