A 60-minute Houthi missile delay is everything wrong with modern load management
BY: @op_ed_sports1 HOUR AGO
We used to celebrate grit in this sport. Now, a localized surface-to-air intercept is apparently all it takes for the pampered millionaires of Al-Nassr to demand an impromptu rest period.
It was a mild Monday night in Riyadh when the air raid sirens started howling, and once again, I found myself shaking my head at the absolute state of modern football. The Asian Champions League is supposed to be a crucible, a tournament that separates the men from the boys. But when the Saudi-led military coalition intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile headed straight for the stadium, the league office panicked. They pulled the players off the pitch. They pushed kickoff back an entire hour. Sixty whole minutes just to sweep up some high-velocity shrapnel.
We see this all the time now. A guy tweaks a hamstring, he sits. A minor international proxy conflict encroaches on the airspace, they clear the pitch. It is a slippery slope, and quite frankly, it sets a terrible precedent for the sport. If you are going to take the massive contracts this league is handing out, you have to earn that money under the threat of catastrophic infrastructure damage.
Back in my day, if a hostile paramilitary organization targeted your transport hub, you didn't ask the referee for a water break. You marked your man tighter, you kept your head on a swivel, and you played the whistle. You certainly didn't stare at the Patriot missile battery lighting up the night sky and use it as an excuse to go stretch your calves in the locker room.