Ronaldinho's Warm Up:

For soccer fans out there, if you haven't seen this clip of Ronaldinho that has been making the rounds, check it out. Make sure to watch the second half where he casually bangs the ball off the crossbar and back to himself a couple of times from the top of the box. Amazing.

On the game field, Ronaldinho scored twice last weekend to lead Barca to a 3-0 victory overn Real Madrid to remain atop La Liga and once more yesterday in a 3-1 Champions League victory over Werder Bremen.

Update:

Looks like I may have been duped--a Commenter points me to this discussion board on the ad. There is also an accompanying poll. I am aware of the similarly unbelievable and fake LeBron James ad for Poweraid (if I recall correctly). But my first inclination here was to assume that this Nike ad was like the Tiger Woods Nike ad from a few years ago, where he juggles the golf ball on his club and then hits it away--amazing but true (I had originally assumed that commercial was fake, so assuming Ronaldinho is fake, my batting average is admittedly pretty low on these things).

Van Basten:
You know the crossbar stuff is fake, right? He is phenomenal though. Kaka, Ronaldo, Robinho...if Brazil loses the World Cup this summer I'll be shocked.
11.23.2005 8:27am
Edson Arantes do Nascimento:
On the "game field"? Hey Marco, since Todd seems not to know it's called a pitch, I wonder whether he did know the crossbar shots were faked.

Still a great link, tho. Just for the dribbling, if nothing else. Jogo bonito, indeed.
11.23.2005 9:07am
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (mail):
What makes you think the crossbar stuff is fake? We used to practice this all the time, just never succeeded more than once in a row.
11.23.2005 9:11am
ken (mail) (www):
Because we've seen the commercials with Vick throwing a football 100+ yards and LeBron James hitting baskets from the other side of the court.
11.23.2005 9:28am
A Blogger:
For more on whether it's real or fake, see the discussion board here.
11.23.2005 9:48am
Wenzhang Taishou (mail):
Did Todd see that amazing documentary about these crazy scientists that made real live dinosaurs? It was so cool! Who knew they could do that?!?
11.23.2005 10:06am
juris imprudent (mail):
For a little more amusement from that same site...

Tis the Season
11.23.2005 10:15am
ur_land (mail):
For the more patriotic amongst you:

This american (soccer) game


(Yes, it's a nike commercial, but as a soccer fanatic it's great to see the sport I love get some marketing love)
11.23.2005 11:03am
Luis (mail) (www):
I was just grooving on the "Estrella-Damm", "la Caixa" and even the odious "Telefonica" ads in the background. Man do I ever wish I were in Barcelona again.
11.23.2005 11:40am
Zywicki (mail):
Luis:
Amen to that! I've only spent 4 days in Barcelona in my life how I wish I were back there! It is my favorite city in the world.
11.23.2005 12:01pm
TJ (mail):
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira,

So did we. It wasn't very hard to hit the woodworks from the 18, but yeah- getting the ball back? Riiight.
11.23.2005 1:03pm
Wenzhang Taishou (mail):
Check out Shaolin Soccer for more exciting (and much more obviously digitally manipulated) soccer action. The film overall is pretty tedious but the playing sections are fun.
11.23.2005 1:33pm
Visitor Again:
They called in a fluke when Ronaldinho scored on that long-range free kick to put my team, Rngland, out of World Cup 2002. But Ronaldinho is an all-rounder. The English tabloids produced a lady who said Ronaldinho went at her like a jackhammer for hours on end one night. Quite a guy. Ronaldinho is the greatest footballer today and many other things as well.

Peter Young
Webmaster England Football Online
11.23.2005 4:28pm
gab (mail):


On the "game field"? Hey Marco, since Todd seems not to know it's called a pitch,


Hey Pele, we're not in England. In America it's called a field not a "pitch." And we wear shoes, not "boots."
11.23.2005 5:10pm
Visitor Again:
Hey Pele, we're not in England. In America it's called a field not a "pitch."

It's true that the English, cofounders of the modern game with the Scots, call it a pitch. But it would be perfectly proper to refer to it as a field even in England.

Check out the first law in FIFA's Laws of the Game. It's entitled: "The Field of Play."

Only people who want to exhibit what they mistakenly believe is their superior knowledge of the game insist on calling it a pitch.

They are like those ignorants who insist that "soccer" is a vulgar Americanization of "football." The official name of the game is association football, and it was the English themselves who abbreviated that into "soccer" in the late 19th century, just as they truncated "rugby football" into "rugger." "Soccer" was in common use even in England through the 1960s. Nowadays zealots insist on "football" and blame Americans for corrupting the name of the game.

It doesn't matter what terminology you use. Enjoy the game.

Peter Young
Webamster England Football Online
11.23.2005 5:36pm
Solon (mail) (www):
Todd, and whoever else has the slightest interest in football (sorry, as a Brazilian, I refuse to call it soccer), may like this clip made during the Brazilian National Team's training.

The two players fooling around at the beggining are Robinho and Roberto Carlos, both from Real Madrid. Robinho then calls out for Ronaldinho to join the fun. I'll let you watch what happens then.
11.23.2005 8:01pm
Fire Marshall Bill (mail):
Estrella-Dam? "Echhh, I'll take the crab juice!" Paso, tio.

Have to hand it to Barca for beating Real Madrid 3-0 in Bernabeu. Although my girlfriend would never let me sit in her seats if she found out I said it, Barca deserved the applause, or, perhaps Real Madrid just didn't.

ta lue // adieu
11.24.2005 1:38am
Zywicki (mail):
Solon:
That is amazing. In addition to Ronaldinho, the clip where Robinho (I guess it is--the guy who is not Roberto Carlos) rolls the ball down his back and then flips it with his heel to Roberto Carlos. Wow.
11.24.2005 11:02am
andrea (mail):
why do u guys even care? did we care when a duck was flying around a bathroom ontop of a bottle sayin "attack with anitra!".. no!..
do we love fotball... i am sure i do... do i like ronaldinho... i love him... becouse he really can play the game.. not becouse he hit the crossbar 3 times in a row and than scored in a comercial...
i dont know,.. i dont even care if its fake or not... but i think that if someone could really do it.. that would be definittly ronaldinho!
a guy earlyer said that he tried and he did not do it so that makes it a fake... i have been tryin for 2 years now just to learn how to play footbal... and i can't... that does not mean that ronaldinho can't either
12.14.2005 11:56am
shanko:
Ronaldinho can do many tricks let alone hitting the bar twice or trice in a raw. But it is also possible that the clip might be digitalized to make it nice for commercial purpose. So what's the big deal about.
6.8.2006 12:57pm