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How and why I resigned By Yossi Sarid Tags: Yossi Sarid, Olmert When you kick on a muddy field, the ball can't go far. Ehud Olmert, a soccer fan, knows this too. That's why, because he is being kicked, he is being defensive, hunkering down, and is determined not to sink in a puddle. From quality soccer like that of Euro 2008, we can learn a great deal about life. When I was 6 years old, I learned names of countries and cities from it. I stood at the gates of the Maccabi Rehovot soccer field, pulled on grown-ups' sleeves (then it was still allowed to befriend them) and begged them - take me inside, take me inside - and in that way I was able to enter an entire world. There they said about the halfback Moshe Litvak that he played as if he were in Brazil, so I went home and asked where Brazil was. I wanted to be Litvak, so I started to play. I added understanding to my pain. As a skinny and bespectacled boy it was easy to beat me up. I learned other things from my experience - to sit on the bench, to see entire games with eager eyes, but I did not really get used to it. I sometimes would get up angrily and promise not to come back, but I returned with my tail between my legs. All my life, I had problems with coaches who put me in my place by making me sit down. And I learned to miss 100 percent chances - how could you miss that, idiot, when the goal was empty? Advertisement And I learned to lose even though I was much better, of course, and it was only my bad luck that made me lose. And I learned to bounce back immediately, because every game is a new game, as we all know, and every victory makes us forget the loss, until the next time we lose. One time, I shared this lesson with Ehud Barak - he didn't know what I wanted from him because he had never lost, he only wins - this week, too, another one of those victories. When did I realize that I was on the left wing? When I didn't always cheer for "our team"? They diagnosed some affinity for the underdog, a kind of deviation. In those bygone days, Israel was the underdog, and it was clear that I supported it. Not that soccer has advanced here since then - it has gone the other way - but today we are stronger in training than in battle. Even before the opening whistle for the preliminaries to the World Cup, we already beat Switzerland and Greece, whom we have seen in the past month with their shortage of expertise (and analysts say with their short feet). And in another year we will once again ask how did we miss, idiots, when the net was empty, and how did we let them score such a pathetic goal during injury-and-fatality time when there were wounded and dead? Yes, all these analysts who give so many bits of advice. The managers of Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva and Ashdod - those capitals of soccer - analyze and correct the mistakes of Italy and France. They too are generals and experts for the next war, after losing the last war. Please don't think of me as a frustrated player. I have had my career, during which I tended the goal of the Knesset team. I was once a boy and now I am old, but I did not hang up my big shoes; we continued to lose. One day, before a game on live TV, I was called again to the flag (and analysts say to my feet), but I decided to resign; let the youngsters play. I asked Olmert, the forward, if he too was resigning. Are you crazy? he replied. They'll take me off only on a stretcher. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Wimbledon shocker Shahar Peer knocks out 9th-seed Safina to slide into the fourth round. Time to hit Iran Israel must destroy Iran's nuclear program within one year or risk being attacked.   1.   Yossi Sarid 16:35  |  Joey 27/06/08   2.   Yossi Sarid! 17:24  |  sandra chitayat 28/06/08   3.   tHE GRATEST THREAT 11:05  |  Ralph 29/06/08   4.   but of course! would you want any less? 12:15  |  eric 29/06/08   5.   Flip, flop, listen to them drop 15:09  |  Mark Lincoln 29/06/08   6.   Deal 16:03  |  Dani 29/06/08   7.   Yossi Sarid, a great article, but different styles of players... 06:42  |  Smadar 30/06/08

Read & React German prof.: Israeli athletes willfully sacrificed themselves in Munich massacre Responses: 160 Cabinet approves Hezbollah prisoner exchange Responses: 205 Harel and Issacharoff: Five myths about prisoner swaps Responses: 50 Former Israeli spymaster: Israel has one year to bomb Iran Responses: 150 More Headlines 02:01 Sources: Hezbollah swap likely by Lebanon war anniversary 03:57 ANALYSIS / Prisoner swap is capitulation to blackmail by terrorists 01:22 Bar-On: If we cede Kuntar, Barghouti will be next 04:14 Festive welcome awaits prisoners in Lebanese towns 04:32 Hamas worried about rise in support for religious sects 04:48 IDF 'robot hospital' treats machines wounded in action 00:26 First rabbis ordained in Poland since the Holocaust 00:19 Captive soldier's mother: I won't feel at ease until I hold my son 05:15 Ex-Barak aide says has incriminating evidence on campaign donations 05:35 Report: Lawyers tell Avram Grant to sue Chelsea for damages 05:47 Court: 'Jenin, Jenin' untruthful, but does not slander soldiers 06:02 In Jerusalem, conservative Anglicans fight gay ordination Previous Editions Select Day 29 jun 27 jun 26 jun 25 jun 24 jun 23 jun 22 jun 20 jun 19 jun 18 jun 17 jun 16 jun

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